Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: 16mm Documentary on Crazy People

This is topic 16mm Documentary on Crazy People in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Jim Bedford (Member # 4) on 04-19-2003, 09:48 AM:

http://www.behindtheglass.com/

Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 04-19-2003, 12:07 PM:

Interesting. Not enough info here to know how good this will turn out.

At least they know a good site to link! They need the hyphen, though...www.filmtech.com is an entirely different place.

Looks like some web site overdesign. Run the cursor over the words "Behind the Glass" and you'll see.

Posted by Jon Miller (Member # 163) on 04-19-2003, 02:14 PM:

"I always knew from a very early age that I liked projectors. Not necessarily movies, but projectors, the mechanical things." -- projectionist George Wagner, from the site's preview clip.

Hearing that quote nearly brought a tear to my eye, knowing that I'm not the only one who had a fascination with projection equipment stretching back to childhood.

Looks like this documentary has a lot of promise. About the only potential for disappointment would be if the work was screened in public with [dlp]

projection; it just would not have the same emotional impact.

[Edited to soften final paragraph]

[ 04-19-2003, 07:08 PM: Message edited by: Jon Miller ]

Posted by Ian Price (Member # 14) on 04-19-2003, 06:21 PM:

Behind The Glass is a one-hour documentary about projectionists. I contacted the filmmaker in order to get a copy of the documentary to view. He responded that they only have 5 minutes assembled to show potential investors. So it is still in production.
They have a fundraiser scheduled at the Screening Room, 54 Varick St, NYC on May 15th, 7:30 PM to Midnight.

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 04-19-2003, 11:07 PM:

Sounds interesting, but I have to question the journalistic competence when I read the last statement in their history section:

"At this point in time, digital projection stands perched and ready to make its entry into theatres around the world. Out of the 75,000 theatrres worldwide, only about 50 theatres have made the transition to digital. However, it is predicted that by 2005, a majorority of mainstream movie houses in the US will have made the transition, spelling the end of the motion picture projectionist."

What a pile of wild, nonsensical dog-do. All this tells me is that either this filmmaker already has a "digital" bias or at the very least, he has not been talking to theatre owners and he surely hasn't been talking to those projectionist that in another section he praises as staunch film lovers. I don't think that even the digital evangelist would make a statement like that today -- they have turned down the rhetoric of late, given the very disappointing and down right embarrassing stagnation of this technology since its introduction. Back then they were making totally unsubstantiated statements that bordered on the hystical, like claims such as, "film will be obsolete in 5 years" -- CBS radio "news" report in 1998.

And one last observation, I know it's a small point, but it is really erksome to see that he has chosen to represent film in his little animation graphic by showing dirt and scratches.

Frank