https://reelattraction.webs.com/apps/photos/ Old & New 35mm film ticks away through the reliable gears https://reelattraction.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoID=186241613 186241613 This is the part of the projector just below the pressure plate where the light shone through the actual print. https://reelattraction.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoID=186241614 186241614 https://reelattraction.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoID=186241615 186241615 https://reelattraction.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoID=186241616 186241616 https://reelattraction.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoID=186241617 186241617 https://reelattraction.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoID=186241618 186241618 Brian rewinds a movie using a machine called a MUTT. During showtime the film strip was pulled off one side of the mutt, through a series of tension pulleys, and through the projector. https://reelattraction.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoID=186241619 186241619 35mm prints came in these sturdy shipping cases. The film was usually on 6 or 7 small reels and had to be taped together into one big filmstrip. https://reelattraction.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoID=186241620 186241620 Here is THE HOBBIT filmstrip, one of the last movies to run through the 35mm projector system. The plate under the film slowly sped up into first gear and then the clutch (in the middle) slipped into neutral. The film actually uncoiled from the inside out, and if you ever saw the whole system operating you would be spellbound. Before the new digital projectors arrived, the gear system and motors for the plater was salvaged from old vacuum cleaners and parts of the plater clutch came out of an old Buick (so I was told). https://reelattraction.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoID=186241621 186241621 The projectionist is about to join two reels together. https://reelattraction.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoID=186241622 186241622 Getting movies ready to show took a couple of hours every time. https://reelattraction.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoID=186241623 186241623 https://reelattraction.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoID=186241624 186241624 This old amp provided a deep warm tone to the movie sound track until it was replaced by the new mindblowing 7.1 surround sound system. https://reelattraction.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoID=186241625 186241625 35mm prints had a SQUARE frame but were meant to be shown in widescreen. Special lenses stretched the projected image appropriately. You may recall going to a movie once and the sides were out of focus while the center of the image was ok. That was a result of the wrong lens being used. https://reelattraction.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoID=186241626 186241626 The old projectors had a lot of room inside because the manufacturers believed new components would be installed when they were invented. Ever worked on an old car engine? https://reelattraction.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoID=186241627 186241627 The pressure plate pressed the filmstrip into place while it ticked away through the gears. https://reelattraction.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoID=186241628 186241628 Who makes things to last anymore? https://reelattraction.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoID=186241629 186241629 A commonly held misconception is that film projection is simply a series of individual frames dragged very quickly past the projector's intense light source; this is not the case. If a roll of film were merely passed between the light source and the lens of the projector, all that would be visible on screen would be a continuous blurred series of images sliding from one edge to the other. It is the shutter that gives the illusion of one full frame being replaced exactly on top of another full frame. A rotating petal or gated cylindrical shutter interrupts the emitted light during the time the film is advanced to the next frame. The viewer does not see the transition, thus tricking the brain into believing a moving image is on screen. https://reelattraction.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoID=186241630 186241630 A commonly held misconception is that film projection is simply a series of individual frames dragged very quickly past the projector's intense light source; this is not the case. If a roll of film were merely passed between the light source and the lens of the projector, all that would be visible on screen would be a continuous blurred series of images sliding from one edge to the other. It is the shutter that gives the illusion of one full frame being replaced exactly on top of another full frame. A rotating petal or gated cylindrical shutter interrupts the emitted light during the time the film is advanced to the next frame. The viewer does not see the transition, thus tricking the brain into believing a moving image is on screen. https://reelattraction.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoID=186241631 186241631 Somewhere between the steel and light magic happens. https://reelattraction.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoID=186241632 186241632 No not really. No time travel here. The ultra Bright Projector lights (seen here through welders glass) ran 500 watts or more. https://reelattraction.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoID=186241633 186241633 The projector shines light from a small lamp called an exciter, onto the film. The "waveform" image on the small slice of exposed track modulates the intensity of the light, which is collected by a photosensitive element. https://reelattraction.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoID=186241634 186241634 https://reelattraction.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoID=186241635 186241635 The last film to be loaded onto the plater was an Arnold Schwarzeneger flick. https://reelattraction.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoID=186241736 186241736 ...and like that something useful becomes an artifact. https://reelattraction.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoID=186241737 186241737 From rubber bands and pulleys to space age technology. https://reelattraction.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoID=186241738 186241738 https://reelattraction.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoID=186241739 186241739 The new digital projectors are fired up for the first time. https://reelattraction.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoID=186241741 186241741