Treatment

Treatment


Working Title - Projection

Estimated running time - 5-6 Minutes

Plot Summary – To investigate the difference in the day to day work of a cinema projectionist in the time when film projectors have been retired in favour of digital systems. Are the skills of a projectionist now obselete? Would there be an argument for returning to film, in the same was that (in recorded music), vinyl has made a comeback in the last few years?

Themes adressed – Technology, nostalgia, film, skills and hands.

Pre-production and production methods – As pre-production, Eamon and I have been viewing a number of cinematic short documentaries to get a feel for what styles of photography are most effective in this kind of production, as well as to get an idea of what kind of pacing we should aim for. We have confirmed access to the Odessy Cinema projection room and are now seeking permission to shoot in the QFT and Tudor cinemas. The Odessy is going to be our example of a digital facility. The QFT have both film and digital projectors, and since it is a historic venue for film in belfast we are very hopeful that we will be able get footage of their projectors and screens in operation. The Tudor is one of very few cinemas which are still using film exclusively.

Setting/Location – Our film is set in and around the three cinemas mentioned above, with some shot also to be acquired in BMC millfield where we have enlisted the help of our head of course, Joe McKinney, who is himself a trained projectionist.

Intended Audience – Our intended audience is, first of all, our classmates and tutors and extends to Film and cinema enthusiasts and short documentary enthusiasts.

Research – Many internet forums feature entries from projectionists and cinema-goers who all have differing opinions on which medium is the more beneficial. Many, saying that the whirr of the 35mm projector is a sound that should be added to digital projectors and various other romantic/nostalgic ideas. The main upside of digital, it seems, is that it has the potential to make cinema much more democratic – giving filmmakers who cannot afford film reproduction for projection the chance to display their work in high resolution, to a cinema audience.

Budget – Since this is a very small production (only two crew members) the only required budget is for transport for the crew.

Equipment – As it stands, we plan to use my Sony a37 camera for the bulk of the footage, and possibly one of BMC's Sony Z5 camcorders for dolly shots and establishing shots of the exterior of the cinemas. For Audio we will be using BMC's sound kits and mics as well as my own zoom H4N and shotgun mic.


Crew – Matt McQuillan and Eamon O'Neill. Sharing all pre-production roles. Eamon will direct the production and Matt will operate the camera. A sound recordist will be recruited from our class.

Shooting Schedule – We plan to shoot all Odessy and BMC footage in the week commencing 25/11/12 and QFT and Tudor footage as soon as possible afterwards, subject to confirming permission from these facilities.

Film Projectors in and around belfast

We have been doing some research into which cinemas (if any) still run film projectors and we were surprised to find that there are several projectors still being advertised for use.

A cinema in comber runs 16mm film projections

http://www.anotherfinesite.com/Directions%20to%20the%20Tudor.htm

The Waterfront Hall actually have two top-end Kinoton projectors advertised

http://www.waterfront.co.uk/conferenceandmeetings/avprovision.aspx

And the QFT are known for running archive footage and advertise that they run a 35mm projector.

http://www.queensfilmtheatre.com/booknow/donate/

So we have plenty of contacts to make.

What do we need to show/ask?

The premise of this film is to show the difference in the day to day work of a cinema projectionist through the transition from film projectors to digital projectors. We therefore need to show our projectionist's hands operating a film projector -

Loading film

Checking film

light leaving the projector

projection on the screen

light leaving the arrow loop from the projection room

Reels turning

Changing reels

Winding film

And a digital projector-

Getting the files from the storage device into the projector

Running through menus

Hitting play

Show light leaving projection room

Hitting screen

What the projectionist does in the downtime between changes

Changing bulbs

Is it more or less demanding now, in the digital age? 

What training did he undertake which is now null?

What skills does he have which are now obsolete? 

Is there a downside to digital media over analog i.e. does film look better? 

Has he heard of any other projectionists losing work now that cinemas are switching to digital?

Is there any argument for returning to film?

A classmate, Eamon O'Neill, and I are pre-producing a short cinematic documentary on the theme of "Hands". We chose to show the day-to-day operations of a cinema projectionist in modern times compared with what the job entailed in the past, when working with film projectors.

We are making steady progress in lining up all of the permission we require to make this documentary.  The cinema management have given us the green light, and we are awaiting confirmation from the projectionist, Davey. Davey is very enthusiatic about his job and keeps select pieces of disused promotional film roll from the cinema's history in his personal collection.

We have also discovered that BMC has film projectors that we can use to obtain stock footage for cutaways etc. which will be very useful, particularly if we have limited time in the projection room.