-
https://projectionproject.warwick.ac.uk/files/original/eebc7e189304f3d630ff2952d9e62a6e.mp3
ed2b18061741c401f1ab978388ffb195
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Projectionists' Memories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Interviews with projectionists
Description
An account of the resource
Interviews with projectionists
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
The Projection Project
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
University of Warwick
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
.mp3
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound recordings
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Unknown: H.M.J.
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Florence Barton
Date of Interview
1985-12-19
Location
The location of the interview
Unknown
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
One-to-one interview
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
PT00H00M55S
Bit Rate/Frequency
Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio)
320kbps
Additional Information
Clip (c) Coventry History Centre. Used with permission.
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
Well you were responsible for keeping the machinery clean, greasing it and oiling it. The machines had to be cleaned every day because one little tiny piece of dirt on it going through the machine would scratch it. The only thing you didn't clean was the screen that had to be done by special experts but otherwise you were head cook and bottle washer of the whole blithering place. The heating, the lighting, the ventilating of the theatre, the care of the films, getting them ready and packing them away, doing all the book work for it you had to put down what condition they were in and where they came from and where you'd got to send them. And if you had a film for the first time then you rehearsed a little bit of it. Well my argument is this; if you can't do it properly don't do it at all. The only thing I ignore is housework.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Duties around the cinema (Florence Barton)
Subject
The topic of the resource
routine
Description
An account of the resource
Projectionist Florence Barton describes the work that she was expected to do around the cinema.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Coventry History Centre
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Interview with Florence Barton
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
University of Warwick
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-03-20
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Coventry History Centre
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
.mp3
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound recording
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
||||osm
1960s-1970s
||||osm
Covntry
||||osm
Leicester
||||osm
Sevenoaks, Kent
1950s
1960s
1970s
maintenance
Midlands
outside the box
South-East and London
-
https://projectionproject.warwick.ac.uk/files/original/4d0d0d306d4ad4b39307d2975364cc57.mp3
19b005a6ef8cac8e36ebba176724b48b
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Projectionists' Memories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Interviews with projectionists
Description
An account of the resource
Interviews with projectionists
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
The Projection Project
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
University of Warwick
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
.mp3
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound recordings
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Richard Wallace
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Neil Thompson
Date of Interview
2014-11-11
Location
The location of the interview
Gateshead
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
And you had to keep an eye on the speakers on the stage, make sure they were still working all right. And every now and again we used to put a test film on from what I can remember. Somebody used to go in the auditorium while you put this test film on just to make sure that each speaker was working. So they knew that the ambiance was working from this side. And they’d say, “Right, we’ll try the left speaker. Yes, the left speaker is working. The centre speakers’ working. The right speaker is working”. And then you had an outside speaker which was like on the stage. So, again, we used to do that. Then you had to go up to the amplifiers which are in the boxes as well, you had to keep an eye on those ‘cause you had a standby amplifier which I had to check, put that in, make sure that's okay in case it went off during a show. So it was, it was interesting. I mean for a lad 16 year old coming from school and going and seeing all that, I mean it was just horrendous at first, my god. But I was so interested I just went in, I just went in head first.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
One-to-one interview
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
PT00H00M51S
Bit Rate/Frequency
Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio)
320kbps
Cinema
Queens Theatre, Northumberland Place, Newcastle upon Tyne
Odeon Newcastle upon Tyne, Pilgrim Street, Newcastle upon Tyne
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Setting up sound (Neil Thompson)
Subject
The topic of the resource
setting up sound
Description
An account of the resource
Projectionist Neil Thompson describes the process of setting up and checking cinema sound systems.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
The Projection Project
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Interview with Neil Thompson
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
The University of Warwick
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-12-29
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Richard Wallace
Neil Thompson
Relation
A related resource
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/26353
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/3307
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
.mp3
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound recording
interview extract
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1974-1990
POINT(-179195.26666826 7357428.1856528)|16|-179058.5160474|7357492.1755381|osm
Queens Theatre, Northumberland Place, Newcastle upon Tyne
POINT(-179436.52103877 7356806.6869249)|16|-179310.5193750|7356523.1271973|osm
Odeon Newcastle upon Tyne, Pilgrim Street, Newcastle upon Tyne
1970s
1980s
1990s
Neil Thompson
North-East England
presentation and showmanship
sound and music
-
https://projectionproject.warwick.ac.uk/files/original/8a9875da41e0f4934cac673d997e0e17.mp3
45fe00183c3ff0070a83da20520fe39c
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Projectionists' Memories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Interviews with projectionists
Description
An account of the resource
Interviews with projectionists
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
The Projection Project
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
University of Warwick
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
.mp3
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound recordings
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Richard Wallace
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Neil Thompson
Date of Interview
2014-11-11
Location
The location of the interview
Gateshead
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
And I think presentation was the order of the day. Presentation and showmanship for me was spot on. And that’s what I was taught. How to put the film on properly. I've been to so many cinemas where they’ve put a film on, but what they’ve done is they haven’t opened the curtains at the right time, they haven’t took the lights down at the right time. Now that to me is bad presentation. ‘cause I mean when you start a machine you’ve got, I don’t know if you are aware, you’ve got a countdown leader. We used to start on number eight and what we used to do was used to start the machine and then take the lights down and then open the curtains because it took a long time for the curtains to open because they were very slow. So in actual fact when the film went on, the curtains would be, say, two thirds of the way open. So your picture went on the screen and not on top of them, you know? And I think that’s to do with presentation. And keeping an eye on the sound levels, that's another thing you had to be careful of. You had to go downstairs into the stalls and think, “Right, well can I hear that?” You had to be able to hear every whisper. Doesn’t matter whether the music’s loud, or the effects is loud, that’s deliberate. But you had to be able to hear every word. You’ve got effects banging and music that you need to hear, and I think music needs to be heard not, not fantastically loud but it needs to be heard in order to make an impression. There has to be plenty of bass there to make you think, “God, listen to that, that’s fantastic”. You see that's what presentation is all about. When a curtain opens and you see a picture come on the screen, I used to look right in the corners to make sure there’s no fuzzy lines. Because obviously the aperture plate had to be cut exactly right. Because if the aperture plate inside the projector was over cut you got the picture going onto the masking. Again, bad presentation.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
One-to-one interview
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
PT00H01M45S
Bit Rate/Frequency
Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio)
320kbps
Cinema
Queens Theatre, Northumberland Place, Newcastle upon Tyne
Odeon Newcastle upon Tyne, Pilgrim Street, Newcastle upon Tyne
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Presentation (Neil Thompson)
Subject
The topic of the resource
presentation
Description
An account of the resource
Projectionist Neil Thompson outlines the process of starting the film, checking sound levels and checking the aperture plates as part of good presentation.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
The Projection Project
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Interview with Neil Thompson
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
The University of Warwick
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-12-29
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Richard Wallace
Neil Thompson
Relation
A related resource
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/26353
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/3307
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
.mp3
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound recording
interview extract
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1974-1990
POINT(-179195.26666828 7357426.543451)|16|-179069.2650045|7357540.6951361|osm
Queens Theatre, Northumberland Place, Newcastle upon Tyne
POINT(-179438.90969589 7356798.3266248)|16|-179240.0539895|7356569.7060113|osm
Odeon Newcastle upon Tyne, Pilgrim Street, Newcastle upon Tyne
1970s
1980s
1990s
Neil Thompson
North-East England
presentation and showmanship
running the show
sound and music
-
https://projectionproject.warwick.ac.uk/files/original/fe008a0e50d2fd59e3d899ab33a5ba78.mp3
45cb12f36638b6cdce75dbd4b177542b
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Projectionists' Memories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Interviews with projectionists
Description
An account of the resource
Interviews with projectionists
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
The Projection Project
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
University of Warwick
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
.mp3
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound recordings
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Richard Wallace
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Neil Thompson
Date of Interview
2014-11-11
Location
The location of the interview
Gateshead
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
When you first went in about ten o’clock you would open all the arc lamps and you would clean them out ‘cause obviously with using carbon arcs they used to get all like carbon dust and of course the mirror at the back used to get covered. And we used to hoover them out every morning, got rid of all the dust and makes them lovely and clean. Make sure that the reflector at the back of the lamp house was clean. Used to clean that with a special solvent. Then once you’d finished them, you dismantled all the projector, used to take all the, the gate out and all the sprocket jockeys that kept the film on top of the sprocket, used to take all them out and clean them with methylated spirits. But yeah, used to dismantle all the bits and pieces and clean them. Make sure… I used to get the little toothbrush out and make sure that the intermittent sprocket was clean and the top sprocket and the bottom sprocket. Check the magnetic heads if you are using magnetic film, you had to make sure they were clean. And then you just left the projector ready to lace up. You didn’t lace it up, you used to leave it until five minutes before you were ready to go on. Because what we used to do at The Queen’s, again, we used to run the machines for five minutes just to warm them up. ‘Cause obviously starting a machine from cold you might get speed issues. And then once you’d done the projection issues you used to go up and check the lamps in the theatre. Used to go up and make sure, see if there was any lights off anywhere. And then make sure the heat came on if it was required, because you were responsible for heating and ventilation. And you were also responsible for the emergency lighting, ‘cause as you appreciate, when you’re in a public area you must have emergency lighting in case the main lighting goes off. So we were responsible for looking after the batteries so you went and checked them and made sure they were on. And anything else that needed looking after, because you were the sole technical guy in the cinema. So if, say, somebody like one of the cleaners came up to you and said, “Well, oh, there's something wrong with one of the hoovers, can you look at that?” You got the job of that as well. Or maybe downstairs, maybe one of the staff would come up and say there’s something wrong with the kettle. Anything like that. Or if the management wanted you. So it was quite a busy period.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
One-to-one interview
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
PT00H02M01S
Bit Rate/Frequency
Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio)
320kbps
Cinema
Queens Theatre, Northumberland Place, Newcastle upon Tyne
Odeon Newcastle upon Tyne, Pilgrim Street, Newcastle upon Tyne
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Morning routine (Neil Thompson)
Subject
The topic of the resource
routine around the cinema before the start of screenings.
Description
An account of the resource
Projectionist Neil Thompson describes his morning routine, preparing for the day's screenings, cleaning the projection room and conducting other duties around the cinema.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
The Projection Project
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Interview with Neil Thompson
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
The University of Warwick
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-12-29
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Richard Wallace
Neil Thompson
Relation
A related resource
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/26353
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/3307
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
.mp3
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound recording
interview extract
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1974-2010
POINT(-179195.26666826 7357427.7377797)|16|-179026.2691761|7357545.4724505|osm
Queens Theatre, Northumberland Place, Newcastle upon Tyne
POINT(-179441.29835303 7356812.6585676)|17|-179386.9564032|7356668.8352822|osm
Odeon Newcastle upon Tyne, Pilgrim Street, Newcastle upon Tyne
1970s
maintenance
Neil Thompson
North-East England
outside the box
routine
-
https://projectionproject.warwick.ac.uk/files/original/8c6d4e9a7f9cd91cb694f461f98032d2.mp3
07c91193a2d7237d3bacb022c5bd7528
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Projectionists' Memories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Interviews with projectionists
Description
An account of the resource
Interviews with projectionists
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
The Projection Project
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
University of Warwick
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
.mp3
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound recordings
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Richard Wallace
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Neil Thompson
Date of Interview
2014-11-11
Location
The location of the interview
Gateshead
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
Obviously making up a show you had to make sure that each part was like, you know, in line, say, one, two, three and four, five and six. Because if you mixed them up, you know, which it has been done, I didn’t do it, but I have known where it’s gone to one, two, four and then three, five and six, you know, it has happened, but it didn’t happen at The Queen’s. Again it was down to you to make sure that these parts were made in the right order. ‘Cause what you used to have to do when you actually made a film up, if it was a brand new film the leaders were attached to the parts, what you had to do is when you cut the leaders off to join up each part, so you didn’t see anything in between, you used to leave a frame of film on the end so you had the leader and a frame of film so you knew when you put them back in the tins that that was the right leader, it would match up. Some projectionists used to just cut the blinking thing off and they never left a frame so you didn’t know whether that was the leader that went… “I mean if that's part four, is that part four because there's nothing to match it?” And a lot of projectionists used to just put the part in the tin and wrap anything round. And, of course, the next person to get it didn’t know where he was because he thought, “Hang on, is that part four or is it not?” Because there was nothing to identify that leader with that. And before you knew where you were you put the show on and you’d get a call from somebody saying, “Well hang on, that part there, there's a guy been killed and he’s shown up again in the film so there’s obviously something not right.”
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
One-to-one interview
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
PT00H01M33S
Bit Rate/Frequency
Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio)
320kbps
Cinema
Queens Theatre, Northumberland Place, Newcastle upon Tyne
Odeon Newcastle upon Tyne, Pilgrim Street, Newcastle upon Tyne
Empire Cinema, The Gate, Newgate Street, Newcastle upon Tyne
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Making-up films (Neil Thompson)
Subject
The topic of the resource
making-up films
Description
An account of the resource
Projectionist Neil Thompson descibes the process of making-up film prints, including the projectionist's trick of leaving one frame on the leader to help reassembly.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
The Projection Project
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Interview with Neil Thompson
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
The University of Warwick
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-12-29
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Richard Wallace
Neil Thompson
Relation
A related resource
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/26353
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/3307
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/25181
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
.mp3
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound recording
interview extract
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1974-2014
POINT(-179195.26666825 7357427.7377796)|16|-179075.2366473|7357562.1930503|osm
Queens Theatre, Northumberland Place, Newcastle upon Tyne
POINT(-179432.93805304 7356805.4925963)|17|-179329.6286320|7356674.8069252|osm
Odeon Newcastle upon Tyne, Pilgrim Street, Newcastle upon Tyne
POINT(-180105.94220043 7356472.9653974)|15|-179877.8254442|7355934.5098276|osm
Empire Cinema, The Gate, Newgate Street, Newcastle upon Tyne
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
Neil Thompson
North-East England
preparing the print
presentation and showmanship
-
https://projectionproject.warwick.ac.uk/files/original/fa55186ad22feabac4a2d5701c35da9c.mp3
26e20456f7580006c2c7fda99ebde025
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Projectionists' Memories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Interviews with projectionists
Description
An account of the resource
Interviews with projectionists
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
The Projection Project
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
University of Warwick
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
.mp3
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound recordings
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Richard Wallace
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Neil Thompson
Date of Interview
2014-11-11
Location
The location of the interview
Gateshead
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
I liked the machines down at The Queens. They were real workhouses. You know, you had a massive lamp house. We used to use these carbon arcs which were high intensity and the light from them was fantastic. I mean when we used to strike them, we used to put the carbons in and tie them and shut the door, then we used to press the button, you'd hear the contactor come in and then when you joined the two together it used to make a hell of a sound you know. And then you had a little eye piece where you could look to see how far they were. And, of course, carbon arcs had a tendency to wander away from each other. And there was a little motor on the side that used to keep them, or try to keep them, at a certain distance because if they went too far the picture would go blue, if they went too close the picture would go brown. They had to be about an inch apart. So you had to keep going and checking them, making sure ‘cause it had a guide at the top of the lamp house. You know, that was fascinating. Of course you daresn't open the door because the light was just intense, you know it could blind you. Of course that's what they used to use in search lights during the war. And I think that light, meself, from them was better than xenon bulbs will ever be. I mean it’s...with carbons you had fumes as well, they weren't good for your health. Whereas xenon bulbs, it's more temperature controlled, you don't have any fumes and they're simpler to use, you just put them in and that's it and once they're set up that's it, you don't touch them. Whereas carbons, you had to put a carbon in every time this one burnt right down and you had to set them up and you had to keep an eye on them, well that's all done away and finished with. But at the time, I mean they were good, they were really smashing, you know, fantastic. Because I mean when I first kicked off, I mean like a lot of people you would think that there was a high voltage bulb that was in there that used to provide the illumination. And I had that at The Odeon in Gateshead in 1970 when I was there, it was one of the first things I remember asking, you know, “What kind of a bulb are you use in these things?” And he says, “Oh it's not a bulb, we're using carbon arcs”. And I thought, “What's carbon arcs then?” And they explained it to us. It's just an empty lamppost with these two rods in and a reflector at the back. Fascinating, absolutely fascinating. They pushed me over to the Odeon in ’75 and when I went across to the Odeon I had to learn about xenon bulbs. Because we were working with with what they call platters, or cake stands as they used to call them which held four foot horizontal plates and on those you had, I think it ran about three and a half, three and three-quarter hours. And, of course, carbon arcs would be no good then, and so we all went with xenon bulbs. They were in their infancy then, they had just came out. To me the light was terrible. The light was cream, it wasn’t white it was awful yellowy cream colour. Of course later on they converted them to three phase and they were much steadier and they were whiter. And they were blinking dangerous because one went off on me one day when I was on with the Chief there. He’d just changed the lamp in number one and he’d just left it on for five minutes and oh, all of a sudden I can remember standing right next to it and there’s this almighty bang and the glass went all over the floor. It didn’t seem to affect him, he just come round and he says, “Oh, my bloody lamp’s blown.” And I was standing there and I thought my nerves were nearly shattered. I thought, “I was standing next to the damned thing!” I remember walking to the lamp house, everything was just broken. There was glass all over the place, the reflector, the back was all in bits because of the bang it just took it and there wasn’t extensive damage but it made a bit of a mess. So they were really dangerous. You had to be careful but, as I say, they were in their infancy then, they just came out.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
One-to-one interview
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
PT00H03M38S
Bit Rate/Frequency
Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio)
320kbps
Cinema
Queens Theatre, Northumberland Place, Newcastle upon Tyne
Odeon Newcastle upon Tyne, Pilgrim Street, Newcastle upon Tyne
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Light sources (Neil Thompson)
Subject
The topic of the resource
technological change in light sources
Description
An account of the resource
Projectionist Neil Thompson describes the change in lighting technology from fast-burning carbon arc lamps to long-lasting xenon lamps.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
The Projection Project
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Interview with Neil Thompson
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
The University of Warwick
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-12-29
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Richard Wallace
Neil Thompson
Relation
A related resource
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/26353
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/3307
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
.mp3
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound recording
interview extract
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1974-1990
Queens Theatre, Northumberland Place, Newcastle upon Tyne
POINT(-179430.54939592 7356803.1039393)|17|-179382.1790890|7356666.4466253|osm
Odeon Newcastle upon Tyne, Pilgrim Street, Newcastle upon Tyne
1970s
1980s
light sources
Neil Thompson
North-East England
working conditions
-
https://projectionproject.warwick.ac.uk/files/original/00105cf05986bcb8e57a5044ebd41f32.mp3
63c59e29593e7937184fbeb69572f570
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Projectionists' Memories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Interviews with projectionists
Description
An account of the resource
Interviews with projectionists
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
The Projection Project
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
University of Warwick
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
.mp3
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound recordings
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Richard Wallace
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Neil Thompson
Date of Interview
2014-11-11
Location
The location of the interview
Gateshead
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
And it makes such a noise, I mean when you start the machine up and you can hear it rat-tat-tat-tat. I don’t know how the people outside in the auditorium didn’t hear it. It made you more aware of what you were doing, when you had hold of all this massive film, and you’re showing it on a massive screen and you had a full audience, that's what drives you on, that’s what the adrenalin is all about. You think, “I'm in charge of this. This film’s cost so many millions to make and it’s me that’s in charge of showing it. I’m the last link in the chain. Which is what I always think a projectionist is. ‘Cause you are the last link in the chain from a story to a screenplay, then a crew’s got ready and then they get the actors and it’s filmed, it’s processed, then it’s sent to cinemas for people to see. You’re the last link in the chain so it’s up to you to present it properly.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
One-to-one interview
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
PT00H00M51S
Bit Rate/Frequency
Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio)
320kbps
Cinema
Queens Theatre, Northumberland Place, Newcastle upon Tyne
Odeon Newcastle upon Tyne, Pilgrim Street, Newcastle upon Tyne
Empire Cinema, The Gate, Newgate Street, Newcastle upon Tyne
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Being the last link in the chain (Neil Thompson)
Subject
The topic of the resource
projectionist as last link in the chain
Description
An account of the resource
Projectionist Neil Thompson outlines his thoughts as being the last link in the creative process.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
The Projection Project
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Interview with Neil Thompson
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
The University of Warwick
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-12-29
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Richard Wallace
Neil Thompson
Relation
A related resource
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/26353
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/3307
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/25181
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
.mp3
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound recording
interview extract
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1974-2014
POINT(-179194.07233968 7357426.5434509)|16|-179062.0990331|7357571.7476788|osm
Queens Theatre, Northumberland Place, Newcastle upon Tyne
POINT(-179430.54939591 7356797.1322965)|17|-179320.0740035|7356633.0054255|osm
Odeon Newcastle upon Tyne, Pilgrim Street, Newcastle upon Tyne
POINT(-180105.94220044 7356480.1313687)|15|-179815.7203587|7355896.2913133|osm
Empire Cinema, The Gate, Newgate Street, Newcastle upon Tyne
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
Neil Thompson
North-East England
presentation and showmanship
-
https://projectionproject.warwick.ac.uk/files/original/abb2f657742ba57b6ad66c27b8968ddd.mp3
752468a0b3fd3e37dd29e33b8619a919
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Projectionists' Memories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Interviews with projectionists
Description
An account of the resource
Interviews with projectionists
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
The Projection Project
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
University of Warwick
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
.mp3
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound recordings
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Richard Wallace
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Phil Fawke
Date of Interview
2014-12-04
Location
The location of the interview
Birmingham
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
And of course in those days you had carbon arcs as well which burnt away, they had to be carboned up every time, at the end of every 20 minute reel. And while I was at the Regal, Foleshill Road at Coventry they had hand-feed arcs there. And if you can imagine trying to run a show on your own, which sometimes you were on your own. On a change-over trying to feed two arc lamps up when one’s round here and the other one’s round here, it’s a bit difficult because if the things come close it gets blue, if they get apart it goes brown you see. It was just terrible really. You had a job. You used to have to sort of feed the one up hoping that it didn’t burn away enough while you’ve got enough time to lace the other projector up, rewind the film and get the dot as well to change over.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
One-to-one interview
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
PT00H00M51S
Bit Rate/Frequency
Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio)
320kbps
Cinema
Regal/Vue, Portland Place, Leamington Spa
Regal, 511 Foleshill Road, Coventry
King's Norton Cinema, The Green, King's Norton, Birmingham
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Routine between change-overs (Phil Fawke)
Subject
The topic of the resource
change-over process
Description
An account of the resource
Projectionist and cinema manager Phil Fawke describes the process of changing-over a film including replacing the carbon rods in the arc lamps.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
The Projection Project
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Interview with Phil Fawke
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
The University of Warwick
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-12-09
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Richard Wallace
Phil Fawke
Relation
A related resource
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/24797
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/48440
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/5886
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
.mp3
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound recording
interview extract
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1940-1980s
POINT(-171149.67227809 6852821.2124104)|14|-170650.4429372|6853000.7349230|osm
Regal/Vue, Portland Place, Leamington Spa
POINT(-166863.22705187 6878012.9982559)|14|-167189.2787506|6876679.1198606|osm
Regal, 511 Foleshill Road, Coventry
POINT(-214890.1645439 6874088.9384426)|13|-215575.1119770|6874652.1576687|osm
King's Norton Cinema, The Green, King's Norton, Birmingham
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
Phil Fawke
presentation and showmanship
running the show
-
https://projectionproject.warwick.ac.uk/files/original/8974394636433586c2b4009201231db5.mp3
20255118bb562d9a6722d719687be689
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Projectionists' Memories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Interviews with projectionists
Description
An account of the resource
Interviews with projectionists
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
The Projection Project
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
University of Warwick
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
.mp3
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound recordings
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Richard Wallace
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Phil Fawke
Date of Interview
2014-12-04
Location
The location of the interview
Birmingham
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
You used to have to go in the morning as well you see to clean up. I mean a projection room in the old days used to be absolutely… the floor used to be absolutely polished. ‘cause most of them were wood block floors and all lino, thick lino. They were absolutely polished to perfection, everywhere and all the passageways would all be painted red paint and… And really, you prided yourself in the job. You just, you loved doing it really. You’d check all the lamps. They’d be checked every day, all the exits and everything. Then you would clean the projectors, you’d clean the mirrors in the arc lamp. There’s lot of little jobs that you sort of did. Chat to the cleaners. But then, of course, when the show was on, you didn’t really have much time because every 20 minutes you changed over you see, not like today, you just switch a button. I mean when I worked at the MAC I could start the film and go in and watch it. Sit down and watch it! You couldn’t do that you see, unless you were the chief and somebody else was doing it. There was a lot of things. Maintenance you did, you had to maintain… all cinemas had secondary lighting which was primary batteries. You used to have to check them and check all the equipment, check the boiler house. That was another thing you used to have to do. There's lots of jobs that you sort of did which you just did naturally. Have a cup of tea, of course. You always had a cup of tea.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
One-to-one interview
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
PT00H02M11S
Bit Rate/Frequency
Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio)
320kbps
Cinema
Regal/Vue, Portland Place, Leamington Spa
Regal, 511 Foleshill Road, Coventry
King's Norton Cinema, The Green, King's Norton, Birmingham
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Cleaning and taking pride in the job (Phil Fawke)
Subject
The topic of the resource
cleaning
routine
Description
An account of the resource
Projectionist and cinema manager Phil Fawke describes his morning routine and the process of cleaning the projection box.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
The Projection Project
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Interview with Phil Fawke
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
The University of Warwick
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-12-09
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Richard Wallace
Phil Fawke
Relation
A related resource
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/24797
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/48440
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/5886
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
.mp3
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound recording
interview extract
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1940-1980s
POINT(-171147.28362095 6852825.9897245)|14|-171037.4053928|6853101.0585225|osm
Regal/Vue, Portland Place, Leamington Spa
POINT(-166867.40720186 6878014.6964417)|14|-167164.1978507|6876541.5854615|osm
Regal, 511 Foleshill Road, Coventry
POINT(-214898.52484389 6874084.1611284)|13|-215974.0177183|6874585.2752690|osm
King's Norton Cinema, The Green, King's Norton, Birmingham
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
maintenance
Phil Fawke
projection box
routine
-
https://projectionproject.warwick.ac.uk/files/original/f2c51133164846d05bcb15db56d8ae2b.mp3
9cdb8aa95c9a6994b9ea236bd979a99f
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Projectionists' Memories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Interviews with projectionists
Description
An account of the resource
Interviews with projectionists
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
The Projection Project
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
University of Warwick
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
.mp3
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound recordings
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Richard Wallace
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Phil Fawke
Date of Interview
2014-12-04
Location
The location of the interview
Birmingham
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
Rewinding the film you had grooves in your fingers winding the film. You know, it did really hurt you ‘cause you used to have to hold the film to check it all when you were making it up to make sure that the joints were all… And you didn’t have a machine to make a joint on, you used to have to scrape it with a razor blade either side and stick it down yourself. Yeah, all cement joints, yeah. They were all cement joins then. And you, if, you, you use to have to check them all, which, sometimes you didn’t check them because there was too many of them. You didn’t have time to check them. I mean, I’ve known a film come late and you’re making it up as you’re showing it. So you can't… Hadn’t much time to check it. You’re showing it on one and you’re making the next one up to put on, and then making the next up ‘cause the film’s arrived late.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
One-to-one interview
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
PT00H01M00S
Bit Rate/Frequency
Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio)
320kbps
Cinema
Regal/Vue, Portland Place, Leamington Spa
Regal, 511 Foleshill Road, Coventry
King's Norton Cinema, The Green, King's Norton, Birmingham
mac (Midlands Arts Centre), Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Checking joins and making-up prints (Phil Fawke)
Subject
The topic of the resource
making-up prints
checking
Description
An account of the resource
Projectionist and cinema manager Phil Fawke describes the process of repairing film damage.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
The Projection Project
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Interview with Phil Fawke
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
The University of Warwick
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-12-09
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Richard Wallace
Phil Fawke
Relation
A related resource
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/24797
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/48440
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/5886
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/24157
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
.mp3
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound recording
interview extract
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1940-2006
POINT(-171138.923321 6852817.4428107)|14|-171130.56302102|6853150.8470946|osm
Regal/Vue, Portland Place, Leamington Spa
POINT(-166869.79585898932 6878013.502113101)|14|-166934.8867659|6876681.3219039|osm
Regal, 511 Foleshill Road, Coventry
POINT(-214913.15536881 6874076.3513393)|13|-214672.1995805|6875494.3645837|osm
King's Norton Cinema, The Green, King's Norton, Birmingham
POINT(-211926.4382054236 6882453.511866969)|15|-212165.3039188|6882813.1913794|osm
mac (Midlands Arts Centre), Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
film damage
Phil Fawke
preparing the print
presentation and showmanship
working conditions
-
https://projectionproject.warwick.ac.uk/files/original/a3971b67f3156275fdb6766990faf5f1.mp3
5b7975c4bb8bb27dfe1bce65fafd94d7
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Projectionists' Memories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Interviews with projectionists
Description
An account of the resource
Interviews with projectionists
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
The Projection Project
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
University of Warwick
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
.mp3
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound recordings
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Richard Wallace
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Phil Fawke
Date of Interview
2014-12-04
Location
The location of the interview
Birmingham
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
I knew it was coming. It had been experimented on two or three times, but they hadn’t got it completely perfect though. But when it was perfected it did come rather quick. I must agree and the changeovers in the cinemas was very, very quick really when you think of it. I don’t think there's a multiplex in Birmingham now that could show a 35mm print. About 90% is digital now. Put a lot of people out of work really. When you think that when I started there was five projectionists for one theatre, and then there used to be three projectionists for a multiplex of about 12 screens. And now it’s one technician for a multiplex. It’s changed, hasn’t it? I used to be scared. I was really scared stiff at the MAC when I was left with the digital. I think because a lot of the controls are very small and you’re used to, sort of, dealing with a big thing and then you’re suddenly dealing with a panel this big that controls everything. I think it just sort of distracts you in a way when you’ve been for years and years looking at all this big equipment and big knobs and all that sort of thing. I got through it all right but it used to scare me a bit, I must agree, for fear I’d press the wrong buttons or something. And I never. In all fairness I thought digital, load of bunkum, you know. I thought that the quality would never, ever be as good. But I must agree, I've seen it and I've got to agree it’s not just good, it’s better. Plus the fact you don’t get all the scratches. I mean some of the Sunday stuff we used to get there was so many joints in. Well it was an insult to charge people to watch it really. Scratched and all joints and flashing all over the place. Really, really terrible.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
One-to-one interview
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
PT00H02M30S
Bit Rate/Frequency
Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio)
320kbps
Cinema
mac (Midlands Arts Centre), Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Arrival of digital (Phil Fawke)
Subject
The topic of the resource
digital projection
Description
An account of the resource
Projectionist and cinema manager Phil Fawke describes his experience of the arrival of digital projection, the changes in the number of projectionists over time, getting used to using the digital projector and the benefits of digital on picture quality.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
The Projection Project
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Interview with Phil Fawke
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
The University of Warwick
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-12-09
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Richard Wallace
Phil Fawke
Relation
A related resource
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/24157
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
.mp3
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound recording
interview extract
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
2000-
POINT(-211921.66089113 6882433.6561547)|14|-211549.0303783|6883772.6850919|osm
mac (Midlands Arts Centre), Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
digital projection
film damage
Midlands
multiplexes
Phil Fawke
presentation and showmanship
team relations
working conditions