Projectionist training - this is likely the stupidest news piece of all time

[Brad Miller]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EIo3gFl5b8

(4 min 38 sec video)

Anyone see a big problem with this? The real stupidity starts at about 2 minutes in.

[Randy Stankey]

It's a nice video except for the one tiny, little problem...

[Kevin Hewus]

You're kidding me. When I run my platter I have never been late for a changeover.

[Randy Stankey]

Aw, you spoiled it... It was supposed to be a secret!

[Marcel Birgelen]

You're kidding me. When I run my platter I have never been late for a changeover.

Psst... you weren't supposed to reveal that your platter controls space and time.

[Randy Stankey]

Beside the changeover issue, I noticed that they went through a whole series of operations; projector, lights and sound, that would normally be handled by automation.

They were using a Christie console which has full automation that controls all of those things.

There was no need to start the projector, lower the house lights, open the dowser then activate the sound.

At the beginning of the video, they made a point to say that projection operators don't just push the "START" button but, with that projector, that's just what you do. A good operator should check to be sure that the projector's automation is doing what it's supposed to but they don't have to do it themselves unless the automation, somehow, malfunctions.

If they didn't do that then their whole thesis that the operator doesn't simply press a button wouldn't be true.

Overall, the video was good but the way they went about presenting it was oversimplified to the point where it's laughable to anybody who knows the least little bit about the realities of a projectionist's job.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Well, they are teaching the "unknown" to a group of new monkey's, so they may have left automation out of the picture for now in order to force them to learn how to run everything manually. I had customers that actually did that with new monkeys. Then week two, they learned about automation.

[Randy Stankey]

...they may have left automation out of the picture for now in order to force them to learn how to run everything manually.

I agree with that!

I've always believed that anybody who drives a car should know how to drive a stick shift, even if their daily drive vehicle has an automatic.

First, it teaches proper, safe driving when you are first learning.

Second, what would happen if you have to drive a car with a manual transmission in an emergency? We could be out in the middle of nowhere and I could have a broken leg that makes it impossible to drive. How is the other person supposed to get me to the hospital if they can't drive the car?

I like computers, automation and machines but I also think it's important to know how to do things, manually, when (not if) technology fails.

[Jim Cassedy]

MovieSchool.jpg
Advertisement from a 1931 issue of Popular something-or-other. (I'd be wary of a projection
school that shows a man who appears to be operating a camera- - and a hand-cranked one
at that- - I doubt many "talkies" were made or projected with hand cranked equipment)

When I first started in this business back in the early 1970's, there actually was a written
test you had to pass to get into The Union. (and in NY, at that time, it was impossible to
get into projection work without a union card- - unless you wanted to have your legs broken)
- -and it wasn't a very simple test. I wish I could remember some of the questions, but the
only one I remember is the one question I got wrong, which had to do with whether or not
AWG 6 was adequate for a 40amp (dc) arc supply.
There was also a 'practical' test where you had to demonstrate your threading skills. They
would send you to a theater and you had to thread & run all or part of a show under the
supervision of a senior operator/inspector. So you had to have a pretty good knowledge
of several types of projectors, since until you got to the theater, you didn't know if you
were going to have to run a Simplex, or Motiograph, etc.

[Martin McCaffery]

Tough union. Makes them run 20min reels on platters

I haven't run a platter in about 40 years, but I still have nightmares about things like having to run them with 20 min reels. I've go too idea why.

[Ryan Gallagher]

I have a cdrom vintage rip of some projectionist training from VHS era, I should upload that somewhere.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

I have a cdrom vintage rip of some projectionist training from VHS era, I should upload that somewhere.

To Youtube, then the whole world can see it. The video of my VistaVision projector has seen 6.5K hits.

[Marco Giustini]

O Sh%t! Are you telling me I missed ALL the cues for the 10 years I ran film???? OMG!