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Projecting problems continue

As in previous years, projections at the Harris Center Cinema do not always go smoothly. Films chair Chris Forster-Smith and Michael Sims offer some help, but training doesn’t seem adequate

by Eva Constantaras and David Montgomery

The average student filmgoer sits down in a movie theatre seat, relaxes and gets ready for a few hours diversion. The average Grinnell veteran filmgoer in Harris has lower expectations.

This past weekend, Anna Isis-Brown ’08, who was projecting the 10:30 p.m. showing of Batman Begins on Friday, couldn’t get the projector to work properly. She was unable to reach other projectionists, finally telephoning Films chair and former projectionist Chris Forster-Smith ’06. They tried, unsuccessfully, to fix the problem, eventually canceling the show. Saturday, Isis-Brown returned to the projection booth to continue trying to fix things. Finally, with the aid of Harris Center administrator Michael Sims, Isis-Brown and Forster-Smith discovered that a switch had been in the wrong position.

Stories like this one are not new at Grinnell, where student employees don’t always immediately master the complex job of running a film projector. Projectionists receive considerable training, but much of it takes place at the end of the previous school year. Films shown early in the year often fall prey to a simple lack of experience.

As in past years, this year has also seem movie delays and picture distortions. Forster-Smith is responsible for scheduling projections and training projectionists with the help of Sims. The Films chair receives money from the student activities fund to finance the films.

The SGA films committee does not meet before the school year to train projectionists or to choose the semester’s movie schedule, which now, a month after the start of school, has still not been released. The projectionists’ work schedule, which is partly the responsibility of Student Affairs secretary Jodi Hansen, is also still being finalized.

“Projections have always had screw-ups,” said Morgan Wajda-Levie ’08, who characterized himself a a frequent watcher of Harris films. Wajda-Levie said that things didn’t seem any worse this year.

Molly Kafka ’06 agreed. “75 percent of the time there are problems,” she said. “Most of the time they’ve fixed them. I’ve only had to leave once.”

One difference from last year is that projectionists can turn to the Films chair for direct assistance. Forster-Smith is often available to come help when protectionists run into problems. “Not that many Films chairs have been projectionists,” said Forster-Smith.

When projectionists encounter problems, they usually do as Anna did. “The projectionist will usually find someone who they perceive as more senior to help them out,” said Michael Sims, who trains the students on how to use the projector. Grinnell College has eight student projectionists, four of whom have at least one year of experience.

One additional problem took place on Saturday, September 10, for a showing of Rize. No projectionist appeared to show the film and students waited for half an hour before Michael Sims showed up to play the movie. Forster-Smith said that Hansen had forgotten to schedule a projectionist for the slot, but took a measure of responsibility for the mistake. “I looked it over and didn’t catch it,” he said.

Insufficient training and supervision may be a contributing factor to movie problems. Although student projectionists are considered SGA employees and are supervised by the Films chair, they work largely in conjunction with Student Services and do not arrive on campus early to receive thorough training before the start of the school year. Other than one session that Sims held this fall to refresh skills, most of the projectionist training was done at the end of the previous school year.

According to Isis-Brown, the training they received this year was more than students had in past years. “When I started last year, the films chair had us sit in three or four times with experienced projectionists,” said Isis-Brown. “We only got to see what a good show looked like, and didn’t get to figure out how to deal with problems.”

Forster-Smith said that the current training doesn’t always help projectionists in avoiding mistakes, especially early in the year. “The big problem is, it’s an experiential learning curve,” he said. “You have to do it a bunch of times.”

After initial training this year, projectionists have had to learn as they go and scramble to find help when things go wrong. “Many projectionists are only showing movies once every couple weeks,” Sims said. “Sometimes they’ll forget to do certain things even if the directions are right in front of them.”

But depending on the problem, the directions may not be there.

“It’s not that they don’t want us to know what we’re doing,” said Isis-Brown. “But we need to have a projectionist checklist in the booth and we’ve never had one.”

Sims said that he would like to put up more signage and that he is working on a handbook for the projection booth. “That would help with the some of the delays, but not with problems like film breaking,” he said.

Sims is on call on weekends during projections and said that he is almost always available. Projectionists can call him for help, but sometimes don’t.

“It’s scary to call me at home,” said Sims, “but they can save the headache by calling then instead of much later. It’s part of my job.”

Isis-Brown and Forster-Smith both had positive outlooks for Films.

“It could be much worse, considering the number of new projectionists,” said Forster-Smith. “At this point, I only see it improving.”

“I think this year will go much more smoothly than usual,” Isis-Brown said.

—additional reporting by Emilia Garvey

SideBar:

How films are chosen

• The 14 members of the Films Committee each bring in suggestions. The committee decides on a schedule for the semester.

• There is no formula for what type of movies shown each weekend, but the committee tries for a diverse selection.

• This year, Films chair Chris Forster-Smith says that he hopes to show fewer mainstream blockbusters and more small, critically acclaimed films.

• For the first few weeks of the semester, the Films chair picks movies without the input of the committee, which is picked at the beginning of the year.

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