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Author Topic: Projection Room tours are kind of boring now... Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 04-02-2015 05:29 PM                        Generally speaking, I am a big fan of digital for reasons that don't need to be rehashed again. But the other day I had a parent from a home school group ask about a projection room tour. Talking to her I realized that such a tour would be pretty boring for most kids. Because everything is just a bunch of computers, there is nothing particularly interesting to look at. No moving parts or action. Plus, we don't have any garbage trailers where we could give the kids a small strip of film. I have to admit that's one small aspect of the digital conversion that I do miss. That, and the silent booth at the end of the night.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 04-02-2015 06:12 PM                     What? No motorized 3D or Anamorphic attachments to "dazzle" them? Yes...a projection booth today with a typical multiplex is definitely a "ho-hum" place for someone that has grown up with computers.  |  IP: Logged Buck Wilson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 894 From: St. Joseph MO, USA Registered: Sep 2010 posted 04-02-2015 06:19 PM                     Agreed. I can't begin to tell you how much I miss a silent booth at the end of a long day.  |  IP: Logged Donald Brown Expert Film Handler Posts: 131 From: Lincoln, DE Registered: Sep 2009 posted 04-02-2015 06:28 PM                     Since digital formats have become so common place, over the past several summers at the Skowhegan Drive-In Theatre, I have found folks looking in the booth door absolutely amazed that film is still in use. A couple from California traveling through Quebec stopped at the drive-in late one afternoon to photograph the facility. What made their visit memorable was when the gentleman asked if the 35mm equipment was being maintained for historic integrity. The concept that the medium was still commercially viable wasn't even considered. In the digital age, even a brief glimpse in an unaltered projection booth takes on added significance! Don Brown  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 04-02-2015 06:45 PM                        quote: Buck Wilson I can't begin to tell you how much I miss a silent booth at the end of a long day. I've posted about this before, but I completely agree with you. At the end of a long and hectic day, it was almost a zen moment to just stand in the dark and silent booth for a few minutes before heading home.  |  IP: Logged Stephan Shelley Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 854 From: castro valley, CA, usa Registered: Nov 2014 posted 04-02-2015 07:59 PM                     Some places like the Grand Lake power down all the equipment at night. The booth is silent at night still. I know the Castro Theatre in San Francisco does as well. To the topic digital projectors just make a lot of noise and have light coming out the front. When we had Interstellar in 5/70 running, there is a good size window that one can see the platters spinning with the 70 mm on it. A lot of folks stop and pointed and looked on the way out.  |  IP: Logged Buck Wilson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 894 From: St. Joseph MO, USA Registered: Sep 2010 posted 04-02-2015 08:29 PM                     quote: Justin Hamaker I've posted about this before, but I completely agree with you. At the end of a long and hectic day, it was almost a zen moment to just stand in the dark and silent booth for a few minutes before heading home. Oh absolutely. I would quite literally sit on the floor for 10 or 15 minutes in the pitch black silence and just 'wind down' before leaving.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 04-03-2015 06:44 PM                     And, I can't give tours anymore since I don't have booths to show off what we use to put a feature on the screen. Units are located in cubby holes between walls, platform that takes an extension ladder to get to, enclosed boxes, elevated platforms and two closets. -Monte  |  IP: Logged Sam Graham AKA: "The Evil Sam Graham". Wackiness ensues. Posts: 1431 From: Waukee, IA Registered: Dec 2004 posted 04-03-2015 06:57 PM                        Boothless cinemas are stupid. Where is the staff supposed to make out?  |  IP: Logged Marcel Birgelen Film God Posts: 3357 From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands Registered: Feb 2012 posted 04-07-2015 06:25 AM                     Duh... Behind the screen, where else? Or do modern multiplex cinemas have screenless screens?  |  IP: Logged Jason McMillan Film Handler Posts: 68 From: Houston, TX, USA Registered: Dec 2009 posted 04-07-2015 10:51 AM                     In the newer multiplexes, the engineers are hanging the projectors at the rear of the auditorium and setting up an open "Digital Command Center" (basically, the racks with the GDCs, sound gear, screenvision, etc) in a glass enclosed room. People hardly take notice to them anymore.  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-07-2015 11:43 AM                        That's some seriously ugly carpet  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 04-07-2015 12:14 PM                        Worse than a 'Vegas casino. The pic reminds me of the Premiere Cinemas 16 here in Rio Rancho.  |  IP: Logged Jason McMillan Film Handler Posts: 68 From: Houston, TX, USA Registered: Dec 2009 posted 04-07-2015 02:46 PM                     Funny story, that is a Premiere Cinema, and that carpet was originally destined for Rio Rancho.  |  IP: Logged Manny Montes Master Film Handler Posts: 270 From: United States Registered: Feb 2010 posted 04-07-2015 05:15 PM                     You all are brave, with all the spooky things happening in the booths I worked at, I shut down booth and was out of there. No way I'm sitting in a pitch black booth after hours alone.  |  IP: Logged

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