I was a projectionist in highschool and college. I ran 8 screens at both jobs. All 35mm. It was hard work, often to 2 in the morning. I was usually the last person to leave. Minimum wage was $5, I made probably 6. New features would arrive on Tuesday, and had to be spliced with trailers and on the platters by Thursday night. The town where I went to college would often have midnight showings of new features Thursday night (technically Friday) which lead to some long nights. My girlfriend sat with me a few times, but complained about the noise and there was no place to take a nap. Me and some friends and girlfriends watched Jurassic Park twice two nights early. I let them in the exit after the theater was empty. Lots of alcohol involved. Somebody threw up during the second run. By the credits it was eight in the morning. Where was management? Good times

An OG projectionist taught me to wind a nickel into a reel of film just before the change marks. As the film plays, the nickel drops on the floor so if you're zoned out, you don't miss the que. Obviously does not apply to platters.

Back in 1999 when "The Matrix" hit cinemas, after the movie I did ask the projectionist, if they could show me around their projection system. And I was blown away by the fact, that they were in fact running all the screens showing "The Matrix" (which was like all but 2 of the whole venue) of the very same platter. They just threaded the film in a long loop, between two floors, and 3 screens on each floor going a few times back and forth to get about 15 minutes buffer between projectors. Of course, if there was a problem, it would affect all screens. But given the smashing success of "The Matrix", with the the distributor simply not have enough prints to ship out, this was the only way to meet the demand.

Hey Drew: Just wanted to say how much I enjoy watching your KZfaqs. I was a projectionist at the Varsity Theatre in Chapel Hill, NC at the age of 14 (after being the marquee boy at age 13) - learning how to operate the equipment because the marquee room was next to the projection booth - the projectionist, a UNC student, offered to show me how to make changeovers, eventually how to thread the projectors and operate the carbon arc lamps - I hung out there often for 2-3 hours before marquee change (back then it was every 1-3 days) and learned to do splices and how to set the cartoon and news reels, trailers etc. About a year later he got fired and I was offered the job at age 14 - (first legal age for employment in NC back then.) I would work the booth from 6-11pm'ish daily and sometimes all day on weekends, while attending middle and high schools. (I was also the AV kid in school, often getting out of class to set up for teachers on 16mm to show their class... what can I say?) I often ran to packed houses of 600 or so, never giving much thought to how critical and technical the job was for success... we often hosted Dean Smith and his UNC basketball teams for first runs - so I was used to have some of the most famous UNC players (and eventually NBA players like Billy Cunningham) around. Because I worked so many hours following school and weekends, it paid more than the manager often made back then. Eventually the Carolina Theatre, Paramount owned (now shuttered) offered me a job after one of their older projectionists became ill and had to retire; age 16, where I discovered the world of 60" reels and one changeover for most movies - much nicer booth and set up - 1200 seats, ushers, very art deco and great pay. I did that until I graduated and entered the Coast Guard. After boot and Class A school, I was assigned to Washington DC headquarters in an M-F 8-4 job so I got a part time job as a relief projectionist for the DC union, relieving projectionists mostly for vacations and/or illness. Worked almost every union booth in Northern VA and DC - crazy but I'd say no less than 25 theatres back then. In the 60's few theatres were open for matinees during the week, so 7 and 9pm showings often were the rule. My first "Twin" was in Springfield VA and I worked there for a vacation relief for two weeks, 12 hour shifts on weekends. $25/hr in 1968. Not bad $ back then. Anyway, I only ran one 70mm print, if I recall it was Sound of Music and we used Norelco projectors with carbon arc - and it had magnetic sound track on the film edge. 60" reels were nearly impossible to lift over one's head to mount, looking back I did not enjoy those several weeks at the old Bradlick Theatre in Annandale, VA, now also shuttered but about an 800 seat house with state of the art equipment. I eventually became a police officer, 911 call center supervisor and then a real estate broker - now at 74 I am retired and watching KZfaqs to learn and enjoy others having fun. Your video's are very professional and since I have never operated a platter system, fascinating for me, an old school projectionist. I have a cousin who sold seating to theatres all over the country, after he was a high school projectionist (as was his brother) at a drive-in theatre. So I guess it runs in the family... again, thanks for your informative videos and the opportunity to learn about the platter system and 70mm. Sadly, I suspect one day laser projection will eventually put an end to film much like digital did for 35mm cameras/film. It was quite an art and there was, during my time, an element of showmanship with the opening and closing of curtains, maskings, changeovers and lighting/house music timing - with it having to be done "just right" and the timing had to be perfect, at least it did for me. Getting ready to see Oppenheimer in 70 mm this Tuesday, at the local Paragon - first time in a theatre since pre-Covid - can't wait.... while I was quarantined we built a Media Room in our basement, complete with 5.1.1 Atmos and 4K projection on a 120" screen and leather reclining seats complete with motorized headrests and LED lighting. Overhead we installed LED recessed bounce lighting, sconces and for the screen, stage lights. Screen is recessed into the ceiling and everything is on Alexa and Logitech Harmony so I can voice control everything, including bundling it all into one command "Alexa, start the show!" The only thing missing is curtains, sadly. But it is awesome and with our 500+ collection of DVD movies plus streaming, we never want for entertainment around here... I guess you could say the projectionist in me never really left me. Thanks

Saw the show in Bridgeport and it's crazy how different it feels compared to a digital movie, the black and white scenes in particular looked incredible. I saw the movie again a few days later in digital and while still great it just wasn't the same

I was operating projectors from the mid 70's through the mid 90's. I started off at a small single screen theater doing reel to reel change overs, then they "twinned" the location by dividing the auditorium with a wall. At that point we installed new Christie platters. Throughout the years I've run up to 12 screens as a manager/operator with one theater having a combo 70mm/35mm Century projector that very rarely showed anything but 35mm. It's obvious you know your stuff and I truly appreciated your professionalism. Thanks

Having worked for a silicon valley company that loved to rent movie theaters for customer premiere events, I've spent a bit of time in the projection room. It's such a cool merger of analog and digital that most people never see. Thanks for giving us such a great "how this shit really works" walk through. You're awesome!

Excellent production, a lot of physics in a projection process.

The scientist you mentioned, Louis Slotin, is buried at a graveyard less than a 1km away from my house here in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He's buried at the Sharrey Zedek Cemetery on Main Street across from Kildonan Park. He's from Winnipeg and there is even a little monument dedicated to him in the north end of Winnipeg.

In the late 70s I was a projectionist at the Kent Cinema in Yonkers, NY (dual projector carbon arc). It was an end of the line theater where we always showed a double feature for $2.00. We got the films after every theater played them so the prints were often in bad shape. The films changed every week so usually on Thursdays I had to pack up the old reels and set up the new films for the week. Very often the reels came from multiplexes where they ran on platters. The projectionist were too lazy to splice the heads and tails back on so I had to do that. A few times the wrong numbered heads were placed with the wrong reels. Once I ran a film for a week with the reels out of order. The audience was puzzled why the guy who got killed in reel 2 was suddenly alive again in reel 3. I had no way of knowing it was wrong until someone who had seen the film before knocked on my projection room door and explained to me what happened. We started one film at 6pm and then the second feature around 8. We repeated the first film at 10. If we only had a small audience, the owner used to tell me to drop a reel so we could close early. There was no bathroom in the small booth (which was always full of marijuana smoke from the seats nearby) and I had to run downstairs to do my business. A few times I took too long in the bathroom and I heard the reel finish in the projector followed by the screams from the audience. Sometimes the owners used to remove a print from the booth overnight so it could be bootlegged on to VHS. It was a wild time at the Kent for $35 a shift.

Caught a 70mm screening of "Oppenheimer" yesterday. Went to one of the few remaining Art Deco cinemas in Sydney, and it still has its original Wurlitzer organ on an elevating platform, which was even being played ahead of the film! I worked in film sound post about 15 years ago now, and I will be SO surprised if it doesn't win awards for sound. The Foley track was especially good, as were sound effects, and the sound design in general. In the shot where everyone stands up in the timber bleachers, it cuts back to the Foley track alone (just feet, body and clothes movements) and it's a brilliant effect. What I want to know, and I hope I don't spoil it for anyone, is whether the Feynman character ended up on the cutting room floor (or scratch drive, whatever, hehe). He appears in quite a few shots and looks superbly cast (at least in terms of looks). But because Feynman was such a character, it's possible an actor could've made the part outshine Cillian Murphy as Oppenheimer. Really glad he was at least depicted playing bongos at the test. Haha! And that Strauss was made to look like the maniac he was. Best film I've seen in many years.

The Irony of you being the man making this film shown to people blows me away!

thank you for this. film will never die. I learned how to run 35mm about 7 years ago. I took it up as a hobby. your description helps to confirm my methods are correct.

2:17 Since 15/70 is ran through the camera/projector horizontally, it’s not as simple as removing the aperture plate, like it would be if you shot 4 perf 35mm vs 2 or 3 perf. So you do get a significant increase in resolution. On a 15/70 screen, the 65 scenes look about as grainy as you might expect 35mm to look on a regular sized screen, and the imax scenes are nearly grainless. 2:30 I agree that it doesn’t make a whole lot of logical sense, but the difference is clear as day on a six story tall imax screen.

Awesome video thanks for taking us behind the scenes

These brings back memories. Like other commenters, I too was a projectionist back in HS/college. Probably the most fun job I ever had. IMAX was still a few years away, but we had the lenses and adapters for 70mm even though the last time they were used was for Empire Strikes Back. All pre-digital too. This was the late 80s and the bigger 12plexes and such were starting to come around, and around the time more cinemas were upgrading to platter systems, Christie etc. I got to work with the old reel to reel systems with changeovers and metal tape cues and all that, then ran the platter system until I ended up leaving. Good times.

Incredible choice of music for your video and the cinematography as well. I was excited to see behind the scenes of you loading the film!

Another terrific video. Thank you so much for making it. I recently said to someone close that we're living at the worst period of theater projection in maybe 100 years in terms of image. It took them a second to believe in me. I pray that you're right and that we'll see many more films projected in 70mm, projected with the same care and attention that you're doing it.

I love the amount of passion you clearly have for projections, watching vids like these really do make me want to get into it if it were readily available to learn

Thank you for sharing this! So much more than I ever thought went into this, and it’s great to see the work in action. I now have a greater appreciation for this and projectionists. Thanks and God bless! 🙌

Awesome video Drew! Thanks for sharing this part of yourself. You do such an good job of shooting, explaining, editing.

Hi Drew! Thank you for your videos. I find them to be very well done; excellent photography; directing and editing. The music is very interesting. Overall, O find your videos very relaxing and tasteful. The quality is top notch! Take it easy!

Great explanation on the difference between IMAX 70mm and regular 70mm. Thank you.

Very cool! Nice overview of the film projection process. I have really enjoyed these videos.

Loved that detailed threading part at the end with the classical music!

Great Timelapse at the end. Thanks for hearing all the details really great to see

Just wanted to drop by and say, I’m really impressed by the amount of coverage you got for loading the projector. I’m starting a KZfaq project, and the sheer amount of time it must have taken to set up and get all of those individual shots must have been seriously laborious; thank you for doing so, I feel like I’ve seen the whole process. Great work!!

The way you filmed your job is pure art - really enjoyed it!

Drew, phenominal work. Editing, sound and production on this YT video are simply stunning. Love the radiation stuff but this one up there.

What an amazing perspective, thanks for making this. Such a cool craft 🔥

that time-lapse was so smooth

By far the most approachable informative video on IMAX/DTS

this video enlightens me that not only talented people who would work as a projectionist but also devoted and passionate one. there's a beauty in complexity methinks.

I've seen alot of videos covering this subject, 70mm and IMAX 70mm but this is definitely the best and my favorite. You answered many questions I had that other channels never seem to cover, Drew 😊 I'm very envious of your job and your Radioactive pastime 😅 I saw Oppenheimer on IMAX 70mm here in London a few weeks ago and it blew my mind visually and the sound was something else. I'm amazed at the technology behind the 70mm formats. Thanks for these awesome videos 😊

Fabulous look at projection. The guy who always ran the projectors in school, I moved on to run the film department of a major national tv production company. Always loved the medium. Yours was the very best explanation of “ new” projection. And the time lapse of the feed and take up reels gave a sense of how smooth it’s all meant to run. Kudos.

Had the privilege of seeing the 70mm IMAX print of Oppenheimer in Dallas last week. My first time seeing film in theaters. What a treat! I'm a 23 year old film school graduate now teaching film production for high school, and I've been raving about the experience to my students and friends. So glad these videos fell into my recommended. Your knowledge and presentation is so engaging and interesting. I'm completely sold on the medium from now on. Any opportunity I have to see 70mm film, I'm taking it!

I got to see it in 70MM IMAX last weekend in NYC and I am deeply grateful for it. I could see a difference from when I had seen it in a regular theatre. The picture was definitely clearer, I saw the “squiggles”, my term for the little scratches and stuff that popped up occasionally onscreen, and I noticed acting choices that I didn’t see before. Just the smallest quirk of someone’s mouth was magnified. I appreciate your skills, and the skills of projectionists around the world who gave us this experience.

This is amazing! What an incredible viewpoint on current film technologies. Keep up the great work! Love the channel.

Thanks for all of your hard work and sharing these enlightening vids!

i'm really glad oppenheimer brought back the enthusiasm for physical film showings. i discovered imax only recently with dune, but i've been crazy about it ever since

Brought back memories from the 80s and high school. Our single theater had 2 projectors. We used one just for trailers. The other ran the movie off the platter. Timing the change over from the last trailer, opening and closing the curtains for ‘dramatic’ effect, and not cutting off the start of the movie was quite the accomplishment for an amateur projectionist. Awesome video series!

This video has given me great insight, even all the way here in UK. Thank you for your video and reigniting an old passion of mine!

Not sure if anyone else noticed but when I was watching this in 70mm most dialogue scenes were in 2.20 ratio and then on scenic shoots it changed to 1.43. For context I watched it twice in IMAX and non IMAX and really noticed it in the IMAX theater.

Thank you for keeping this art alive, I truly enjoyed it.

Gerat information, and I really appreciate the way that you are sharing. Please make more projection videos.

I've been enjoying your videos about radiation and was pleasantly surprised to see these projection videos! Really took me back to my years working at movie theaters in my teens and early 20s. I was a projectionist for most of that time. The sound of the projectors running, although loud, is so soothing, relaxing, and now nostalgic to me. I never had the chance to run a 70mm film, but we did have two hybrid 70mm/35mm projectors at one place I worked and always wanted to see a 70mm film run through them. Thanks for sharing what it's like now!

That was really great. Thank you for an excellent presentation. 😊

Working at a movie theater and getting into the projection booth is the reason I went to film school to learn production. The medium and tangibility of film, when done correctly, is where a lot of the magic of the movie theatre comes from.

Great video Drew, it was like I was back in the Bio running the projectors myself again. Well done mate. 👍👏👏😎

My grandfather was a projectionist in a small country cinema. Apparently he had the window open one hot summers night, right where he was rewinding a reel for the next showing. He went of to change spools (as you pointed out it used to be done) and came back to find the wind had picked up the film under rewind and it was unwinding down the main street! 😜

This is a lot more technical than I had imagined, impressed.

That's pretty awesome watching the set up and how the film has to go run through quite the set up to run.

Another great video. Really enjoyed the short time lapse piece and the little history lesson at the end. Almost a training video, I think after watching this I might be able to qualify as a projectionist.

Drew, I did enjoy this one. I love film, analog video viewed on a CRT, and vinyl. These technologies have presence that is sometimes hard to convey to people who have not experienced them configured and running well. Completely agree regarding whether we get more detail. The information density per unit film area is almost the same as you correctly point out. Getting more film area to view is, for me at least, more immersive, but not more detailed, in the counting skin pores sense. All of these have a subtle element of experience that tends to amplify my enjoyment and that is no two instances of rendition are the same. Now, don't get me wrong. They are damn close. But still, each showing is precious, never to be seen again. And when I get to watch some insider view like this one you did for us, it gives me pause to think about all the human sweat, understanding and sacrifice that went into that moment of showing. Frankly, that is expensive! The people, resources, time, and more all come together to tickle our minds, make our hearts soar!

Thanks, Drew I was a "projectionist" back in the late 1950s when I was in the 7th and 8th grade. None of the teachers in grade-school were very proficient at threading those old Bell & Howell 16MM FIlmosound projectors. But I knew how to thread them and make the proper size loop between the gate and the sound-head. And keep the film tight against the sound-head flywheel, etc. Then in college we had a pair of navy-surplus 35mm projectors (designed for shipboard use). And I remember having to deal with a "flood" of film all over the floor when the takeup reel stopped.

I watched the 70mm show Sunday at Bridgeport at noon. My son and I throughly enjoyed it. I am glad I did not wait to get to a full 15perf IMAX. Too many headshots and dialog to really show off IMAX capabilities. Saw some flickering at very beginning during trailers and then things got very smooth. Great job and thanks for sharing.

Great videos, so informative - thanks Drew !

Hey Drew. Thank you for taking the time to teach this stuff, such a fascinating process. I was wondering if you’ve ever had a piece of celluloid burn on accident durning a screening or if that is even possible? I would imagine 70mm is less likely, but maybe if you’ve projected 16 or even 35mm prints? Would love to see what that would look like haha.

Fascinating!! Thanks Drew!!

You’re a great filmmaker. Thanks for making these.

It's always blown my mind how projectionists make those change overs in the old system. I just can't wrap my mind around how you time it so perfectly (I guess I need to see someone doing it).

9:05 the cigarette burn got me more excited than it should have. Spending my career managing detailed complex systems often alone I am throughly enjoying your content on this part of your work.

Excellent explanation Drew of the differences between IMAX 70mm and standard theatrical 70mm. I remember when I saw "Lawrence of Arabia" in 70mm back in the 90's and it was fabulous.

I love how you added the explanation into your video.

Thank you for the video. Fantastic 👍👍👍

Excellent video. Thank you, Drew

My dad was a projectionist for a high school summer job at a small theater in Southern California. He ran old double feature Chinese movies on 35mm. He was fortunate to have the early platter system installed so no changeovers needed, but the film was not well taken care of lol. He told me about the many times when it broke. It was stressful getting it spliced back together with everyone booing in the theater! But he got much satisfaction when he heard the cheers afterwards! Imperfect medium during an imperfect time and no one complained! He had a lot fun with it, but it got boring according to him. It takes a certain mindset to physically care about something compared to pushing a button. I hope you stay a projectionist in the near future. Movie lovers need guys like you to keep film alive.

Brilliant video thank you for uploading. Keep up the good work.

So . Amazing! I love seeing how it works as much as the movie itself!

Hey Cutie, thanks again for sharing the technical details of how film projection works. I quite enjoyed it!

Just realized you had a part two! You answered part of my question/confirmed my reasoning on the leader part - totally makes sense to me. The leader isn’t going to be shown/used for the audience and isn’t the most important part to preserve in terms of keeping it clean for future use or going into a repository. And absolutely, you want to be able to FEEL what you’re doing! That’s important in the archival world, too, especially when it comes to paper versus objects. It will always be a “controversial” debate on whether or not to wear gloves, what type of gloves, etc., but handling paper items without gloves is much much easier and more efficient to provide the care the artifact needs - we just want to make sure our hands are clean and any dangling items (like hair, jewelry, etc.) is out of the way to prevent damage. Regardless of glove wearing or not, any type of use is going to wear the item down over time (just like you mentioned with running the film), so damage is always going to happen. In archival work, it’s just about slowing that deterioration process down. Anyways, don’t know why I’m going on about this, but I just thought the reasoning behind your work with the film and mine in archives was similar! Thanks again, Drew. P.S. not that I have any experience or expertise on the matter, but your explanation of the resolution issue in imax vs regular 70mm made complete sense to me, and cleared some things up for me personally!

Just subbed, I've watched a lot of your radiation related vids, and just found these. I was able to see into a few projection booths back in the 35mm days (early 90's) and remember most of the places had the platter systems, but I'm pretty sure we went to one with the 2 projector set up, and reels on top. My Dad would just ask the manager, and they'd usually let us take a look. Tried this with my wife, as she likes this stuff too, and was told no at 2 different places :( Glad there are vids that show it! :)

I was a projectionist at the Century Cinema 16 in Mountain View, California from 2004 to 2008 or so. I worked my way up from being in concessions to box office to assistant manager / money room (it was no credit cards taken at the theater well past the theater having any right to be so) until finally I was asked to work "booth". We had only one digital projector when I started in projection (with the remainder being 35mm projectors). I don't recall ever getting to do a film assembly unfortunately, but your video brought me right back to threading the film from a platter through the projector. I remember being told about the dangers of putting a new projector bulb in as well (I don't think I ever did that either). I remember the film having a slight oily / greasy feel presumably from those de-duster rollers. The job paid my way through college and getting movie posters and free movie tickets scored me big brownie points with my girlfriend (now wife). While working in a movie theater had more downs than ups (especially in terms of customer service), I will treasure the fond memories of getting to be a part of the movie industry for a time and having a lot of knowledge of movies from that period of cinema history.

There is a theater play called Louis Slotin, where it starts just before the accident and ends after his burial. So you watch his condition deteriorate over the course of 9 (?) days. Kinda grim but it was a collaborative effort between an amateur astronomy club and a amateur theater company. Only a few showings within the span of a week. Unique experience.

I was a projectionist at a university for a while (I only did digital, never got trained on the film side, but loved watching some of my coworkers do it). None of the booths had platter systems, they were all changeovers. I still wish I had the opportunity to learn those. So fascinating. Specifically I'm a sound person and ended up learning a TON about all the different sound formats and their histories.

Fascinating, thank you very much!

This is fascinating - thank you!

Watched it in IMAX. the sounds was incredible.

Ty for the cool video!! Always wondered and like most places they only wanna hire people with experience, instead of spending the time to train someone, but your right they will be forced to since the older crowd is retiring.

Thank you! I loved this!

Been waiting for this 👏

I’ve enjoyed the projector videos! ❤️

Me as a movie buff, I'm very thankful for people like you who give an insight like this. It was very interesting to watch. My one and only 70mm experience was Tenet in a movie theatre in Essen, Germany. Unfortunately, there was some heavy and noticable flickering, which left me a bit disappointed. Maybe they had the same issue with their projector which you described. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the showing and I love the movie.

Your explanation at about 9:00 reminds me of that scene in Fight Club, and yes I did see your cue mark in the corner, 👏

you produce some awesome vids, i saw oppy twice in 15/70

Great and fascinating video, thank you for making it. Talking of the old days and two projectors, the reason they had to have two projectors was the limitation on the burn time of carbon arcs. I worked in a projection room at a cinema in the UK in the fifties. The positive carbon would burn away about four inches of rod in the twenty minutes of one reel. If you missed checking the amount of carbon rod left before changing over to that projector it would run out of rod before the reel ended, as the arc gap became wider the picture would take on a blue hue! Not good. But wonderful days with the mercury vapour rectifier sitting under each projector arc housing glowing vivid blue as it rectified 240v mains and supplied the arc lamp with 45v at about 70 amps. Thank again for the video.

this is art! keep doing it

Being a projectionist as one of my first jobs after I left the army... It was soooooo cool. One of the coolest jobs I have ever had. Too bad a lot of those jobs disappeared due to the coming of digital projectors. Editing the films together on Wednesday evening, the projectors, lifting the movies on the plates for the next shows. Seeing the movie dancing in front of you on the screen. It was perfect. Years later I realised how much impact it had in my photography. Still use film now, only in a different way. :)

I drove to Nashville to see ol' Oppenheimer only to have it stop abruptly halfway through! Almost exactly half way, the audio started from the beginning and never synced back up. Everyone waited like 10 minutes until somebody told us the screening was over

Thanks for making this video.

I've been digging all your videos but I have to admit this was PURE decadent candy for an analog film photography nut like me. Thank you so much for sharing all that! I'm with you I REALLY hope this success of Oppenheimer means we get more movies on film. 70mm or Imax would be great but I'd take lowly 35mm too. Nothing quite like a movie on film, I love it! Also totally agreed, showing a bit more science (in particular the Demon Core which I agree is a particularly haunting chapter) would have been a great addition. I love the black and white scenes but would have been ok having a few less of those and a bit more nuclear science. Beautiful movie though! So glad I had the chance to see it on film too!

So cool! Thanks for the video(s)! 🙏🏼

Yes I did enjoy some more of the behind the scenes.

Greet's to Bozeman MT from Poland. Have a nice sunday !

Very cool, I was fortunate enough to see the film in 70mm Imax and wondered how the audio synced up since I knew that it was loaded onto a server

It’s awesome you mentioned the two projectors change over that used to be, because in Stockholm, Rigoletto Cinema, they still use this system, and that is how I saw Oppenheimer just last friday. The projectionist missed one cue mark, and the screen and audio went out for about 3 - 4s, but i think it just added to the experience heheheh

I too was a projectionist in high school. I never worked on 70mm but it looks pretty much the same as 35mm. The dts setup still looks exactly the same as it did back then (mid 90s). I was big into roller skating at the time and would skate around from projector to projector to save a bit of time. The most exciting part of the job was when a micro switch in the brain would fail, wrap the film, eventually bind up and burn out a frame in the middle of a movie. I remember changing bulbs being terrifying as well. Fun times.

Nice video, I have also been a projectionist 35/70mm in the Netherlands. Unfortunately, that stopped, and lost another big screen, due to demolition. I hope you can have fun with film screening for a long time to come...

I saw the 5 perf 70mm in an IMAX theatre in Århus in Denmark. Unfortunately we're not getting the 15 perf 70mm IMAX version. I was a projectionist myself back when I was studying at the university. It was a smaller place with 3 screens, all with double projectors setup with aluminium tape to trigger lights, doors, format change and changeover to the next machine. Cool times! After each machine was finished the film had to be wound back to the top spool to be ready for the next show. I made a big mistake one in that process. I put a smaller reel on top instead of the required size, and then I left for the 10-15 minutes it would take to rewind. I came back to the floor filled with film as there was not enough space on the reel. That cost a few ruined commercials, as it was luckily the first reel with the commercials on it! The projectionist for the coming day replaced the commercials, and all was fine again :)

Great Work.