Where did all the projectionists go?

cinema now is dead its had its day as all we now hear about is rboots remakes coming out a far alarming rate now and they are all RUBBISH!

3D = FAIL!
George Lucas STAR WARS has now become a joke in cinema no one really cares to see his once little film star wars. He started big then pissed it all away in 90's and most likely pissed and killed cinema.

I hate GCI computer effects and digital cinema is poor excuse of what has now become the lost art in projection.

CINEMA R.I.P.

Once an industry, now a cash cow. Nothing lasts forever, including VPFs!

managers all over the uk doing what the projectist do just another money saving scheme from the fat cats in odeon,
projectist are what made odeon who they are and now they are throwing projectists out like stale popcorn,

Hello
I'm currently producing a short documentary on the History of Film. The production will focus on the effects that the rise and development in digital-video recording has had on the traditional production methods of filmmaking and distribution. We want to show the monopolisation of digital film in the 21st century and it’s future.
If anyone would like to take part in this documentary to share their thoughts and opinions on the matter, please get in touch with me :

gemmabourne@live.co.uk

We're based in the Sheffield area but can travel very easily. Thank you.

Same as the guy from Odeon. I've been a projectionist for 10 years, I love it, and do consider projection an art form. I'm on the redundancy scrap heap at 35. I have been applying for AV, IT, and all kinds of other jobs for 6 months with only one interview, and that was because I knew a guy :/

This is an awful time for cinema.

iv been in projection 15yrs iv never been sick allways turned up and gave my heart and sole into my job only to be given redundancy

i almost was born a projectionist. back in italy,since the age of 13 i lived and loved my wonderful job, Chief at TIMES of BAKER STREET.GRANADA CLAPHAM JUNCTION, ABC BECKENHAM,CLASSIC TOOTING .And a pensioner now ,i still long for a sniff of celluloid smell.

@GM @Steve - for 3D via a single projector the light levels entering each eye is automatically cut by 50% per frame as the view to each eye is active for half the time as for a standard projection. Add to this any further losses due to method used to cause left/right eye image separation (e.g. polarisation) and the light hitting the eyes is reduced further.

It is hardly a comfort to the viewer watching a dim 3D movie on the screen that the lamp in the projector is still running at the same brightness (or even brighter) as a standard presentation.

To correct this is not just a question of increasing the lamp brightness. The colour balance in the digital prints for 3D assume that the luminance on-screen is at this lower level (about a third of the standard figure). Even if it was affordable to run a lamp three times brighter for 3D you would need a special digital "print" of the film so that the colours looked as intended. Choice of screen can help efficiency but this has high associated cost.

I think this light issue is huge for 3D cinema to work. If a punter can download a film on demand in 3D that looks great on their home TV why would they sit in a cinema watching a dim version of the same? Why, they can't even pause it or text their friends while it's on...

For the record, for me the demise of 35mm is like watching an elderly relative pass away. They might have had a good innings and it might all seem inevitable but it's still terribly sad.

i have been a Projectionist Since 1964, as of Mid March, i will be made redundent as the cinema i currently work in then goes fully Digital. 1964 to 2012 RIP, Projectionists. i wish you all the best for the Digital Future.

I have been a projectionist for over a decade and my partner for 20 years - we are both saddened at the deimse of the job we enjoy. I work in a 6 screen complex which houses 4 cinemeccanica 35mm film projectors on 4 screens and 2 screens which are totally digital - so I still get to handle film, and I am so glad! But I know it won't be too long before we are both out of a job. sigh. We met in a bio box and fell in love there, so it's been a very personal journey for us both. Regarding digital projection, sure the image is crisp and there are no scratches, but it's just pixels - there's no "humanity" to it. There's something real and tangible about a physical piece of film running through a projector gate at speed with a nice bright lamp behind it that's REAL - digital projection, looks like just that - digital, kind of soul-less. When I am no longer a projectionist and have to actually PAY to see a movie, I will very begrudgingly hand over the price of the ticket knowing there is no-one in the box responsible for the presentation - you can be sure ticket prices won't come down when there is no longer a projectionist to pay!

When I started to work in the projection box back in 1964 we had two projectors because we had to change reels every twenty minutes or so. As one shutter closed the other opened, so changing over looked like a scene change. We also had to feed carbon arcs to keep a consistent light on the screen. The arcs were auto fed but still needed to be watched.We made up shows, controlled the auditorium lighting and and were regarded as showmen/women. It was fun back then. You felt as though you were contributing to the cinematic experience. Then xenons arrived - no more looking after the light. long runners arrived - no more changeovers, taking the fun out of operating. Later, poyester film stock arrived that doesn't break - no more crys of 'Put a shilling in the meter', booing or stamping of feet. It came to one projectionist running a dozen screens - showmanship, what showmanship. Even the screen tabs (curtains) disappeared in many cinemas. When I was in the business we had a non synch (record player), even this seems to have disappeared. Cinema is now glorified TV. No atmosphere or showmanship. We may as well watch a DVD. The only attraction is the big screen - if that is an attraction these days. The auditoriums of todays cinemas have little appeal. There are no grand interiors like cinemas of old, with their fine plasterwork - they are just plain and drab. Now we have digital that is as appealing as watching paint dry. Not a frame of film in sight to look at. Apparently projectionista are being made redundant and people with little technical experience are dealing with the equipment, for example managers. Once set the equipent can be left for as long as you set it without human intervention.But what about focus checks etc. I hear that some companies don't mind if they lose shows because of the abscense of people. Of course savings will be made and people will rub their hand with glee. But sadly cinema will never be the same again. Now where did I put that DVD.

iv always been a projectionist and always will . i cant image life not been one. even if it is with digital . i has been employed in the cinema and AV industry for all of his working life. iv held the position of Chief Projectionist for both the Odeon and UGC circuit, as well as projecting rushes at Pinewood and Shepperton Studios. to date i am working for myself @ http://www.proscreens.net . i will be ready when the cinema manager need to run 35mm or can not program the digital screens . not even sure it is legal not to have a projectionist to turn off the screens and the fans . A cinema projectionist has always been on hand to answer and help with problems within a cinema . even just to change a fuse for get the light working in a exit . i love my life as a projectionist thanks Neville Founder of proscreens and projectionist

http://vimeo.com/31585391

Thank you for a heart wrenching farewell to us Projectionists! There is a whole other feel when you view a 35mm movie that digital will never obtain. It is a skill that can be learned by many but mastered by only the few! I was lucky to learn on 4 projectors and became the head projectionist for nearly 8 years, before being laid off. I believe one day, the industry will look up and miss the 35mm. Bastrop, Texas

Having worked in the industry and being married to a projectionist for many years I have seen cinemas turn into exactly what the public used to always think of them. Real projectionists love their jobs they love what they do and understand it far better than any kid out of school who just wants to earn a few quid more an hour ever will. The quality of the presentations have already started to suffer and it disgusts me to work for a company pulling record profits who insists on cutting costs by cutting quality and staff. Cut the quality of the food (and lets face it cinema food doesnt have too far to fall!) cut the numbers of staff so quality of service is affected, cut benefits for the remaining staff so moral goes down, increase workload so that every moment at work has to be focused on profit and money making not entertainment at all and lastly cut the quality of the film your showing and increase the prices. By the way they want the guys their kicking out to train the new guys, well good luck with that! Then when it all goes wrong they will try to rehire the old projectionists at less money and benefits and more responsibilities! When you sit down to watch your film and the focus is off or the sound is wrong or its off centre etc. isnt it assuring to know that its a 19 yr old geography student who works 12 hours a week for beer money running your film and not someone with passion and pride in their job and years of experience.

Concerning the topic and discussion at hand, I would like to direct your attention to a small but ambitious project that will tell the stories of projectionists at this crossroads moment in history and to invite projectionists from around the world to share their views, memories, hopes and concerns about the past, present and future of working in the booth.

Planetary Projection (http://www.caboosebooks.net/planetary-projection) is a collaborative on-line project that collects profiles of some of the world’s remarkable projectionists. As the profiles grow in number their varied narratives will weave a grassroots history of film exhibition, collectively building a time capsule to preserve the memory of this important element of cinema.

Planetary Projection is a project of the independent film publisher caboose. Please follow the link above for more information about the project and to read an article on the early days of film projection by caboose proprietor Timothy Barnard. I hope that you would also consider contributing to the project with your story and help spread the word so that together we can tell the story of film projection. You can contact us via the caboose web site.

Marina Uzunova

To Ted Walkington - You are proud of the conversion to digital becuase you are a bunch of dumbasses! I saw Footloose yesterday, shot on 35mm and projected digitally. I can see the f***ing pixels moron! There is no way that this is better or clearer than film, and it's interesting to see morons like yourself trying to convince me otherwise. I'm glad I've never been to Norway and will never go there.

Sadly, Technicolor released a technology that allows full 3D that is indistinguishable from Digitally projected 3D through a specialised lens on split film for left and right eye...only they released it too late to save Projection as a job/skill/art form and the Digital wave swept it into obscurity.

I've worked in several cinemas, small independents and one large multiplex on 35mm and I loved it. When digital was proposed, I, like many others in Booth's up and down the country laughed in it's fledgling face. Too expensive, negligible quality difference against a good Projectionist with a newish print I said.

I was wrong. Somehow the distributors won. I say this because I now work with them and they crow epic success at how cheap it is to send a hard disk drive to a site, versus a heavy box of reels...is it wrong that I hate them, the penny pinching weasels? :)

There is no gain for cinema in digital projection, any cost savings made in losing staff are massively out weighed by the ridiculous lengths sites/chains go to in order to procure the new machines. each machine comes at an epic cost that most cinemas cannot afford, so they rent them on schemes that massively favour the loaner, by carving a high % of box office revenue.

But, I speak as an embittered veteran in a war that I lost and even I can see the logic in having a film that never degrades and - when digital is used in shooting movies - doesn't need cleaning, doesn't require complicated baths to produce. Sadly this issue goes beyond the cinemas, film labs across the world are facing massive changes as the industry adapts to the new technology and huge redundancies have been made in man power. But hey, at least the next Spy Kids will be available in ultra high definition 4k 3D - doesn't that make you feel better?

So i'll finish my rant and say a heart broken farewell to my fond projection boxes, farewell to my Vic's and Westars, may the recycling bins find a use for your corpses - perhaps you'll be reincarnated into a shiny new Digital Projector...that or a slightly more useful filing cabinet.

I used to work at a two-screen theater. They recently converted to digital. They only show digital now, with no 35mm capabilities. Funny thing is, the ONLY reason they still even have projectionists is because the owner hasn't figured out how to run his ad show on the digital projectors, so he has a DVD player and a little video projector that runs that. The projectionist runs up and uses a remote to turn off the ad show.

The film itself? They have an iPhone app that will start the films. You get the code, then download the app. What's even more is not only do you not HAVE to be there to start the film, but when setting up the projectors, they punch in a bunch of settings and the projector "auto-corrects" itself.

Sounds nice, except that every piece of technology fails or has hiccups. Not only will no one be there to catch it if the focus doesn't auto-correct, but odds are, if it malfunctions no one will know how to override and adjust it.

But it looks like they have every intention of getting rid of projectionists. With these auto-correct features, and you can even program them to start automatically, there is going to be virtually no need for a projectionist. It's tough to imagine going to a movie theater where there is no projectionist in any capacity, only concenssionaires, but it really does just seem like a matter of time. Now, if theaters could only figure out a way to make the concession stand just be automation...

Saw 14 films at my local this month (from 3rd April to 3rd May)

5 - or over 1/3 - out of focus. I sit at the front and am quite capable of judging if a film has blur. Bought it to the attention of the staff 3 times during the first film and once during the second but nothing was done. I conclude that the fella in the projection box has NO IDEA how to remedy the problem. When I worked in a cinema 20+ years back we were assigned to a screen for which we were responsible for, so when the projectionist failed to focus it was corrected within 30 sec.

Great digital is a JOY! (Mary & Max) but there is a "anyone can do it" attitude to film presentation creeping in I sense.

As a projectionist not working in the industry at present it is a waring thought. one technical correction.you can show 3D on 35mm projectors. i know a few cinemas that are doing this.3d films were 1st shown back in the 40s.

Interesting article. Digiatal cinema is the future. For us who work in the distribution of film distribution of a hard disk weighing a around a kilo is so much more cost effective than a 9 reel 35mm film weighing up to 40 kilos. Also the end product - film - is of a much better quality so that your film experience is greatly enhanced. We in Norway are proud of the fact that we will be the first country in the world to have a complete digitalisation of all cinemas by the summer this year.
So bring the digital future on.
Ted Walkington, Financial Director, United International Pictures AS - distributor in Norway for Universal, Paramount and Dreamworks

I am a retired motion picture projectionist with 37 plus years in the projection booth. In my long and colorful career I have run everything from sleazy 16mm/35mm porn houses to modern state of the art multi screen cinemas using both film, digital and Imax. Myself and a large number of my peers were the last working projectionists in NYC. We have lived and breathed the greed and avarice that fuels the motion picture industry.

First of all do's anyone here realize that when show quality suffers from lack of a seasoned, well qualified projectionist, it is actually a financial gain for the exhibitor? Let me describe a scenario that takes place every day in a theatre somewhere. You go in and pay your $12.00 admission ($14.00 if you are dumb enough to wanna watch 3D), then go and spend enough money at the concession stand to fill an automobile gas tank. Then you go and sit down. 20 minutes into the movie, the xenon bulb fails and the screen go's dark. or the sound starts dropping out. The odds of having a person qualified to deal with these problems on the premises is practically nil. All the big chains pushed the projection responsibilites onto the managers but neglected to teach them proper care and maintenance. Now we have a situation where there is no picture or sound and nobody to fix it and what do's theatre management do? They clear the house, and unless they have that feature playing on another screen thats still convenient for you chances are they will issue a pass for another show. Now here's the rub! THEY DONT CARE HOW MANY TIMES YOU ARE INCONVENIENCED! The exhibitors only make 10 cents on every box office dollar for first run films here. Why do you think it costs the same for a cup of soda thats filled halfway with ice as it do's for a gallon of gasoline. BECAUSE THE CONCESSION AND VIDEO GAMES ARE WHERE THE MONEY IS! The films are LOSS LEADERS at this point which is why you pay 500 % and more markup at the concession stand and a dollar a pop for a 30 second video game.

But dont give all the blame to the exhibitors, The real culprits are the trolls in hollywood, Their decision to make movies available in home as soon as possible is their way of trying to counter the piracy problem. It is a well known fact that you can buy a pirated version of any movie, the day it is released to the theatres anywhere on the streets of NYC. Film security in relation to piracy is a joke, another great hollywood special effect with no real teeth, something like a cinematic paraquat scare, just more bull---- fed to the fools in mid america who believe everything they read in supermarket tabloids.

now as far as crying in their cups over lost revenue the exhibitors are not telling you that the movie companies themselves financed the digital conversion themselves for the major chains so they would have places to show the new format.

48 fps? Why do we want tv? I know I know "showscan" blah blah blah but cinema's ultimate goal is not or never was this kind of "hypereality". It's arguable that it is film's LOW frame rate that has made it so palatable for so long. Why do you think so many indie film makers are eschewing 60fps or 50fps (tv frame rates) for the "holy grail" of 24fps?

Showscan and 3d ARE gimmicks and they work really well for ride films or non cinema visual presentations. But it's not going to add very much to the art of film.

My 15 year old son is a projectionist at the only theatre in our town. It makes me proud. Him too. It's not just a job; he's providing a valuable service, a specialized one.

Nothing will ever replace film.

@GM: The only thing that counts is the image the eye sees and 3D is almost always dimmer. It doesn't have to be that way but the expense of providing the same brightness level as 2D movies is more than theatre owners wish to spend. The best digital 3D comes from using twin projectors but only a few theatres other than the so-called "Fake" IMAX theatres.

As for resolution, yes you are correct: The fact that most films go through a digital stage at a very poor 2K does mean that film prints do not look very good anymore. What's more, when converted back to film, the image still has to go through several stages of duplication which degrade the image further. This happens with a purely film workflow as well but because the original negative has so much resolution it's still possible to end up with great looking prints. Not so when the is resolution knocked way down at the outset when scanned into the digital world.

In fact, it's possible for the same film to play in adjoining halls, one on film and one via digital and have the digital look better for this vary reason. That creates the erroneous impression that digital projection is sharper when in fact it's because the film print isn't anywhere near what it should be and what it would be with an entirely film-based workflow.

Unfortunately digital intermediates aren't going away but there is hope as they transition to 4K (4 times the resolution of 2K because the pixel count doubles in both the horizontal and vertical planes) and also as the cost of the "film out" (transfer back to film) comes down it's possible to spit out multiple negatives and use them directly to make the prints instead of just one and having to go through several more duplications to make the multiple printing negatives. Of course with the coming universality of digital projection this becomes moot.

You hit the nail on the head, Charles, in more ways than one. Except for one thing. 3D is a regression. It makes watching the film a real chore, and it is a testament to how much I related to TRON: Legacy that I am eagerly exploring options to buy (or "buy") it on Blu-ray Disc WITHOUT the DVD or 3D in spite of the 3D exhibition. It is a polar opposite to staring into a lightbulb for two hours, but it accomplishes pretty much the same effect. It hurts after a while.

What I would not have given for TRON: Legacy to be in MaxiVision 48. Imagine those disc-throwing and lightcycle sequences rendered with twice as many frames each second as we normally get in film. What on Earth is wrong with the film industry that they have not caught onto this? I ditched DVD (which really IS obsolete) for BD because the latter offered me a much better film viewing experience than I was used to. Surely this would make MaxiVision 48 the next logical step?

One thing one of MaxiVision's staff wrote to Ebert in response to his praise is that the future of the film industry is in the wrong hands. With the way the industry is trying to force-feed us 3D, I can only agree. There is a reason why many storytellers see Avatar as being James Cameron at his most childish, and the previous highest-grossing 3D film of all time was Friday The 13th Part 3. Not kidding.

Wanted to clear up a few misconceptions:

3D digital is not shown at lower light levels. The glasses are what darken the picture (and sometimes the filter on certain projectors) the light output is the same.

VoD is a 60 day window not same day as release. Still bad for the industry and film lovers.

Although digital is "dumbed down" to lower resolution levels as compared to film, it is irrelevant because the resolution is almost always reduced during the editing process to 2k because film is usually transitioned to digital for editing and then back to film to save on costs.

The thing I think I'll miss most with the digital revolution is film itself. Being able to hold up the film to light and see an image.

You didn't "think" of projectionist Peter Sellers in The Smallest Show on Earth.

It was 12 years ago when Roger Ebert announced a new revolutionary invention called "MaxiVision 48" which would be film projected at 48 frames a second instead of the standard 24. You don't know what I would now give for that to come into theaters instead of what we have now. I'm not against adapting to change, but if I'm going to pay those high admission prices and seemingly higher popcorn prices, I sure as heck would like to have something I CAN'T have at home. Because of the latest technology, I can have digital at home, I can have 3D at home, but I still can't have film at home. Why not give me something I CAN'T have? I don't think that's asking too much (and FYI, MaxiVision 48 is even cheaper and more reliable than digital)

You're very forgiving, Time Out. I find it endlessly frustrating that films in multiplexes not only lack projectionists but also apparently anyone in the building with the ability to do anything about a technical problem. They just refund you these days. Is it too much to expect a film to be shown in the right aspect ratio or for bits not to be blanked out on the top / bottom / left / right?

This is getting to be a problem in the US as well. I saw Source Code this past weekend at my local theatre in NYC and not only was the 2D image projected digitally at the lower luminance settings reserved for 3D but it was shown at the wrong aspect ratio; the picture was cropped from 1.85:1 to 2.35:1. The tops of heads were noticeably cut off in certain shots and the opening credits were almost all below the bottom of the screen. This is the best theatre in my area and I've NEVER seen this happen before. So either no one was up there or someone was but they didn't care. Either way, this is bad.

Even before the changeover from film to digital is complete, now the US studios are announcing Video on Demand starting this month. Now people can see the same video as in the theater on opening night. No fighting traffic and high priced popcorn. Opening night will be in your home theater. Theater owners who were told to switch to digital or die are furious! They've spent nearly 100-grand to downgrade each auditorium to digital (Yes, I said downgrade) and now they are about to be put out of business. I told ya' this would happen but nobody would beleive me. What tune are you whistling now?
John Gilbert
President C.A.D. Citizens Against Digital

Sad but beautiful article. Thanks.

I work at REG as a projectionist in the States and unfortunately, though many theaters like mine are still completely film, that is rapidly changing. By the end of the year half of our projectors are slated to be taken out for digital, the first of which is happening by May 1st. While I enjoy 35mm for everything from the minute adustments I can make to give viewers a great experience and the almost analog feel of the sprockets and all of the moving parts, I think the digital transition is not all bad though. At my theater we have 12 projectors and one projectionist at any one time. If anything goes wrong in one auditorium we have to hope nothing goes wrong in any other aud. for that set or we may end up having to start later showtimes late.

The biggest concern for me is that there will be nobody actually physically starting movies through the port glass, thus its less personal and if something is wrong with the focus or framing (which still gets thrown off with digital sometimes) nobody is there to adjust it until someone comes out to complain.

As far as I am concerned the best solution is to have a decent mix of both in most theaters. Action movies, horror movies, and the like don't really need the warmth and vividness of film, where the lower maintainence of digital would help out projectionists in a bind.

Don't get me wrong, I love my job and I do think, like a good mechanic, there is some art to what projectionists do, but unfortunately the times they are a' changin' and the most we can do is hope that not all film projectors are scrapped in favor of their dumbed down digital counterparts. Hell, if it weren't so prohibitively expensive I would put a film projector in my house.

The biggest chains are just trying to save a buck or two because they forgot what got them their success in the first place. Essentially with digital projectors people pay a ridiculous sum (and then some more on the food) to sit in a big dark room with people they don't know and watch a movie once in the same quality as they could at home. In fact, they could replicate it by lighting a $20 on fire and then popping a dvd in after inviting some people in off the street and letting one of them abscond with the dvd afterwards. Hopefully before its too late they realize that the experience (complete with the scruffy projectionist) is the only thing they can really market.

Not only is a license to show a digital movie no cheaper, at least not in the US, one major studio actually charges more for the digital "print" than it does for the 35mm. We recently opened a one-screen, independent non-profit theatre, and I figured we would have a chance to show movies we otherwise wouldn't see in our small town. I was totally wrong: it's still prohibitively expensive to show something one time, even if it's digital.

I worked as a projectionist for just over 5 years. It was the best job I've ever had. Working with the film and the projectors was like being a part of the movie. I loved framing the film on the screen, adjusting the focus, and checking to make sure the sound was perfect. I'm sad to see 35mm film becoming more and more rare around here. Most of the theaters near me have all digital projectors now.

Best portrayal of a projectionist: Wim Wenders' KIngs of the Road (Im Lauf der Zeit)

To assume that digitalisation will make the programme more varied is rather naive in my opinion. The fee for a DCI for a one-off screening is actually a lot higher, than for a 35mm (at least where I come from, which is admittedly not the UK). Also as for now the distribution companies have not built up a back catalogue of titles, the DCIs simply get destroyed after the first run - if you want to screen the film a few months after release: tough luck, get a DVD instead.
As for the technology: digital projection is just as error-prone as 35mm - but unlike with the latter there is no way to fix a bug right away - currently quite a number of screenings are cancelled du to some problem with the DCI, the digital key or the server.

This doesn't seem to be the case in the US, thankfully. Almost every time I see a movie in the theater, its film. The times it hasn't been I've noticed instantly. It doesn't look the same. The image is flat, the blacks are muddy, and the picture is still. Absent of life. I don't think 35mm will die anytime soon.

My dad was a projectionist, and I helped out in the booth when he was short handed. Carbon arcs in those days, and manual changeovers. What I miss most in the multiplex experience is the lack of attention to detail. Out of focus? There's nobody there to check, or to fix it. Want some showmanship in the presentation? Maybeuse the tabs to reveal the picture instead of just leaving the blank whitescreen on display all the time? Forget it, the "projectionist" is busy at another location? Got a problem with the light? Nobody knows how to fix it. Dirt in the gate? Wait for thenext performance before it can be cleaned - if it is going to be cleaned at all. Would you like to see the film in thecorrect aspect ratio? - pity, we have one size only. We trim the top and bottom from old flat formats, and trim both sides from others. If you want to see therest of the frame, sometimes we show it on the black masking around the screen.

Great article. Glad to see the projectionists plight has finally been brought out of the shadows of the booth. Myself and the remainder of the projection team I worked in all jumped ship over to the dark side and joined the digital revolution, working for a major digital cinema distribution company.

So depressing. Digital can look pretty great, I'll admit, but nothing will compare to seeing a FILM projected on what it was made on and meant to be seen on. I'm a projectionist as well, and it's sad and frightening to hear the job I love might not be there for me in the next few years.

I'm a projectionist and sad as it is... We are dying! - the mainstream cinema chains are retiring and letting go of older staff - with experience and this in turn is killing the knowledge and technique that they can bring and pass forward to future generations, everyone I know who has been in it for a long time has now been asked to leave and most multiplex's have fired everyone and changed the title of the job to cut down on hours and holiday. The fact that the public have not noticed the change in image and skill on screen is the saddest part - if there had been an uproar then maybe the powers that be might reconsider destroying one of the oldest professions left. but still as every English person says "what can you do!"