Film projectionist manual from George Eastman House

[sethb]

I recently stumbled across a wonderful book on Amazon: “The Art of Film Projection,” published by the George Eastman House in 2019. This is a concise but thorough manual on the projection of 35mm and 16mm film of all types and formats over the years, with plenty of pictures and illustrations to guide and inform you.

I was a projectionist at a college film series in the early 1970’s, and my experience was limited to running 16mm prints. But I still had to work with a dual-projector setup and do my own changeovers, because at the time we were limited to 1600-foot reels. We were running Bell & Howell 285’s & 385’s, B&H AutoLoaders and JAN’s with 1000-watt incandescent bulbs in a 200-seat auditorium with a 10’-12’ wide screen, if I remember correctly. And using Radio Shack parts, I built my own A/B switch to facilitate the audio changeovers!

In reading this book, I learned for the first time of the phrase “Frankenprint,” which is a print cobbled together from several different sources to make one complete feature. But I remember that when running some prints from Films, Inc. or Swank Motion Pictures, the sound would suddenly become softer or louder, and the picture would simultaneously get dimmer or brighter. Now I know why --- it’s always cheaper to repair a damaged print with sections of other prints, than it is to strike a new print!

I also remember seeing incorrect changeover cues --- either not enough ones, or ones in the wrong places, or sometimes even too many (multiple) cues! And once in a while, the cues would be a white (!) dot on the screen, caused when someone made a changeover cue with a paper punch. The Eastman book discusses changeovers and changeover cues in detail, and has some good suggestions for dealing with these problems.

I was also intrigued to find how much film projection has changed over the last 50 years – red LED readers for the optical sound heads, polyester film (and ultrasonic splices for it), not to mention all the new film and sound formats. But some things never change – lose that bottom loop below the film gate, and you’re instantly in deep do-doo!

Since analog film projection is now almost a lost art, this book is a great way to preserve all the skills and knowledge needed to be a competent film projectionist. The hardcover book is also a great deal for $21. Here’s the Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Art-Film-Project ... 5V04GMDSQ1 SETH

[FilmGauge]

I headed a film society group in college and did the 16mm projection with dual B&H machines with Marc 300 bulbs. Also did projection for the college's pub movie nights. It was a blast, but always had to be heads up regarding changeover cues. I found I had to often estimate when a reel end or fade-out was coming in order to make a clean changeover. It was a fun challenge.

[sethb]

The other thing I forgot to mention, and which the Eastman book recommends, is having your own house take-up reels.

After a few bad experiences, we bought a pair of 1600' Goldberg metal 16mm reels, and used them for feeder and takeup reels at the shows, as well as for inspecting (and often cleaning) the film beforehand. When not in use, we also kept the house reels stored in their own film cans, to keep them in good shape and running true.

The reels on the prints that were shipped to us were usually plastic and badly scuffed, chipped or warped. If they were metal, they looked like they had been run over by a Hummer a few times! In either case, they were often basically unusable. The plastic reels also built up a static electricity charge that attracted plenty of dust and dirt, too. SETH

[silentfilm]

It is also helpful to have a 16mm split-reel. That way if you get a film on a core you can easily project it or transfer it to a permanent reel.

[Frame Rate]

The reels on the prints that were shipped to us were usually plastic and badly scuffed, chipped or warped. If they were metal, they looked like they had been run over by a Hummer a few times! In either case, they were often basically unusable. The plastic reels also built up a static electricity charge that attracted plenty of dust and dirt, too. SETH

Ah yes... defective take-up reels and the mechanical mischief they could cause!!

I'm sure many of us veteran projectionists remember all too well how an (even briefly) unattended, warped take-up reel could cause the film to spill all over the projection-booth floor in a veritable sea of tangles, knots and static-bound dust and dirt.

And then the inevitable phone call: "I'll be home late again, Honey. Got another load of untangling, cleaning and slow-rewinding to do!"

[sethb]

Here's one more neat thing I learned from the Eastman book. It's something thing I never thought of or had to worry about, since the 16mm projectors I ran all used a claw mechanism to pull the film through the film gate, instead of an intermittent (not that the claw design is an improvement over the intermittent; it pretty clearly isn't, and can chew up film very well all by itself).

In a projector with a Geneva intermittent mechanism located below the film gate, the sprocket teeth will eventually become undercut and/or worn. At best, this can interfere with proper film projection; at worst, it can destroy film. However, when the sprocket teeth are too worn, you can just pull the sprocket wheel out, turn it around, and replace it in the projector! Reversing the sprocket allows you to use the other side of the sprocket teeth with unworn faces, until a new intermittent sprocket arrives -- or until the venue saves up enough money to buy one. Who woulda thunk it? SETH

[Frame Rate]

From Ampro to Victor, from Bell & Howell to Kodak, I've seen a lot of misbehaving 16mm projectors "do their bit" at chewing up film -- but back in the 1970s, when Japan's Eiki International Corporation first began to market their "improved design" projector in the U.S., their admirably intended "automatic Latham-loop re-former" proved to be so touchy and "not ready for prime time" that it disrupted many a screening, sometimes causing well beyond its "share" of sprocket-hole damage too.

And then along came DuPont's Mylar(tm) film stock (re-christened "Estar" by Kodak) that could "fight back," even to the point of damaging the machines!

[sethb]

To be fair to all the overworked and under-appreciated 16mm projectors, I must say that a lot of the time it wasn't their fault. No projector can cope with a bulky splice made with Scotch tape (!), or film with tears and/or broken sprocket holes. And film that hasn't been properly cleaned and lubricated (remember VitaFilm, folks?) is a challenge for any projector.

But having said that, I will also note that Bell & Howell "AutoLoaders" were nicknamed "AutoShredders," because they also had that dammed automatic Latham lower loop restorer below the film gate. Even when the gizmo successfully restored the loop, it invariably caused the claw to chew up a few more perfs, which just created more damage for the next showing. And more often than not, the restored loop wasn't the correct size either! That threw the sound track out of sync, so you ended up having to stop the show and manually reset the loop properly anyway.

Finally, I always thought the much-trumpeted "AutoLoader" feature was a solution in search of a non-existent problem. I figured that if someone didn't know how to thread up a projector, they didn't have any business running one in the first place. And all of the extra film guides and the enclosed film path needed to "autoload" the machine only created lots more crevices and places for dust and dirt to accumulate, and made it more difficult to clean the machine. SETH

[Frame Rate]

I will also note that Bell & Howell "AutoLoaders" were nicknamed "AutoShredders,"

And those early Eiki stuttering-and-shredding machines were sometimes called "Japan's Revenge"!

[sethb]

By the way, I never had the pleasure (?) of dealing with the newer Mylar/Estar film stock. Supposedly it was also more resistant to scratches and other types of damage. However, I have also heard that it seemed to be more prone to creating and holding a static electricity charge, which of course enabled it to attract and collect more dust and dirt than usual.

I also don't know whether Estar was any better at resisting "vinegar syndrome" than the old acetate--based stuff; I guess we'll know for sure in another 25-50 years! SETH

[silentfilm]

Mylar/Estar stock will never get vinegar syndrome. It is chemically impossible.