Developments in projection technology since 2001

Remember the Fumeo? How quaint and mechanical it was? Remember the switches, the levers, the "gentle" purr as 24fps passed through its gate? Remember the massive spinning wheels of death that you needed to use to rewind the film after the show?

I'm sure we all know that cinema projection has changed a bit since OFU shut down. Most cinemas are using digital projectors now, resulting in brighter, cleaner pictures with less jitter and no sudden popping noises at the end of every reel.

But it turns out that not all of the progress has been good or even very straightforward to manage.

For example: you might know that the spec for HDMI (media interconnect) allows for encryption, which means that the projector can refuse to play media for any reason it likes. For example, somebody I know recently took over a working two-screen local cinema and needed to test the shiny hi-def digital projectors that they were paying ridiculous quantities of money to rent. Not unreasonably, he bought a Blu-Ray player and a disc of something with superheroes in it, then settled down to watch two hours of a huge sign that said, "You are not authorised to view this content."

Anyway, it turns out that Hollywood is even more paranoid than we might have assumed. Apparently, you now need a password in order to make changes to the projector hardware settings.

Just imagine that we'd needed to get explicit permission from a film studio every time we needed to adjust the anamorphic lens or the racking. Makes nipping downstairs to beg AVS for a spare amp seem completely straightforward by comparison.

Deluxe stops printing 16mm film

Interesting article in the Guardian highlighting the fact that the UK's last 16mm processing laboratory has stopped printing to 16mm. (They currently continue to produce 16mm negatives and will, of course, blow up a 16mm negative to a 35mm print.)

There's also an interesting comment by "CaptainFook" beneath the article, on the state of 16mm exhibition, which will resonate with many ex-OFU projectionists:

"No-one in their right mind would strike a 16mm print of a preservation project now, because virtually no cinemas in the country apart from the NFT and one or two regional arts centre type places have working 16mm projectors. Xenon-lit 16mm projectors of the sort needed to screen these prints on a decent-sized screen have not been made on any significant scale since the mid-1990s, and the number of serviceable ones in circulation has very nearly dwindled to nothing. Only one manufacturer (Kinoton) makes them at all, and then only to special order and at vast cost. Even if there is an argument for continuing to make release prints on film of productions originated and/or preserved on 16mm, a 35mm blow-up print is now the only viable option if you want to show it anywhere other than some hippie bar using a table-top Hell & Bowell."

...

"The word in Hollywood is that three of the major studios are about to make a co-ordinated announcement that they are to cease all distribution on film in spring 2013."

Where to see independent films in Guildford

This is a belated update to my previous post about the proposed Guildford Picture Palace.

Guildford Borough Council turned down entrepreneur Mark Gudgin's proposal to use the disused bookshop, constitutional hall and West's Picture Palace building on the High Street as an independent cinema. There's a good essay on the subject called Homogenous Townscapes which argues the case for an arts cinema convincingly but futilely.

Mark Gudgin's film nights at other venues in Guildford have been enthusiastically supported - to a point. While it may be comparatively easy to get a couple of hundred people turning out once a month, there's still not much evidence that nightly screenings could ever hope to be profitable. (Full disclosure: In around 2002, Andy Ga. and I wrote an extensive business case for an arts cinema in Guildford. We couldn't make our model profitable, despite then-innovative cost-saving ideas.)

In the meantime, the Electric Theatre's film society has renamed itself to Guildford Film Society and apparently offers "pre-screening talk by staff from the University of Surrey Film Studies Faculty or another expert".

This leads straight to the obvious question: since when was there a University of Surrey Film Studies Faculty? Amongst other course features, it is mentioned that the Surrey TV studio - which I had long assumed to be an expensive white elephant - is used for multi-camera coursework.

Meanwhile, one of the university's aforementioned film societies now appears to be defunct; Front Row hasn't been updated since 2008. The Shadowrooms is still going strong, with a showing approximately monthly during term time.

Guildford's new theatre, on the Civic Hall site (which closed in 2004), is not expected to be used for film showings when it opens in Autumn 2011.

Mike Bailey of AVS has died

I'm obviously a bit slow with this particular bit of news from the Surrey alumni news obituaries section:

"Mr Mike Bailey (Retired Manager of Audio-Visual Services), April 29, 2009. Mike is remembered for his good natured and willing attitude and as an active member of the Wates House Committee in the early 90s."

A generation of OFU staff and committee members will remember Mike as the examiner for the Projectionists' Licence, the little yellow laminated cards that were issued up until 2001 and which authorised use of OFU's Fumeo and AVS's slide projectors and portable 16mm projectors. At the time I suspect we hassled Mike into doing the tests as though it were somehow our right to be let loose on university-owned equipment; in retrospect he must surely have been giving up his own time, willingly and regularly, in order to support us.

An arts cinema for Guildford?

There's quite a bit of momentum - online, at least - behind plans for a new arts cinema in Guildford, within the shell of Guildford's first cinema, West's Picture House, latterly a bookshop and furniture store. The Facebook group has over 600 members, which isn't at all bad.

However, there doesn't appear to be much, if any, support from the local authority, according to the local rag.

You wait years for a filmsoc, and then two come along at once

Despite The Shadowrooms apparently having state-of-the-art digital projection, 3D films and a nice comfortable theatre (these kids today, they don't know they're born) - USSU is apparently running a second film society called Front Row.

As is now de rigueur, there's next to no information on USSU's website but it's all organised via Facebook instead. The Shadowrooms does the exact same thing.

Of course, as any ex-OFU committee member will tell you, having two competing groups is a recipe for society vs. union fights and meaningless quibbles over the differences between a "society" and an "amenity". Or was that just us?

Tsk. Back when I were a lad it were fields as far as the eye could see; you watched films by all crowding around a flick-book. (Well, near enough.)

ofu.org.uk: OFU's home since 1999

The domain name that points to this blog (ofu.org.uk) has been in use by OFU on and off since 1999. It originally pointed to the actual OFU website [now archived here]. Following the demise of SSC it lapsed briefly, until 2005, when we re-acquired it to point to this blog. (2005 also saw an unexpected flurry of other OFU-related activity, including the launch of our anthology DVD.)

Why bring this up now? Several reasons. The OFU "community" has been quietly dwindling away for some time, as the relative silence on this site and our Facebook group attest. I am currently consulting with ex-OFU techies over the value of our domain name, in historical, emotional, practical and financial terms. If you'd like to contribute your thoughts, get in touch.

University of Surrey has new film society

The University and Students' Union have collaborated to do something truly unexpected: after a gap of seven years, they've started showing films in a theatre environment once more.

It's not called OFU, and it's not called Surrey Student Cinema either (don't blame them, really): it's The Shadowrooms. There's not a huge amount of information available, but it appears to be high-definition projection, so no late nights looking for lost splices or any of that other really fun stuff. They also appear to have ruled out popcorn, which is probably a good thing. And their selection of films isn't too shabby, either, although I might be a little critical of Cliffhanger amongst an otherwise thoughtful programme.

Their website doesn't give a time or place for the showing, possibly because of film society regulations, or possibly just by oversight. However, I've seen an internal flyer for the launch event, and it's in a comfortable large theatre on Thursday evenings.

I would love to receive any comments from punters at this week's showing. How busy was it? What was the AV quality like? Was audience feedback generally good?

This news follows on from USSU's recent launch of a new student media hub which might conceivably also see a return to filmmaking at Surrey.

Edit: Good grief, they are even showing films in 3D. Is there no end to this crazy burst of creativity from USSU?

OFU is now on Facebook

Oscar Film Unit now has its very own alumni group on Facebook, courtesy of Andy Ga. It's closed membership at the moment, so send Andy a message or poke him until he lets you join. Includes photos, the odd video (when we get around to uploading them), and of course intellgent witty banter about splicing reels in the wrong order and amputating limbs using the rewind table.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2330364599

Oscar Film Unit Christmas 2007 get-together?

It's been two years since the last OFU Christmas get-together, which was very enjoyable and rather successful (though I do say so myself). Is anybody interested in a follow-up this year? I'm proposing 8th December, probably in London. As before, because people may be travelling from far and wide, I suggest a lunchtime shindig, but people can stay all afternoon / evening if they want.

Any thoughts? Or are we all beyond this kind of thing now?
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