Interesting article over at Slate by Grady Hendrix about the imminent extinction of The Projectionist as we know it. You know, the person behind the scenes switching reels, checking the film is running smoothly, looking/sounding good while we're watching it. It's probably not a widely known thing (or maybe it is?), but when you go to your local
Event Cinema to watch a movie, there's most probably no one there in the booth while it's being projected. Actually, just to illustrate this even clearer - if you've ever been to
Sylvia Park Cinemas, it's all out there in the open. When you exit the theatre from behind, you can walk through the projection "booths", and you'll see everything's fully automated, and no one's there manning the equipment.
The machines-taking-over-people argument is a common, unsurprising debate, but nevertheless Hendrix's piece poignantly touches on the human costs of implementing such technology. It's also an "art" that'll be lost; the chemical and physical qualities unique to film projection will soon be completely replaced by a couple of mouse clicks.
I'm a "purist", and not entirely convinced by digital yet, so I'll cling onto 35mm film and projection until the very end. Seeing grain is still important to me! It'll be a sad day when the world is ruled by digital projection, but maybe by that time it might also offer the same magical properties as celluloid used to, and still do - I'll give it that.
Say what you will about Michael Bay's films, but you gotta give the man some credit for going the extra mile to make sure the 3D presentation of Transformers: Dark of the Moon is primo. This letter written by Bay to projectionists was posted on American Cinematographer's facebook page and details his wishes for how his film should be presented (I wonder if the letter will be posted for tonight's IMAX screening?). It's an interesting insight to a process that's rarely acknowledged or done these days. Click here to see some more letters to projectionists from visionary directors such as Terrence Malick, Stanley Kubrick and David Lynch.
PS. I'll report back on the movie tomorrow (not a fan of the films, but I'm strangely hyped for this one; will I ever learn?). Until then, here's a glowing review by Harry Knowles.
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