Ask a projectionist

[Tricia McMillan]

Whenever people find out that I am a projectionist at a cinema (even though it is a part-time job), I always end up getting swamped with questions about how the projectors work, and about the business side of cinemas as well.

In case any of you are curious about what goes on behind the scenes at a cinema, feel free to ask me in this thread. I would be happy to answer your questions.

 

[Shaggy]

I guess when I think about movies, I think about those big cans of film that you see in the ... are, old movies

Is that basically still whats used, or has the technology moved on?

 

[Tricia McMillan]

I guess when I think about movies, I think about those big cans of film that you see in the ... are, old movies

Is that basically still whats used, or has the technology moved on?

The industry is in a bit of a transition period regarding that. Digital cinema has been developed, standardized, and distributed. North America tending to lead the race on anything cinema-related, generally, is ahead of the rest of the world I would guess, but still, only about 30% of cinemas use digital projection for feature films in the United States so far.

The rest of us (my cinema included, we haven't made the "digital swap" yet) still does use those "old" cans of film. 35mm film to be specific. They aren't really shipped in cans anymore, not for Hollywood films, but the cinema where I work also regularly shows foreign films (mostly from India) which come shipped in cans. Hollywood films come nicely packed on plastic reels that's compatible with our equipment for building up (assembling it from the small reels - which are on average about 20 minutes of footage each) movies. The Indian ones are incompatible with our equipment but can be "brute forced" on so to speak. It's a real pain in the ass.

Especially considering we normally receive them on a Friday, build it up, play it once or maybe twice, then we have to tear it back down and put it into its cans the next day.

 

[Shaggy]

The industry is in a bit of a transition period regarding that. Digital cinema has been developed, standardized, and distributed. North America tending to lead the race on anything cinema-related, generally, is ahead of the rest of the world I would guess, but still, only about 30% of cinemas use digital projection for feature films in the United States so far.

The rest of us (my cinema included, we haven't made the "digital swap" yet) still does use those "old" cans of film. 35mm film to be specific. They aren't really shipped in cans anymore, not for Hollywood films, but the cinema where I work also regularly shows foreign films (mostly from India) which come shipped in cans. Hollywood films come nicely packed on plastic reels that's compatible with our equipment for building up (assembling it from the small reels - which are on average about 20 minutes of footage each) movies. The Indian ones are incompatible with our equipment but can be "brute forced" on so to speak. It's a real pain in the ass.

Especially considering we normally receive them on a Friday, build it up, play it once or maybe twice, then we have to tear it back down and put it into its cans the next day.

I see, i didn't realise there was so much preparation work, plus repackaging back (in the Indian films case) ... what about sound, is there much mixing required, do you do that, or does somebody else? ... do you actually have time to watch the films, or are you too busy monitoring stuff/with other duties, while the film's playing

 

[Tricia McMillan]

I see, i didn't realise there was so much preparation work, plus repackaging back (in the Indian films case) ... what about sound, is there much mixing required, do you do that, or does somebody else? ... do you actually have time to watch the films, or are you too busy monitoring stuff/with other duties, while the film's playing

Sound is pre-mixed on the film's soundtrack. The sound, in most cases, is digital data read optically, but there's an analog track on there as a backup. Looks like this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Anamorphic-digital_sound.jpg

As for having time to watch, not really. I do get gaps of about 30-45 minutes a few times per shift but I usually spend them taking my lunch break or cleaning up something upstairs. I have six projectors under my watch, for what it's worth.

Some places ask a single projectionist to run up to 14 of them simultaneously.

 

[shtove]

Uuuh. Cinemas and bookshops are racing to find out which will close down first. Can you predict the winner?

 

[Tricia McMillan]

Uuuh. Cinemas and bookshops are racing to find out which will close down first. Can you predict the winner?

Cant comment on how bookshops are doing, but attendance at the cinema where I work is pretty steady. The advantage that cinemas still have over the "competition" is that very few people can afford to pay for a comparable experience to the large screen, ultra high resolution and high quality audio (and those who can, don't really build huge home theaters).

I would predict that bookshops will never cease to exist, but they'll lose business at a faster rate than cinemas, since online distribution of e-books (legal and pirated) or online sales of books is a much larger loss of business than home video, or even internet movie piracy. If studios released, say, the Blu-ray of a movie at the same time they released it in cinemas, it would be a much different story. It's kind of hard to compare the two markets because of the fundamental difference between book releases and movie releases being split into theatrical runs and home video release.

 

[LittleGuy]

Is the "film splicing" ala Fight Club just an urban myth or have you ever seen it happen?

 

[Tricia McMillan]

Is the "film splicing" ala Fight Club just an urban myth or have you ever seen it happen?

An urban myth, I would say. The 35mm format is used almost exclusively by mainstream cinema these days, so it would be pretty rare to get your hands on some 35mm sections of a pornographic film to splice into a regular movie.

That said, for some of the bigger movies, some of us at my work have been known to cut out a frame or two to keep as a souvenir.

 

[shtove]

If studios released, say, the Blu-ray of a movie at the same time they released it in cinemas, it would be a much different story. It's kind of hard to compare the two markets because of the fundamental difference between book releases and movie releases being split into theatrical runs and home video release.

I guess that means the producers have the upper hand over the retailers. Works the opposite way with supermarkets.

You're not just a projectionist! I guess that's a satisfying job, but there's something more going on, yes?

ps. How does someone in Arizona get to be an ABs fan? I guess with your name there's Scots ancestry.

 

[kaftka]

Where in Arizona are you?

 

[Tricia McMillan]

ps. How does someone in Arizona get to be an ABs fan? I guess with your name there's Scots ancestry.

Where in Arizona are you?

I'm in Tempe, Arizona, for university, originally from Auckland, New Zealand.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

ps. How does someone in Arizona get to be an ABs fan? I guess with your name there's Scots ancestry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tricia_McMillan

 

[Amobokoboko]

Maybe a very stupid question but besides preparing everything. What do you do when the movie(s) is/ are playing. The dad of a friends of mine has the same job and he really loves cinema. But I assume that after one week you have seen all the flicks.

 

[Tricia McMillan]

Maybe a very stupid question but besides preparing everything. What do you do when the movie(s) is/ are playing.

The last thing we would really consider would be watching them. I haven't seen anything that my cinema has.

We have 6 projectors at my work, and the showtimes are generally organized into "sets" where everything starts within 45 minutes. After everything's gotten started up I usually have 45 minutes to an hour until the first one ends and I have to start working again. In those windows of downtime, I do things like take a meal break, or do some other work such as building up or tearing down movies that are about to play/are no longer playing, clean and dust the booth, etc. Though, more often than not, during those gaps, I sit around twiddling my thumbs, read a book, etc.

Can get somewhat boring upstairs. But I have an internet-enabled smartphone so that helps alleviate the boredom between sets.

 

[LittleGuy]

The industry is in a bit of a transition period regarding that. Digital cinema has been developed, standardized, and distributed. North America tending to lead the race on anything cinema-related, generally, is ahead of the rest of the world I would guess, but still, only about 30% of cinemas use digital projection for feature films in the United States so far.

The rest of us (my cinema included, we haven't made the "digital swap" yet) still does use those "old" cans of film. 35mm film to be specific. They aren't really shipped in cans anymore, not for Hollywood films, but the cinema where I work also regularly shows foreign films (mostly from India) which come shipped in cans. Hollywood films come nicely packed on plastic reels that's compatible with our equipment for building up (assembling it from the small reels - which are on average about 20 minutes of footage each) movies. The Indian ones are incompatible with our equipment but can be "brute forced" on so to speak. It's a real pain in the ass.

Especially considering we normally receive them on a Friday, build it up, play it once or maybe twice, then we have to tear it back down and put it into its cans the next day.

Is their a large Indian expat community in Arizona? Or does your cinema play foriegn films just for those interested in seeing a variety of work?

 

[Tricia McMillan]

Is their a large Indian expat community in Arizona? Or does your cinema play foriegn films just for those interested in seeing a variety of work?

The former. The Indian films produced in Hindi attract pretty large crowds for the few showings of them we have (in technicality, they're put on by someone who officially rents out an auditorium to show it "privately" but it's so integrated into how we operate as a business that I usually just simplify it to saying that "we" put them on). That said, being a second-run (discount) cinema, one of our main business operations other than our normal, regular movies, is auditorium rentals. It's harder to rent from a "first run" cinema because they sign restrictive contracts as to how and when the movie must be played; with us it's "do whatever the hell you want with it as long as you pay us our take of the ticket revenue". Also, we're more than happy to rent out our auditoriums, because while our prices are very competitive and reasonable, we tend to make much more money from an auditorium rental than what we would otherwise have in that auditorium in that time slot.

 

[shtove]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tricia_McMillan

Tricia the Troll? hehe