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Author Topic: Major Interlocks Alex Edwards Expert Film Handler Posts: 114 From: Iowa Registered: Aug 2009 posted 09-21-2009 12:18 AM                  Ive gone through posts in the past few years and seen interlocks of 5 or 6 mentioned where it was regarded as out of the norm. I was curious to see if 8 years ago people wern't as eager to even attempt a larger interlock for a paying audience. In the past year our theater has interlocked 10 projectors for the Dark Knight midnight show and the recent Harry Potter midnight. I've seen the Interlocking 101 but that wasn't with an audience was it?  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 09-21-2009 01:00 AM                     Interlocking 101 was not done for an audience, but I have done many, many one-print/all-complex interlocks in the past. Its really no big deal so long as you know what you are doing.  |  IP: Logged Greg Anderson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 766 From: Ogden Valley, Utah Registered: Nov 1999 posted 09-21-2009 09:45 AM                        When I think about major interlocks, I sometimes wonder about the potential for disaster. Granted, I can't remember any interlock disaster stories around these forums (maybe I just wasn't paying attention) but... come on! Ten projectors running the same piece of film. If any one of them malfunctions then you lose all ten shows, right? Does anyone freak out over that kind of risk? Do any companies or managers prohibit interlocks beyond a certain number of screens? quote: Brad Miller Its really no big deal so long as you know what you are doing. And I admit that I haven't been a projectionist for many years now, so I never learned interlocking. Then again, I never did changeovers until someone needed me to run one screening at the Sundance Institute a few years ago. I watched another guy run a show and that's all I needed to know. Of course, he thought I'd never figure out how to do it but it was a piece of cake.  |  IP: Logged Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 09-21-2009 09:59 AM                    I have done a five theater interlock as a test a few times on equipment that wasn't setup to interlock just to prove that it was possible to the management. I agree with Brad... not a big deal if you know what you're doing. On the other hand... I've seen a two auditorium interlock of a midnight show of Return of the King break after the projectionist and everyone else but one manager and one usher went home resulting in a near riot, the police being called, and a front page news story the next day. (I wasn't working that night.) So you have to be smart about interlocking too. If the manager on staff is not capable of running an interlock show (or more importantly fixing a broken one) with one hand tied behind her back, you don't send the projectionist home to save a couple of payroll hours.  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 09-21-2009 10:11 AM                        Wait! 1) They actually have projectionists 2) They actually send them home while film is still running?!?! Is this a standard practice everywhere?  |  IP: Logged Demetris Thoupis Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1240 From: Aradippou, Larnaca, Cyprus Registered: Apr 2001 posted 09-21-2009 10:33 AM                     Now with Digital the usher presses the play button  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 09-21-2009 10:41 AM                        It's actually not uncommon for the projectionist at an automated multiplex to only be scheduled until 15-30 minutes after the last show start. The manager is then supposed to keep an eye on things and shut down the equipment at the end of the night. I don't feel good about this (and have actually left a 3-screen interlock running), but it causes few problems in practice, much as I hate to say that. I've also seen schedules where the manager threads and starts the first shows of the day and the operator comes in about half an hour before the first shows end to run the rest of the day's shows. Again, it's not an ideal situation, but it's what the major chains seem to want. As for interlocks, the most I've ever done is only three screens, and I doubt that I'll ever do an interlock show again.  |  IP: Logged Matt Skilton Film Handler Posts: 43 From: Bromley, Kent, UK Registered: May 2009 posted 09-21-2009 11:03 AM                        The mere thought of our managers starting and/or finishing shows makes me laugh but also shiver in sheer fright. One of them doesn't even like helping me move films because he's scared of them. I had to do a three screen interlock with Quantum of Solace at our multiplex - first time it's be done for a public show. Usually we only do two screen interlocks. For the big films we get 2-3 prints so that reduces the need for them.  |  IP: Logged Alex Edwards Expert Film Handler Posts: 114 From: Iowa Registered: Aug 2009 posted 09-21-2009 12:47 PM                  The way our theater is layed out, we have 2 long booths with 10 projectors each and then 2 projecters in their own rooms and then 2 more in the same room. For Harry Potter we used 5 prints and sold out the entire 20 auditorium theater. It did take 3 projectionists and our booth manager but it went off without a hitch. One projectionist stuck around booth until the end but that is common practice for our theater. I guess one advantage we had was that we were able to start threading a couple hours in advance and check over all the threading multiple times.  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 09-21-2009 01:00 PM                        Did 12 screen interlock in Washington DC back in 1985. Louis  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 09-21-2009 02:23 PM                        At a recent theater I worked at, the owners weren't too fond of interlocking due to the potential dangers (at least this is what I was told by management). I told the managers I could do it. The managers told the owners and they gave the OK on a Bollywood rental which scored us $400 more and some more concession sales (which is the price we rented out auditoriums on a Saturday night, though I think we gave that particular customer a deal in pricing). We did a bunch more interlocks in the following months, me doing all of them. No one from downstairs was very interested in seeing it run. The machines were not wired for interlock. I was even able to manage a 6-way interlock in the same theater, though not for an audience. The first movie I ever interlocked was The Lion King and had no issues with that (and I had just learned to thread not long before). Then it was 101 Dalmatians with Glen Close. Again, no problems. I had to teach the other projectionists how to interlock with a short test reel using our 3 small auditoriums. Then there was Lost World which I did have an issue. It was running fine and then later in the evening when I went to close down the projectors, I noticed the tail end of the film was still threaded through both projectors and a bit tangled in the brain. Both projectors had shut down properly, no burnt film, no complaints from anyone in both the sold out theaters. Weird.  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 퍼항시, 경상푹도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 09-21-2009 03:22 PM                     Most I've done is 4 on opening weekend for Transformers 2. Had to call my booth manager to get the setup code so I could change one of the automation's loop number, otherwise it would've been run manually. Apparently, he didn't realize I was doing that many theaters and was surprised to find the gigantic thing of leader I had used when he came in the next day.  |  IP: Logged Marco Giustini Film God Posts: 2713 From: Reading, UK Registered: Nov 2007 posted 09-21-2009 03:29 PM                     Where I used to work once a year we had to show cartoons for children. 11 screen, 3 or 4 interlocks simultaneously. From 2 to 4 auditoriums together, 10m delay between each show. As Brad said, if you know what you are doing, it's not so scaring. First year, with newbie projectionists, was a bit hard. Then was really easy. Marco  |  IP: Logged Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 09-21-2009 06:49 PM                    quote: Scott Norwood I've also seen schedules where the manager threads and starts the first shows of the day and the operator comes in about half an hour before the first shows end to run the rest of the day's shows. Again, it's not an ideal situation, but it's what the major chains seem to want. Those are usually the days when I come in to find three of the prints are scratching. In the case of the Return of the King show, I would NOT have left. That booth has notorious static problems... which are amplified when interlocking and the film is traveling through the air... and amplified even more with Fuji film for some reason... which is what ROTK was. Not to mention it was a new print, and it was three hours long. About 1/2 way through the film static brought a few extra loops of film into the brain and that was that. They should have been film-guarding that thing every round to help the static and babysitting it to get a feel for how much it was being impacted by static. They weren't. Not only do you have to know what you're doing with interlocking, but in that case it would have helped them to know a few other things too.  |  IP: Logged Jonathan Althaus Master Film Handler Posts: 435 From: Bedford, TX Registered: Dec 2008 posted 09-21-2009 08:21 PM                     We havent done any public interlocking since we stopped running kid shows a few summers ago. I did run a 4 screen interlock this past spring just to show new projectionists what an interlock is and how its done. Our theatre just isn't set up for major interlocking.  |  IP: Logged

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