What and where was your first job as a projectionist?
It was at the Rank Preview Theatre at 127 Wardour Street.
How did you first get into it, and was the training on the job?
I got the job after seeing an advert when studying for my City and Guilds as an AV support technician for the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) at South Thames College in Wandsworth. Although I did know the basics of 16mm projection, I had to be trained on the job for 35mm.
Of all the films you have projected over your career, is there one screening that stands out most vividly in your memory, and why?
There are so many that it is hard to narrow it down to just one:
1. Working on the on-stage interview with Akira Kurosawa when Ran (1985) came out.
2. Working on the on-stage interview with Sam Phillips, the founder of Sun Records who discovered Elvis.
3. John Boorman being interviewed on-stage by a very ‘tired and emotional’ John Hurt who kept slipping in and out of consciousness.
4. Being approached by a dishevelled old man in the projection box only to find out it was Jean-Luc Godard making sure that I was going to show his film in the correct ratio.
5. Being asked by Ken Loach to make sure I turned the film sound down (before the film had started) as films are all played too loudly.
What is the future for projecting analogue film?
There is a wider cultural demand nowadays for artistic material, be it music or film, to be shown as it was originally intended. Analogue film allows the director’s work to be shown as intended, but it requires the investment in the skills and training needed to do it properly and to source and maintain the necessary equipment. But with bodies such as the BFI with their close links to the film community, such as FIAF (International Federation of Film Archives), film companies and studios, the future should be assured.
Why is projecting film special, and different to digital projection?
There is a breadth of knowledge necessary to be a good projectionist. Knowledge of aspect ratios and sound formats is vital, but it is also about their history. Would a certain aspect ratio or sound format have been in use when a certain film came out? It will inform the choices made for a screening.
It requires specialist and sometimes unique training, such as for nitrate, preparation and skilled execution through the constant attention to detail such as monitoring the picture and sound so it is shown as the film as the director intended.
That attention to detail should also include things such as comfort for the audience – is the auditorium too hot or too cold? – and the choice of play in music – does it set the right atmosphere for the film before it begins?
Projecting film should be seen as a ‘live event’, such as a play or concert.
What is the most common misconception you’ve encountered of what a projectionist does?
That we just start the film up and get to see lots of films.
What’s your best war story of a projection that went horribly wrong?
Again, there are too many to recount, but one that stands out is during one London Film Festival there was a Czech archive film that snapped 17 times during the screening. The front-of-house manager was up in the projection box asking what I could do about it after it had snapped a few times already. I said there was nothing I could do short of stopping the screening and the audience waiting while I bench-checked the print in full. The screening overran by about 45 minutes in total, but we did get to the end finally.
It had been made up by the chief at the time, but he couldn’t be found because, although he was on duty, he was off-site having a secret liaison with someone from the box office.
Another was in the days when we did earphone commentaries. I showed a two-hour film of Fidel Castro speeches. When it was over the commentator came into the projection box to say it had been in the wrong order, but that “It doesn’t really matter as it was all boring nonsense anyway”! I don’t recall that there any complaints from the audience afterwards.
The BFI Film on Film Festival runs 8 to 11 June 2023.
