Projector operators were familiar with the celluloid reels, arc lights and carbon rods which created magic on the screen. They were on their toes for the whole day to get the perfect print for screening. They changed the carbon rods and rewound the reels and mounted the next reel. They kept an eye on the projector and the screen. They mended portions of the torn celluloid. Soon the role of the projector operator would be redundant. The screens are fast converting to digital format. The days of 35 mm celluloid prints are numbered. Till a decade ago, the operators were considered the soul of a movie theatre. They started young and learnt on the job. Some operated Westrex projection machine which is a 50-years old technology to play 35 mm celluloid reels. The print was shared by four-five theatres. The reels were carried on a bicycle from theatre to theatre. While handling the reel, they took care not to touch the print. The things were manual. They spent hours in the ‘re-wind room’ where reels were re-winded for the next show. They cut them and joined the ads and sealed the reels by an adhesive. At least 6 operators worked in the projection room at a given time . Operators played with the sound and adjusted the volume according to the scenes. The digital 2 K projector system have engineers to fix the problem. The transition is still in progress, and manual projection would be obsolete in a couple of years.
A theatre’s projection room is the key site.It has the projection equipment and the opreator who is sometimes called projectionist.He receives hard prints or digital prints. Hard prints are traditional cellulois rolls and digital prints are on hard disks. There are generally 12-16 reels of 10-12 minutes each. A multiplex gets one print which is shared by several screens. A hard print could be shared by three or four single screen theatres.
After receiving the print, there is a check of all the reels for quality — sound, picture, blank spots, order of scenes etc. A digital print is first downloaded into the projector, with the licence key obtained by email. After inspection, the prints are kept ready for the first show. Quality checks are exercised either at mid-night or in the morning.
The prints are scheduled for different shows. If a show starts at 10.00 AM on screen 1, second at 10.20 AM at screen 2, third at 10.40 AM at screen 3 and fourth at 11.05 AM at screen 4, the projectionist will project reel 1 at 10 AM and keep reel 2 ready. By 10.15, the first reel is about to end on projector 1, and is removed and rewound. It is then put on projector 2 to start the show on screen 2 at 10.20 AM. The same procedure is repeated for all the projectors. In a single screen theatre, the shows are schedules, say at 10.00 AM in theatre 1, 10.45 AM in theatre 2, and 11.30 AM in theatre 3, the projectionists of all these three theatres work out the schedule. There are shuttlers who carry reels from one theatre to another theatre.
In yester years, the projectors were imported from abroad. The brands were Westrex, Photophone, Monee, Cinecita, Cinesales, Strong, Cine Mechanica and Christie, Christie and Photophone have stopped manufacturing projectors. In the 1980s, there was a market of Rs 100 crore for these products. In the early 2000s, it was Rs worth Rs 500 crore. The sales since then have started declining.