International projectionist (Jan 1963-June 1965)

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Automatic Projection: A Progress Report In the past IP has kept projectionists up to date on automatic projection as it has developed in Great Britain, under the particular circumstances that make the system more practical than many other areas. U. S. projectionists have little to be concerned about, according to this recent TOA report. We wrote recently to exhibitors in England, asking for a report on "automatic projection" in use in the United Kingdom. While we recognize that local safety ordinances would bar the system in many American communities, and the reaction of the projectionist union would be an important factor in the acceptance of this equipment in the United States, we felt the reply was so interesting, that it merits dissemination. Here is the report: * * * "Here in the United Kingdom this automatic equipment is much beyond the testing stage; indeed, it is installed in over 350 cinemas and during the last 4-5 years has given a good account of itself. The automatic equipment is of two distinct types, namely : (1) Projection Room Automatic Equipment (21 Automatic with Remote Control In the former type the entire programme can be controlled by an electric clock, that is to say, at a predetermined time the house lights can be lowered, the screen curtains opened, and the projectors brought into operation automatically. Similarly and again automatically, when a film is completed, the curtains can be drawn and the house lights raised — and so on throughout the day's performance. All the projectionist has to do is to load the machines and thread the film through the gate, rewind in the normal manner and replace carbons when necessary. The projectionist is also responsible for focussing and framing. The foregoing is the "full works," but a shortened version — which is the more popular — does not auto matically control the house lights, curtains, masking, etc., but controls the projectors, and here again, the >rojectionist is responsible for threading up the film, rewinding, replacing arc carbons, focussing and framing. In the smaller theatres with a screen up to 35 ft. wide, the Xenon (lamp) arc is now being widely used with automatic control equipment, since it lends itself readily to automatic control and obviates the necessity for replacing carbons. National Safety Laws Cinemas in the United Kingdom operate under safety regulations issued by the secretary of state, and in 1958 the regulations were amended to take account of this automatic equipment. This permits the equipment to be in use without a projectionist being in the booth — although his absence is limited to fifteen minutes. The reason for this is that a projectionist must go to the booth once every fifteen minutes to remove the film that has been shown and replace the next reel. The regulations require a warning bell to sound in the projection room suite and to be in a position where another member of the staff is normally employed and can hear it — in case anything should go wrong with the automatic control. There has been no active opposition to automatic equipment by the labor union, although where the equipment is installed there was a tendency to demand a higher minimum wage. What happens in practice, however, is that in theatres that previously employed a total of four or five projectionists, there are only two on the payroll — one on duty at any given time. These two operators receive a wage higher than the minimum agreed between the employers and the union, but the wage is a matter for negotiation between the employer and the individual projectionist. It must be remembered that there is a rather acute shortage of projectionists in the United Kingdom and many cinemas are able to keep going only because automatic equipment has been installed. Remote Control System Automatic equipment with remote control is installed in about 14 cinemas in the United Kingdom and is operating very satisfactorily. The automatic side includes the automatic changeover from one machine to the other and automatic close-down should anything go wrong with the light source circuit or the motor circuit. The remote control consists of a control board placed in a suitable position in the auditorium from which it is possible to start or stop either machine, to focus and frame the picture and to control the volume of sound. Although at the present time a projectionist is employed to operate the remote control, the control is so simple that an unskilled person, e.g. an usherette or undermanager, could run the show. With this equipment it is, of course, still necessary to employ a projectionist to change the reels and rewind, but experiments are already being carried out with the possibility of accommodating the entire programme on two machines and to have automatic rewind. Indeed, we have a prototype equipment in two cinemas in a town in the United Kingdom where 8000 ft. spools are fitted to the machines. Since they are specialist houses, their programmes never exceed 16,000 ft. In this particular instance, we have one operator in charge of the two cinemas. The remote control is situated at the rear of the auditorium and is in the charge of the under-managers." It is obvious from the above report, TOA points out, that the equipment is working satisfactorily, and is giving English theatres the equivalent of a one man booth. If the remote control operation does not evoke severe labor union reaction, it is also obviously conceivable that a very limited number of trained service projectionists could take care of a large number of British theatres within a small geographic area, with unskilled theatre help watching the individual theatre's control panel. It is TOA's understanding that BRIGHTER LIGHT LONGER BURNING SHARPER PICTURE free Test Samples mwrnv* *T?W»«f»»WF» wnamS^SL(2m6o*t4 CARBONS INC., BOONTON, N. J. STEADIER LIGHT LESS ATTENTION PERFECT COLOR BALANCE Free Carbon Chart 14 International Projectionist January, 1963