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Topic: College and other limited-run facilites..share your stories!
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Tony Bandiera Jr
Film God
Posts: 3067
From: Moreland Idaho
Registered: Apr 2004
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posted 03-19-2009 03:28 PM
A big thanks to Scott and Frank for inspiring this thread... ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
And I hope I'm not breaking the rules by pasting in from the posts in the other threads, but I feel it is necessary to launch this thread...
quote: Scott Norwood
......They call me ahead of time. I show up an hour before showtime. The person in charge doesn't show up on time, can't find the print, can't find keys to the building/booth, or is generally clueless. Usually, I get into the booth and start working on the print about fifteen minutes later.
At that point, I have about forty-five minutes to inspect/repair as much of the print as possible, clean up whatever mess someone else left in the booth, set some wacky and invariably non-automated masking system, maybe set up a microphone or two, thread the projectors, and generally get ready for the show. Seconds count here.
I can only complain or demand so much without becoming sufficiently annoying that the venues in question (usually b colleges or festivals) would consider switching to video exhibition. This would not be in anyone's interest.
Showing up earlier is generally not an option because either my schedule or their schedule does not allow it. There aren't many projectionists who are available to do these sorts of shows, so I end up doing quite a few of them, simply because no one else is available.
AND:
quote: Frank Angel
...I love the "We can't find the keys to the room where we keep the movie." syndrome. And then there's the joy of finding equipment in the rack removed, unplugged, repatched and generally needing two hours to trouble shoot just to get sound in the theatre only to find the aperture plates missing.....This one booth was a such pleasure to work that I happily gave up my Saturday nights occasionally for a number of years just to run films for them. Then some college kid bozo was hired on a full-time basis as the A/V guy and who's main work space was the booth. The place was completely trashed within a six month period. Many times I would come into the booth to find that not only was there evidence of equipment in the rack being tampered with, but likewise the projectors were manhandled,.....-- in short, a total disrespect for the booth and the equipment.
I count myself as very fortunate. For the last 12 years I have had EXCLUSIVE control over the booth at UC Irvine. (I really need to get a photo tour of that place put up here on F-T). I am the only one who is allowed to operate the 35mm and 16mm Kinotons, and the only one who can use the large cinema screen and masking. In fact, several years ago I put key switches on the cinema screen to protect it from the students and dumb faculty (one of whom stuck a poster to the roll-up classroom screen..care to guess what happened next?)
The room seat about 350, and has a cinema image of about 26' wide in scope.
The booth at one time was staffed by students to run all the media for classes, and for the most part they left the equipment alone with two notable exceptions: One student used my cinema subs and the patchbay to tie in his bass guitar (I almost broke his fingers when I found out) and we had another kid who constantly tried to get the film projectors running, he wasn't smart enough to figure out that there was a power switch INSIDE the projectors.
The main issues I have there now are how the Scheduling people can't get it through their thick heads that we need room prep time between the last class and my shows. (I have to wheel out my center/sub speakers, move aside the "Smart Classroom" podium, which is a 200+ pound wooded albatross, lower the cinema screen and set the side masking which normally resides hidden in the wall pockets. Then a quick check with RP-40 on both machines to check position and focus.)
The other issue is with Central Plant who controls the HVAC for the room. Someone in their infinite wisdom decided that my projector exhaust fan should also serve as the fart fan for the booth toilet, and it shuts down when the A/C does. And there is no local override. Well, after several warnings about the problem it finally happened..they shut down HVAC in the middle of a show and now I have one badly damaged glass reflector..which is gonna cost someone there $3k to replace.
So let's continue this thread..anyone else out there who runs colleges, or other limited run (Less that say two shows/day) venues share your stories!!
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Jeff Stricker
Master Film Handler
Posts: 481
From: Calumet, Mi USA
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 03-20-2009 02:49 PM
I used to run the films for the university "do-good, charitable society" back in the 1960's. New film each week, 16mm, three showings every Saturday night. Twenty-five cents admission, engineering school with a 10:1 male:female ratio. Ran such things as "Barbarella", the Dean Martin "Matt Helm" classics, John Wayne and various other cowboy stuff ---- you name it. I HAD keys for the booth and kept the anamorphic adapters in my apartment. We had a very nice Altec audio system and I used to blast the latest rock and roll hits of the day over it as the patrons filed in for the showing.
What I remember was getting the film no more than an hour before the first showing from whatever powers that be had it, can't remember details. Then trying to inspect it and figure out if it was scope or not...seems like the leaders didn't always say what the aspect ratio was. Got it wrong once or twice ![[Wink]](wink.gif) Oh well, fun times, no complaints, clean booth and reliable equipment --- $1.00/hour pay!
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Aaron Garman
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1470
From: Toledo, OH USA
Registered: Mar 2003
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posted 03-20-2009 07:19 PM
Although I don't work in the booth, one of our five venues at the performing arts center here is a 200 seat THX house. We typically run films Thursday-Saturday, and sometimes on Sunday afternoons. Adults are $6 with students at $3. Not a bad deal at all!
We show mostly art, independent, and foreign films. Most of the time, we attempt to have filmmakers involved with the projects in attendance, typically with a Q and A. Oh, and did I mention our PAC Classic series? 100 of the best, classic films ever made.
It is by far the best cinema in our state, and quite possibly the region technically and programming wise.
AJG
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Tony L. Hernandez
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 158
From: Windsor, CO, USA
Registered: Dec 2005
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posted 03-21-2009 03:03 AM
Hey, Aaron: I'm assuming you are referring to the Browning Cinema? If so, I just ran a print of "Children of Men" at my arthouse down in Boulder on 2/18 that had been shown by you guys right before we got it and it was in almost mint condition! Keep up the good work! I really loved the fact that the print was uncut since I too am a 2k changeover house. Scratch free and CLEAN as well! THANK YOU!
Back to Tony B.'s topic, 3 of my regular theaters are on a university campus. One is a second run & sneak preveiw house that seats 500, another is a 400 seat arthouse and the third is a 60-seat screening room in a separate building that serves as an auxiliary screen for the arthouse.
All of the campus movie theater projection is handled by myself with 10 years experience projecting (and a lifetime around the movie theater business), my boss who is a union projectionist with 35 years projection/theater experience and another guy who has 15 years projection experience. We all are rather fussy that things be run and maintained perfectly and run a tight ship.
The theaters are multi use classrooms by day however problems are kept to a minimum. My boss, who has 30 years on campus, decided some time ago to install padlocks & lock EVERYTHING up that sits in the booths. All parts and tools are kept in locking drawers, lenses kept in locking cabinets,soundrack closes and locks and we even have locking tarps that we throw over the projectors. The reel files remain unlocked but no problem has ever came of this...knock on wood!
Information Technology Services also use these booths and occasionally we have the booth chair go missing, garbage left in the booth,etc. This happens very rarely but once it starts, a scolding email to the head ITS guy usually stops it for a good while.
One annoying problem is the fact that the projectors in the large arthouse seem always to be getting bumped...I have to re-align them before almost every show. I also have to always reset my maskings before every show since people play with them during the day.
All in all, everyone is respectful and our theaters are some of the nicest in the area.
Tony: in the arthouse, I also have the large speaker and sub locked in a cabinet that I wheel out before each show.
There are two other performing arts theaters I project at that have weekly or monthly films however the projection booths are used only for projection so there are little to no problems there.
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Tony L. Hernandez
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 158
From: Windsor, CO, USA
Registered: Dec 2005
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posted 03-24-2009 08:26 PM
Ah, Tony...design flaws. We have had a few of those. In the 500 seat 2nd run/sneak house we had a couple great ones. During an '06 remodel, some bozo thought it would be a good idea to lower the proscenium arch which resulted in about 1 foot or so being cropped off of the top of the picture. To add insult to injury, they also installed two ceiling mounted LCD projectors that hung down into each corner of the picture. For example, I could only see the very bottom part of my cues. Just this last summer, we finally got around to lowering the screen and lowering the 35mm projectors. Now the problem is basically rectified.
Also, I mentioned the little 60 seat screening room for the art house. There are two auditoriums in that building, one right next to the other. One is a very spacious room that seats 150 or so. The other only seats 60. One is equipped with two Kinoton 35/16 projectors, an amazing sound system and a 2k D-Cinema projector and the other is only equipped with 2 Elmo CX-350 projectors and a basic DLP projector. Can you guess which theater has the basic equipped booth and which one has all of the expensive theater equipment?
Bet you guessed wrong. The 60 seat screening room has the complete booth and the 150 seat auditorium has the basic equipment. Why? I have yet to figure this out. Also, there is a black box theatre below the small screening room so if there is a film playing in there while they are holding an event down in the black box, the audience gets to hear and feel the goings on below.
All in all I can't complain though. Everything else is of good quality for the most part.
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![[Frown]](frown.gif)
Looks great, sounds like shit with an empty room. Luckily when we get around 100 or more people in the room the echos settle down to a tolerable level. But no way that room will ever get THX Certified. 
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