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Projectionists Meeting @ 2008-05-05 18:00:00

Minutes of the Projectionists' Meeting, 18:00, 5th May 2008, SSL

Present: Gareth, Rachel, Martin, Amanda, Nikita, Vicky, James Mc, Tom Hill, Will, Rob and Maria.
Apologies: Aiden, Tom Hunns, Tim
Late: Andrew

1. Chair
Rob is to chair the meeting following the resignation of Ed as Chief Projectionist.

2. Rotas
All qproj slots are filled for week 3. The only slot left in week 4 is for Jumper on Thursday.

3. Week 2 Summary

Tues: The Kite Runner
Qproj: Amanda;
Pearl & Dean came on screen OOR. The 'Pow' was also missed due to Amanda being distracted by Matt!). There were also some gate tension issues during the ads reel. After the ads reel had finished, Amanda checked the reel, to see why it had gone OOR. At the meeting, she presented the (old) ads leader to show its condition. It had cuts down each side, as well as sections where the film between sprockets was either ripped or missing. It was most likely down to this that the film slipped on the night and thus jumped OOR. Amanda has replaced this with another piece of film and reminded everyone that when changing the ads reel, the whole reel should be serviced, from head to foot, including all splices and spacing.

Wed: Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
Qproj/Tproj: Vicky - Qualification;
Both the ads and reel 2 came on screen OOR. There was also bad stability t5hroughout the film, in spite of the gates being cleaned between reels. There was quite a bit of tippex on the film and this may have been top blame for the film going out of focus for a second or so soon after each C/O. The tilt on P2 was also a bit too high.

Thurs: P.S: I Love You
Qproj: Rachel, Tproj: Kathryn;
C/O to UBS was done without pressing the PC sound button. This lead to being played silently for a few seconds. When C/O was done from UBS to ads, the aperture plate was set to scope, resulting in picture being projected above the screen, on the roof. At the time, the film was racked down to get rid of the picture on the ceiling, though this resulted in it going out of rack. This was rectified after the aperture was pushed back to X-wide. Unfortunately, the focus on the film on ceiling had resulted in the sound not being transferred from PC to Dolby, so approximately half of the P&D intro was silent. The masking was also adjusted late (during first ad). In the first
trailer, the lights were turned down too far, so these had to be out back up to low. Reel 1 was laced on 8 rather than on 3, so the audience saw a '3' on screen. Film went fine.

(Rachel slides making-up book back to Rob with more oomph than intended, spilling purple all over the table, Rob's wallet and many of the trainee booklets, though not the plastic covered making up book!)

Fri 6.30pm: Charlie Wilson's War
Qproj: Aiden;
All went ok, was one of Aiden's Mary Poppins' shows, though he didn't use that wordage when he passed his apologies on to Amanda!

Fri 6.30pm: Charlie Wilson's War
Qproj: Will, Tproj: Nikita;
C/O from UBS to P&D was done a little quick. There was some instability due to gate tension during the ads. The film went well.

Sat: The Italian Job (Replaced L'Auberge Espagnole which had not arrived)
Qproj: Gareth;
The start-up of the film was 5 minutes late due to the platter leader snapping. The film was played on 6000s, so only C/O was R3 to R4. Gareth saw what he thought was the 1st cue dot so hit run, but after approx 10 seconds, he noticed there was more film on the reel and so stopped R4. Then hit run on what was the second cue dot. The film snapped at the start of reel 4 upon changing over, so the film was shut down. Once re-laced and re-started, the sound was distorted, with the bottom loop being small - this resulted in another snap. At this point, the DM - James Mc - made an announcement to the audience, apologising for the delay. During re-lacing, the film snapped leaving a four feet piece of film which was cast aside. Unfortunately this happened again at the next attempt to re-lace. Consequently the next re-lace was done more slowly and carefully, resulting in the lacing taking approximately two minutes and taking the total time of no picture on screen due to the four snaps, to around six minutes. The
remainder of the film went fine... until... the curtain cue. The making-up book stated that the end was at the start of the credits. Gareth waited for "The End" to appear on screen, resulting in the credits being played through. However, they were in a very bad condition, looking horrible on screen and the song "The self-preservation society" running through with noticeable chunks missing.

Sun: Juno
Qproj: Will
The mouse fell on the floor resulting in the mouse appearing on screen and having to be moved (this went across screen on the UBS ad). Lamps were not struck, so had a few seconds of black on screen (but hit the 'Pow'!). Was also a bit slow to open the curtains to XWide. The Juno trailer was left in so was played before the film. Some light was shining onto the left curtain from P2 on R1 and R3. Rachel came and pushed the aperture in further - this rectified the problem.

4. Feedback from Shows
i) Make sure to check for films two working days prior to the showing. If it's not here (after checking the arts centre too) contact Seb(Films Officer) so that he has plenty of time to contact the Troys (our suppliers).
ii) When doing the ads reel, service the whole reel including mylar spacing, header and footer, as well as the splices.
iii) Be careful to take more time over lacing on old films, even if and when the film snaps. It might be worth lacing the film as normal, then when winding on, set the intermittent so that it has just finished turning. However, Tom mentioned that the film is put under less strain when the intermittent is set normally: just at the beginning of the motion. This is because the film will be pulled through as the motor is ramping up (ie. not at full speed), giving the least possible acceleration to the film. This conversation shall be continued on proj mailing list!
iv) If you hit run too early for a change-over, then, unless it's a long way in advance, it is probably best to do the C/O slightly early, rather than risk missing it.

5. Nikita's Qualification Show
Nikita is having a qualification show at the early screening (6.30pm) of Sweeney Todd on Friday. Gareth, Martin, Rob and Will should be able to attend. Please do come along if you can make it. Rob will email qproj under separate cover to ask for people to come. Rob will also email Pam (Students' Union) and Nikita, to arrange her collection of keys for her PDFQ.

6. AOB
i) It was agreed that the making-up book should be brought to all proj meetings to aid memory of what happened in shows, especially when there are exams to be navigated.
ii) Trainee booklets to be brought to Qproj meetings to aid discussion of their progress.

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