Transactions of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers (1916)

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If a man merely attends to the mechanical operation of a machine which does the same work in the same way constantly without opportunity for initiative on the part of the person in charge which will alter and change the finished result, then I grant you the man in charge is merely an operator of the machine. But who will say the locomotive engineer, the organist, or the man in charge of projection does no more than this! As a matter of fact, the latter must have initiative along several lines, as well as a wide knowledge of electrics, optics and mechanics. The man who projects pictures is logically, it seems to me, a ''projectionist." That title is descriptive, appropriate, and, at least in some measure, dignified. I would, therefore, suggest to the Department of Nomenclature the word "Projectionist" to designate the man who projects pictures, in lieu of the present inappropriate term "operator." Note. — Since this paper was prepared and read the Society has, by unanimous vote, adopted the term "projectionist" as designating the man who projects motion pictures professionally. Discussion After Mr. Richardson's paper some general discussion followed on the preference of the term "projectionist" for operator. The question of some arrangement to enable the projectionist to see the scene and know whether the picture is in focus or not was taken up. Since it is impossible to view a picture while standing in a bright room, two methods of overcoming this difficulty were suggested. In some theatres, the cone of light is hooded leaving the room dark; in other theatres, a glass port hole is used with a hood painted black inside. Sanitary conditions in the operating room were touched upon and the statement made that six hundred (600) operators die annually from pneumonia. Mr. Kunzmann said that while much of this was attributed to carbon fumes, that experiments had been made proving that there was nothing in the carbon fumes or the air in the projection room to injure the projectionist, if the room was properly ventilated. It was recommended that every port hole including that through which the beam of light passes to the screen be covered with glass to prevent the impure air from the top of the auditorium coming into the booth. Dr. Kellner places the loss in light, if the port hole through which the beam of light passes is covered with glass, to be from 8 to 10 percent. 37