American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1942)

PLANNED PROJECTION PAYS! By THOMAS TUTWILER, A. S. C. NOW that a new season of movieclub meetings is beginning, it seems like a good time to give some serious thought to the matter of projection, for more than almost anything else, the way a picture is projected can make or mar the impression it makes on its audience. Haphazard projection of the "let's-set-up-the-projector-and-run some-movies" type may be all right when one or two movie-making cronies gather informally at home to preview someone's latest reel, but at movie-club meetings, whether or not they're open to outsiders, projection should be handled as expertly as any other phase of the movie hobby. This, by the way, gives me a meaty bone to pick with a lot of movie-club presidents. I'd like to know why it is that when incoming presidents get around to appointing the projection committee, they so often seem to appoint members — often new ones — who may have lots of enthusiasm, but dam little knowledge of how to work a projector? Believe it or not, I've really known of at least one case where it was found that a club's newly-appointed projectionist was so new at the hobby he didn't even ow7i a projector — much less know how to run one! As I look at it, the post of projectionist is one of the most responsible in any movie club, for the projectionist is not only responsible for the smoothness with which the show goes off, but he stands a fair chance, if he doesn't know his business, of ruining irreplaceable film. Certainly, it's no job for a greenhorn. The projectionist ought to be one of the first arrivals at a meeting, so he can get his projectors, screen, and sounde(]uipment (if any) set up and ready to go well before the meeting starts. Nothing so detracts from the smoothness of a meeting than to have the equipment set up, adjusted, and generally fiddled with while the audience waits embarrassedly for the pictures to start. The ideal arrangement is to have at least two projectors (four, if both 8mm. and 16mm. are on the same programme) so that you can switch over from one machine to the next, and from one reel or picture to the next, without a break. The projectors should be pretty well matched as to optical quality, illuminating power and silence, too. Showingone reel on a 300-Watt machine and the next one on a 750-Watt one puts the film shown on the low-powered machine at an unfair disadvantage. Changing over smoothly from one machine to another isn't difficult. Simply thread the film into the second machine with the starting frame or main title in the aperture, and set that projector with the lamp-switch on and the motorswitch or main switch off. Then when you see the end of the first reel approaching, you can flip No. 1 projector's lamp-switch off with one hand while at the same moment you flip the second projector's master-switch on with the other hand. The first projector's motor can keep running, to run out the trailing leader on the reel. The projectors should be placed on a firm stand or table, behind the audience, if possible, and a bit above the level of their heads. If you can build a projection-booth like the one described ?. few months ago in Ibis magazine, you'll have the perfect projection set-up. Otherwise, try if possible to get a fairly long, narrow stand or table, and place it parallel to the screen, so you can line the projectors along it with plenty of working-space between them. Be sure to give yourself plenty of free working-space. Make it a habit, too, to put the un-projected reels in one place, and the reels you've projected in a different location, so you won't stand any chance of mixing them up. I think it's a good idea, by the way, when you thread a reel into the projector, to make it a habit to put the can that reel came from in the pile of projected film. If you've more than one projector, plan which reel goes on which projector so that you can arrange the film for each projector in a separate pile, by its appropriate projector. This again saves mix-ups. Of cour-se it isn't always possible to plan a club's programme too rigidly beforehand, thanks to the inevitable members who promise to bring a film and then forget it, and their near relatives, the people who bring along an unexpected reel and feel hurt if you can't crowd it into an over-filled evening's show. But wherever possible, it will help everybody if a written — or, better, typewritten — list of the films to be shown, and their order, can be provided for the projectionists and the member ( if any) who accompanies the pictures from the record turntable sound outfit. The sound man should have one, anyway, even if it's only a scrawled memo, for there's nothing more difficult' than to be expected to produce appropriate music for a picture when you haven't even a hint as to what sort of a film it may be. Rewinding should usually be handled by another person than the projectionist. We've all gotten pretty well in the (Continued on Page 418) A power-driven rewind like this can be made out of an old fan-motor, and is a great help in smoothing club screenings. Above: leave plenty of working-space around the projectors I 412 September, 1942 American Cinematograther