Where did all the projectionists go?

Think of a film projectionist, and what comes to mind? Is it an image of a dumpy,

bearded bloke in an old waistcoat and beret? Does he share a grubby attic space with

tatty old film posters? Does he wind a battered 35mm print on to a spool and monitor

his work through a shaft of light which cuts through the dust of the auditorium?

Think of Philippe Noiret in 'Cinema Paradiso', Buster Keaton in 'Sherlock Jr', or

Robert Prosky in 'Last Action Hero'… Well, in reality, the image you should have in

mind is of a giant USB stick.

Why? Because projectionists as we imagine them are on the verge of extinction. This

is down to big changes in the world of exhibition: hulking hard drives – to which

films are sent digitally – are being installed in cinemas, while tactile, scratchy,

buzzing celluloid film prints are being tossed on the scrapheap.

We spoke to a spokesperson for Odeon who explains that the chain is in the middle of

replacing 35mm projectors at all its 110 sites across the country with digital

projectors. At the Cineworld chain, a projectionist tells us that the switch-over is

just as rapid. Phil Clapp of the Cinema Exhibitors' Association explains the

difference: 'While a 35mm projector is a mechanical device with moving parts, a

digital projector – aside from the lamp – is very much a piece of IT.

Projectionists who have been able to strip down and reassemble a 35mm projector with

their eyes closed are suddenly being presented with a box and an on-off switch.'

The roots of the digital takeover can be traced back to 2005, when 240 digital

projectors were given to UK cinemas on the back of the UK Film Council's Digital

Screen Network initiative. The hope was that on the back of that initial flurry, the

training wheels could come off and cinemas would embrace the digital revolution.

They didn't. The momentum of change was slow. Now, though, the digital boom has

finally happened, partly fuelled by the spiralling number of 3D titles, which can't

be projected on old equipment.

David Hancock of industry website Screen Digest illustrates the speed of change. 'In

2009 there were 650 digital screens in the UK. By 2010, there were 1,400, with 1,080

of them enabled for 3D. In 2010, 416 films were released wholly or partly on digital

prints in the UK, which is 80 per cent of all releases. This is by far the highest

number in the world. It compares to 20 per cent in France and 35 per cent in the

Netherlands.'

This means that gone are the days when a tired old print starts to show up scratches

and other signs of wear and tear. Audiences will barely notice the difference: every

film will look like new. The real effect on film-going may be more long-term as

cinemas take advantage of cheaper technology to offer a more flexible, varied

programme or find it difficult to show certain films, mostly archive titles, which

have not been transferred to digital.