Notes from the Booth: OPPENHEIMER Projectionist Tells All

Welcome to the story behind the story. This is IMAX In Frame   LIGHT IN THE SHADOWS In Conversation with Projectionist David Booty   Picture this. A darkened theatre. The only light in the room is the projector. Images dance on the screen in front of you. All of this is orchestrated by a single man – the projectionist. Since 1988, David Booty has been bringing the world of IMAX to life since 1988, beginning with a projectionist role at Dreamworld in Queensland. He is now the technical manager at Museum Victoria in Melbourne, where he helps exhibit & maintain the latest IMAX releases. We asked him some questions about the art of projection, 70mm, and the future of the craft.  7 QUESTIONS WITH PROJECTIONIST DAVID BOOTY 1. You’ve been working with the IMAX format and IMAX technology for almost 35 years. Two separate – but I suppose related questions: Why did you choose to pursue a career in the cinema and exhibition industries? What drew you to IMAX and what keeps you with IMAX? What led you into the exhibition space as a career? Yeah 35 years in August and how time flies when you’re having fun! IMAX wasn’t my chosen career actually. I was working at Australia’s only theme park at the time and it had an IMAX that had recently lost a casual projectionist. I was asked by the Head of Operations if I was interested in learning IMAX as he knew I had a technical background so I jumped at the chance. It was purely by chance really that I ended up working for IMAX for all these years. There are a few things that keeps me interested in IMAX with the first being the tech side with its constant evolution and the other is just the experience of being in a theatre running IMAX content and the exhilaration of the IMAX experience. Seriously how many people have a job where they can throw something on a huge screen with audio that you can almost feel in your chest, just because you love it? With regards to the evolution of the systems and the tech, when I started there was no IMAX 3D. Apart from a couple of experimental systems, it was mostly IMAX 2D on a flat screen and Omnimax later called IMAX Dome systems. I started on IMAX system #30 which was a 2D 4kw air-cooled system with a manual field lens you would change with a wooden plunger. I then went on to be an IMAX service and install tech and had to learn the twin 2D systems that were used for 3D, then the PLC-controlled GT3D and SR projectors. It was such a steep learning curve back then but I loved it. 2. One of the roles you’ve held in the past is Chief Projectionist. We understand that you will be revisiting that role for the release of Oppenheimer as IMAX Melbourne will be one of only 30 locations in the world screening the film on IMAX 70 mm film. Are you excited? What does it mean to you to be a part of these IMAX 70 mm screenings? Well, I have to say that it’s pretty exciting to be one of 30 locations in the world, and might I add the only one in the Southern Hemisphere to be running this film the way it was meant to be watched. With that said there are also the mandatory butterflies that go with any screening of a big new film. It’s always an honor for us as a theatre and for me personally that we’re given the opportunity to run Christopher Nolan’s latest and greatest in the format he loves so much and this will be no exception. 3. The uninitiated might think projection is just a “set it and forget it” sort of job (even if we know there is much more to it!) For the folks who aren’t well versed in the IMAX 70 mm format, can you talk a little bit about what you do to prep for a release like Oppenheimer as well as what you do before, after, and during a screening? There’s so much that goes on just to keep an IMAX Film system happily ticking along and that’s simply due to its design and size. There’s certainly no set and forget as that kind of blasé mentality will not present well on screen. Leading up to a new 1570 film release the system has a complete service to ensure all components are ready for the pressure of going from running one session every other month to running multiple sessions per day without failure. The IMAX Melbourne audience has a big Nolan fan base and so we regularly rescreen his films – particularly INTERSTELLAR – to a sold out crowd every four to six months. But OPPENHEIMER will be a much bigger beast. Film clearances, bearings, belts, water filters and fittings, light output and audio settings are just a small number of things that are checked and or replaced in the weeks leading up to films like OPPENHEIMER. When the season starts, before and after each session the system film path is cleaned down, particle transfer rollers cleaned and replaced and wiper bars (a device for cleaning an internal lens) are replaced. Movies on IMAX 1570 film run at 24 frames per second just like traditional cinema projectors but in the IMAX world that means 1.7 meters per second rather than 45 centimeters per second in traditional cinema. This added speed makes the film a dust magnet so cleaning the system down at every opportunity and vacuuming the projection booth makes for a dust-free presentation. During screenings, items to keep on top of are things like focus which will noticeably change in the first 10 of a film, check there’s a clear image with no dust (which can be remedied by cycling a field lens so the wiper bars can clean the lens), check coolant levels and listening for any abnormal noises. If things aren’t 100%, the IMAX 1570 film system is probably the most unforgiving film system ever created simply due to its speed and design, so looking, listening and being attentive are of the utmost importance to a trouble-free screening. 4. We’re always looking for cocktail party conversation. Would you share one or two little known or surprising facts about the IMAX format that you’ve picked up in over 35 years? I’m sure there are plenty of little-known facts rattling around in my head but for the life of me I can’t think of one so I’ll throw some stats out there for you instead. IMAX Film runs at 24 frames per second like traditional cinema but with the larger frame size that equates to 1710mm per second. Traditional 35mm film is 455mm per second and 5 perf 70 is 552mm per second. 10 minutes of IMAX Film equates to a hair over 1 km which makes a film such as INTERSTELLAR 16.9 km long (10.5mi). Our IMAX 1570 Film print of INTERSTELLAR is a smidge over 1.8 meters in diameter (70”) and weighs 260kg (573lb) 5. With all the changes to the cinema and exhibition industries over the past 3 years, how do you feel about the future of the art of physical film projection? If someone was thinking about starting to learn the art today, where would you recommend that they start? I think physical film projection is most certainly in its twilight years for numerous reasons. First of all the amount of physical mainstream films being pumped out in the last 10 years could probably be counted on both hands. With digital cinema entering the marketplace, most film systems have been pushed to the back of the booth or even worse, the dumpster. And let’s not forget spare parts to keep film systems going will become a real issue moving forward. Film projection isn’t just about the film systems, it’s also about the people running and maintaining these systems who are also getting rather thin on the ground. Part of a great presentation is the guy up in the box using his skill and usually years of knowledge to bring a high level of showmanship into the mix. Throughout the world, many of these people have just been moved on along with the film projectors they once operated and for the most part cinemas don’t have a single projectionist on staff with the digital systems being fully automated. Here in Australia, there are only two of us who can walk into this booth and put on a complete show with all the bells and whistles. Projection in general, but IMAX projection in particular, is a perishable skill. In the world of IMAX projection things must be 100% on the money every time and I’d say it is easily the most unforgiving film format simply because of its size and speed. In the past I’d only hire ex-35mm projectionists since they had many of the basic skills we could expand on to run IMAX. My thoughts would be to anyone interested in a career in film projection would be best served finding a location in a film institution or similar, as you’d be hard-pressed to find anything long-term and stable in the exhibition industry. 6. What is the most memorable film, including documentaries, that you’ve ever experienced in an IMAX theatre? I’d have to say my most memorable film would be the very first one I screened, TO FLY. It’s one of the early IMAX films that came out in the mid-70s which was a quick trip through the history of flight starting with the balloon, biplanes, jets, including what was the reasonably new 747, and ending with space flight and the Saturn 5. Yep, this film was pre-space shuttle! There was a great biplane scene with a terrified woman passenger that I can still hear in my head. The IMAX camera mounted on the plane certainly gave you a great sense of motion which was a real feat given it was a 2D film. 7. We ask directors this question all the time but are really interested to hear your answer...If there was one film, any film, that you could experience again in IMAX for the first time, what would it be and why? I’d love to see an IMAX remastered version of STAR WARS: EPISODE IV - A NEW HOPE. I was about 12 when that came out and I remember travelling to Sydney with my parents to see it and it just blew my mind. I was a kid, there was no internet, and I had no idea what I was in for, but it was the most amazing film I’d ever seen. Some years later an IMAX film came out that I ran called Special Effects which had a segment on Star Wars where they had reshot the opening scene with an IMAX camera in the motion tracking rig. Seeing that in full screen IMAX was absolutely stunning and I’d certainly jump at the chance to see a complete STAR WARS: EPISODE IV - A NEW HOPE in IMAX. Experience OPPENHEIMER on 70mm and other IMAX formats this summer.   Each month, we’ll deliver a new exclusive piece of editorial to your inbox. 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