I've learned more than I could have wanted to on this site, but where else can I go? I've found places that have information such as the following:

"Take the film from the upper spool and thread through the picture and sound head. Attach to lower spool. Start projector."

I have a little experience (VERY little), as I do own a little 35mm screning room in my home. But where can learn the difference between a cp-55 and a cp-65, and what is three-phase, and what is an a-chain and a b-chain, etc.

For a high school student who would one day like to be a theater tech or professional projectionist, are there any resources that you could recommend?

Thanks all-

Also, have you done a search of older topics here (putting those key words into the search feature?) Both of those questions were actually discussed here in the past.

Sometimes, people have questions that are not directly related to a field of interest. For example, since the term "three-phase" is more of an electrical term (not a projection term), you might have to look around on the 'net to find a place that could answer it. You can get specific info here on something ("The CP55 had an xdb gain, and the CP65 had a ydb gain.", and then go elsewhere to find, "What is a db?")

There is no substitute. Duh.

I can't think of any other place save for rec.arts.movies.tech that has projection info that is worth a damn, Most other 35mm projection sites I have seen are just antique collector sitesor virtual museums...

Aaron

The June 2000 and September 2000 issues of Kodak's "Cinema Notes" has an extensive list of "Internet Resources".

Practically anything you want to know about film technology is on Kodak's website:
http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

Like Film-Tech, the Kodak site has a "Search" function, that can find the information you need, e.g., to find information about nitrate film, enter the search word "nitrate".

My best advice is to find a good job at a local theatre and try to learn as much as possible. I started at a brand-new theatre in my home town earlier this year (while I was a senior in high school myself), and was so interested in projection and the inner-workings of the equipment that I found myself at the theatre at 2 or 3am many a night. (See pics at http://kwikware.com/matt/theatrepics.htm)

Tinker around (with your boss' permission), get to know your equipment, and ask questions, no matter how ignorant you think you sound (everyone here at film-tech.com is great). By learing the equipment and studying how it works, I now do nearly all of the technical work at the theatre.

As far as your specific questions, I personally learned about A-chain and B-chain alignment at SMART's website. Check out http://www.smartdev.com/tg_note.htm for more info.

Matt Ashburn
Hollwood Cinema (Martinsville, VA)
University of VA Newcomb Hall Theatre (Charlottesville, VA)