A Projectionists Job at Odeon's Cinema in Guildford

[plinkytx]

Not a projectionist, just thanking you for the video. Sadly another dying trade in this high tech world of ours. :(

[TonyAirlines]

Christie projector! Hell yes, those things are beast!

[AmadeusDevereux]

Interesting. To what extent does automation threaten the role of the projectionist in the 21st century and to what extent, on the other hand, does it improve or enhance it?

[Mxsmanic]

Cool video, with the sound turned off.

[est101010]

As a kid, I always thought that movies came out of the wall magically.

Well this is a very well put together video, pretty cool pretty cool.

[dom117jd]

@est101010 thanks! :)

[TheJamesmario]

i enjoy home theatre, but long for simulating the real thing...can you tell me the "average" line-up of trailer and bumpers before the movie? i know of the coming soon with 1-3 trailers. but how about before--what kind of ad is before?

[dom117jd]

@TheJamesmario in the UK on average there are 10-15mins of commercial adverts, then the trailers. After trailers are special adverts, for example, Orange sponsorship or cinema loyalty cards. Not all movies will have adverts at the beginning, only the main showings in each screen. (if the cinema has 4 screens then only 4 movies will have adverts, the rest will only have trailers). Hope that helps!

[THEMAN201111]

@TheJamesmario I have been a projectionist for about 3 years now and in the two theater chains that I've worked at, we usually have about 5-7 trailers before the start of a movie. Some of the trailers have been recommended by the studios to be there; others are chosen by us, based on their content, etc. Of course, the rating usually has to be the same -for example: we wouldn't play a trailer for an R-rated film in a PG or G-rated feature, etc.

[mraaronattard]

So yet another projectionist here, great video i will add. been a projectionist for 4 years and i love it. well that was until our 10 cinemas started to get a full digital change over. we have 8 installed and the last 2 next week. as for our old Christie P35GPS's well they are being decommishioned. a very sad thing really. as many of you have said, a dying trade. film was the birth of movies and well now digital is the death of film. and for those wondering the digitals stuff up. ALL THE TIME!!

[armymedic999]

Johnny hard at work look at his lighting speed of work lol

[simplesimon3uk]

Nice video but how can you be guarantee your show starts in rack if you don’t start lacing the projector head from the intermittent sprocket first?

[dom117jd]

@simplesimon3uk hiya, we make sure the intermittent sprocket is in between a turn, then lace the film up making sure it's in rack within the gate, then make sure it's tight against the intermittent sprocket before lifting up the roller under neither to stop the film from slipping and going out of rack (it has a spring to hold the roller up tight against the sprocket). Hope that helps

[LaughingPsycho]

Brings me back to when I was a projectionist. Best job I ever had.

Remember a film falling off the cake stand (platter) one time.

[LaughingPsycho]

Brings me back to when I was a projectionist. Best job I ever had.

[ceddas21]

what can cause a movie to have sound trouble after every splice? because for the Hangover one of our print is having sound trouble with one of the projector I have at work.

[dom117jd]

@ceddas21 How many frames are being cut out in between each splice? and are the sound tracks (both SR and SRD) lining up properly?

[ceddas21]

@dom117jd Both SR and SRD are lining up Properly. I had to use the scissors technique to fix the sound problem or else it will just keep on continuing to have sound issue thought out the reel after each splice.

For making up process my theater usually cut out 1-2 frames at the head and the tail.

[gdcardona91]

looks like you got a stretched print there at 3:04

[spjohnso]

I just finished my first day of training as a projectionist. It's frickin' hard! I caused a brain tangle and they had to cancel the show. Luckily only six people bought tickets.

[kegs202]

I spent 3 years as a projectionist working with the vic 5. Great job but unfortunatley due to the switch to digital now a dying trade.

[dom117jd]

@kegs202 I miss working with the Vic.5's. It's so rare for us to get a print now but when we do.. :D I miss the sounds of them as well lol

[AndyDaviesByTheSea]

See below first. We had a pair of Westrex 35mm machines with Peerless carbon arcs fed by mercury rectifiers and a Westrex sound system (optical.) there was an arc slide projector for big glass slides for the "Will the owner of car registration number XXX please move it" slides and a non-sync (record deck.) There were 5 on the projection staff. The chief projectionist was John Radford, then Jeff, alias Farris Garfield, Paul Edmunds and I forget the other guy's name. Andy Davies ..gw0jxm

[dom117jd]

@AndyDaviesByTheSea sounds good mate, I have to say wish I had the slide projector for messages to the audience, that would be cool.

[AndyDaviesByTheSea]

Thanks for the posting;Boy it's changed a bit, I used to be a projectionist at the ABC Cinema Selly Oak Birmingham in the mid 1960's. It was a 1500 seater and yet when I look for that cinema on the net all I can find is one 1920's image (the one with the policeman standing in the road) I'd love to see that beautiful art-deco interior again Straight from school, it was the best job I ever had!...Andy see next

[NewABomb]

man im jealous. really nice equipment. dont have to wear uniform. back door entrance. breaks. been projectionist for about 3 years now.

[tdemelo70]

ha ha that pretty much sums it up..... only it's a lot more interesting with 18 theaters i remember doing that with 8 but with our i max and all 18 theaters we barely have time to breathe.... it's fun though 

[tagore4841]

very nice video.

[TheDEATHSTARIII]

are u trained on the job? im interested in becoming one

[dom117jd]

@TheDEATHSTARIII yes been doing it for 2 and a half years :) unfortunately because of the move to digital cinema you'll find it very hard to become a projectionist

[wooferfreak]

@dom117jd can you get me the odeon Blue sonic identity, the one wit the blue circles

[TheCinemaAdvertising]

@dom117jd awwwww :( are the digital projectors, server etc. difficult to operate the?

[rajeeshperiyar1]

@dom117jd i am a 12 year experiance projectionist . from india . pls mail me my email is rajeeshperiyar@yahoo.in

[RJSzynal]

@dom117jd Tell me about it! I'm being made redundant along with my whole team as our company thinks that nothing could posibly go wrong with digital projectors. Fools, lol. I work in Scunthorpe and it's the best job in the world! We have 7 screens and are running Cinemechanica Victoria 5 35mm projectors with the inbuilt sound racks (same heads and platters as on this video) in 6 of the screens with one Christie digital. I keep meaning to get a video of my booth with the films running.

[dom117jd]

@RJSzynal I know a few cinemas in my company that are doing that! It's crazy!! When we first went digital we had so many problems it wasn't funny and yet they insisted that people were to be made redundant. Luckily we managed to cut our hours enough so that nobody had to go. One cinema I know will be run by the Managers, the managers don't want too but they have no choice! These people need to work in a projection box before sitting behind their desk and making these decisions lol.

[manatarms79]

at 2:36 what is that machine you were using to edit in trailers?

[dom117jd]

@manatarms79 it's a cinemeccanica make up table mainly for the platter but we also use it to rewind ads/trailers

hope that helps

[HEKTIC25]

@manatarms79 I'm a projectionists and we just call it, the make up table... not sure if there is a proper name for it.

[ceddas21]

well look like my theater is getting a new digital projector installed which means my theater will have 2 Christie digital projectors and 8 kinoton FP 50 D projector. Well look like I need to learn how to use the new digital projector before my Friday shift, since it's little bit new look and little bit new computer screen set up.

[nipponesekid]

i work at baystreet 16 amc, our christies 4k and imax digitals all fuck up on a regular basis. but as to the video your projectors are way cooler than our 35mm

[INFX4]

Check out my "Breakdown" clip. Go the projectionista's

[PictureHouseCinema]

OOOOO Bad boy, gettin that film on the floor! Clip round the ear from the Cheif!

[nabz5]

i worked as a projectionist at odeon fr sumtime daaaayyymmm it was borin gud money tho.. video brought bak memories... we used exactjy same projectors. n the layouts the same

[guitar19904]

dude is it hard cause im thinking of applying at odeon, and also does reqiure alot of focus? and alot to remember? please let me know

[nabz5]

well if ur gud at it it'l b a didle.... it matters who u work with really...job is easy jus a lil pressure coz if owt goes wrong...u had it...lol

[ceddas21]

Yahoo I learned how to break down a film on Sunday Aug.16 which was fun. I love the summer time for working in projection which means more hours for me if some projectionist goes on Vacation.

[ahoivik]

Good grief so much unnecessary threading, Strong Millenniums for the win. How old are those 35's? 10 years?

[moviecam1000]

This is the best video on cinema's and projection I have ever seen. It is more than a video : a little film in fact - everything about it works and engages!

I would love to know what you think about the 4K Sony compared to the Christie digitals

[dom117jd]

Wow! Thanks for the comment, glad you enjoyed it.

The 4K Sony hmm.... it's a very good projector when we get a 4K film but isn't the most reliable and has issues. They still need quite a bit of fine-tuning and tweaking before i could say there amazing.

Personally i think the Christie is much more reliable, easier to work and even through it's 2K still looks as good it can also run 3D films where as the Sony cant.

Saying all that I am going to miss the Sonys when they leave next week :-(

[ahhANGEL]

@moviecam1000 I was thinking the same thing! Amazing video!

[tzakalin]

As moviecam1000 said, it's a very well done video. Good choice of music - it goes well with the tempo of the video (my personal opinion). Good job, man! I keep on watching it over and over. As for the Sony's 4K, they're still LCD's and you could see it in their contrast - especially during brighter scenes.

[dom117jd]

@tzakalin Thanks dude, really appreciate it!!

[THEMAN201111]

@moviecam1000 I'm a projectionist here in USA, and most of our Digital Projectors are Sony. I like their picture quality, but their interface and ease of use is not as good as Barco projectors (we have one of those). In other words, the hardware is good, but to ingest movies and using the controls is just not as intuitive.

[ceddas21]

what type of Projector do your theater use?  The theater I work at use FP 50 D Projector for the location I work at.

[dom117jd]

we use cinemeccanica Victoria 5 as 35mm for all 9 screens and for digital shows we use 2x Sony 4K, 1x Nec (rubbish) and 1x Christie CP-2000.

[ceddas21]

Not good losing 2000 admission. Yesterday there was a power outage, and I was working up in Projection. It was my first time up in projection when the power went out so basically I just run to every projector and turned off the projector power then after turned off the necessary breakers that need to be turned off, then wind the lose film onto a platter. so good thing I knew what to do in projection. When every I have time I just read projection binder.

[strong1235]

Sort of like the decription of an airline pilot's job. Hours and hours of sheer boredom interrupted by occasional minutes of sheer terror!!

[ceddas21]

So what's the worst thing that ever happen to you in projection?

[dom117jd]

to be honest i've never had anything major happen, not yet anyway... this week though i've had 2 evacuations, 1 was a faulty break glass point then today a power cut (affecting the whole town) lasted 2 hours! lost approx. 2000 admissions!! very busy week with Harry Potter

[ceddas21]

Today I accidentally gived the person who was working up in projection a scare by helping to move prints. First print I was helping to move was starting to unfold or unwrap which sucks so luckily it was easily fixed and the part of the print was starting to unfold or unwrap was part of the credits. next part was going up some steps which also gived the person in projection a scare as well. when walking backwards I found it little difficult when walk up steps backwards.

[ceddas21]

as well as walking down steps backwards but luckily I didn't trip. We use a plastic board to put print onto when moving prints and it takes 2 person to move prints at my theater. so when walking down the steps the board was like little bit at a angle when going down steps and going up. So luckily at the end every prints managed to survive which is good news.

[ceddas21]

I love the video and song. I am a Projectionist at my theater I work at. I basicilly got trained up in Projection like 3 weeks ago, and I am loving Projection so much fun. I got my threading down to 5 mins which I say is good after only having 3 shift's. Since summer is coming up I will get few more shifts per week.

[dom117jd]

Cheers. 5 min is impressive after only 3 shifts!! I've been working for about year and a half now, when i need to i can lace up in approx 1min 30sec, but i dont generally make more mistakes otherwise! can never be too careful

Which theater you at?

[ceddas21]

I Work at Galaxy Cinema. Yesterday for the first part of my shift I had a Assistant Manager up stairs with me checking the projector I threaded just in case If I mess up some where on my threading. After 3 threaded projector the Assistant Manager said excellent job and decide I was ready to be up in Projection by myself so she went off to do manager stuff. For the Last Part of my shift yesterday I was by myself up stairs in projection. Good news nothing went wrong when I was working Projection.

[ravenblaze10]

great video :) things are pretty much the same here in maidenhead excpet when i leave its never light :D

[dom117jd]

Cheers mate, and yeah i feel the same, you pretty much end up living there or at least it feels like it.

[westrex5000]

Yep, I had done relief Projection at this Odeon back over 6 years ago and it was only last week I met up with the former Chief Projectionist from this site qho now works for the samer Company as me.

[dom117jd]

his name isn't Geoff by any chance??

[westrex5000]

Indeed it was........

[4kuj3ph]

What happen if film suddenly breakdown.. can projectionist read paper

[4kuj3ph]

nice vid...that cinemacanica projector,..isn't?

[dom117jd]

cheers, yeh it is...Victoria 5 to be exact