This is topic I dislike incompetent projectionists.. in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by Daniel Boisson (Member # 1027) on 01-04-2003, 10:59 PM:
 
I finally go to see Gangs of New York and this is what I get, at my own theatre, with the projectionist working that replaced me while I'm at college....

First the slides start. All we see is the bright light, so I go upstairs. The projectionist didn't bother to set the slides to the start position, so I did. Then the movie starts finally, 5 minutes after the start time. The slides ended at 8, and we saw more empty slides for 5 min. The shutter opens and there is no sound, and the picture is excactly halfway in frame. After several seconds of the picture moving all over the place, everything turns off, and the lights come on a few seconds later. After adjusting the film (century head), the movie starts again, still out of frame, and still no sound . After more moving around, the picture stops in one place, still out of frame. About 10 seconds before then end of the trailer, we finally get sound, in stereo. At this point, I'm ready to take over. We finally get DTS sound just as the movie is starting, and the frame is fixed a good 30 min. later.

Sorry about the rant, continue with your activities....
 

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Posted by Paul Cassidy (Member # 951) on 01-04-2003, 11:24 PM:
 
It's a pity your talking to the converted , but I've had to do the same thing one time at a Single screen with automated projection , I just got tied of watching an out of focus film that I went into the booth and corrected the situation , sometimes when you need a good job done you have to do it yourself.
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 01-05-2003, 02:10 AM:
 
I can relate, guys. Runs out of frame/focus/whatever for 10 minutes... no one notices, so ya go in and fix it. The audience applauds and the theatre staff is none the wiser. This is often easier than tracking down someone who can find a manager, and then having to wait for the info to travel upstream to someone who can do something about it, etc..

Pitiful.
 

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Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 01-05-2003, 02:22 AM:
 

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... no one notices, so ya go in and fix it. The audience applauds and the theatre staff is none the wiser.

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Best not ever do that at one of my places. You'd be sent out the door... but then, so would the staff that missed the fact that you got into the booth in the first place... along with whomever allowed the show to run that long out of focus (hopefully, not me! )

On the other hand though, it's amazing how some people can manage to get access to a theatre's booth. 16 years ago, my wife and I attended the local drive-in. In our radio, we could hear the sound from one of the other (fully speakered) screens better than the one we were in. I went to the concession, introduced myself to the manager, asked if I could help & she said "go ahead". I went upstairs and fixed it. The manager did not follow, and never knew what I had done in her booth.

Years later, we visited a local indoor quad and, after 20 minutes of enduring an out of focus picture, asked the manager if it could be trimmed a bit. They made it worse and it stayed that way through the rest of the show. That theatre closed about 6 months later.

Ironically... we now own both of them!
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 01-05-2003, 04:18 AM:
 

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Best not ever do that at one of my places. You'd be sent out the door...

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