Increasingly, movie theaters show movies without having someone around who goes by the job description of Projectionist. This article covers some of the history of this trend.
I love the notion of films being presented by someone who loves movies and brings a certain air of artistry to his craft but I fear the art went out of that job long ago in most venues. Automated projection may well be preferable to some of the inept, amateurish work I've endured the last few decades in movie theaters. It may be a new trend to not have a projectionist on the premises but it ain't a new trend not to have a skilled one running the movie.
I'd cite some examples of this but I'm sure you have plenty of your own. If the automated system can start the movie on time, have it in focus, have the volume set properly, etc., I don't quite see what we as moviegoers are losing but for a certain romantic notion that evaporated long ago in most theaters. It's a gain just that digital projection guarantees you won't have awkward breaks between reels and the occasional reversal of their running order.
Well, I will tell one horror story. Once upon a time, the Fairfax Theater up at Beverly and Fairfax, right across from CBS, was a true film palace. The Boris Karloff Frankenstein had its sneak preview in that building. I once took a date there to see one of the Rocky movies — the one where Burgess Meredith died; whichever one that was. Nineteen, I think. Anyway, the film started and the volume was so low, we couldn't hear it.
I guess everyone in the audience thought, "They'll notice and fix it." But if anyone noticed, no one had it fixed. Five minutes in, we were still watching a largely-silent movie. I went out to complain and the only person to complain to was a popcorn-seller who said, "You'll have to talk to the projectionist." I asked how I could get to the projection booth. She said, "I don't know. That's not my department." Obviously, this woman was vying for Employee of the Month.
I somehow found it on my own and knocked. No one answered and it couldn't have been because the soundtrack was drowning out my knocking. I knocked some more. After maybe five more minutes, the projectionist came rushing back from the men's room to handle a reel change. As he did it, I told him about the volume. "I'll get to it," he said. We argued a bit about how much this could wait but he said, "I can only do one thing at a time." It turned out, he couldn't even handle one. As I left the booth, he was saying, "See what you made me do? I just mounted the wrong reel."
I went downstairs, got my date and we left. Soon after, they carved the large Fairfax into three small mini-theaters and dropped prices to a buck. The one time I went there when it was in that configuration, we had the opposite problem: Too much soundtrack. You could hear the movie in Theater 1 in Theater 2. Billy Elliott was underscored with explosions and car chase sounds from whatever Schwarzenegger was in that week. No wonder the place went out of business…even though I enjoyed parts of Billy Elliott more because of that.
