[HN Gopher] The Projectionist: On the Best Job That No Longer Ex... ___________________________________________________________________ The Projectionist: On the Best Job That No Longer Exists Author : samclemens Score : 14 points Date : 2022-09-08 05:24 UTC (17 hours ago) (HTM) web link (pipewrenchmag.com) (TXT) w3m dump (pipewrenchmag.com) | hedgehog_irl wrote: | Well written and nicely put. I served my time as a projectionist | also and miss the job to this day. And digital isn't the same, | while they are "picture perfect" with great colours there is | still a deadness that I can't explain. Not too long ago I was | back in the old projection hall which is now digital and it just | sounded wrong I missed the mechanical sound of the old machines. | Not everything digital is better. | devindotcom wrote: | Very true. I can't stand the screen door effect you see on a | lot of digital projections. It's horribly distracting. I saw | Dune in digital IMAX and spent the whole time thinking there | was something wrong with the projector. I think they need some | kind of final analog optical step that mitigates the pixelated | look many have. | | Plus with digital you never have the film getting stuck and | melting - always a treat to witness! | jackcosgrove wrote: | Was melting the film that common? | | I was an usher and witnessed it once at the end of the | credits. I radioed into box, as we called it, that the film | was melting on screen. Next thing I hear feet pounding from | the projection room and the light shone on the screen became | dimmer and the burnt corona of the film disappeared from | view. | JKCalhoun wrote: | Mmmm... "Two-Lane Blacktop" ending. | wilg wrote: | It's that most digital projectors in movie theaters are | terrible: low resolution and dim. | hedgehog_irl wrote: | That's part of it for sure but even on a still scene 35mm | projectors still had a small bit of movement because it was | mechanical and alignments are never perfect. I know in the | cinema I worked in even sat in the screen you could still | hear the hum of the machines if you knew what to listen | for. To me it was all part of the cinema experience. | Digital has improved compared to the early generations yes. | But if you gave me the option I'd watch 35mm over digital | any day | | Edited to correct typo | chrisseaton wrote: | Why do you want a wobbly picture and extra background | noise? Those sound like negatives. | hedgehog_irl wrote: | Things don't always have to be perfect. It's a personal | preference | AlbertCory wrote: | On Oct. 24 I'll be publishing my Substack article about the | Google Cinema Club. It is still going even with the pandemic, but | when I did it, up to July 2017, it was in-person with a DVD in a | big conference room on the Mountain View campus. | | I still had a "projectionist." Getting the video and sound right | in a room that was built for meetings and not for movies was an | art in itself, and I hope I can get Craig to write about how he | did it. | | But yeah: not the same as real 35mm. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2022-09-08 23:01 UTC)