美国国家公共电台 NPR Step Inside A Movie Projection Booth To See What's Changed Since Film

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Before he became a film critic, NPR's Bob Mondello worked for a chain of movie theaters. He spent a lot of time in projection¹ booths, which is where he's taking us this week as part of the NPR series Backstage Pass. It's been a while since Bob climbed those stairs, and the first thing he discovered is that things sound different.

BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE²: This is the sound I remember...

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM PROJECTOR³)

MONDELLO: ...The purr of a celluloid film strip running through a projector, a purr that is actually 24 clicks per second, one each time the shutter⁴ closes so that another frame of film can advance. Each frame has to stop briefly⁵ in front of the light source, or all you'd see when you look at the screen is a blur⁶. This is how film was first projected by the Lumiere brothers in 1895 and how everyone saw film for the next 104 years. It's been the subject of movies, from a silent comedy where Buster Keaton plays a projectionist⁷ who dreams himself up onto the screen to the Oscar-winning "Cinema Paradiso," where a little boy falls in love with movies in the projection booth.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "CINEMA PARADISO")

SALVATORE CASCIO: (As Salvatore 'Toto' Di Vita, speaking Italian).

MONDELLO: I could identify. When I was working at Roth Theaters in the 1970s, the sound of the projector starting up seemed to me like an overture⁸ at a musical. But it's a sound that mostly doesn't exist anymore at the multiplex. In fact to record the bit I used at the beginning, I had to ask the American Film Institute to bring projectionist Keith Madden to its Silver Theatre from a museum to thread the film and show me how.

KEITH MADDEN: Do you want me to talk and thread at the same time? I can do that. There are sprocket holes on the film that align⁹ with sprocket teeth here. And you get them on there. You have to align them perfectly¹⁰.

MONDELLO: Madden, who is now with the Smithsonian's Museum of African American History and Culture, got his first job as a projectionist in the 1970s when film was still being played on 20-minute reels. That meant alternating between two side-by-side projectors¹¹ three times an hour.

MADDEN: If you do it right, you go seamlessly from the last frame of the outgoing reel to the first frame of the incoming reel.

MONDELLO: Doing it right was tricky¹², though, involving a cue mark onscreen and quick reflexes.

MADDEN: You had to just completely get into the Zen of it. You had to stare at the screen. The cue marks were a sixth of a second in the upper right hand corner. A sixth of a second is about the time it takes you to do kind of a normal blink. So if you had a normal blink, you could have - oh, did I just miss that? (Laughter) And until you learn the film, you wouldn't know. And one of the worst things for a projectionist was to get emotionally involved in the content. In a horror movie, that used to happen to me. Somebody would jump out with an axe¹³, and, oh, you'd miss the cue mark.

MONDELLO: Later they developed a platter system where a whole film could be strung together on one big reel, which was better. But the actual revolution came in 1999 when a few movie theaters started trying out digital projectors. Cinematographer Harris Savides told NPR back then about seeing one work for the first time.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

HARRIS SAVIDES: I felt like, we're using horses, and we just saw the first car go by and kind of don't know what it is or what it's going to do for us. But it just seems interesting, better, different.

MONDELLO: That was a minority view at the time. Nobody much liked digital at first. The image wasn't sharp. It was like early TV. Some scenes even looked pixilated. But the projectors got better and smaller. And by 2011, the National Association of Theatre Owners estimated that 41 percent of U.S. movie theaters had converted to digital. Today it's very close to a hundred percent, says Keith Madden.

MADDEN: Now if you go to a typical multiplex, in the booth, in the back corner of a lot of these places, you'll see piles of rusted¹⁴ metal parts of film projectors.

MONDELLO: Let's go instead to an atypical multiplex. Landmark's 8-screen E Street theater in downtown Washington, D.C. In what is otherwise a state-of-the-art digital projection booth, it still has one working film projector.

TOM BEDDOW: We barely ever use this anymore. We maybe play two, three 35-millimeter prints a year.

MONDELLO: Landmark's Tom Beddow is standing¹⁵ in a booth that connects 7 of the 8 theaters here, a hallway with digital projectors spaced along it and noisy fans blowing the heat away from the powerful xenon bulbs that are needed to light up movie screens the size of tennis courts. The only moving part in a digital projector is the fan. It's otherwise just a light source and a computer.

BEDDOW: Every projector has a little touch screen interface¹⁶ here. It basically shows the playlist of what you're going to play as the ads, the trailers and the film. So all I would have to do to play this film right now is hit the play button. The lights will come down. The sound will turn on. And then at the end of the playlist, the lights come up. It goes back to house music - so literally¹⁷ one button.

MONDELLO: Show me how you thread up one of these...

BEDDOW: One of these digital projectors?

MONDELLO: ...Digital projectors (laughter).

BEDDOW: So we don't thread anything up. We get the movies in these little, gray boxes - big, silver hard drives.

MONDELLO: Trailers come on this, too.

BEDDOW: Yes. So every week, Deluxe¹⁸ will send what's called a trail mix drive, and...

MONDELLO: In the old days, even with platters, you need a couple of projectionists to run this place - eight screens, staggered show times, cleaning sprocket teeth with a toothbrush between showings, focusing, dealing¹⁹ with bulky projectors.

BEDDOW: There would usually be two full-time²⁰ projectionists and then two or three part-time projectionists.

MONDELLO: What do you got now?

BEDDOW: (Laugher) We have - everything's automated²¹, so you basically only need to have projectionists there on Thursdays, which is the day that we do the changeover. And everything will start automatically for the whole week.

MONDELLO: For the week.

BEDDOW: Yeah.

MONDELLO: Not every day they have to push a button.

BEDDOW: A manager has to come up here and turn everything on.

MONDELLO: And that would be just as true if this were a 26-plex. Miraculous²² in its way, the new normal in thousands of theaters around the world is state-of-the-art, efficient, a 21st century technological²³ marvel²⁴ - so just one more question.

If somebody came up here and wanted to be amazed by something, what would you show them?

BEDDOW: (Laughter) I'd probably thread up the 35-millimeter projector.

MONDELLO: Of course he would. I'm Bob Mondello.

(SOUNDBITE OF ENNIO MORRICONE'S "CINEMA PARADISO")

1 projection   

n.发射，计划，突出部分

参考例句：

• Projection takes place with a minimum of awareness or conscious control.投射在最少的知觉或意识控制下发生。
• The projection of increases in number of house-holds is correct.对户数增加的推算是正确的。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 projector   

n.投影机，放映机，幻灯机

参考例句：

• There is a new projector in my office.我的办公室里有一架新的幻灯机。
• How long will it take to set up the projector?把这个放映机安放好需要多长时间？

4 shutter   

n.百叶窗；(照相机)快门；关闭装置

参考例句：

• The camera has a shutter speed of one-sixtieth of a second.这架照像机的快门速度达六十分之一秒。
• The shutter rattled in the wind.百叶窗在风中发出嘎嘎声。

5 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

6 blur   

n.模糊不清的事物；vt.使模糊，使看不清楚

参考例句：

• The houses appeared as a blur in the mist.房子在薄雾中隐隐约约看不清。
• If you move your eyes and your head,the picture will blur.如果你的眼睛或头动了，图像就会变得模糊不清。

7 projectionist   

n.电影放映员，幻灯放映员

参考例句：

• The projectionist runs the film back at the end of every performance. 放映员把每部影片都重新卷绕到开头。
• The projectionist was panning the camera attentively. 放映员在聚精会神地移动摄影机。

8 overture   

n.前奏曲、序曲，提议，提案，初步交涉

参考例句：

• The opera was preceded by a short overture.这部歌剧开始前有一段简短的序曲。
• His overture led to nothing.他的提议没有得到什么结果。

9 align   

vt.使成一线，结盟，调节；vi.成一线，结盟

参考例句：

• Align the ruler and the middle of the paper.使尺子与纸张的中部成一条直线。
• There are signs that the prime minister is aligning himself with the liberals.有迹象表明首相正在与自由党人结盟。

10 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

11 projectors   

电影放映机，幻灯机( projector的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Energy projectors fired and peeled off the ships' armor in a flash. 能量投射器开火然后在一阵闪光后剥离了飞船的装甲。
• All classrooms equipped with computers, projectors, video and audio booth, broadcasting equipment. 全部教室配备电脑、投影仪、视频展台和音响、广播设备。

12 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

13 axe   

n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减

参考例句：

• Be careful with that sharp axe.那把斧子很锋利，你要当心。
• The edge of this axe has turned.这把斧子卷了刃了。

14 rusted   

v.（使）生锈( rust的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I can't get these screws out; they've rusted in. 我无法取出这些螺丝，它们都锈住了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• My bike has rusted and needs oil. 我的自行车生锈了，需要上油。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

16 interface   

n.接合部位，分界面；v.(使)互相联系

参考例句：

• My computer has a network interface,which allows me to get to other computers.我的计算机有网络接口可以与其它计算机连在一起。
• This program has perspicuous interface and extensive application. 该程序界面明了，适用范围广。

17 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

18 deluxe   

adj.华美的，豪华的，高级的

参考例句：

• This system puts the top hotels in a special deluxe category.这种分类法把最高级的旅馆列为特殊豪华级。
• I liked the deluxe edition,but I could afford only a second best.我喜欢精装版，但我只买得起一本稍差一点的。

19 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

20 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

21 automated   

a.自动化的

参考例句：

• The entire manufacturing process has been automated. 整个生产过程已自动化。
• Automated Highway System (AHS) is recently regarded as one subsystem of Intelligent Transport System (ITS). 近年来自动公路系统(Automated Highway System,AHS)，作为智能运输系统的子系统之一越来越受到重视。

22 miraculous   

adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的

参考例句：

• The wounded man made a miraculous recovery.伤员奇迹般地痊愈了。
• They won a miraculous victory over much stronger enemy.他们战胜了远比自己强大的敌人，赢得了非凡的胜利。

23 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

24 marvel   

vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事

参考例句：

• The robot is a marvel of modern engineering.机器人是现代工程技术的奇迹。
• The operation was a marvel of medical skill.这次手术是医术上的一个奇迹。