I was a projectionist until I lost my job because of digital..! It was really sad seeing 35mm disappearing… I still think film looks better than digital not because I was a projectionist! It's because the colors were much better!

i WAS A PROJECTIONIST AT AN AMC THEATRE IN THE LATE EIGHTIES AND EARLY 90'S. THANKS FOR THIS DOC AND BRINGING BACK SOME GREAT MEMORIES.

I saw the last film projected on film in 2012, which was The Dark Knight Rises', and ever since I have seen all the changes that have come with the replacement of, not only the projectors, but the general presentation and the cinemas themselves. For example, has anyone noticed how sloppy standards have become since then? I was in the cinema in November for 'The Force Awakens' and again yesterday for 'The Witch' and I've noticed that not only have they switched to digital, taken the box offices away and replaced them with paypoints (like in Tescos), done away with ushers supervising the auditoriums, but they've also removed the curtains. During the last two films I have watched I've now noticed that they've removed the masking in which was used to project the correct ratio in. They have a fixed 2:35 ratio and project in the middle if it isn't in that ratio. This creates black lines at either the side or the top and bottom of the screen. It's amateurish and sloppy in the extreme. This was in Cineworld AND the Odeon. J Arthur Rank and Oscar Deutsch must be turning in their graves!! What ever happened to presentation and caring about what people are watching? The projectionists are crap and couldn't care less by the look of it, and I'm disgusted by the whole thing so much, that I'll stay at home in future.

When I was about 10 my sister worked at the concession stand of a local Drive-In. One of my fondest memories was going to work with her and hanging out in the Projection Booth and watching the Projectionist work his magic. It was quite primitive even for the time then but to me it was the coolest thing. I'll never forget he would put a nickel on the inside of the reel so when the nickel would fall to the floor he would know it was almost time to make the reel change.That night at the Drive-In changed my life forever. A few years later I started collecting 8MM and Super 8 films, and eventually graduated to 16MM and having movie nights in my backyard, and making my own reel changes, minus the nickel. I would splice 16MM trailers, concession stand adds, and 10 minute countdown clocks during the show. A few years ago I sold my entire 16MM collection which had gotten quite large as well as all 6 of my 16MM projectors to purchase a high end digital projector.Everyone now that comes to my shows always says the same thing, that they miss the sound of the projector running but not nearly as much as I do.

And Digital ended the Projectionist's nightmare: Receiving a 4 reel print with it's heads and tails detached and missing. Sure you could figure out which were the first and last reels, but the two in the middle? It happened to me when we got a foreign film through Miramax. Well, there was a 50/50 chance of getting reels 2 and 3 in the right order. After the first showing we asked the audience what they though of the movie. Most of the audience was confused, so we switched reel 2 and 3 and again asked the audience what they thought of the film. Now everyone was confused. Turned out there was a missing reel, as discovered when the film was released on VHS with a running time 18 minutes longer that what we showed in the cinema....

I was the last Projectionist in South Florida. My theater ran film until the end of 2014. One of my last films I built was "Interstellar" Which was a huge movie, on 9 reels!

I Spent most of my life as a projectionist. From 1968 to 2012. Nights, weekends, holidays. Christmas Eve, Christmas day. 12 hour shifts. It was fun while it lasted. Also nice to see Jim Foyt & Lynn Rogers in this. Glad I am done with it! Never again! Junior Sayles ex local 343 member.

This is the story of my family. My dad was a projectionist for 45 years. Worked indoor houses in Sacramento California until about 1952 when a new Drive-in opened up. He worked that theater until it closed in the early 70's. Moved to another drive-in theater that was converted to Xenon lamps and platters and worked that house until it closed in the 80's and he retired. I spent my youth going to work with him, checking the lot, repairing speakers, building up shows, breaking down shows. He always checked and repaired the film before he shipped it. He even let me make changeovers occasionally. Usually only during the third show of a show and a half. He was a stickler for keeping the booth clean and free of dust. We didn't walk in the booth, we slid on towels to keep the tile floor clean and the dust down. I will always remember the smell and sounds of the booth. My brother, who recently passed away, learned from him and was one of the last projectionists in the Sacramento area who knew how to run a carbon arc projector. It was a great paying job that is now nonexistent. I was lucky, my children were able to spend time with my dad in the projection booth before he retired. My grandchildren were not that fortunate. I miss film and drive-in's so much.

Thank you all for your comments. The two projectionists in this video were great subjects for this piece and I'd love to one day explore this project on a wider scale because, as evidenced by your comments, former projectionists are everywhere and have excellent stories to tell.

I worked full time as a projectionist for a small three screen cinema for 12 years, although the place was closed for future mall extensions almost three years ago I do miss film and film projection "film" did have a certain on screen "look" that digital does not. During the final weeks we screened a limited run of David Lean films, one being "Dr Zhivago" and it looked great, complete with Overture and Intermission. It was a real treat, and felt at the time, that I will never again watch such a classic film like this on the big screen, projected as it should be on "film."...shame Those 35mm projectors ran 12 to14hrs a day, 7 days a week except for Christmas day, when we closed. Those projectors were very reliable and ran continues for the 20 years that the place existed...we had one incredible run.

I'm 60 and enjoyed movies all my life. Here's a story of why we still need professional projectionists: Attended the midnight premier of the Star Wars movie "Revenge of the Sith" May 19, 2005. A packed house. At the climactic last part of the movie, when Yoda is batting Palpatine, suddenly the sound cuts out and the pre-show local commercials start booming out over the sound system. This went on for nearly 5 minutes while the audience is going berserk. Finally the multiplex management located the 15 year old kid who was in charge of running the six projectors at the multiplex. He was playing a video game elsewhere in the mall arcade. And I'll take the superior resolution of film over any digital dvd any day. I can always tell when an image is digital, it has subtle pixilation (especially in action scenes) and the colors don't blend properly and hues are off.

Former film projectionist here. Started when i was 19, retired at 20, and now im 21.............

I was a projectionist for 6 years between 1996 and 2001. I worked primarily with VIC5 heads, I loved them, proper projectors were like engines with gears, belts and oils. looked after they never really failed. During my last year I transfered to the printworks in Manchester and used the Imax, unfortunately then we were just showing the typical 40 minute documentary type films/some 3d with the sonics sound setup. I left before full features were shown. I haven't seen a projection room since 2002 but imagine it's very different as regards to moving parts and noise??? I'm not surprised the switch to digital as prints were so expensive. I'm glad I was a part of history in a way. Unfortunately now the projectionist is now probably titled technical supervisor? When I was there they were just experimenting with DLP. It was very glitchy at the time and the resolution was crap in all honesty. We would play the adverts and trailers on 35mm then the cue would trigger the DLP to start but would often screw up. The first film I remember on the DLP was a toy story type animated film. The first live action movie we played on it looked terrible (I can't remember the film title but there were lots of scenes in snowy mountains which was probably best as greys and blacks are terrible in digital. back then anyway. We had a laugh back then, it was the last job I could truly enjoy myself. I reckon I cold still thread that vic5 in 5 seconds with my eyes closed after 20 years :)

As someone who was locked up in booths for 31 years as a NYC projectionist, I AM lucky to have any brain cells left at all. But several of the comments here are so naïve as to be beyond belief. Local 306 of NYC was pompously run for decades by a group of developmentally disabled adults who couldn't make it in a group home for the disabled. Yet we made great money, had pension and medical benefits, absolute job security, and arrogance beyond belief. Scott Strang thinks digital control is a disaster waiting to happen. Day to day operations of multiplexes is a no lose situation. Unless it's a special screening where they DO have a projectionist working, no one is needed. I worked at the AMC Empire on 42nd Street. Let's say the theater is full, the film freezes fifteen minutes into the movie and can't be corrected. Even if the audience wants to strangle someone, a soft spoken FEMALE manager will apologetically give passes, (not refunds) for any movie at any time, in ANY AMC Theater, anywhere. This calms everyone down, AMC loses not a penny no matter how many times digital messes up, and no one really gives a shit. The entire system was designed to eliminate the human factor. We will live to see Broadway show musicians replaced by synthesizers and Local 1 gorillas replaced by robotics. Welcome to America.

70mm film IMAX theaters are still around, since that format is still superior to 4K. But 8K digital cinema cameras are already starting to appear, and I imagine it'll only be a few more years before 8K projectors begin to enter the scene as well. Once that happens, the remaining film strongholds will dwindle away. Kinda sad, but that's progress I guess. Time moves on.

I used to watch movies at the school ground as a temporary theater when I was a primary school kid in 1960s. Nowadays it never happens, but it was nice memory in my young age. It’s really sad to see missing those projectionists.

The demise of film is most probably the greatest loss the entertainment industry has ever experienced. It was not done to move onto a better format. We have in fact gone backwards. It was done for pure economic gain at the expense of millions of innocent people who relied on the income associated with film.

Oi , muito bom o documentário , cinema com película foi muito bom um grande sonho dar vida na tela através das películas ,imagem, cor , quase natural ! O cinema digital é uma tv gigante , não tem mesma essência , sem falar de milhares de desempregados projecionistas e o perigo atual de não ter um projecionista em caso princípio de incêndio , quando ver já era , como já conheceu na Europa , tive dois cinemas , em Canoas , Rio Grande do Sul Brasil . Carlos Ricardo Stepien !

This was a very VERY moving piece. Thank you Mitch for sharing this on KZfaq, having started my journey threw the cinema industry in the concession stand and in just under 2 year working into to projection, I ran projection equipment from age 18 until i was 27 or 28 years old. My biggest compliment I got, and I got it over and over again at my last cinema was a question and it was, "How is it a discount theatre is able to afford Digital Projection at $1 a ticket, but cinemas like AMC and Regal can't when they are charging 8 to 15 times as much?" Everyone was shocked that we were also running 35mm prints. It is very emotional subject and sad thing to see have taken and gone to the waste sides and pushed not by theatre owners, but distributors. They have taken all the art and skill out of projection, and put it in their own hands of production.

Thank you for making this film! So great to see what has happened a bit from behind the scenes and the impact. Also great to see my local Omaha and Lincoln theaters and projectionists in the video!

I worked as projectionist at a drive in in college. One night I was sitting on an old couch we had at the back of the room where we could still keep an eye on the screen. Looked around and a curl of smoke was coming out of the back room where the motor/generator that made the DC for the carbon arcs was mounted! Things got a little exciting after that and the movie ended early. But it was about 11:30 at night in the drive in. Most of the kids in the cars were too busy making out or smoking to even notice!

Great upload! I was lucky to know a few projectionists and they showed and explained the machines - and had many stories to tell. They all were passionate about it. Some kept a few frames of true Technicolor prints (from reel changes) and the colors remained unaltered after many decades (not so with some of the infamous Eastman stock which turned red/magenta). The very last movie I watched in 35mm was (oh, the irony) "Super 8" in 2011. As always, I came in as early as possible, turned back and saw the guy threading the 35mm film into the projector - it was for me "farewell" to 35mm prints. I am more than happy to know that powerful directors including Tarantino, JJ Abrams, Nolan and Spielberg fully support (and use) real analog film in their movie productions (sure, it will be scanned-in and from then on it's digital, but the source is true analog). Back in 1982 I stopped filming with Super 8mm, which I had used as a hobby since 1976 (yep I'm that old!) and never bought a video camera. The footage looked horrible, awful and just unusable - and still does in digital HD, just clearer and clean, but that harsh glassy metallic look is still there. You can have now good-ish looking videos made from cheap camcorders or even cell phones. But that's for personal use (social media, KZfaq videos of yourself etc.) - not art. I still collected movie prints in Super8 and 16mm (a very expensive hobby, but I loved it!) well into the '90s. I owed a 1980 Bauer T 600 (Super8 magnetic sound) and a used and repaired Bell and Howell TQI (16mm optical sound). I am incredibly happy to know that Kodak will bring out a new Super8 (Pro Super8) camera around fall of 2016 (fully supported by great film directors including the ones mentioned above) - the system includes a choice of various film stocks, processing and digital scanning (so you don't scratch the precious camera originals). I have seen Super8 (and Pro Super8 which uses the space reserved for the soundtrack to create a wider image) and Super16mm (same system as Pro Super8) scans - especially the latter look awesome and evoke emotions that digital can never match nor emulate. I am from a time when schools still used 16mm projectors (mostly Siemens 2000 and Bell and Howell TQI). I always insisted being the projectionist - and I loved it. I even remember the converted Bauer 35mm machines for television (when many tv shows were shipped as 35mm reels) - before more sophisticated machines directly "scanned" the images from 16mm or 35mm - first still frame by frame, then continuously running. I remember many older prints in theaters faded to red/magenta (very likely the infamous old Eastman and Fuji stocks with unstable cyan layers) and badly scratched and worn prints on theatrical re-releases. I also know that many contact prints were done on cheap stock during the '70s, '80s and '90s and many were excessively grainy with low color saturation. Now with the very recent versions of low fade Kodak "vision" release print stocks it should be a wonderful experience to watch a movie on real film again. Hopefully a movie where the color grading/timing didn't fall victim to that awful "orange and teal" look, but rather a "Nolan-esque" natural film look. Many a well known film critic (I only care for the ones who really love the movies and know their stuff) fully supports true film (both in camera and for projection) including the great Mark Kermode. That's excellent. More power to them! Film (true chemically processed analog images) will never die. Digital will eventually, being replaced by upcoming computer technology again and again. Thanks for reading.

Awesome video, thank you very much for such a nice piece.

I always would have loved to be a projectionist!

I always thought film looked much better. The first time I saw a movie projected using digital, I noticed right away and even wrote a letter (yes, a letter!) to the movie theater to complain They didn't even tell you bf you paid your 12 bucks that you were just going to watch a DVD on a big screen. Why would I go to a theater if the movie isn't going to be on glorious film?? Why do they think directors still shoot on film? It looks better!

I fondly remember all those years running 20 minute reels on Simplex XLs with Peerless Magnarcs, and then rewinding by hand (well, maybe that part is not fondly remembered). But what a cool job that was, to be the engineer of the theater magic! The electrical and mechanical stuff thrilled me, and the movies were fantasy come alive in flickering light in a dark auditorium. But I left that and went into computers. Maybe I should have stuck around and worked digital projection?

Great video and thank you for putting it together.

Great Work, same situation prevails in India too Digital Projection has swallowed Film projection, I always loved film projection cause I find Digital projection bit artificial .....

Personally I would rather just watch the movie on Blu Ray instead of going to a theater. Whats the difference anyway other than the larger movie screen, overpriced concessions and high prices.....Still Digital. Zero drop in prices even though it saves the industry millions.Never there to help the consumer. No Film, No Thanks.

An incredible great documentary, I used to be a 35/70 millimeters projectionist. Now, it's all over I DO think so, and a pity! MERCI BEAUCOUP from Emmanuel from Paris France

Love it. thank you!

I used to be a union projectionist for 20 years I miss it a lot.😢

I was a projectionist for 9 years. I was working with Century projectors. Did any of you experience any eye damage from using the xenon bulbs inside,? I have irreparable damage to this day and im sure the higher ups knew of the potential risk involved to exposure to that light over a long time. :(

I ran the old projectors at the one screen small town theatre 1978-80. Theres nothing like the noise,sight and even smells of running film and I have started collecting home projectors and old films again.

Brilliant. I've been working in media for three years, and have only been paid to work on a film project once. Innovation is inevitable, but with any luck, we've reached another plateau in terms of hardware changes that affect those who are lucky enough to work in the "entertainment industry". A year after working on the film, I worked on a venerable filmmaker's first digital project (does that make him a movie maker? I suppose, though I'd push for artist!) and the experience was just as exciting. What am I trying to say? I don't know. Things change, but people stay the same.

lovely short Thanks for making it!

Thanks for this,I was a protectionist from 1979 to 1995 at the Cheltenham Odeon.

My most fond years were 1963-1968 where I worked in 3 different booths, Armed Forces Staff College, Norfolk VA, Wheeler Field (Airforce, HI) the the Naval Hospital, Millington Tenn. I saw some good movies, and some real stinkers. Mostly Carbon Arc Lamps but one modern Incadescent lamps. That was on a vittatorie 70 MM projector. Loved it.

In the 80's I was involved in the production of TV Commercials. Almost 100% were shot on 35mm negative film before being converted via telecine.. I wonder if anyone still does that?

Ex projectionist here - I worked during the day in graphic design/ production and at night as a projectionist ... summed up as digital by day, analog at night ... it seemed like the two would merge soon enough, and they have .. the end of a lovely era.

Very well put together. Even if I am 8 years late. Lol. I'm currently a projectionist who works with digital IMAX, Barco digital, and 35 mm reel-to-reel projectors. My theater experience started in my early 20's when 35mm was still the standard, and I learned on a platter system. (Which I much prefer over rtr.) Left the industry for about 10 years, and came back to find it was all digital now. I managed a theater that was all digital, and my first priority was to learn how to fix issues with the projectors, because there was no projectionist, and they had errors ALL THE TIME. If the customers thought they were the only ones frustrated by a projection issue, they weren't. It was constantly frustrating to me that we didn't have someone who was specifically hired to do the job I was having to stop my actual job to do. I would have much preferred to be in that booth for my entire shift to make sure everything ran fine, and fix issues within seconds, not the minutes it took for me to go up to the booth to fix. Luckily I have that booth life again, and I am living the dream, one film at a time!

Above the argument of film vs. digital, is the fact that movie theaters are becoming anachronistic. With sixty inch TV screens and DVDs and streaming a trip to the local cinema is unecessary and expensive. George Nussbaum, Casselberry, Fl

Saving film on film (acetate) will last over 500 years and will out-perform any digital format that has had over 30 format changes in 20 years. Film is not dead! While I can only collect physical media on 4K digital, I support the restoration process and am very critical of the preservation process. Kudos to Criterion, Shout!, Kino Lorber, Vinegar Syndrome, Arrow and many others for keeping and preserving our past.

In the 1970's I worked for a company then known as 20th Century Fox (South Africa) / African Consolidated Films (ACF) as a technician, maintaining projection equipment. I met a colleague in Bulawayo who was old enough to remember having to travel around to various cinemas with the very first 'talkies' or sound movies. His job was to temporarily install the equipment to make it possible to project a sound film!

This is golden! also a bittersweet yet with some melancholy mixed in on how technology changes the times.The cinema going experience is altering more and more with technology.

I first saw The Princess Diaries (2001) at a American Multi-Cinema (AMC) theater in Houston, Texas a few years ago

I worked as a licensed projectionist in Toronto in the late 90s/early 2000s when I was a theatre manager for Famous Players. I still have the projectionist study guide which I used to pass the Ontario licensing test. At the time in Ontario, you only needed to have a dedicated projectionist in theatres with more than 6 screens. Anything less it was just run by us (the managers), who were also licensed projectionists, as I said. We would do all the makeups and breakdowns and set up all the films, Cinecue system... or if you were unlucky enough to work at one of the really old ghetto theatres, a Matrix board (I only knew of one place that still used those out of the dozen or so theatres I worked at). Everyone that I worked with at the time were good projectionists as well because we all came from the old school theatres of the 20-40s where there was 1-3 screens (The Eglinton and Uptown in Toronto, for example). Then around 1999 all the big new multiplexes (the "SilverCity's" in Canada) started opening up. Of course there were the multiplexes of the 80s, but those were generally looked down upon (within the company) and the "flagship" theatres with all the big new openings and prestige were still the aforementioned old style art deco theatres like Eglinton and Uptown. I remember one time in the booth of the Eglinton we found an old Projectionist hourly rate sheet which listed all the prices that the projectionists used to make. I couldn't tell you when it was from, but obviously it was old and before the time when the managers could just do it for free as part of their wage they were getting paid as the theatre manager. I couldn't swear on the prices, but from what I remember it was somewhere in the neighbourhood of $50/hr for a single screen, up to $200/hr for up to 6 screens. Again, those numbers might be a bit off, this was a long time ago so it's hard to remember, but we were like "damn they're making doctor's wages!!" But again, like I said those days were long past and most theatres the managers just handled it. By the late 90s, if I remember correctly they were making somewhere in the $12-14/hr range. As more of the new style multiplexes opened up their wages kept going down more and more, and I think by around 2000 they were down to about $10/hr (basically what shift supervisor or assistant managers would make). The rules seemed to lax over time, and I believe by around 2003-2004ish when the first digital projectors started showing up in most theatres you didn't even need a license anymore (I wasn't working there anymore, but I remember hearing that from people I still knew who did).

God I miss being a projectionist. Nothing can beat the magical sound of cinema projector starting up then opening the dowser to let the light through the film after the countdown leader. Really starting to miss film projection in everyday cinemas, hopefully laser projection will replace the horrible 2k/ digital junk that replaced film.

@ Mitch, Great documentary. Short and to the point! Its heart wrenching to see one of the worlds greatest hidden jobs finally swooped up by computers. We were told they were coming for a long, long time! We all posted our feed back on one! Whats else is out there that hasn't been affected by a computer? anything or anyone? 21st Century is here! No Pun intended.............Eg Inventor

Very informative. Thank you

Enlightening it is.

The best 25 years of my life as a projection Manager. I miss the flicker and klack.

Grand slam! I just want to tell that gentlemen "we do care". As a matter of fact I had come across an old box of carbon rods for lighting. Until then I didn't realize how much had changed. I would rather pay for one movie with a projection of origin then see two digital. Great work.

I was a Projectionist while attending college in the 1970s. It was a great job and the hours were great, also. This job, like every other that required professional expertise has gone away along with the knowledge and skill associated with it. I was associated with film in 16mm production as well. Then when video had been the medium for corporate media departments, the reaction to me having a film background was as if I were a skunk who lifted its tail. REALLY! Why must people be such media snobs? And these are the very people who stream about being professionals. To quote Oliver Hardy, "Such IGNORANCE!"

great film man!

Even digital projectors will eventually give way to giant led screens.

The theatre I worked at had a platter system. I loved it when I had to link cinemas together to play a single movie. One time I had to play the same print in 4 cinemas at the same time. Those were the days. I really do miss that.

Remote control of the projector chain is a disaster looking for a place to happen. They had better have people locally stationed that can operator these things for when the link between the head end and the cinemas goes down. Trust me it probably happen. What about when Ballantyne Strong goes belly up without warning? And those large reels look so cool.

i was a projectionist in valdosta ga! saw the last days of film for our area come in as i left in 2013

My uncle was a projectionist, my cousin has been one as well, and I am proud to include several veteran operators among my friends. And all of them were/are dedicated professionals, not "jerks" or "gorillas." Perhaps the beginning of the end for the craft of projection was when safety film replaced nitrate celluloid, making the job no longer a dangerous one; digital is maybe only the last step. As Columbo (who once solved a case with the help of a projectionist) said, "Just one more thing." Now that there ARE no films, what are you going to call films?

Excellent documentary! But I still believe that existence of a physical material will always be there no matter how much the world becomes digital! And that is the reason why the Library of Congress will always try to find and will preserve the original film negatives of any motion picture as a cultural heritage for many generations to come! People forget that digital is not the solution it's just a transition from one technology to another! Whereas the film medium has always remain physical either as 70 or 35 mm across the world!! Just like classical music has survived since from 300 to 400 years! I sincerely hope that would be the case for the film medium as well!

INTERESTING !!!

This is exactly how They put myself and 90% of my union brothers out to pasture. nothing but corporate greed!

thank you for this video, i'm thinkin of turnin some clips into a DVD compilation for an old colleague of ours.

Thanks for making this important documentary Mitch! I've been working in real/reel film production since 1981. It breaks my heart to see film fading out so quickly, as both a production medium and projection material. I personally loathe hearing people use film terms when referring to shooting, editing and projecting digital video. I know Robert Rodriguez would disagree with me, but Quentin Tarantino agrees: that true cinema is light projected through celluloid(or mylar/polyester). Digital projection is simply watching giant TV, yawn.

I started as trainee projectionist in 1972 here in UK with Peerless carbon lamp house and changeover system eventually technology advanced to long play and platters then Dolby sound system came Dolby advanced in many types of sound as film studios demanded after 26 years I left cinema to pursue my career in different trade. I could never get cinema out of my blood so I built my own 35mm cinema in garage running Vic5 with CX21 lamp house and full Dolby sound surround. I say long live the projectionists around the world.

Projectionists are gone for two reasons. One, the unions and the need for improved presentations. For example the union in Chicago was run by the Mob and required a projectionist for every screen in a multiplex even if it was being run by means of automation (platter) for every screen or ma be one platter for two screens. Additionally there was the issue of film damage. Like all businesses we had projectionists that were of true value in many locations and we had some of those union jerks that seemed to only want to fight with management. By the way I was the divisional VP. of operations for Plitt Theaters, which had theaters in Calif., Utah, Idaho, and Nevada. The theatres were sold to Cineplex in 1985. I remember for example, Boise Idaho where I attempted to negotiate a fair deal with the Local union. was told what the union expected and replied that If they persisted in their demands automation would be on it's way. hence the arrival of the Platter. The evolution was bound to come. It was pushed by cost of film, film delivery, the cost of projectionists (in many cases they were making more than the Theatre Manager) and the demand for flawless presentations regarding picture and digital sound.

@mitch mattern do you know who the author in Canada that's working on the projectionist book is?

For all the business benefits of digital, I still say film looks better. Digital has a sterility to the image where film has a kind of life to it. It quite literally was the magical part of going to the movies. It gave life to the experience. Nothing like the pop/hiss through the speakers at the start of a film and the hum of the motor behind you. It's burned into my subconscious.

I've ALWAYS wanted to be a traditional projectionist. Its was always hard to get the job, as I tried many time, but with no experience, I never found the job. Too bad too, as I love film!

Archival films are only of value if there's equipment to show them on and people who have the knowledge and skill to maintain and operate it. This is why those of us who have this knowledge MUST share it with the few young people who are interested in past technology. If we don't pass it on the films and knowledge will be gone forever after we pass.....A concerned drive in dinosaur turned digital.

Nice work. Did you shoot it on film?

I know what was true at the time of my involvement because I negotiated the contracts with the unions in Calif., Utah, Nev. and Idaho. Additionally I set the budgets for all expenditures in those areas. Prior to that I signed all checks for employees in the Utah and Nevada district. While working for Mann theatres I was privy to the expense numbers for the district in Southern California. This was the National General Circuit acquired by Ted Mann. Before that I worked for Loews in Indiana where I saw the weekly P&L. I can't speak to those little independent Art Housed or sub run situations only the theaters I ran and the district and Division I was responsible for..

so sad since a modern TV set is par with a latest 4k projectors (even imax to some extent.) when my local theater switched to digital, it was an insult to what I knew about said projectors.

what song plays around the 9 minute mark? thanks

If you ask me, I strongly feel that film has better color, more brilliance, better sound and fuller pictures than digital. I hope that people will realize that and bring back the film.

I did enjoy my time as a Union Projectionist of Local 343 IATSE Omaha, Nebraska. Worked Part time while in the USAF 8 years. Full and Part time the other years. 1968 to 2011. After working here, there, and everywhere. Sometimes 12 hr. shifts. Holidays, nights, weekends, whenever some relief person didn't want to work. When Digital took over many jobs, I did not get a Thank You! Screw You! Nothing! Gone in One day! Thanks a lot Marcus Theaters for years of hating Union people like me. Now that the COVID-19 Virus has closed most theaters, Time for a little PAY-BACK! Ha! Ha! Ha!

I noticed the demise of film about a year and a half ago. All of this great tech obsolete? Probably...But NOT dead. I love big film. I am also determined not to let this great stuff just fall from grace. I went and got one(35mm)...and set it up in my house. There is a video series about the construction. Thanks for this great vid. If you don't mind, i'm putting a link to it in my vid.

I was a projectionist with VUE cinemas for a few years and it's easily the best job I ever had. Digital put an end to it though but that's life I guess. Change is inevitable.

Video killed the radio star, TV killed the theatre performances, digital kills the film projectors.

Projectionists doesn't die, they change over to the next reel.

Platter Houses are the worst for the longevity of a 35mm print! Thankfully, we do NOT allow our prints to be Plattered!

That initial "circle" was not round. Is this in the correct AR? (The footage later looks correct.)

I had a long and happy association with many Christie projectors.

tienen peliculas de 16 m/m para vender y quisiera saber los precios y peliculas en español gracias

You don't load in the "film." You load in the video. They are video theaters. Film prints cost on the average of $1,500. To open film in theaters across the country took quite a bit of money. Now it's just one guy uploading the video. Why haven't we seen a drop in ticket prices?

Projectionists were disappearing when platters came in.

It's not just the demise of film but also the presentation of it. Waiting for the show to start in a cold mostly quiet place with a blank screen. You might as well be watching it in your living room. Over priced sweets, food and drinks. The only plus the seating is comfortable. The old projectionist had to make sure interval music was played and never to show a blank screen with the curtains drawn to get you in anticipation of the show. I know you cannot go back but please think of your patrons and solely your profits.

if you're a movie theater: you have no say WHATSOEVER about movies or showtimes. you are given showtimes for the sign, at showtime the movie plays, repeat. is that correct?

"Digital Cinema" is and always will be an oxymoron. Something like "Public TV" with a big screen as Tarantino once said. But the demise of projectionists and high-qulaity cinema film presentation standards began long before digital - starting roughly with the advent of multiplexes and platter systems. Any of the so-called presentation problems with film that digital has been spun as "solving" were actually created by the theatre industry itself - since around the mid-late 70s. Pity. Oh well.

Film did generally look better than digital, but there were always some drawbacks involved. For one thing, not all projectionists were on the same level of competence. I for one got sick & tired of having to deal with images being out-of-focus, or being improperly framed or with sound goofed-up or other technical eff-ups. First time I tried watching "Hollow Man" for example, for the first 20 minutes of it or so, not only did the picture keep going out of focus, but the dialog track kept cutting out, so all you had was music & actors mouthing words. (After going to theater employees to complain about it several times, I finally went to the box-office & demanded my money back.) And this was in a Century theater too, where they *supposedly* knew what they were doing. Another thing I hated about film was the el cheapo theaters who turned down the power on the projector-bulbs to save money. I saw "The Last Emperor" in one of these cheapskate places, with the result being that the brilliant, beautifully-photographed images of the movie were utterly wasted on a projector that looked like it was illuminated with a night-light. I encountered the same problem with other movies, in other theaters, and after a certain point, it seemed to become more the norm rather than the exception. And that's not even counting the problems involved with the condition of a movie print itself. I've also had to suffer through screenings of even relatively-new/recent movies that were so worn-out, scratched, full of cuts & splices that you could hardly see the original image, and every other line of dialog was missing, and the film-base was so warped that it (again) kept going out of focus every five seconds. Such problems affect even new movies. The original print I saw of "Return of the Jedi" in theaters upon its initial release looked like it was goofed up by the lab or something, as it had greenish streaks or scratches running throughout, from beginning to end. I haven't noticed this problem on the home-video version of the movie, so apparently it existed only in the projection-prints of the time. So for me, even though I miss the experience of seeing a good movie (repeat, a GOOD movie, something that is also increasingly-rare these days) in 70mm projected onto a big screen, all the other problems described above become so increasingly common & frequent that, after a certain point, I was pretty much ready to forget about theaters altogether (and long before the 'rona hit), perfectly content to just watch movies on my own bigscreen TV in the privacy of my own home. And neither "Hollywood" nor the Big Chain Theaters had anything to do with my decision, since I encountered the same problems at both chain theaters as well as the independently-operated ones.

Hi there! Just wondering if you know the name of the author who was going to write the book?

This is great even on hard to find movies never on DVD yet which is why I like the Jill Schoelen's 1991 movie Rich Girl on digital and DVD as that option if someone lucky enough finds that movie along with Director Don Owens 1984 Canadian movie Unfinished Business. Last option the 1987 CBC TV movie Blades of Courage in Canada (aka Skate in international version).

I see the "projectionists" at that theater used SOLID splicing tape and were even too lazy to peel it off the trailers when taking them off movies, so they deserved to lose their jobs!

Technological advancements in any industry doesn't neccessarly mean for the better. For the Generations that grew up with film;Digital is just a head scratching complicated system that may produce a premium picture image but explaining it to the average Joe is feutal. Of course to a Theater owner operater its a GOD send. No worries about films showing up; minimal freight costs because a harddrive can be air freighted at minimal cost verses having to ship 6 2000ft reels of film from an exchange. No film breakage,focus problems, and no projectionist to have to pay any longer. I'm sad that this technology has not only lost thousands of Jobs for people worldwide but for an industry that for over a Century was born and thrived on film not just in the motion picture business but to almost every household that took a picture with a film camera during their lives. When almost everything in this World is automated, Run and controlled by robots,and humans aren't really needed any longer is that progress or just a Death Sentence for man kind...s.m.

Well the theater in my area is gone now. They were probably the last place to play 35mm film in my area and the owner just said it wasn't worth running anymore.

😢😢😢😢 this is just sad as fuck, I have so many fucking memories with film

35mm projectors are disappearing along with movie theaters!!

The fact that a theatre I'm sitting in is being run by someone 1500 miles away makes it a cold, disconnected experience. I'm hearing now about falling movie attendance numbers despite how great this all is, but maybe people are sensing the lack of showmanship and personal attention from old fashioned projectionists.

Everything we do is turning digital, we're living in a non physical world of the virtual. Shame that we have to give up film too.