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I don’t think everyone realises the work involved with being a projectionist and the important things one has to do in preparation. For me getting the nicotine and caffeine levels right is the first thing that is addressed. Then and only then I am able to concentrate and focus on the task in hand! Secondly checking the diary. That’s very important! Sometimes extra showings get snuck in every now and then and of course you need to know this! My job involves “building”, “showing” and “breaking” the films. My name is Jimmy. I am the projectionist.
The films will usually arrive about a week or a few days before the showing. I like to get them built early just incase any problems arise that need sorting out. An average film will arrive in maybe 5 or 6 reels which need stuck together and put on one big reel. So firstly you have to work out whether the film is tail first or head first. The heads and the tails are the bits you’ll sometimes see the numbers counting down on and are found at the beginning and end of every reel and eventually at the start and end of the built film. They help you determine whether you are building the film in the correct order, help protect the film in transit and finally allow the projector enough time to get up to speed when your starting the feature so you don’t miss anything or have to hear the sound track speeding up just like when your misbehaving on a record deck. Tail first means you have to build it backwards. Starting with the credits and ending at the start. Head first is the opposite. So as your removing the head or tail from the reel you have to check that the one frame that is on it corresponds with that of the first on the reel. Sometimes they can arrive the wrong way round. If you don’t notice this when building the films you can end up with disgruntled punters wondering why half way through Meryl Stroop is now standing on the ceiling and talking backwards. This has happened… its horrible and the applause you get from the unsympathetic crowd when its sorted is something you never ever want to hear!
So the film is built. I am getting quick at it now, it usually takes about the same amount of time as Jimi Hendrix’s Axis bold as love does to finish playing and my coffee to have got cold enough to be drank. That’s about 38 minutes if your wondering and yes I prefer my coffee on the cold side.
If the films are already built I like to arrive an hour before the showing. When building it I would have found out what aspect the film is in and replaced the lens in the projector accordingly. If you get this wrong people on the screen can become either very short and fat or long and tall while the punters just get understandably short tempered. It is written clearly on the film though and you shouldn’t get this wrong when working with 35mm... Now I play the waiting game. Ill be sat in my dark little room thinking about everything that could go wrong it can be quite tense! Especially if the films construction hasn’t been straight forward. The projector is a Wiley old beast as well. Once its going its fine but sometimes it likes to test you. Cogs, clutches, motors, lasers and a really really bright light bulb! it’s a proper machine. After I’ve checked everything a few more times the door will open and I’ll be given the go ahead to start the film. I then proceed to Show the final slide wait for it to finish, dowser (basically switch off or cover up) the digital projector, fade the house lights and music, switch on the 35mm projector and the unit that rewinds the film, wait a second or for it to get up to speed and flick the dowser switch on the lamp (which lets the light through and in doing so starts projection) and unmute the audio. A few quick adjustments are sometimes needed to make sure the film is in line and in focus. I then usually nip through to the auditorium to see if the sound levels are good. You cant tell when in the control room because its sound proof.
With the 35mm projector if something goes wrong its usually really obvious and fixable in some way or other. Thankfully things rarely do go wrong with the player but I still cant help getting a little twinge in my stomach if it takes a milli second longer than it should to switch over to the next layer on the disc!
When the film finishes it’s just a case of switching the lights back on and waiting for everyone to leave. Then I’ll break the film if I have time.
Much easier than building, breaking a film involves rewinding the film, finding where the reels end, splitting them, putting the heads and tails back on Then and packing it away.
At times this job can be testing. Other times it will be fairly straight forward and Sometimes it’s even exciting. It’s certainly not boring and I usually get something from doing it. Whether that’s being inspired by a good film or getting to test the popcorn in the bar, either way its all good.
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