They are
projectionists, members of a dying profession, whose reminiscences while sat around a table at Birmingham's Victoria pub are the backbone of this documentary.
There are no minimum requirements for entry into work as a cinema
projectionist. However, an interest in films and the film industry are essential.
Before the film is screened, the
projectionist runs 15 minutes of adverts and trailers for the popcorn-munching audience, keeping a close eye on running times and continuity.
Records kept by Devries and part-time
projectionist Sam Mcintyre of would-be customers turned away showed an over 25 per cent success rate for the pickets in the first month.
Igor Korchilov, slightly older, was working as a cinema
projectionist in 1959 when a Georgian folk singer brought back from a foreign tour an Elvis Presley record.
Each reel contains 9.3km (15mi) of film - and boy are they heavy, says Bob Oeters, a Sony IMAX
projectionist. "We have to use a forklift just to load the reels onto the film platters, the large round plates the film sits on as it feeds into the projector.
Musser demonstrates how Porter's background as a vaudeville film and lantern-slide
projectionist provided him with the creative material for an innovative production program at Edison.
The
projectionist in Porter's day was an editor of sorts; the art of film editing began with that sort of film projecting.
After the film, you can stay to explore the exhibition and examine the objects in the '
Projectionist's Case' handling box.
Mike Taylor, once a
projectionist at the greatly missed art deco masterpiece that was the Odeon, on London Road, said: "I found your column on the old Saturday matinee cinema clubs most interesting.
Hughie and Nancy married on February 28, 1937, and, before long, they had made the decision to move to Mablethorpe where Hughie served as a
projectionist at a nearby Sutton-on-Sea cinema.