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» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Film Handlers' Forum   » my first changeovers (Page 1)

 
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Author Topic: my first changeovers
Josh Jones
Redhat

Posts: 1207
From: Plano, TX
Registered: Apr 2000

- posted 09-14-2000 09:21 PM      Profile for Josh Jones   Author's Homepage   Email Josh Jones   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Last saturday was a big day for me.
Me and my dad were doing our usual "theatre dorking"in a small theatre in Ashley ND.
I was invited into the booth and what did I see but two simplex E-7's with simplex High carbon arcs!!! Well I was taking pictures and we were coming up on the changeover for "the Perfect Storm". after he let me "lace" up the second machine, he let me do the changeover. I was almost blown away. My first changeover!! watching the rectifiers glow(G-83 tubes), Jeff and I discussed projection and the origins of the theatre.
I completed three more changeovers and I have to say, That was a hell of a lot of fun.
Wish our house was a platter free zone!

Josh


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"where to they teach you to talk like this, in some Panema City wana hump-hump-bar? sell crazy someplace else. we're all stocked up here" As good as it gets


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Dave Bird
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 777
From: Perth, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Jun 2000

- posted 09-14-2000 10:03 PM      Profile for Dave Bird   Author's Homepage   Email Dave Bird   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I know, as a film "expert" I should know this , but what do the changover cues mean in sequence for a changeover setup? And are they still useful for the majority of you when you're making up your prints for the platter?

PS- If I'd have noticed them back in high school, then they'd have set a great pace for beers at the drive-in! One (or two) each reel, so long as I wasn't driving!

Sounds great Josh, I've noticed in my own "theatre dorking" that alot of the old booths were green, is that a prevailing colour do you think, or was that just the cheapest colour at the paint store?


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John Wilson
Film God

Posts: 5438
From: Sydney, Australia.
Registered: Dec 1999

- posted 09-15-2000 02:15 AM      Profile for John Wilson   Email John Wilson   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
First cue is the motor on cue...the second is the picture/sound changeover cue to the incoming machine.

Your beer drinking idea with the cues would be fun...especially if you had seen 'Shout At The Devil' starring Roger Moore and Lee Marvin at the drive in. The there were nine reels in that one and some reels only ran four or five minutes!

MMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmm....beer drinking changeovers...

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Michael Pace
Film Handler

Posts: 64
From: Dalby, Queensland, Australia
Registered: Aug 2000

- posted 09-15-2000 03:19 AM      Profile for Michael Pace   Email Michael Pace   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Dear All,

I haven't had the privelege of doing a change-over in many years, I must admit I miss keeping my hand in as they were a magnificent part of being a really professional projectionist.

I still check for the cues out of sheer habit as well as using them as part of ensuring that I really have the end of the spool.

John, The Olympics have arrived. The opening ceremony is playing on the tv at this very moment!

Regards to all,

Michael.

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Ari Nordström
Master Film Handler

Posts: 283
From: Göteborg, Sweden
Registered: Jan 2000

- posted 09-15-2000 05:56 AM      Profile for Ari Nordström   Email Ari Nordström   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Beer and changeovers... There are some very nice russian and japanese movies that consist of more than a dozen reels each. At film festivals showing this type of films, the projectionist is bound to have some fun.

You don't necessarily need changeovers for drinking beer in the booth, though. Just think about how unfair the system would be if you run from a platter or if you spliced together a couple of reels.

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Bruce McGee
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1776
From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular.
Registered: Aug 1999

- posted 09-15-2000 06:46 AM      Profile for Bruce McGee   Email Bruce McGee   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I saw Shout At The Devil. I needed several beers just to get through it!

I have a '30's feature in the collection with cues every 10 minutes!

A friend and I do shots at every reel change, and by the time the thing is over... Can you say Jagermeister? (not too sure of the spelling)

Good thing the thing fades out at every changeover anyway. Mine were getting a bit sloppy toward the end of the feature. I forgot to switch the sound once.

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Josh Jones
Redhat

Posts: 1207
From: Plano, TX
Registered: Apr 2000

- posted 09-15-2000 07:10 PM      Profile for Josh Jones   Author's Homepage   Email Josh Jones   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Beer and changeovers, great Idea.

as for the green paint, I couldn't tell you.
our booth was pea green floor to ceiling(yuck). I would guess the color was so ugly paint stores marked down the price on it

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"where to they teach you to talk like this, in some Panema City wana hump-hump-bar? sell crazy someplace else. we're all stocked up here" As good as it gets


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Stephen Jones
Master Film Handler

Posts: 314
From: Geelong Victoria Australia
Registered: Jun 99

- posted 09-15-2000 08:02 PM      Profile for Stephen Jones   Email Stephen Jones   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Michael, I too use the change over cues to double check to make sure it's the end of a spool when making up a print,as these day's leaders etc being put on wrong ends of spools seem's to be occuring more often if you recieve a print that has been used before you.Checking for the c/o cues is a sure way of making sure,When traing new people I show them where they are and what they are for and tell them its a good way to check to see if the spool is really end out.I have'nt done a change over for 11 years and I agree with you that I like'd doing c/o's as it made you feel part of the presentation like opening curtains,dimming house lights,ah they were the day's when you were a real projectionist!

Stephen.

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John Walsh
Film God

Posts: 2490
From: Connecticut, USA, Earth, Milky Way
Registered: Oct 1999

- posted 09-15-2000 10:50 PM      Profile for John Walsh   Email John Walsh   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
An old booth I worked it was green! Since I knew the guy who had it built, I would have to say it must be the cheapest paint.

Jagermeister shot at each c/o.... hummm... interesting possibilities... Actually sounds a lot better than playing, "Have a Witch" or "Bizz-Buzz."


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Bernie Anderson Jr
Master Film Handler

Posts: 435
From: Woodbridge, New Jersey
Registered: Apr 2000

- posted 09-16-2000 12:24 AM      Profile for Bernie Anderson Jr   Author's Homepage   Email Bernie Anderson Jr   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I have to say I'm one of the lucky ones. I learned at the Bethlehem Drive In , PA about 10 years ago. Talk about vintage: twin RCA (BX-100s) on RCA 9030 soundheads with Ashcraft (I want to say Corelites) arch lamps with rotating carbons and water cooled aperature and jaws. Really cool! Anyway, I'm happy to say that I'm one of two operators that run two big old time palaces (art centers now a days) The smaller one, having xenon and Century H heads and RCA 9030 soundhead with hour reel capacities and the bigger one in Jersey City,NJ- get this- 2 Super Corelite archs with Norelcos (Kinoton FP 135) And a third projector that is a restored Vitaphone projector on a universal base with a Standard Simplex with Western Electric Sound (Optical and Disc-record, not CD). If anyone can get a chance to see one run it's really something special. Oh yeah, Two Brenographs (not working, yet.) Down with the platter system. Booths now a days are not that fun.

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John Wilson
Film God

Posts: 5438
From: Sydney, Australia.
Registered: Dec 1999

- posted 09-16-2000 01:21 AM      Profile for John Wilson   Email John Wilson   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Any pictures Bernie?

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Scott Norwood
Film God

Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99

- posted 09-16-2000 06:39 AM      Profile for Scott Norwood   Author's Homepage   Email Scott Norwood   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
What do you mean that booths are no longer any fun? You just have to find the right booths! There are plenty of (usually) small-town theatres that still burn carbon and many single-screen theatres of all types that do changeovers. (I don't know why anyone would want a platter system in a single-screen...it seems like it would be more trouble than it's worth...they're great for long runs at multiplexes, though.)

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Dave Bird
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 777
From: Perth, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Jun 2000

- posted 09-16-2000 07:35 AM      Profile for Dave Bird   Author's Homepage   Email Dave Bird   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Speaking of water-cooled apertures, are they all that common anymore? My XL's have them along with big metal tubs to supply them. I'd like to use clear tubing and some wild-coloured lit up water like the old "bubble" juke boxes! I don't know why, just thought of it the other day. I'd also like to have a huge picture window in my booth so that everyone can "see the action".

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Bernie Anderson Jr
Master Film Handler

Posts: 435
From: Woodbridge, New Jersey
Registered: Apr 2000

- posted 09-16-2000 07:56 AM      Profile for Bernie Anderson Jr   Author's Homepage   Email Bernie Anderson Jr   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Pictures - I'll try to get some this weekend. We're doing a film shoot dealing with the viatphone machine. But I'll try and get some.

Fun- From what I've seen in Jersey (at least in mid state) there really isn't much anymore. There are a couple of small theatres that convereted over to stage shows that will run movies maybe every three years. The only theatre the I know of in the area that still has changeovers is the Bradley Beach Cinema, which is only during the summer and they too took out the carbons and replaced them with xenon. 99 percent of the stuff around here is the "new" Loews multiplexes, Regal, Reading and Clearview. There are two General Cinemas in my area (one that I work it) that are about 13 to 30 years old that they want to unload in about 4 years when the leases are up. GCC built a big mother 16 plex in Clifton two years ago.

Water cooled - At my one GCC I'm running a Victoria 8 70/35mm that is running a water cooled aperature. Other than myself, I don't think anyone that works in the booth (ushers and managers) even knows what it is. And from what I remember of the Bethlehem, it didn't have water circulators (put it this way, there wasn't any in sight in the booth) but a direct feed to the projector from the water pipe with a valve to shut it off.

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Tim Reed
Better Projection Pays

Posts: 5246
From: Northampton, PA
Registered: Sep 1999

- posted 09-16-2000 08:28 AM      Profile for Tim Reed   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote:
alot of the old booths were green, is that a prevailing colour

Dave, olive green was a specified color in vintage booth designs. Also, the area around all the portholes were usually painted flat black. This combination was chosen by the industry to keep work area reflections to a minimum, and to provide a good contrast for the projectionist, to view the picture.

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Better Projection Pays!

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