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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 12-04-1999, 04:15 PM:
I've been thinking of writing up a dictionary of terms and words that projectionists use.The original idea came to me on one of those nights when somebody called me up on the radio and said that 'something' is wrong with the picture in Thea. #x. I went there and looked, only to find everything OK. After a long question and answer session with the person, it turned out to be somehting really stupid.
At first it was a serious venture and it became more humorous as things went on...
"Dirt in the Aperture" became "SHRUBBERY" (Use a Monty Python accent)
"Out of Lip-Sync" became "Chinese Disease" (Think about those 'bad' Kung-Fu movies.)
Any other ideas? Maybe, if I get motivated, I'll compile a list and 'publish' it. (Or has somebody else alredy?)
Posted by Michael Cunningham (Member # 210) on 12-04-1999, 05:47 PM:
How about framing being referred to as tracking (i.e.: VHS). Customers are more used to things from home and try to apply these to film presentation.-Mike
Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 12-04-1999, 06:32 PM:
One issue of film notes had a Lexicon of terminology
Posted by Ken Layton (Member # 133) on 12-04-1999, 06:43 PM:
I had a customer talk about the"50/50" adjustment (framing).
Posted by Erich Loepke (Member # 166) on 12-04-1999, 09:18 PM:
How about these?"Video tape" instead of "film"
"Camera" instead of "projector"
Several times on Ebay I've seen people selling 16mm projectors refer to them as "cameras"!
Posted by Tyler Skinner (Member # 229) on 12-05-1999, 12:45 AM:
I personally love when you get a request from someone to "rewind" it because they missed a part.
here's a few
"motorboating" - sound clamp not engaged
"jitters" - loose bolt on turret
"its raining" - dirty film (REALLY dirty from shitty arthouse)
Posted by George Roher (Member # 91) on 12-05-1999, 12:46 AM:
What bugs me is when people use the word "brain" instead of "center feed" or "payout assembly". I'm guilty of using that word myself actually. It's a bad habit. I can't explain why I don't like that word. I first heard it spoken by a manager I used to work for who was bragging about the frequent "brain wraps" he had. I had to ask him what he was talking about 
Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 12-05-1999, 12:52 AM:
Randy- I have a projectionist's glossary of popular ( and not-so-popular) terms used in the theatrical exhibition industry... Its a 'serious' listing although I have been meaning to also do a 'humorous' version of it as well Aaron
Posted by Christopher A Kerr (Member # 151) on 12-05-1999, 11:35 AM:
I have the reel notes "LEGENDARY LEXICON OF PROJECTION!" including such goodies as:DIRTY PICTURE SYNDROME : A manifestation of dirty minds and deeds such that the film in your booth tends to get dirty...
HICKEYMAJIGGER : The spring loaded locking mechanism that holds the take up reel on the reel arm spindle.
MURPHY'S LAW : If anything can go wrong, it will -- at the worst possible time, that is, the film will break and the takeup drive motor will burn out just before General Custer shouts "CHARGE"!!
THINGAMABOB : The thing that whatsisface gave you to put on the projector that is supossed to cut your work in half but you never got around to it. (You are now running 8 projectors at once and don't have time to install thingamabobs.)
WHATSISFACE : Your manager, his manager, the owner, or the person you introduce to a newcomer in the booth.
All this plus more!!! It even has all kinds of useful definitions. It would be willing to post it, or scan it ad send it in.
Cheers
Chris
Please don't feed the projectionist.
Posted by Rick Long (Member # 213) on 12-05-1999, 11:35 AM:
George, as more and more managers (who have no technical background) are being forced to take over booth responsibilities, I think the term "brain-wrap" is what happens to these people when they look at the mess of film now snarled around the pay-out assembly. Looking at this in hopeless terror, their brains become wraped (or is it warped?).These people have also developed their own terminology. I recently heard the term "snakes" used to describe the effect of static-infested film on a platter.
Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 12-05-1999, 12:40 PM:
I always hate it when I get a call saying we have a "Peerless Projector"
how much is it worth
They can't understand that the Magnarc lamphouse isn'tt the projector
A real Peerless projector is worth a lot though
Posted by Mathias Andersson (Member # 169) on 12-05-1999, 12:55 PM:
Here in Sweden many people ask:
"What are you broadcasting tonight"
They think it's a TV-station!
Posted by Wallace Logan (Member # 225) on 12-06-1999, 06:41 AM:
At the theatre I work at there suppost to turn off all switches at the end of the night
but I have come in the next day to find not
only is the rack left on so is the lamp.
I also don`t like the word brainwrap the first time I heard it I had to ask what it was.
Wally
------------------
Posted by Jon Miller (Member # 163) on 12-06-1999, 10:51 PM:
Regarding Gordon's comment about the "Peerless Projector..."I guess the early manufacturers of the Simplex could be somewhat guilty. Take a look at page 6 of the "Simplex Deluxe Projector Sales Book" in the Manual Downloads page (Miscellaneous section).
BTW, talking about terminology...what about the prevailing tendency of calling a xenon lamp a "bulb?" The box it comes in says "lamp," and you install it in a "lamp"-house, not a "bulb"-house. Besides which, the overall physical form of the lamp is not bulbous, unlike an ordinary lightbulb. Just curious...
Posted by John Walsh (Member # 168) on 12-07-1999, 11:09 AM:
Yeah, I dislike "brainwrap" also. I've tried to move people to say, "platterwrap," but of course there's always someone who keeps saying "brainwrap." One person can 'reset' others to bad habits.When I train people, I make them say the correct name or term for parts or actions. While there will always be a slight difference in terminology, I'm not going to let them get away with calling the intermittent a, "jiggler;" or a sprocket a "roller."
What I tell them is: imagine you are on the phone, talking to a service tech. You have to describe what is wrong, without the tech being able to see. I word it that way, so they can see that it's in their own best interest to be accurate: he can't help you if he doesn't know what you are saying. And no one is more desperate than a newbie with a problem in the booth. If they say there is something wrong with "the sprocket," which one? If they say, "the upper sprocket" that could still mean one of three.
If the film is jumping (up and down quickly) people will say "flicker" which means varying light brightness. A few times I have heard, "the picture is off the screen" which turn out to be the aperture plate was at the wrong setting. Although, once I forgot to close the turret all the way......
One term people seem to have trouble with at first is "in frame," because it's used a little differently in different places. You thread "in frame." If you don't, that knob puts the film "in frame." When you splice, you should make sure the splice is "in frame."
Posted by Erika Hellgren (Member # 22) on 12-07-1999, 03:10 PM:
We had a guy that worked in our booth for a while who drove me crazy by calling everything by the wrong name - almost as if he were making it up. We never knew what the hell he was talking about. He called "trailer packs" "cores". So I asked him what he calls the pieces of plastic that film is winded onto - he said "core rings". Drove me mad.
Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 12-07-1999, 06:14 PM:
I always have problems getting people to understand the difference between wow and flutter when trying solve a problem over the phone
Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 12-08-1999, 05:39 PM:
Two-Minute Warning: The dirt and junk at the beginning and end of every reel that lets you know a changeover is comming up soon, even before you see a cue mark.The Work Study students here at M.H. College are under orders to check the projector on every reel change. (even though it's a platter) I will often be on my way to the projector long before any cues appear. When they ask me how I knew when the change was going to happen I respond, "I saw the Two-Minute Warning!"
Two-Minute Warnings are fast becomming a thing of the past with the advent of FilmGuard.
Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 12-08-1999, 07:59 PM:
"Brain" always used to bug me, too. For the reason that it's a misnomer. The "brains" of the platter are not in the center feedout control.On another term, I still get calls from people who's intermittent "motor" is on the blink!
Others people often get wrong:
motor = engine
sprocket = gear
film = tape
tape = film
projector = camera (though I've never heard this one in the reverse)
carbons = rod = stick
shutter = fan
booth = box office
Posted by Brian Francis (Member # 238) on 12-09-1999, 01:44 AM:
It's happened several times that people have asked me if I could "speed up" the <sometimes> film <or often> "tape".last night one curious observer remarked "so you are still using film?" All I could do was snap back "so you must have an all digital home theatre?" He admitted to having a DVD.
Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 12-10-1999, 10:08 PM:
I must admit to using words like 'bulb' and 'brain'.It's funny, I don't use 'bulb' when I'm working as a stagehand! We usually refer to the lamps as 'xyz-123',etc., refering to the number of the lamp (bulb) we need because we use several types. It's always understood that one 'relamps' a spotlight.
When I'm at Tinseltown, however, I almost always say 'bulb'. (Or as our first Chief Technician, who was from Kentucky, would say, "BUB".)-- I just think it's just how you get used to saying things in a given atmosphere. If I went to TT17 and said, "Gimme' an XBO-4200 so I can relamp #10", they'd just stare at me and say, "HUH?"
Posted by Jon Miller (Member # 163) on 12-10-1999, 10:26 PM:
I can't help but call the take-up ring for a platter system a "donut." Well, they're both circular...
Posted by Ben Wales (Member # 92) on 12-11-1999, 05:00 PM:
Usher comes into the projection Box."The Picture has slipped or fallen down the Screen".
projectionist responce: "I will put it up in a minute" or could say "why not stick it back up on the screen yourself!"
Posted by Jason Burroughs (Member # 68) on 12-11-1999, 05:31 PM:
I once had a customer quite seriously inform us that the projector had "fallen over" when the lens did not quite change all the way and was shoing the movie up on the ceiling.
Posted by George Roher (Member # 91) on 12-12-1999, 12:30 AM:
At one theatre I got what seemed like hundreds of vague complaints on my radio saying that "There's something wrong with the picture in theatre 3" or "The screen's messed up in theatre 4". This confused me because they were complaining about theatres that were in intermission. It always turned out that they were complaining about the slides not being centered or not being on, or the occasional slide that gets stuck in the machine and is only half on screen. It's nice that the customers are worried about missing any advertising.
Posted by Robert Saba (Member # 259) on 12-12-1999, 02:22 AM:
I think this could be considered a malapropism.... all I know is I've never used this term. I've heard other managers and even projectionists refer to a missplice as a "misframe" when I was working at AMC. Hmm.... AMC.... go figure.
Posted by Scott Ribbens (Member # 180) on 12-12-1999, 10:17 AM:
I once had an usher call the booth on the radio and say "The focus is to loud in theatre number 6"------------------
Scott
Posted by Ken Layton (Member # 133) on 12-12-1999, 12:04 PM:
I've heard people call Travel Ghost "flutter".
Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 12-12-1999, 03:39 PM:
The FOcal Press's book on film editing lists a splice made out of frame as a misframed splice
The term also refers to the picture being out of frame on the screen for any reason
but misframe is the correct term
scarry AMC right
Posted by Michael Cunningham (Member # 210) on 12-15-1999, 05:00 AM:
Hmm, we always called them jump-frames. I guess because customers complained that the picture had "jumped" up or down. Oh well.-Mike
Posted by System Notices (Member # 2357) on 04-13-2008, 09:10 PM:
It has been 3042 days since the last post.