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Author Topic: Projection Booth Training David Barlow Film Handler Posts: 6 From: Arlington, VA Registered: Jun 2004 posted 11-17-2009 03:47 PM                     At the theater where I work we are having 2 issues that I was looking for input on. The first of these is how to choose candidates from the floor staff to be moved up into the booth (as some of our current projectionists are leaving). The second is based around our policy of having three different levels of projectionists, with level 1 being the most basic and level 3 being the most advanced. We have a check-list of things that they need to be able to do in order to advance but it is pretty subjective and also situation dependant; For example, one of the requirements to reach level 3 is ability to deal with a dropped print in a timely and precise manner. Hopefully, we will never have a dropped print, and we haven't in some time, so how could we go about testing our staffs abilities? Do any of your theaters have something like this? Any advice? Thanks in advance all! edit: This is what we have come up with so far but I am sure it is far from comprehensive. A LEVEL 1 PROJECTIONIST SHOULD BE ABLE TO... BUILD A FILM TO 6K'S BUILD A FILM TO PLATTER KNOW WHEN EACH OF THE ABOVE IS APPROPRIATE TEAR A FILM FROM 6K'S OR PLATTER CORES OR REELS BUILD A TRAILER PACK THREAD A FILM IN <4 MINUTES 2 PERSON MOVE A PRINT CLEAN A PROJECTOR AND PERFORM REGULAR BOOTH MAINTENECE USE FILM CLEANER AND PARTICAL TRANSFER ROLLERS CHANGE LENS/APERATURE/MASKING RUN A QUBE FILM RUN A MOVIE ON EITHER OF THE SMALL DIGITAL PROJECTORS DVD OR DIGIBETA SET UP MICROPHONES IN ANY THEATER TIGHT WIND (AND UNDERSTAND WHY) REMOVE AND INSERT A TRAILER PACK FROM A BUILT FILM REMOVE AN INDIVIDUAL TRAILER FROM A BUILT FILM A LEVEL 2 PROJECTIONIST SHOULD BE ABLE TO.... ALL OF THE ABOVE + TROUBLESHOOT/SOLVE/DEAL WITH BRAIN WRAP AND TAIL TRAP ADD A MOVIE TO THE QUBE UNDERSTAND & USE ALL COMPUTER FUNCTIONS OF THE QUBE SOLO MOVE A PRINT (TIGHTWOUND) CHANGE A POWER SUPPLY CHANGE PROJECTOR OIL TRAIN SOMEONE IN ALL LEVEL 1 TASKS A LEVEL 3 PROJECTIONIST SHOULD BE ABLE TO... ALL OF THE ABOVE + CHANGE A BUILB IN A 35MM PROJECTOR & QUBE UNDERSTANDING OF BULB REPORT CARDS INCLUDING ADJUST THE REFLECTOR RESOLVE ISSUES WITH A DAMAGED PRINT DEAL WITH A DROPPED PRINT -David B.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 11-17-2009 05:28 PM                        quote: David Barlow TEAR A FILM !!!!!  |  IP: Logged Bill Enos Film God Posts: 2081 From: Richmond, Virginia, USA Registered: Apr 2000 posted 11-17-2009 05:39 PM                     Tear down a print? I would think that anybody who works in the booth should be able to do everything on all three lists.  |  IP: Logged David Barlow Film Handler Posts: 6 From: Arlington, VA Registered: Jun 2004 posted 11-17-2009 05:49 PM                     Yeah, tear down a print. That what I get for writing these things at 4 in the morning. I would agree that ALL projectionists should be able to do all of these things, but we have been brining new people in lately and we are trying to figure out how to train them from the ground up. It seems to me like this is the order in which things should be learned?  |  IP: Logged Ian Parfrey Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1049 From: Imbil Australia 26 deg 27' 42.66" S 152 deg 42' 23.40" E Registered: Feb 2009 posted 11-17-2009 06:26 PM                     David. In regards to your wanting to recruit potential staff members for the projection role, the best method I have found is to make a general announcement to the staff that there will be an upcoming booth tour and that you would like an indication of those who would be interested. This will do two things: 1. It will automatically weed out those who dont want to be a projectionist in the first instance 2. It will show you those who do want to improve their standing with your company. During the booth tour, get one of the current projectionists to show the staff how it all runs. You will just stand back and watch each staff member and see which ones show INTEREST in the job. It will most likely be the ones who WANT to do the job that will ask questions and take a visible interest whereas the ones who don't want the job will be the ones who look away and show no real urge to be there. I hope this may be of interest and some help. Good luck with it all. Cheers Ian  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 11-17-2009 07:04 PM                        When evaluating crew members to see who would be good upstairs, look at those who show attention to detail and those who have an ability to understand technical details. Attention to detail is not always easy to see among floor staff, but it could be simple things like wiping a counter between customers, keeping an eye on when to start the poppers, cleaning the lobby without prompting. Just these basic things will weed out the majority of your floor staff. Understanding technical details is not always to see with floor staff, so look for things like ability to disassemble the popper and other equipment at night, ability to change a bag-in-box, and anything else that show an ability to work out how things work. Butter pumps can be good for this. When I train someone upstairs, I always start with teaching them how to thread an old trailer pack on one of our two types of projectors. If they can't build some basic proficiency in a two hour training session, they are not fit to work upstairs. Then they learn to tear down film and if they do well with that I will eventually teach them to build up movies. I handle virtually all projector maintenance and repairs myself. I also deal with all print moves. I do teach my assistants how to move a clamped film with two people, but I work about 99% of change-over nights.  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 11-18-2009 12:15 PM                       You spend the first two weeks just watching. Then, maybe the projectionist will let you rewind. After a while rewinding, you start getting to thread up. After a few months, you finally get to make a changeover.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 11-18-2009 01:02 PM                     See if any of them are mechanically inclined - to understand mechanical physics and how machinery works. With this, then they can understand how to handle certain situations that may arise.  |  IP: Logged Jesse Skeen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1517 From: Sacramento, CA Registered: Aug 2000 posted 11-19-2009 04:29 AM                     Eliminate anyone from the potential candidates list who gives as their top reason for wanting to work in the booth "because you don't have to deal with the customers." I personally have several other criteria which would get you banned from the entire theater, not just the booth, but I'm not in the mood to offend anyone right now  |  IP: Logged Tom Inglis Film Handler Posts: 34 From: Croydon London, England Registered: Mar 2009 posted 11-19-2009 10:11 AM                     This is very interesting to me, as I and my colleague are currently writing the training manual for the company... As for how we recruit, we advertise on site for applications, asking people to write in with a short paragraph about why they want to come up to the booth and why they'd be good at it. From there, any that make the short list (based on my manager's decision) come up for a trial shift. For mine, it was me and one other guy. We were taken through lacing up in 2 stages and then laced all the shows alternately for about 4 hours, being checked and critiqued each time. After that, the boss made his decision. As for the levels that the OP was about, our level 1s are taught to open the site, lace and run shows and thats it. As we develop the manual more, I'll feed into this more. Our current learning order is something like: 1. Induction 2. Opening/Closing the Site 3. Shows 4. Ads and Trailers 5. Film makeup and breakdown 6. Maintenance  |  IP: Logged Michael Voiland Expert Film Handler Posts: 219 From: Naperville, IL US Registered: Aug 2009 posted 11-19-2009 10:18 AM                     In regards to handling a dropped print... The last week of my training during close one of the people I was working with dropped a print trying to move it by themselves. I got home at 5 am McDonald's turns their chocolate shake machine off at 3. Also I have not heard the term QUBE before could someone explain this one to me.  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 퍼항시, 경상푹도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 11-19-2009 11:05 AM                     quote: Tom Inglis Induction What is this referring to? You must be using that word differently than I.  |  IP: Logged David Barlow Film Handler Posts: 6 From: Arlington, VA Registered: Jun 2004 posted 11-19-2009 11:44 AM                     The QUBE is our digital projector at the theater. Thanks for all the feedback! I am also hoping to end up with something like a training manual and you have all been super helpful  |  IP: Logged Sam Graham AKA: "The Evil Sam Graham". Wackiness ensues. Posts: 1431 From: Waukee, IA Registered: Dec 2004 posted 11-19-2009 01:27 PM                        quote: Jesse Skeen Eliminate anyone from the potential candidates list who gives as their top reason for wanting to work in the booth "because you don't have to deal with the customers." DAMNIT! (moves on to next job interview)  |  IP: Logged John Wilson Film God Posts: 5438 From: Sydney, Australia. Registered: Dec 1999 posted 11-19-2009 02:02 PM                     quote: Tim Reed You spend the first two weeks just watching. Then, maybe the projectionist will let you rewind. After a while rewinding, you start getting to thread up. After a few months, you finally get to make a changeover. Ha!  |  IP: Logged

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