Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Projectionist job opportunity

This is topic Projectionist job opportunity in forum Digital Cinema Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Annli Com (Member # 8266) on 04-24-2017, 11:19 PM:

We are a group of Digital film projection operators from India trained in digital projection and service, interested to know about the field in your country's like working condition projector used wages and job opportunity for other country technicians.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 04-25-2017, 10:43 AM:

What projectionist jobs? Nothing in digital to speak of except film festival work if that sort of thing turns you on.

There is still some film projecting work, but it's infrequent and will be gradually fading away...

Mostly just technician work here these days. And there are not enough good technicians to go around.

Mark

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 04-25-2017, 11:37 AM:

I'd be interested to know if what is essentially the traditional job role of a projectionist has survived the transition to digital in India, perhaps because there are more single screen theaters and (s)he does more building/infrastructure maintenance than a projectionist in Europe or America typically does.

But here at any rate, Mark is right. Your typical mall multiplex no longer employs projectionists: projectors, servers and audio systems run on a high level of automation, with service techs visiting on a schedule to perform maintenance and being available on a callout basis to do repairs. A lot of troubleshooting is now done remotely, too. For example, if someone calls me from one of our theaters on my night off reporting a problem with a DCP server or projector, about the first thing I do is connect to it remotely and see if I can see what is happening that way.

Where projectionists do survive are in arthouse theaters, mixed media venues (ones that do films, live stage/music stuff, conferences, etc.) and, as Mark notes, on the festival circuit. These people need to be proficient at both film and digital, including relatively high level media preparation (e.g. you need to know your 1.19 from your 1.37) maintenance and troubleshooting. I've seen many struggle in this sector, because they are very proficient at either film or digital, but not both.

Posted by Danial Simmonds (Member # 4638) on 05-16-2017, 11:58 PM:

There was a time in the good ol' film days where they could have 3 ~ 6 projectionist taking care of a multiplex...

In this age with the technology of Digital projection systems, audio and networking, most of the stuff are done from an office with a small bunch of people controlling an entire chain.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 05-17-2017, 07:13 PM:

True, it's an extinct trade in the meaning of the word.

Projectionists have either: 1) quit and found other careers, 2) adapted into manager roles, or 3) adapted with the changing technology and have become trained technicians/installers to work independently, with an install company, or work together in a NOC for a large cinema company.