Going to the movies is easy, right? Sit down, watch the house lights dim and the movie appears on the screen like magic, perfectly clear and focused.
For the audience, yes. For the projectionists in the back of the room, behind those little square windows, there’s an entire world of work, sweat and sometimes disaster that the audience never even sees.
“I don’t think you’re really a projectionist until the film has broken or burnt,” said Marc Longenecker ’03, a former head projectionist for the Film Series who is currently studying in the film department as a graduate student. “It’s a rite of passage.”
For film students used to studying what’s on the screen, it can be a learning experience to actually look at how it gets there.
“It’s a way for me to see the other half of filmmaking,” said Dylan Osborn ’05, who served two years as head projectionist. “The film department is very focused on studying film as a medium. Projecting is part of that.”
Whether it is an intimate conversation between Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman or a meteor destroying the planet, every screen image starts from the same place: film. Film that is easily scratched, torn, broken, burnt and essentially destroyed. The bigger the film the more difficult it is to manage.
“The bigger format we get, the more problems it may create,” Osborn said.
“As someone with a physics background, it’s fascinating,” Longenecker said.
Before and after reaching the beam of light that projects it onto the wall, a film frame goes through a complex series of sprockets, barrels, loops and gates, all of which could potentially cause disaster.
“A big audience brings a lot of pressure,” said Lana Wilson ’05, a head projectionist. “Many factors are outside of the projectionist’s control, such as the quality of the print and equipment, so often the projectionist just has to work within the circumstances available to them. Also, the projectionist is always alone in a tiny, dark, and freezing cold booth. This can lead to intense paranoia.”
Despite the dangers and frustrations, the projectionists recognize the value of the experience.
“It’s a life skill, like riding a bike,” Osborn said. “It’s a great learning opportunity.”
With the film department constantly expanding, opportunities for projectionists, such as projecting in 70 mm format, are increasing as well.
“I’ve projected a few times when the director was in the audience,” Osborn said. “Those are always intense.”
The new Center for Film Studies (CFS) has greatly expanded the capabilities and comfort within the projection booth.
“It’s amazing that students are allowed to project in it,” Osborn said.
Osborn, along with Longenecker and other head projectionists Wilson and Audrey Golden ’06, are among the few people to have projected in the new theater, which is still being broken-in.
The Film Series will move to the CFS in fall 2005, and in the meantime the head projectionists will train other students on the equipment.
“We knew that we would need to troubleshoot the whole year,” Osborn said. “It’s just a question of locking down all the problems.”
“If you get a new pair of shoes they’re always uncomfortable the first time you wear them,” Longenecker said.
“The space is drastically different,” Longenecker said of the new projection booth, which is significantly larger than the old booth.
“In the projectionist booth, you can dissolve from VHS to DVD, and there’s a wireless microphone connected to the PA system that the projectionist can use to frighten (and delight!) theater patrons,” Wilson said.
Longenecker and Osborn also noted the new booth’s thermostat, which the old theater lacks.
“In the winter you have to be against the heater to keep warm,” Longenecker said of the old theater. “In the summer you just have to sweat it out.”
From the booth the viewing process is quite different, with the noise of the projector drowning out the sound and the screen significantly farther away. Still, projectionists see enough of the movie to claim they have seen them all for free.
“With a 25 minute reel you probably watch about 15 minutes of it,” Longenecker said. “As you get to be a better projectionist you get to watch more of the film. In a way it’s kind of nicer because I can get up and walk around if I want to.”
Not all film series screenings are on film due to the increased use of DVDs, which is easier than threading a sensitive piece of film through what could amount to a death trap. Some say, however, that there is something satisfying about the whir of the projector and getting to see that tiny square of film blown up into an actual image.
“You’re part of the complete film experience,” Osborn said.
Even when the experience quite literally breaks apart in your hands.
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