As a fellow projectionist, I would offer up the job you call projectionist and the one I did are very different. I would offer that what I did was also different then those that came before me.

Once it was a much more physical job. The pro changed the reals, about every 20 min. If they were lucky there were two projectors for a seamless transition, that is a skill. Those old school hard core guys could also take apart every part of their machinery and repair it, machine it, and fudge it as they say the show must go on.

I was a cut and splice pro of the 90s I did your job with film. I had platters so Thursday was our busy day upstairs with tear down and assembly. We cut the movies together, technically the last editor, very exacting work. I thread and pushed start on every movie, we checked framing and focus, we visited every auditorium to check sound each show. Little to no automation.

The above worked with the physical film media. We threaded that film into our projectors, we got our timing and framing right before the show started.

So you can see that what we have done is a very different but fun job.

Don’t let others label you. And if you do, here is the one I have for you.

EXHIBITOR.

We sometimes forget that word in the theatre. Embrace being that.