my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Community   » The Afterlife   » The Dying Of The Light (2015)

Author Topic: The Dying Of The Light (2015) Mark Ogden Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 943 From: Little Falls, N.J. Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-11-2019 02:25 PM                     A documentary: movie projectionists reminisce about the end of the film projection era and visit the abandoned booths where they once worked. On AppleTV and Amazon Prime. ***** This is an interesting and well made film that features current and former New England area projectionists (including some habitués of this forum) discussing their personal histories and relationship to film and the craft of movie projection, and the technological and market changes that made them redundant. The main interviewee is the Somerville Theater’s David Kornfeld, who is clearly America’s best dressed projectionist. He discusses the history of the craft, projection equipment, and laments the projectionist’s shrinking role in exhibition. Mitch Dvoskin is interviewed from the stage of the grand old Loew’s Jersey, and I was very happy to see a brief interview with the late Film-Techer Bob Throop, who I knew and worked with many many years ago. He passed away only two weeks after his interview, and the film is dedicated to him, a nice touch. There are some visits to old and barely accessible booths as well, in one segment a group of former projectionists reopen a long abandoned booth in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania and manage to get it briefly running again, albeit without a screen. There’s also a frustrating visit to The Brattle Cinema in Cambridge, Massachusetts, probably the only surviving rear-projection cinema in America, whose operator discusses, but does not demonstrate for us, the whole it’s-all-done-with-mirrors aspect of the theatre. It’s a well-produced picture and is generally well-photographed, except that director seems to have an aversion to establishing shots and favors disorienting close-ups. It runs a bit long too, but it’s otherwise well worth your time if the era of film projection meant anything to you, and very well worth it if you ever spent time in the booth yourself.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-11-2019 02:33 PM                     It never died! It just changed over...  |  IP: Logged Ed Gordon Film Handler Posts: 31 From: Mountlake Terrace, WA, USA Registered: May 2019 posted 11-11-2019 02:49 PM                     'The Dying Of The Light' is also available at Kanopy.com and Hoopla.com. These are streaming services available at no charge through local libraries (You can go to either site to find out if your library is a sponsor).  |  IP: Logged Sean McKinnon Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1712 From: Peabody Massachusetts Registered: Sep 2000 posted 11-14-2019 09:14 AM                        David is America's best dressed Projectionist. He did not get dressed up for the taping that is what he normally wears to work.  |  IP: Logged David Kornfeld Film Handler Posts: 24 From: Cambridge, MA/USA, USA Registered: Apr 2017 posted 11-14-2019 07:55 PM                     quote: Sean McKinnon He did not get dressed up for the taping that is what he normally wears to work. Yeah; so whats wrong with that weirdo, anyhow?  |  IP: Logged Mark Ogden Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 943 From: Little Falls, N.J. Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-14-2019 08:17 PM                     70mm showings get a tuxedo. I've seen it!  |  IP: Logged Bill Brandenstein Master Film Handler Posts: 413 From: Santa Clarita, CA Registered: Jul 2013 posted 11-14-2019 10:47 PM                     Glad I'm in good company. Running 70 would be a dream for which I am utterly unqualified, but I did get roped into wearing a tux for a 16mm Technicolor show I did for an elderly patroness and her family earlier this year. Now THAT's showmanship! Anything that makes showing film an event gets my vote.  |  IP: Logged Sean McKinnon Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1712 From: Peabody Massachusetts Registered: Sep 2000 posted 11-18-2019 08:46 AM                        quote: David Kornfeld Yeah; so whats wrong with that weirdo, anyhow? Nothing is wrong with you David besides this illness that effects us all and keeps us in this business. I actually admire the fact that you care enough to dress professionally!  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 12-27-2019 01:00 AM                        The fact that David packs the house for classic movies that he shows in both 35mm and 70mm -- titles everyone who buys a ticket could easily see at home and in most cases probably for less that the price of his theatre ticket to say nothing of the hassle of going out to his theater, is a testament to the quality of his presentation and showmanship. His on-stage preshow introductions educate and inform his audiences in a very personal and interactive way. Yea, I know commercial theatres today are assembly line businesses and this kind of personal touch is a thing of the past, but boy, when you see it being done as well and as classy as Mr. Kornfeld does it, it truly is something beautiful to behold. And a reminder of what is used to be like in the Golden Age of the Movie Palaces when even local Mom and Pop neighborhood theatres strove for that kind of showmanship and their own kind of signature style. Did I mention when the lights dim at The Somerville, TWO curtains open on the screen. Count them...T-W-O effin screen curtains! It's enough to give you an erection.  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-27-2019 12:02 PM                     quote: Frank Angel The fact that David packs the house for classic movies that he shows in both 35mm and 70mm -- titles everyone who buys a ticket could easily see at home and in most cases probably for less that the price of his theatre ticket to say nothing of the hassle of going out to his theater, is a testament to the quality of his presentation and showmanship. His on-stage preshow introductions educate and inform his audiences in a very personal and interactive way. The important thing about the movie going experience is the concept of people who do things for the benefit of others. Call it a service industry if you want but I think the concept of "service" has been lost on the general public. The idea of service is that each party in a transaction derives benefit from their interaction with the other. It's not just, "You give me money and I'll let you stay in my theater for two hours." It is about one person being interested in another's experience and the second person giving back appreciation. Each makes a personal investment. When Franks says that theaters have become like assembly lines, I think he hits the nail on the head. Switching to digital has only put movie theaters on a fast track to obscurity. Going to the movies is not about looking at pretty pictures on a screen. It is about people caring enough about others to be invested in their well being, even if only for two hours. If people who manage and work in movie theaters don't get that idea through their thick skulls and actually practice what they preach, the movie industry as we know it will be dead in just a decade or two.  |  IP: Logged Stephan Shelley Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 854 From: castro valley, CA, usa Registered: Nov 2014 posted 12-27-2019 08:26 PM                     Here in the San Francisco Bay Area there are several theatres using two curtains. Screen 1 at the Grand Lake. Both Grand and Title curtains are flying curtains. I do not mean waterfall but ones that go strait up into the fly galley using the 90+ year old counterweight system. The Standford Theatre in Palo Alto. Strictly 35mm rotating positive carbon arc. Shows nothing newer than 1959. No digital. The California Theatre in San Jose and the Paramount in Oakland when they are showing movies. Both are mostly performing arts houses.  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.