Reel change : a history of British cinema from the projection box / Richard Wallace and Jon Burrows.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wallace, Richard, author.

Burrows, Jon, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Motion picture projection--History.

Motion picture projection.

Great Britain.

Genre:

History.

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (241 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Bloomington, IN : Indiana University Press, [2022]

Summary:

Ten years ago, a technological revolution swept through cinemas around the world, as analogue projectors were replaced with digital equipment. It was not just the plastic medium of film that was removed from projection boxes during this transformation; most cinemas took this opportunity to also evict the human projectionists who were hitherto in charge of screenings. Projectionists had been hidden from the sight of audiences for most of the history of photographic moving image projection, and their redundancies went largely unnoticed and unremarked upon. This book focuses attention on what has been happening behind film spectators' heads for the past 130 years, and attempts to write the history of cinema in Britain from the perspective of its habitually overlooked and undervalued projectionists, beginning in the silent era and continuing to the present day. Drawing upon extensive archival research and lengthy interviews with former projectionists, it documents the key facets and challenges of their work, and how these evolved in response to previous waves of significant technological change. It evaluates how projectionists helped to design and maintain key aesthetic characteristics of the 20th century big screen experience. It shows how the institution of cinema in Britain has been historically underpinned by the harsh exploitation of projectionists by many employers, detailing inadequate wage levels and poor working conditions that formerly provoked government investigation, and explaining why these problems were never successfully ameliorated by trade unions. It also charts in depth the recent fateful transition to digital projection, delineating how and why projectionists were so swiftly and ruthlessly consigned to the past, and assessing whether this form of entertainment should be considered diminished by their super session.

Contents:

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Contents

Acknowledgements

Preface

Introduction

Chapter One: Job Descriptions

The Mobile Array

The Nitrate Array

The Xenon Array

The Multi-Screen Array

A 'Jack-of-All-Trades'

Chapter Two: The Art of Cinema Projection

Projection as an Element of Film Production

Presentation and Showmanship

Changing Standards

Chapter Three: Terms and Conditions

The British Film Industry's First Union

Short-lived Militancy

Organisation Without Unions

Industrial Conflict

National Agreements

Certification and Apprenticeships

Chapter Four: Digital Projection(s)

Digital Developments: Image, Standards, Finance

Discourses of Instability

Redundancy

Loss of Agency

Deskilling

The Cinema Experience in the Digital Age

Afterword: In Love with Film Projection by Charlotte Brunsdon

Appendix: Details of Projectionists Interviewed for this Book

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780861969845

0861969847

9780861969838

0861969839

OCLC:

1340305076