Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Toronto Star Article about Projectionists

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Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 07-07-2003, 08:38 AM:

"A Flickering Life"

For film projectionists, the cinema booth is filled with hours of isolation...

Toronto Star, July 6, 2003

Posted by Ken Layton (Member # 133) on 07-07-2003, 09:31 AM:

But it calls him a "camera" operator running a Super Lume-x "camera". [Roll Eyes]

Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 07-07-2003, 10:23 AM:

quote:
But it calls him a "camera" operator running a Super Lume-x "camera".

Idiots.

At least they got 'aperture plate' right (thru his few quotes) [Roll Eyes]

-Aaron

Posted by Dan Lyons (Member # 1454) on 07-07-2003, 12:44 PM:

Not a very nice thing to write...

Stupid newspaper writers! [fu]

Danny

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 07-07-2003, 01:14 PM:

The journalist really put forth a nice effort to find such terrible quotes and to show his own ignorance with "camera" so well. Anyone reading this will now know about how projectionists like to do stupid things like raise alligators and how petty the job is. After all, there's no skill. It's just feeding plastic into a machine, sort of like faxing. [Roll Eyes]

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 07-07-2003, 01:33 PM:

I thought he managed to identify some of the key issues, notably the use of automation technology by the big chains to 'dumb down' the professional role of the projectionist and therefore save a buck or two. But he let himself down by just not understanding the basic technical processes that go on in a projection box (of which calling a projector a camera is the most glaring example, but not the only one) and resorting to the Cinema Paradiso cliches to cover up what was either sloppy note-taking, not having the time or inclination to transcribe his taped interview accurately or cutting corners to meet a deadline.

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 07-07-2003, 01:38 PM:

So what do Film-Tech's Toronto area members think about the article? Do you know about any of the anecdotes Mr. McKay wrote about (e.g., the alligator story, "liquid therapy" at Eaton Centre?)

Posted by Dave Macaulay (Member # 813) on 07-07-2003, 03:40 PM:

I don't know anything about projectionist's pets - other than the mice and squirrels common in cinemas.
The Eaton Centre cinemas were, indeed, a horrorshow. 16mm rear projection mini-theatres squeezed into a parking garage level. The projectionists had a fair bit of work to do for show starts but not much during shows, so I suppose they could go out to a bar - but I didn't know of any problems. There are boozers in any profession. I've heard some tales of alcoholic projectionists in IA173 but much more lurid tales of journalists, lawyers, and politicians with a love for the bottle...
I can't figure out the point of the Star article. The Star has been getting nutty lately, with things like a front page spread about the lack of non-white players on the Blue Jays baseball team (huh?). It was never a "hard news" paper but lately they've gone off the rails IMO.
As far as the Fox goes, this is a "funky" rep house that can't be compared to a chain cinema. If the candy girl is actually a girl when you're there, there'll be more a lot piercings and tattoos than AMC would tolerate. I wonder what they could post to the "what are you wearing" thread...
I don't remember seeing any "lounge area" in the booth, and except for the rewind room I can't imagine where it could go. The booth is tiny and pretty full with the two Century 35s and a 16mm, rectifiers, sound equipment, and who knows how many film cans - they run 2 different films a night plus some matinees (ie Movies for Mommies), and usually change the program every day. Doing changeovers on 2000' reels doesn't give you much time to "lounge" anyway! This is not a job that one of the multiplex "booth usher" types could manage.

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 07-07-2003, 04:35 PM:

This guy's article is an example of journalism done wrong. He is contributing to the demise of print-on-paper publishing and pushing intelligent people to the internet and other more reliable sources for information and news.

His "cutesy" comments and analogies only point to his, and his editor's stupidity.

>>> Phil

Posted by Peter Kerchinsky (Member # 1098) on 07-07-2003, 04:51 PM:

This writer is either nuts or he was playing around with this type of story.
First of all we (projectionists) all have drug and booze problems?
Then he called us "monkeys in the booth". Great.
I've often used the term "trained monkeys could do this job" but only when referring to the suits in the corporations who throw us out.
Not quite sure I like this guy.
By the way, our union contract does not allow for any TV or radios or visitors outside the company in the booth while working. This guy sounds like he's living in that place. Talk about isolation.

Posted by Mike Pennell (Member # 1692) on 07-08-2003, 05:14 AM:

What a crock of [bs]

Posted by Gerard S. Cohen (Member # 994) on 07-08-2003, 08:40 AM:

While the reporter is seeking entertainment value and may not be knowledgeable about the technical aspects of our craft, he does touch on the mental health issues affecting old-time projectionists who spent most of their years in isolation.

The fantasy of being a showman bringing amusement and culture
to multitudes, while the projectionist is invisible to the public, enduring enforced isolation, seems a contradiction but was very real. The writer piles on extreme examples from the lifetimes of several projectionists to make his report interesting and entertaining, because he must have understood a chronicle of daily tasks and long stretches of boredom would not make an entertaining article. He's not writing for us!

The suicide story may be apocryphal, and the extrusion machine a humorous metaphor, but the writer's concern with the mental health of the projectionist attempting to convert an inhospitable environment into one of personal amenities, is one that rings true for me. I turned a booth into a cinema art museum, library, workshop and kitchen by decorating it with framed lobby cards, 8x10 glossies, huge posters, glass-doored bookcases, a microwave, and cabinets of my favorite tools.

Other booths I worked had carpeting, refrigerators, A/C, a complete kitchen, a dog house, a working computer, telephone access, and comfortable recliner chair. On the other hand, I've worked booths without windows, access up a rusty ladder through a heavy wooden trap door, toilet in the middle of the floor, and grit and dust all over.

The author selects his details for effect, but creates many misleading impressions. For example, not everyone works long hours, even though the theatre might be open 365 days per year. I worked for years full time in a four-man, single screen theatre running two 6-hour shifts daily. We'd work three days on, then four days off, then four and three. Days and shifts were arranged by the projectionists themselves. I worked five years at a theatre running three shifts daily. Usually my
job entailed 21 to 24 hours per week plus overtime. My last job, with a crew reduced from four to three to 2 1/2 then two,
increased my hours to 33 per week. While supporting my wife through her medical residency, I worked more than one job at a time, but afterwards, cut back to one. True, the chains would now prefer full-time projectionists to work a 40 hour week, but this was unheard of years ago.

Most projectionists I've worked with were well-adjusted to the isolation of the booth. Many were readers, some prefering biography and history books. The regulars owned their own homes or condos, put their children through college, and some retired to Florida or Hawaii. I met a couple who were ill-suited to the work, being too gregarious to appreciate solitude. I enjoyed working alone, after many years surrounded by faculty and immature students while a teacher.

I was never aware of alcoholic or binge-drinking projectionists, though some old-timers became somewhat deaf and fidgety. After all, one's reputation was only as good as his last changeover!

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 07-08-2003, 09:32 AM:

I, for one, like to take to drugs and alcohol to cure my isolation trauma that occurs with every projectionist without exception. This was recommended by Kodak at their training seminar for projectionists. The seminar was taught by former projectionists and they were, of course, 100% wacky and kooky! They also showed us how to help stop shedding in the cameras, and though their advice was decent, we started using Filmguard instead. Our cameras were then 100% clean all the time! Anyway the drugs and alcohol really help and I can't recommend it enough. The younger you start, the better. That way once you become a projectionist you won't go nuts since you are always stoned and drunk.

The article forgot to mention that 98% of all murderers in the world are current or former projectionists.

Posted by William Leland III (Member # 1400) on 07-08-2003, 10:17 AM:

quote:
television, VCR, radio, computer with Internet access, washroom and assorted furniture,

Furniture in a booth, my god. I consider a chair with a wheel, luxury. An alligator in booth, these people are crazy.

I do agree with the solitude of booth. We are solitary people. We all have a common factor, we are able to be by ourselves for a period of time. I sometimes feel the loneliness of boot, it sucks but you deal with it.

I'm sure alot of us have trained people after the first day or so can't take the fact that we work alone for hours at a time.

Posted by Dick Vaughan (Member # 540) on 07-08-2003, 11:06 AM:

William

If you talk to Matt nicely I am sure he'll even let you have 4 wheels on your chair!

Posted by John Spooner (Member # 1565) on 07-08-2003, 11:39 AM:

Somehow I would safely assume that Mr Mallouk would NOT be a member of Film Tech!
The gentleman sounds like a modern day version of Dr Zachary Smith from "Lost in Space".

Posted by William Leland III (Member # 1400) on 07-08-2003, 01:06 PM:

Dick, I'd rather ask Matt for his parking permit than have wheels on my chair [Big Grin]

. How do you know Matt?

Posted by Dick Vaughan (Member # 540) on 07-08-2003, 01:15 PM:

Matt was in Toronto at the same time as me on the IMAX technician course.Say hello to him from me.