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https://projectionproject.warwick.ac.uk/files/original/a3374308507e3d471214ac89c0c08670.mp3
812e4f38b342f0f7ce3ed8f194c1cfb6
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
Mike Williams
Date of Interview
2015-08-25
Location
The location of the interview
Cardiff
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
There was no formal training at all. Not at all. I literally learned lacing up by standing behind projectionists and watching them. And then I was allowed to do it myself. But where we extolled in my opinion was, we were taught showmanship. How to put a film on the screen. One of Frank Saunders’s … one of the things he drummed into me from the very first day I met him, I think maybe the second day, we stood at the back of the auditorium in the morning and the screen was open. The tabs were open, the skirtings were open. And he said, “Mike,” he said, “you see that down there? It’s the screen,” he said, “and I never want to see that again.” And I sort of looked at him, gone off, and I said, “What do you mean?” He said, “That screen there,” he said, “when the tabs open it’s the punters’ window on the world. They don’t want to see a screen, they want to see a picture on the screen and lose themselves in their imagination.” He said, “That's the job that we do. If you show them the screen, they lose the imagination, it becomes a picture on a screen instead of a picture in its own right.” He said, “I never, ever want to see you open those curtains on a blank screen.” And I only ever done it once and he sent me home. Literally, I thought I’d had the sack. Said, “You don’t do that in my theatre, you go home now and think about it”. Remember in those days visiting the cinema was a night out. So if you could extend the night out for the enjoyment of the audience, that's what showmanship is all about. If people can come out and they’ve been to Brazil and they’ve been to London and they’ve been to Rome and they’ve enjoyed the experience you feel good. You really do feel good. It’s a strange thing. When I … for a short time I was trainee manager, assistant manager, and I used to stand at the back of the audience at night when they were coming out, as the cur… the tabs closed, and stand at the back of the audience and it was good to feel how they felt. ‘Cause it would emanate from them. And you could tell that an audience had been entertained, you could feel it. And at that … it made you feel good, that you knew the performance had been a success. It’s a little like … and it comes from the stage days, you know, you’re only happy with a stage production if the whole production has gone right. We used to feel the same about the cinema. It had to run right, it had to give people entertainment. It had to feel as though they moved into a magic kingdom. That’s what cinema was all about. It should still be all about but it’s not unfortunately. But that's the showmanship, you just felt satisfaction with the job. A lot of cinemas didn’t bother, you had no showmanship in a lot of the suburban cinemas, would be lights out, screen open. And that was it. And there was an awful lot of that going on. An awful lot. They used to make us feel a little sick, you know, seeing the way we projected film and seeing the way somebody else, oh, dear me. Really terrible, really terrible and I mean, I, I went not long, not long before I got married, I went as a chief operator to the Capital Cinema in Blackwood. And it was run on a shoestring, literally, absolutely literally. Only two operators there
one working, one not working. Simple as that. So you had to do everything including cleaning the toilets, literally. And it was awful, awful. If you film, with the footlights on, the guy that ran the place used to play hell with us. “Do you think I can afford to pay for electricity to have lights on here?” you know, and that's how suburban cinemas were run. It was scandalous really.
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.)
PT00H03M43S
Bit Rate/Frequency
Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio)
320kbps
Cinema
ABC (Olympia) Cinema, 67 Queen Street, Cardiff
Capitol Cinema, 8 Hall Street, Blackwood
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, training and distinction between urban and suburban cinemas (Mike Williams)
Subject
The topic of the resource
presentation and showmanship
Description
An account of the resource
Projectionist Mike Williams provides an overview of presentation and showmanship in cinemas. He outlines how he was trained by the chief to uphold particular aesthetic standards and the impact that this has on the experience of the audience.
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 Mike Williams
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
2015-12-04
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Richard Wallace
Mike Williams
Relation
A related resource
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/7970
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/28108
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
1956-1964
POINT(-353449.59605573 6707026.7623776)|15|-353451.9847129|6706800.2131776|osm
ABC (Olympia), 67 Queen Street, Cardiff
POINT(-353447.20739853 6707019.3724694)|POINT(-355503.84119059 6740156.8396557)|15|-355506.2298477|6739858.6307416|osm
Capitol Cinema, 8 Hall Street, Blackwood
1950s
1960s
audiences
chief projectionist
Mike Williams
presentation and showmanship
training
Wales