Problems of a Projectionist

The problems of projectionists are so numerous and so widely different in their nature that I have been very careful to keep the last word of the title of this paper singular. If one were to attempt to write on the problems of projectionists in general, I fear he would never live to see the end of that one article. This is therefore confined to my own problems. These I shall state only in a practical way with the hope that others in the Society may help to supply either practical or technical information which will lead to the reduction of my troubles as well as those of many other projectionists and theatre managers.

We shall start with the receipt of a brand new film for previewing. The majority of film received at present is waxed by a good waxing machine which places a thin line of wax over the perforations. The wax is applied in a molten state, and no more is applied than is absolutely required. A few exchanges, however, persist in trying to apply cold paraffin to the film. The result is that eight or ten times as much wax is used as is necessary. This gums up the sprockets of the projector, lodges in the aperture, and makes a very displeasing grillwork along the sides of the projected picture. Quite often so much wax will spatter on the lens that it is necessary to stop in the middle of a picture to clean the lens. Later, the excess wax spreads over the entire film and very often discolors any toned portion. It is strange that exchanges will continue to ruin their own goods year after year in this manner.

It is still very common to receive new film on reels that are ready for the junk heap. Quite a number of reels are, in my estimation, ready for the junk heap before any film has ever been placed on them. Some exchanges still continue to use cheap, wobbly, or worn out reels to mount their prints costing hundreds or thousands of dollars. Less than a month ago I received a print of The Black Pirate done throughout in Technicolor, with the usual amount of printed instructions to the projectionists to use care, caution, etc., in handling the film to prevent scratching. This print had not been through a projector more than two or three times, but the reels were in such a bent and dilapidated condition that we were forced to stop the projectors and have the entire feature rewound on good reels before we could finish the preview. The last fifty or one hundred feet of each reel was so badly scratched at this early date in its life that we would have refused to use this particular print for a regular showing in the Eastman Theatre.

Next, we shall take the receipt of a feature or other film for showing, some five or six weeks after pre-viewing. The punch mark nuisance has abated somewhat but is still with us. We also have stickers of all shapes, sizes, and description placed not only by operators but also by exchanges themselves. I believe the only way to eliminate this nuisance and waste of film is for the producers themselves to get together and adopt some safe and sane method of ending their reels so there will be no doubt as to when the end is coming. Some producers now arrange a fade-out at the end of each reel. This proves that it is possible. Other producers willfully commit the blunder of ending one reel with a close-up of one person and starting the next reel with a close-up of another person. This is inexcusable. I see no reason why they should not send out a cue sheet describing the action at the end of each reel. It may be well enough for the DeLuxe houses to make their own cue sheets, as we do, but bear in mind that many, many theatres do not receive their film three or four days ahead of showing. Many are lucky to receive their show a few minutes before the theatre opens. Going further, I can see no reason at present for making leaders which will project "End of Part One," "Reel Two, " etc., on the screen. Why not use opaque film for leaders and print this information in such a way that it can be read by the projectionist but will not be projected? Several feet of film and, what is more important, several feet of action are wasted daily by the cutting off and replacing of these leaders.

My problem at present in regard to film condition centers on scratched film. Unless film is absolutely first-run, scratches are always present in a greater or less degree. I believe that small reel hubs, high speed rewinds with poor tensioning devices, and worn magazine valves are the chief causes of scratching. I think that the adoption of the five-inch hub as standard would be very beneficial to the majority of theatres and only slightly objectionable to a small minority. You may say, "What about the portable projectors and small theatres that still use the small magazines?" I say "Why cater to the minority when the vast majority would receive a direct and decided benefit?" This unnecessary winding and rewinding on small hubbed reels causes more scratches than any other one thing. For a rewind, we use two Simplex take-up brackets and lower magazines. The idler side is equipped with the regular take-up tensioning device. This is light and even. The driven side is geared in such a way that it takes four minutes to rewind a two thousand-foot reel of film, the hub being five inches in diameter. Near the reel onto which the film is wound a hard guide roller is mounted on an arm having a vertical swing. The roller guides the film evenly on the reel with no slopping sidewise. The swinging arm is arranged in such a way that when the end of the film goes through or in case of a break the arm drops on a radio plunger switch and stops the motor. A photograph of it with magazines removed is shown in Fig. 1.

My greatest problem today is to be able to run a thousand foot weekly, a two-thousand-foot comedy, and an eight-thousand foot feature on a two-hour schedule which includes also an eight or ten-minute overture and a five or ten-minute act. This cannot be done without speeding. We have found at the Eastman Theatre that at least the above amount of variety is necessary to make a well rounded program. What do we do? Instead of using eighty feet per minute as a standard projection speed, we project at from ninety to one hundred feet per minute. We have one hundred and twenty minutes for the complete show. Subtract ten minutes for overture and ten minutes for an act or acts, and we have left one hundred minutes for film. This will allow us to show approximately nine thousand feet of film. We pick the weekly to make about eight hundred feet. We reduce the comedy to about twelve hundred feet and take out about one thousand feet from the feature. Each of these footages are approximate, bearing in mind that the whole show must not be much in excess of nine thousand feet.

How do we do it?- by cutting. It is no easy job. This is the way we go about it. The managing director, the musical director, and I watch the picture through at the first pre-view, after which we confer as to what can be eliminated. At this time I estimate just how much the film will be reduced in footage. The speed and running time are then decided. I make an index card containing this information and file it. Later, when the picture is received for showing, I have it run over again and make the necessary cuts. This work usually takes six or seven hours. Producers and exchange managers object to having their pictures cut; this will be done as long as they continue to make features much in excess of seven thousand feet or make comedies two thousand feet in length which would be much better if only one thousand feet long. Of course we do not cut a thousand or two thousand feet from some particular part of the picture. It is gone over, reel by reel, and we take out only minor incidents which do not have a direct bearing on the story and unnecessary detail or padding, of which there is usually a great sufficiency.

Once the picture is cut to required length, it is ready for scoring. We usually spend the greater part of three days running the picture over and over for the musical director to get his music properly arranged.

In order to have a smooth running show, free from breaks, it has been found necessary to inspect by hand all film included in the program. This is not done because of worn or defective perforations but on account of bad laboratory splices. Apparently the majority of laboratory splices are good. Features have been received from the largest producers in the past year in which poor cement had been used. I think this mainly, however, the result of improper handling. Many do not seem to realize that a loose cork will soon ruin an entire bottle of cement. On these apparently good splices, if you just pick at the corners of the joined parts, they will open up and with only slight effort they separate very easily. Frequently the cement looks and acts more like library paste. Hand inspection is the only remedy.

It is also necessary to remove a considerable quantity of oil, grease, and dirt from films as received even if only five or six weeks old. This is done by hand. Pads of long nap silk velvet are made, and saturated with carbon tetrachloride. The film is run through these. An electric desk fan is trained on the film in such a way as to evaporate all surplus solvent from the film before it reaches the reel, two men being used for this work. One cleans the film; he keeps the second man busy washing out the velvet pads. One piece will clean about fifty feet of film; then it must be washed out. This process takes about thirty minutes to a thousand-foot reel or four hours to properly clean an eight-reel feature. After inspection and cleaning, the film is wound on two thousand-foot reels for showing. To obviate the possibility of a man putting in the wrong reel or putting in a reel backwards (without rewinding), we have found it necessary to use plain white undeveloped film for leaders at the start of each reel with the number of the reel plainly punched on the leader, and to use a colored undeveloped leader (I use amber) at the finish of each reel. This might seem an unnecessary precaution, but I was forced to discharge two otherwise good men a couple of years ago for putting reels in backwards. It has never happened since.

Now, let us say a few words in regard to organization and equipment. Any theatre that desires to sell motion pictures to the public must do so through the medium of good projection. This depends entirely upon the organization of the projection department and its equipment. At the Eastman Theatre, I am in full charge of the projectionists and equipment. I and no one else is held responsible for the projection. Although we have the best equipment money can buy, this would soon deteriorate unless properly cared for. The projection department consists of seven men including myself.

We use four projectionists, two at each shift, for running the regular show, one projectionist for screening purposes, and an artist who assists me by preparing designs, etc., for projection of color and lighting effects. I am not required to do any actual projection of film. If there is more work than the regular men can do properly, I call in other men at overtime rates for this extra work. The screening man and designer are also able to do general office work, take care of receiving, daily listing of all film on hand and shipment of it. The projectionists who run the regular show are picked for their individual ability. We must consider that a good projectionist must be a student of mechanics, electricity, and optics at least, to say nothing of physics, chemistry, and many other branches of science which could very reasonably be called a necessary part of his education. If we were so lucky as to find a man with all of these requirements, the whole would be spoiled if his physical condition were impaired or his eyesight should happen to be bad. I believe that, if a would-be projectionist discovers that he has lung trouble, is very near sighted, or is color blind, he should immediately seek other employment, because he will never be successful as a projectionist and will only be a disappointment to himself and others if he tries to stick to it. After taking all of the above into consideration, our men are picked in such a way that one man is good on a few of the requirements and another is good on some of the others, managing between the four to cover the territory. The work is arranged in such a way that one is accountable to me for the condition of one part of the equipment and another for some other part, and so on.

We now reach the point where the show goes to the main projection room for a regular week's run. During the time that the film has been in preparation, the designer has been working out, under my direction, special effects that will symbolize the different numbers on the program, such as weekly, comedy, feature, etc., as described by Mr. L.A. Jones and myself in the S.M.P.E. Transactions No. 21. All color and lighting effects are rehearsed, after which every detail is written out, including the speed, footage, and time of starting and ending of each number on the program. Only by the written method can we be sure that one show after another will be exactly the same. It is essential that every show be the same even to the timing of color effects, which cover the curtains while they are closed between each number on the program, because these effects are also timed with the musical score. We used to rely on hand inspection of the film to avoid breaks during the run of a show, but we have since changed to the use of an inspection machine. Sensitivity of the machine is tested daily with a test film with all possible defects numbered in such a way that, if the machine fails to stop on any number, proper adjustment be made at once. Without using the test film, the machine would hardly be reliable. It is necessary to run the film through this machine only once daily to insure the theatre against breaks.

Besides the nine projectors under the roof of the Eastman Theatre and Eastman School of Music, there are three in each of our other two theatres, the Regent and the Piccadilly. Out of the fifteen projectors, three are equipped with high intensity arcs, six with reflector arcs, five with Mazda, and one with a regular arc. There are the following projection distances: fifteen, twenty-five, thirty-five, eighty, ninety, one hundred, and one hundred and sixty feet. After many experiments, the white cloth screen with rubber backing seemed to give the best results under various conditions and these are used throughout. The high intensity arc is used on the one hundred and sixty foot distance. The light from this was very unsatisfactory as to color and uniformity of screen brightness until the relay system was used. This increased our screen brightness twenty-five per cent in the center of the screen and thirty-three per cent at the corners. While the light has much less blue in proportion than before, it is still necessary to use correcting filters while projecting color films. With the Mazda also, it is true that a clear field was not obtained until the relay system was adopted. This particular relay system uses an aperture lens, which is capable of converging the light beam into an objective lens of small diameter. The reflector arc, while it gives plenty of economical illumination, also delivers plenty of heat to the film. This heat in itself sets up many focus troubles which have been encountered by only a few projectionists before. The light beam in this case usually fills the objective lens to its full aperture, which tends to reduce the depth of focus. At the same time, the film is heated to such an extent that each separate picture buckles and bellies toward the light source (away from the objective). This buckling varies with the density of the film. Thus, a title with a black background will buckle most, and a letter written on a white background will buckle the least. These are the extremes. In between, there are hundreds of different densities, each absorbing a different amount of heat and buckling accordingly. If the lens happens to be of short focus or, especially large aperture, the only way to keep the projected picture in sharp focus is to refocus with each change of density. My only remedy, is to use an objective lens of relatively small aperture. This assures enough depth of focus to take care of the buckling. In general, it is against my good judgment to use an objective that has a free aperture of more than F/3. At present we are able to get all the illumination required without resorting to exceptionally large aperture lenses and taking chances on losing sharpness and definition by so doing.

Looking ahead, I believe that in time the reflector arc will be replaced by an angle arc mounted back of six or eight-inch diameter condensers in connection with a relay system using an aperture lens which will converge the light beam into a small aperture objective lens. I believe that the same system will be used with either high or low intensity carbons as the condition may require. In connection with this, a revolving shutter located just back of the aperture (between the condensers and film) will of necessity be introduced. This would reduce the heat on the film by at least one half. The shutter would also have the advantage of being a standard width for all sizes of objective lenses. Another thought is that with the coming of more and more colored films the projectionist requires information which will enable him to correct the color of his light to produce the proper result on the screen. Those who are producing color films at present should make a careful study of the different colors of projection light sources and furnish the proper filters to meet the conditions. Otherwise, they are doing themselves and their product an injustice by allowing it to be shown under many different light conditions, a number of which are decidedly wrong and give the public a false impression of color photography.

DISCUSSION

MR. HILL: Mr. Townsend says he favors the use of a lens in the film aperture which converges the light into an objective of low numerical aperture. I, too, favor the result but not the method; however, Mr. Townsend and I have arranged to settle this matter elsewhere.

I am glad to know that the Eastman Theatre is going to all the trouble of editing their films to shorten the running time rather than the more widely practiced expedient of excessive speeding, An exhibitor who jams two hours' entertainment into an hour and a half is giving the public short weight; he is no better than the grocer who sells a pound of butter weighing thirteen ounces. I'm glad to know that the Eastman Theatre has adopted the more ethical method of deleting the "less nutritious" portions of the show.

President Cook: I don't quite agree with Mr. Hill's statement that it is the same as a grocer who sells thirteen ounces for a pound. They still get the same amount but it is rammed down their throats more quickly than they can assimilate it.

Mr. Palmer; I want to ask Mr. Townsend about cutting down the footage- whether they have asked the exchanges to do that instead of doing it themselves. Being in the production end of the business, I think that the exchange might be able to do that better than the projection operator or the man in charge of the projection.

Mr. Townsend: We had one experience with an exchange cutting a picture, and after that we did not care to take another chance; they simply eliminated five hundred feet in one chunk, which left out part of the story, and everybody going into the theatre noticed it; whereas, we try to use judgment. When I desire to get five hundred feet out of a picture, I take only a small amount of each reel and am very careful about it. I see the picture at the pre-view, then it is run again, reel by reel. I don't rely on my memory to carry through a whole feature. We don't eliminate a part of the story or an incident in the story that is important to the story itself. We eliminate only the by-play and very apparent padding.

Mr. Denison: I don't think the theatre has any right to cut pictures. The picture is properly cut in the studio and is in complete form. I do not think projectionists are qualified to re-cut a picture. We do not even attempt re-cutting in exchanges outside of lifting censored parts. We have tried to stop the cutting of our pictures by the theatres. If pictures are too long or padded, the matter should be taken up promptly with the producers. Unskilled cutting of pictures in the theatre certainly mars the story value of the picture.

Mr. Richardson: I can't remember the time when I have seen a production on the screen that would not be benefited by eliminating footage. Padding operates tremendously to the damage of the show in many theatres because they want to run a topical, a feature, and a comedy in the allotted time, and it is not long enough to accommodate all the things the manager wants to include. I have long said, and say again, that one of the highest functions of the able projectionist is to be able to look over the film and eliminate enough of the padding present in practically all productions to bring it down to the footage which can be put through without overspeeding.

Original article by Lewis M. Townsend, 1926.

Lewis M. Townsend, "Problems of a Projectionist," in Transactions of Society of Motion Picture Engineers, #27, January 1927, pages 79-88. Paper presented at conference held October 4-7, 1926.

© 1997, David Pierce, on editing and revisions (if any)

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