Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Projectionists Daily Jobs

This is topic Projectionists Daily Jobs in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Mike Jones (Member # 522) on 07-12-2002, 11:50 AM:

Scenario: 12 screen 1st run "foo-foo" theatre with 8+ projectionists. of course I'd rather have 3 wonderfully attentive projectionists. but, we work with what we've got. As of now we've developed a Daily Jobs Sheet, which is used to delegate who does what and when. i.e. grease gears, add oil, etc...

Question: What do other Projection Managers have their staff do all day long? do other people use a similar system? what jobs do you entrust your staff with?

oh, any hints on how to increase the lack of serotonin in your brain due to working in the dark all day long?

thanks,
Mike

Posted by Michael Rourke (Member # 1142) on 07-12-2002, 12:54 PM:

Well, if you have 8 projectionists pick the 3 best projectionists and work them the most. These 3 should also be people that don't plan on leaving anytime soon, so that it isn't a waste to train them. These 3 exceptional projectionists can be trained to grease, oil, edit trailers, build up, tear down, preview (where applicable), and any other intensive maintennance you perform on your equipment; changing bulbs, timing platters, cleaning lenses....

The remaining projectionists should do the more menial tasks, cleaning rollers with alcohol(weekly), cleaning platters(weekly), vacuuming or mopping, cleaning windows and what not. These people will learn how to do more in time, but for now they must focus on keeping the place clean.

Don't get locked in to a cleaning schedule because there are more important things going on, you just need to rely on the workers judgement. Stay away from assigning certain projector stations to certain projectionists also, the head projectionist will take care of all his babies and he doesn't need to break them up between other workers and that will only get confusing when people take time off.
The only schedule I keep is the weekly cleaing, just make a list of the projectors from 1-12 on your dry erase board (don't have one? get one!) and mark the date that each one is done. Then when someone looks at the board they can do the projector that hasn't been done for a week(these are perfect for the opening staff). My weekly cleanings include cleaing the rollers, platters, dusting the lamphouse, soundrack, and platter tower, vacuuming, and cleaing the window and film retaining unit (bevan-poo).

If you work days in the booth, then when you have a moment go outside for some fresh air and sun, smokers have a perfect reason. If you work nights then spend some time in the sun before work. I have a 2 year old son so he makes me go outside all day long and then I go to work happy.

Hope I was some help,
Mike

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 07-12-2002, 07:10 PM:

With 8 projectionists in the booth you are just asking for trouble. How does that work, anyway? Do you always have two on each shift, with four on Thursdays or something? Or does everybody just work two days a week with two projectionists on Thursday night?

Anyway, if you see something that needs to be done, then do it. This can be stuff like cleaning a lens, adding oil, cleaning up all of the oil that the poorly designed projector leaks, etc etc etc. If it doesn't need to be done, don't worry about it until it DOES need to be done. Instead concentrate more on what is going on in the auditorium (picture, sound, etc).

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 07-12-2002, 08:56 PM:

Foo-foo theatre?

Having a large number of people working in any given booth _can_ work, but only _if_ they are all very good and if communication is good among them. At the very least, everyone should have at least been exposed to the basic maintenance and repair procedures and any possible safety issues; the last thing you want is for an inexperienced operator to attempt something dangerous (e.g. replacing a xenon bulb without wearing a facemask) without understanding the risks.