Making-up films (Neil Thompson)

Neil Thompson interviewed by Richard Wallace

Projectionist Neil Thompson descibes the process of making-up film prints, including the projectionist's trick of leaving one frame on the leader to help reassembly.

Obviously making up a show you had to make sure that each part was like, you know, in line, say, one, two, three and four, five and six. Because if you mixed them up, you know, which it has been done, I didn’t do it, but I have known where it’s gone to one, two, four and then three, five and six, you know, it has happened, but it didn’t happen at The Queen’s. Again it was down to you to make sure that these parts were made in the right order. ‘Cause what you used to have to do when you actually made a film up, if it was a brand new film the leaders were attached to the parts, what you had to do is when you cut the leaders off to join up each part, so you didn’t see anything in between, you used to leave a frame of film on the end so you had the leader and a frame of film so you knew when you put them back in the tins that that was the right leader, it would match up. Some projectionists used to just cut the blinking thing off and they never left a frame so you didn’t know whether that was the leader that went… “I mean if that's part four, is that part four because there's nothing to match it?” And a lot of projectionists used to just put the part in the tin and wrap anything round. And, of course, the next person to get it didn’t know where he was because he thought, “Hang on, is that part four or is it not?” Because there was nothing to identify that leader with that. And before you knew where you were you put the show on and you’d get a call from somebody saying, “Well hang on, that part there, there's a guy been killed and he’s shown up again in the film so there’s obviously something not right.”

Title

Making-up films (Neil Thompson)

Subject

making-up films

Description

Projectionist Neil Thompson descibes the process of making-up film prints, including the projectionist's trick of leaving one frame on the leader to help reassembly.

Creator

The Projection Project

Source

Interview with Neil Thompson

Publisher

The University of Warwick

Date

29/12/2015

Contributor

Richard Wallace
Neil Thompson

Relation

http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/26353
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/3307
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/25181

Format

.mp3

Language

English

Type

Sound recording
interview extract

Coverage

1974-2014

Interviewer

Richard Wallace

Interviewee

Neil Thompson

Date of Interview

11/11/2014

Location

Gateshead

Transcription

Obviously making up a show you had to make sure that each part was like, you know, in line, say, one, two, three and four, five and six. Because if you mixed them up, you know, which it has been done, I didn’t do it, but I have known where it’s gone to one, two, four and then three, five and six, you know, it has happened, but it didn’t happen at The Queen’s. Again it was down to you to make sure that these parts were made in the right order. ‘Cause what you used to have to do when you actually made a film up, if it was a brand new film the leaders were attached to the parts, what you had to do is when you cut the leaders off to join up each part, so you didn’t see anything in between, you used to leave a frame of film on the end so you had the leader and a frame of film so you knew when you put them back in the tins that that was the right leader, it would match up. Some projectionists used to just cut the blinking thing off and they never left a frame so you didn’t know whether that was the leader that went… “I mean if that's part four, is that part four because there's nothing to match it?” And a lot of projectionists used to just put the part in the tin and wrap anything round. And, of course, the next person to get it didn’t know where he was because he thought, “Hang on, is that part four or is it not?” Because there was nothing to identify that leader with that. And before you knew where you were you put the show on and you’d get a call from somebody saying, “Well hang on, that part there, there's a guy been killed and he’s shown up again in the film so there’s obviously something not right.”

Original Format

One-to-one interview

Duration

00:01:33

Bit Rate/Frequency

320kbps

Cinema

Queens Theatre, Northumberland Place, Newcastle upon Tyne
Odeon Newcastle upon Tyne, Pilgrim Street, Newcastle upon Tyne
Empire Cinema, The Gate, Newgate Street, Newcastle upon Tyne

Citation

The Projection Project, “Making-up films (Neil Thompson),” Cinema Projectionist, accessed March 29, 2024, https://cinemaprojectionist.co.uk/items/show/436.

Output Formats