Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Getting into projection

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Posted by William Kucharski (Member # 7246) on 01-04-2018, 08:19 AM:

A friend asked me how to get into working in projection these days and I didn't really have a good answer for them.

I've known people who have come in from doing it at other chains, some who started cleaning the popcorn poppers and just did whatever until they got an opportunity to shadow the projection people (and a few who took over when the main folks quit) and still others who were randomly tagged in some fashion (one went to the same gym as an AMC manager and had a talk with the guy one day when they were on adjacent elliptical machines.)

I'm assuming there is no "set" way but was curious as to whether there was any best case advice I could give other than "be in the right place at the right time."

I certainly don't recall ever seeing a local multiplex having a job posting for someone.

I posted this here as all operations are digital these days, but if this topic is best moved to the Ground Level operations forum, please feel free.

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 01-04-2018, 09:23 AM:

There aren’t any projectionists anymore.

I was a projectionist and technician for almost twenty years but, now, I bounce from one crappy job to another. I worked in an electronics factory until the shop laid off my entire shift due to mismanagement. Now I work in a plastics plant that makes PET plastic bottles for barbecue sauce and salad dressings and stuff like that.

I work twelve hours per day, three days on and two days off and I make almost as much as I did before.

My advice is to forget it.

Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 01-04-2018, 03:45 PM:

Randy's correct. No future there. [thumbsdown]

Posted by Buck Wilson (Member # 5885) on 01-04-2018, 04:55 PM:

Yeahhhhhhhhh projectionist isn't really a thing anymore unfortunately. I mean if you're in a big city with a couple of independent arthouses, there's likely someone who handles film there but like, full time projectionist? Probably less than 100 left in the country, probably half that or less

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 01-04-2018, 10:42 PM:

There are almost no projectionists left if you define a projectionist as someone employed by an individual theater to be responsible solely for the technical presentation of movies.

In the mainstream theater industry at least, the job role has largely been replaced by that of the service tech, since the conversion to digital. The everyday process is now almost entirely automated, with the only tasks done by a human operator being to ingest content (in most locations: in some it is delivered automatically online or by satellite, and this will likely increase) and build playlists (sequences of ads, previews, snipes, the feature, etc.) and schedules. Typically, both are done by the site managers.

However, the equipment in the booth needs installing, maintaining and fixing, and that is what service techs do. The balance between what is done by theater staff and what is done by a visiting tech varies from theater to theater. Some sites have theater staff that can do first line maintenance such as filter and bulb swapouts. Others have a visiting tech do everything that involves setting foot in the booth. The larger chains hire and train their own techs, while smaller ones and indies will often have a service contract with a third party service and support vendor. These vendors can range from quite large companies, to sole trading freelancers.

Remote monitoring and support is a major part of it, too. Some sites will have SNMP or other systems set up to "phone home" to a network operations center and automatically alert the duty tech that a bulb is approaching the end of its warranty life, or the light engine in Screen 4 at a 'plex 1,500 miles away is getting too hot. If the fix does require a tech callout to the site, the remote aspect will enable him or her to be sure to show up with all the parts and tools needed. As an example, I diagnosed a failed liquid cooling pump in a Barco earlier this week, by downloading a log from the projector remotely. When my co-worker went out there, he took a pump and a coolant flush kit with him, and so a repair that might have taken two visits in the old days only took one this time.

This is a very different job to that of an old school projectionist. Advanced IT skills (especially in setting up and configuring IP local area networks) are needed, as is knowledge of audio systems, but less, though some, electronics and mechanics. I get the impression that a significant number of techs come directly to the job from outside the movie industry, now; probably because now there are no more projectionists, the traditional career development route from projectionist to service tech has disappeared with them. One of the people I was at Barco school with had recently been hired from the IT department at a bank by a big theater chain, so she was very comfortable with the computing (and DCI security) aspects of the job, but had never heard the terms "flat" and "scope" before!

As you'll see from the job ads posted on this site, digital cinema service techs are in demand, and I'd have thought that somebody who is strong in at least one of the core skill sets would have a good shot at them.

Oh, and the working hours are very different from those of a traditional projectionist, too. A typical working day for me consists of a service call starting at 6am, with the aim of getting finished by around noon, and the first show of the day; the exact opposite of an old school projectionist, who would typically work from late morning to late evening. All bets are off when dealing with sudden breakdowns, though.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 01-05-2018, 07:00 AM:

Don't forget the "overnight" or 3rd Shift. I find myself doing that a bit. Theatres can start up by 10am, which really constrains what one can do. When you work the Midnight to 10+ hours, you can really do quite a bit and you don't have any show-starts (or people) getting in your way (having to work around). The only thing to "dodge" is the cleaning crew that likely will come in at some point and they'll do their thing while you are tuning a room!

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 01-05-2018, 10:01 AM:

Well done Leo!

- Carsten

Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 01-05-2018, 02:31 PM:

quote: Randy Stankey
There aren’t any projectionists anymore

I agree that in this age of mindless multiplexes, the term "projectionst"
has largely disappeared as a unique job description at most venues.

On the other hand, I'm doing quite well at it, working not
so much for the usual "public" venues, but at several private
screening & preview rooms, and at several film festivals, both
locally and out of town.

I have no shortage of work, and at times I'm actually over-booked,
and at certain times of the year I can sometimes find myself working
7 days a week. (But as much as I enjoy what I do, even < I > need
to take an occasional "mental health break" !)

And when I work, I WORK! Most of the venues I work at are not set
up with any kind of automation. If I'm running film, it's usually change
overs. And sometimes I'm also handling microphones & lights. (manually)

When I'm not booked up with screening room jobs (which happens rarely)
I'm registered with the local stagehands union and I get sent out to work
large screen projection at corporate events & trade shows at the convention
center or one of the big hotels in town.

I like not being 'stuck' working at one job or venue. Every job, especially
the live shows, comes with its' own set of problems to solve, and I enjoy
the challenge. In fact, the more difficult the job, the more "fun" I have.

Hours and work days can be long and unpredictable. For example I was
planning on not working this Sunday, but yesterday morning around 5am,
I started getting 'urgent' text messages and e-mails to run a show early
Sunday morning for some director flying up from LA who wants to preview
his film it some industry people up here in San Francisco. So much for
sleeping in this weekend!

As to how to get started in "the business", things were a lot different
now than when I first started doing this stuff in the early 1970's.

Back then, least in New York where I was living at the time, you HAD to be
in the union to do projection work. When I became interested in this stuff,
I was constantly told that unless I had a relative "in the business" getting
a union card was almost impossible.

But through persistence and getting to know some people, I eventually
got a break. (Note: when going this route, there's a fine line between
being "persistent" and being a "pain in the ass".)

Through hard work, establishing a good reputation for reliability and being
resourceful at solving technical problems on the fly, and sometimes just
being in the right place at the right time, I managed to get to where I'm
at today.

Yes, there were few years in the 1980s & 90's where I worked as an engineer
or production assistant in the television business. I was also an assistant
cameraman on several low budget theatrical films (that actually got released)
or were on HBO) and I even worked for awhile as a video & cellular network
engineer for ATT.

But about 10 years ago, as phone companies merged & downsized & I knew my
job was most likely on the chopping block, I managed ( by being in the right
place at the right time) to get back into projection & presentation, and have
been doing it continuously ever since. And I'll probably do it till the day I drop.
. . and I'm OK with that. So go ahead- - call me a "projectionist" I won't mind.
It's what I do.
- - - - - - - It's who I am.

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 01-05-2018, 03:09 PM:

Well done Jim!

[beer]

Posted by William Kucharski (Member # 7246) on 01-05-2018, 04:05 PM:

quote: Leo Enticknap
In the mainstream theater industry at least, the job role has largely been replaced by that of the service tech, since the conversion to digital. The everyday process is now almost entirely automated, with the only tasks done by a human operator being to ingest content (in most locations: in some it is delivered automatically online or by satellite, and this will likely increase) and build playlists (sequences of ads, previews, snipes, the feature, etc.) and schedules. Typically, both are done by the site managers.

Thanks, that's kind of what I was looking for.

He's got a LOT of experience in the computer field but would enjoy repair/diagnosis and even pseudo-mindless tasks like ingest and bugging Deluxe for the keys and turning the volume on the processors back up to something approximating the levels they are supposed to be set at when he leaves. :-)

Real projectionists, like those who ran the 70mm Dunkirk shows at most venues this summer, have my greatest respect.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 01-05-2018, 05:54 PM:

quote: William Kucharski
Real projectionists, like those who ran the 70mm Dunkirk shows at most venues this summer, have my greatest respect.

Actually, a Real projectionist is the fellow who ran carbon arc changeover houses, dealing with Nitrate film, is the in-house mechanic who knew how to make something work out of nothing just to keep the screen lit along with picture and sound, so to baffle the public on the magic shows we put on where they think we use videotape or optical discs for the content.

Where I'm at, I'm one of the Ast Mgrs, but also more the location projectionist/techncian since I progressed from film to digital and learning as I move forward within this industry.

Posted by William Kucharski (Member # 7246) on 01-05-2018, 08:50 PM:

Point taken and ceded.

It was magical watching a projectionist do a reel change on a two carbon arc projector setup.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 01-06-2018, 12:54 PM:

You don't want to be a projectionist, you want to become a projection technician. There are not enough to go around as it is! If you have an IT background it will make it easier to get into... Projection work and maintenance these days involves a lot of IT work and the IT end of things seems difficult for some of the old timer projector repair guys to grasp.

Mark

Posted by Sam D. Chavez (Member # 1841) on 01-06-2018, 02:41 PM:

quote: Mark Gulbrandsen
The IT end of things seems difficult for some of the old timer projector repair guys to grasp.

I resemble that remark. It's true, there are projection tech jobs around. I don't think it's remotely possible to break into the business as an operator except in NY, LA and SF. Maybe Toronto. And there would have to be some luck involved as in retirement etc.

Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 01-06-2018, 03:55 PM:

One of the larger chains has assistant managers perform the bulb changes and filter cleanings, called Technical Assistants. I am one of those. In my building there are two assistants who split the duties, which also include cleaning the digital menu boards, cleaning out the POS terminals in box and concession and build and ingest playlists. I have had to disassemble more than a few ticket printers to degunk them. My least favorite job now is replacing a bad battery back-up, which in my opinion are scant more than lead bricks with wires attached. In other words, I am low level IT. One could learn my job after becoming an assistant but one still has to perform the other management duties that come with it like lording over employees and helping customers with their concerns. One who simply wants an IT job can certainly do that without setting foot in a movie theater.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 01-06-2018, 06:29 PM:

Honestly, I'd say that there is less IT required of the theatre tech than is being presented here. There is a level of it. You have to know what we use in the industry or your employer requires for IT structure but that is about it. You need not be an IT guru to have a functional/working knowledge of what you work with.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 01-06-2018, 07:27 PM:

To someone who would be challenged by connecting their iPad to a (DHCP-enabled) wifi router, we would qualify as IT gurus. To someone who manages the servers in a Google datacenter, we're newbies. It's all relative.

The traditional projectionist's job description essentially consisted of film handling, plus basic to intermediate level mechanics and electronics in dealing with maintenance issues. None of the essential pieces of equipment in a 35mm booth were essentially PCs with dedicated hardware attached to the motherboard, in the way that DCP servers (for example) are. There were significant variations within that: in the megachains, the projectionist tended not to do higher level maintenance and repairs, but (s)he did in the smaller chains and indies, especially those in remote locations.

There is far less (in my experience, at least) of the mechanics and electronics in a typical d-cinema tech's job description. Fault finding is done by reading computer-generated logs, based on the output of sensors, and then replacing the entire component when you've identified what has gone bad (liquid cooling pump, ICP board, RAID drive, whatever). We're not expected to fault find down to component level on a board (which an advanced projectionist in the film days was), but we are expected to read and make sense of automated log data (which a projectionist never was).

I think the amount of maintenance that digital cinema installations need has taken the industry somewhat by surprise; though it wouldn't surprise anyone with a background in IT. Theater owners were sold on the idea that once installed, the projectors and servers would sit, minding their own business for years on end, until finally they'd be thrown out and replaced. In fact, it's only the film handling aspect that has gone away: routine to intermediate level maintenance and repair is still needed, but most theaters now do not have someone working permanently on the site who is capable of doing it.

Jobs that a generation ago, would have been done by the chief projectionist, now have to be done by a visiting tech. James's arrangement sounds interesting: it looks like his theater has realized this, and is trying to bring some of these skills back in house.

Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 01-07-2018, 04:07 PM:

Our corporate office demands all assistant managers be trained on xenon bulb changing, although most never perform the task again after training. I do the majority of the bulb changing. The Barco projectors have A and B maintenance which must be done every 30 to 90 days, which is the filter cleaning and a thorough dusting. When we have red tail light incidents (which I troubleshoot on my own, usually by rebooting the Barco) the other managers will contact the Support Center and an agent there will help the assistant do whatever needs doing, though often there will be a wait. We have spare Barco parts and a Doremi IMB, along with a spare SMS and a spare USL sound processor (mounted and hooked up on our TMS rack). I have yet to use the spare processor. We have to inventory these parts monthly. Our booth engineer has recently demanded we have a booth log we send him monthly via email on our Support Center calls and bulb changes and any other oddball things we encounter. To me this work is second nature but I can see some less experienced assistant who gets assigned Technical Assistant get in over their heads.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 01-07-2018, 04:41 PM:

As one who has worked full-time in IT for many years, I can say that the IT side of D-cinema is pretty basic, and should be able to be understood by anyone who is familar with a typical small-business office network. The troubleshooting skills and process (reduce the problem to the minimum number of components and then test each component in sequence) is similar as well. That said, the office job comes with regular hours and a fixed work location. Higher-end IT jobs tend to be more interesting than this and have greater growth potential, too. (Obviously, cinema service requires other skills, besides IT knowledge. It has always been a multi-disciplined profession.)

My work in cinema exhibition has always been part-time (for twenty years, as of April!). I love movies and wouldn't give it up, but, at the moment, I am only really doing the occasional "film" festival and special event screenings. I think that I have shown more 70mm last year than 35mm and D-cinema combined. This is a job that has never required more knowledge or been more difficult to do well, but it still pays poorly, and the work is irregular. All of the old formats and equipment are still with us, but DCPs need to be presented properly, too. This is a job that really can only be done for the love of it, at this point. No one would be crazy enough to get into it for money or growth potential. And lots of talented operators with the requisite skills are under-employed at the moment.

One function that I strongly believe needs to be served somewhere is education of "film"-makers on how to make their work ready for big-screen exhibition (typically at festivals). Many of these people are able to shoot and edit their material well and produce a decently watchable movie, but have trouble getting it into an acceptable exhibition format (35mm, videotape, or DCP) that can be shown by cinemas without problems. Just because something plays fine on a laptop with cheap computer speakers does not mean that it will look and sound good in a theatre with a large screen and proper sound system. Unfortunately, the people who need this service the most tend to have no money, so I am not sure how one would go about making a business out of this ("post-production consultant"? "exhibition consultant"?). Someone should try, though, because I am sick of getting festival material that does not play properly without significant fixes.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 01-07-2018, 10:02 PM:

I now do a bit of this for some of the fests I used to project in my last job, and you're right: I don't think anyone could make a viable living serving that market alone and with no other source of income. The "microbudget" and student content creators who submit a ProRes file, or "My DCP" on a drive that violates all the ISDCF formatting rules to a fest, cannot afford to have their content prepared for digital cinema exhibition by a dedicated lab or post house. If they could have, they would have. I do it for a lot less (around the minimum wage, once the cost of my time, depreciation of hardware and software, and all the other overheads are factored in), as and when downtime from my day job allows, and with disclaimers to the effect that I cannot offer the same extent of support and backup that paying a post house four figures would buy.

Given that the technology needed to do this is well within the grasp of this sort of content creator (a range of decent DCP rendering plugins for FCP and Adobe Premiere are available for $200-500, and if you're willing to do a two-stage process - output from your NLE to TIFF or DPX frames, then DCP-o-Matic to render the DCP - you don't have to spend a penny on software), I find it surprising that few if any "film" schools teach their students anything about digital cinema exhibition. I've met literally dozens of their students and recent graduates who hadn't heard the term DCP until a fest they wanted to submit to asked them for one.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 01-08-2018, 11:33 AM:

Leo is braver than I am. I make DCPs all the time for festivals and events at venues where I know the equipment that is in place, but I can't bring myself to offer that service to the public, since I don't really want to get the 2am call from some theatre somewhere that can't play the thing. I would do it for a friend who asked nicely, but I don't want the customer-service headache of dealing with the general public.

I normally just tell people to go to Foto-Kem or any other reputable lab. Like sound mixing or color correction, DCP (or 35mm or tape) output is something that is worth paying for an expert to do. I also tell people to QC whatever they get back from the lab before sending it out for exhibition.

It might be interesting if someone (probably a lab or theatre owner) offered a mail-in service to inspect DCPs and verify them on-screen. I tend to think that this is something where the director should be present to confirm that the picture and soundtrack are correct, but a cheap mail-in operation might be better than nothing, which is what many people seem to be doing.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 01-08-2018, 12:47 PM:

All the DCPs I make are for people I already know, or who are referred to me by people I already know; and I make it clear to all of them that I am charging them something like 10-15% of what Indie DCP or FotoKem would, because they don't get the answering calls at 2am service, or test ingestions and screenings before delivery being done, that they would if they hired a full service post house. I don't advertise or go looking for DCP-making work, because I have neither the time nor the infrastructure needed to compete with the dedicated labs and post houses that do it.

My customers are people who don't have the money to hire a full service lab or post house, but aren't in a position to make their own DCPs, either. I find it a bit puzzling that so many people in this position seem to exist, but the fact that few if any film schools teach their students anything about digital cinema distribution and exhibition must surely explain it to some extent. This is a change - a generation ago, these kids would at least have graduated having threaded a 16mm portable once or twice.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 01-08-2018, 02:27 PM:

quote: Steve Guttag
Honestly, I'd say that there is less IT required of the theatre tech than is being presented here.

I couldn't disagree more on that statement. While the basic networking wire connections are easy to learn, today's typical service person is NOT JUST DOING PROJECTION maintenance and will likely deal with multiple networks in any given complex. You look at all the work that a Wrong Service Co. tech does and not only do you need to be proficient in projection maintenance, but you also have to know how to install and repair video displays, menu boards, UPS systems, and ticketing systems among other things. Repairing LED signs is right around the corner men! The techs in some large chains are also in this have to be able to "repair all" position. And honestly, with projectors being as reliable as they are, at least the ones I've installed have been, the average tech would have plenty of free time to pursue doing this other stuff.

Mark

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 01-08-2018, 08:29 PM:

So with what you just said, what heavy IT is there? Much of it becomes cookie-cutter, after a while. That is, you know-what-you-know but you are not what I would consider completely proficient at IT in a general sense while being sufficiently proficient with IT in a Cinema sense.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 01-09-2018, 11:12 AM:

My point is that it's not cookie cutter for someone who is not familiar with IT and theaters get more and more vested into being completely IT based as time goes on. If you are going to be a tech working for any kind of a service company then you better know IT coming in or you are going to be one lost dude.

Mark

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 01-09-2018, 07:39 PM:

While knowing IT is an asset, I still say you are making MUCH more of IT in cinema than actually is being used. There are certain levels one has to have a working knowledge but not to the degree a real IT pro would need to understand things.