Pretentious Series: 4 things I learnt from my career as a projectionist
— — — — Downloading print
— — — — Checking Dolby Sound
— — — — Checking Console and AMPS
It’s the boring routine that makes those one-off moments special.
If you were a kid just like how I was, you know what happens when you get scolded. The first time you feel remorseful when a teacher scolds you in front of the whole class. Especially because even some special person whom you like is witnessing that. But after multiple occurrences, you get used to it. You become invincible. Like Shah Rukh in “Raees”, or Nawaaz in “Gangs Of Vasseypur II”.
I still remember that day. I was in a hurry for some reason and replaced the reel in haste. But my daily routine got interrupted by the cacophony which I later figured was a heckle. I ran to the screen and noticed the reel was upside down. I panicked. In my mind, I could see myself getting fired so clearly, almost in 4D. I did receive enough scolding but I was born prepared for the scold. But if something like that happens today, I will calmly go to the projection room, correct it and resume what I am doing. I rarely do mistakes anyways.
The last time my mom visited the city, I took her to one of the multiplexes (not the one I was working at, a better one). The movie was good, but I could not look past the fact that the reel wasn’t straight, just slightly slanted. For the first half, I was so stuck on that thing, I couldn’t enjoy the movie. In the interval, I found the projectionist (for talking to the manager would just make it worse for him), told him to fix it. Also advised him to stock a lamp for this screen noticing its current condition in the projection room.
When I think about it, I think that’s how nature works. The sun always rises from the east and sets in the west, in its daily routine. It’s only during the eclipse, the routine breaks, and hence eclipse is a special event.
A job is like a marriage, you must leave it when it becomes one-sided. “Forever and ever” couple is a myth, by the way.
When you’re in a field like this, your job is never secure. It’s not rocket science, in the end. You need to be prepared for the worst. Your spouse here can fire you anytime, all you have to do is just doing something wrong. Cheating ( pirating digital copies in my case) is the fastest and probably only beneficial way to get a divorce.
My two cents: the day you feel you aren’t needed anymore, start searching for your job. Don’t go to the manager with your life story and make it difficult for him. To tell you the secret, his job isn’t secure either, and most likely he is the one who will have to do these things you have been doing along with his current responsibility.
Learn things in your spare time. Irrespective of whether you’re doing this full-time or part-time, you will get chunks of time when you’re free, e.g. those 10–15 minutes interval you get after the routine image and stabilizer inspection.
Don’t under-estimate the power of general knowledge. Who knows? You may end up winning the next KBC. :)
— — — — Interval
Make good friends. Co-workers don’t always make the best friends.
It’s easier to keep good relations with co-workers but they rarely turn out to be the friends that you can go to when in need. And it isn’t that they wouldn’t want to, but people with those fancy MBA/hospitality degrees will never treat you equal. You need to start accepting this truth.
If you find a cute girl from hospitality who smiles all the time whenever she looks at you and laughs at your jokes is laughing at your accent and your fashion sense. Stay away from her and her likes.
Life isn’t fair.
Nothing that you don’t already know. But, to give you my perspective. I manage more than 10 shows a day, and what I get paid is what a single viewer of one of the show pays to watch a movie, and I’m not even including the amount that (s)he pays for food.
And for 300 rupees a day, I have to play roles of
- Editor ( who edits the lengthy movies into a smaller one without )
- Downloader ( yes digital pirates, downloading digital print is a task of this job)
- Mathematician ( I calculate lamp consumption hours per screen )
- Inventory Manager ( managing bulb and projector spare parts according to my calculation as a mathematician )
- Disaster manager( showing slides when the reel is cut, to handle heckling )
- Presenter ( collaborating with the sales team to present the ads in appropriate order )
- Inspector ( inspecting yoke stand, centring, lamp console, reels, Dolby sound, oil, stabilizer and 100 other things )
- Informer ( informing delays in delivery or shipping issues to the appropriate person )
- Troubleshooter ( figuring out issues and fixing it if something stops working )
- Cleaner ( cleaning projection room, and keeping all types of equipment clean in the absence of actual cleaner )
— — — — The End
Didn’t get the smooth end you were expecting? You can’t always get what you want, for life isn’t fair. :P
Note: It’s a character sketch and it may be wrongly opinionated, and may not be politically correct. It’s not my opinions and must not be taken seriously.
