Before i began my career as a web monkey i worked at a cinema for nearly 5 years of my life. The cinema was the Village Twin in Double Bay and it closed its doors forever on Wednesday night. It was a casualty of the new Bondi Junction cinema complex, another small suburban cinema swallowed up by the multiplexes.

To commemorate and commiserate over the occasion i rallied a handful of old staff members to attend the last ever screening. It’d been nearly 5 years since i worked there but the place hadn’t changed much. New seats, a new name (it’s now a Greater Union), new staff but still the same old run down but charming place. In the end it was a rather pathetic finale. There was no announcement that it was the last ever screening, the session (Harry Potter at 9.15pm) was filled with only about 30 people and that was it. Decades of entertaining thousands of people over.

It did get me feeling a bit nostalgic, so please indulge me while i record some of the things it made me think of.

My History at the Movies

I started work at the cinema as a fresh faced 15 year old, the job took me through most of high school and the beginning of uni. I began working on the floor and the candybar, made my way up to the box office, later to the projection room and when i left i was doing management shifts. There wasn’t really anything else left for me to do there. I did some rough calculations to work out that i’d probably spent over 2000 hours working in that building. Sheesh.

The Name

The cinema is now called (or was when it closed) Greater Union Double Bay, but when i worked there it was the Village Twin. That’s what it had been called for several decades and what i continue to think of it as. Before the Village Twin it had previous life as the Vogue Theatre. We used to get little old ladies in who still used to call it the Vogue. The same old ladies who’d ask when the interval was and used to think that $6 was shockingly expensive for a movie ticket.

Famous Patrons

We had our share of famous folks come by the cinema. Some of the ones i remember serving included Keanu Reeves, Ewan McGregor, Sam Neill, Paul Keating, Bob Hawke and Jessica Rowe. Sure, Jessica Rowe may not be in the same league as those other folks, but she made quite an impression on me. All she did was order a choctop, but she was so sweet about it. I had a crush on her for weeks.

The Ancient Slide Projector

When i first started, in the mid 90’s, I remember that to display the advertising slides there was a big enclosed contraption that contained two rods that almost touched each other. When you turned it on the point in between the rods burned white hot and created enough light to project the slide image onto the screen. You had to continually adjust the rods to get the brightest light as they burned down over time. You also had to change the glass plate slides in time with the cassette that played the audio. It sounds archaic, and i guess it was compared to the simple slide projector that replaced it.

Changeover

When i began there were two projectors for each screen. Because each projector could only hold a certain amount of film you would load up each one with different reels. When one reel had almost finished playing you’d turn on the lamp of the other projector and look out for the changeover marks. They’re the little circles that flash up for a split second in the top right of the frame at the end of a reel. At the first changeover mark you’d start the other projector going so it was up to speed. The second you saw the next changeover mark you’d hit another button and open the gate which would cut off the other projector and the film would begin projecting from the projector you were at. If you did it right the audience wouldn’t notice a thing. If you did it wrong the audience would be sitting in darkness and you’d be swearing your head off trying to figure out what went wrong.

After the successful changeover you’d grab the reel from the projector that had finished and you’d have to rewind it onto another reel. If there was another reel to go of the film you’d have to lace that up ready for the next changeover.

The Platter System

Nowadays though, nearly all cinemas have platter systems. That’s a set up where you only need one projector. There’s no need for multiple reels as the film is spliced together onto one large reel which lays on its side. The film passes from one level of the platter, through the projector and back onto another level of the platter. This means there’s no need for a changeover or to rewind the reels. In modern multiplexes there are computer systems that automate the whole process, so one projectionist can control a whole room full of projectors. The computer controls the advertising slides, the lights, the curtains and the running of the main feature. All the projectionist need do is lace the projector up.

Here’s a photo i took on Wednesday night of the platter system at Double Bay.

Here’s the part of the projector that you have to thread the film through.

The Changing Role of the Projectionist

When i started working at the cinema i would never have been considered for projection. A projectionist’s job used to be that of a highly skilled technician. But at some point during my years at the cinema that all changed and the projectionists were retrenched with a handful of them being rehired at much less pay. Technology effectively deskilled the role of the projectionist. Nowadays you’ll find teenagers on minimum wage running projection booths.

The Staff

I still remember fondly everyone i worked with at the cinema. When the place was busy and we had full houses it was all hands on deck. We had to bust a gut to make sure everyone was served and happy, queuing safely and going to be in the theatre in reasonable time. When the sessions were in it was dead quiet and time to clean up and make choctops.

A lot of the staff were also high school friends, i guess like most places staff were hired through word of mouth. My sister worked there too. Quite a lot of the staff were also actors, one of them is now a regular cast member of All Saints.

Well there you go, a bit of nostalgia on my part, and a look behind the scenes of running a cinema. Goodbye Village Double Bay, it was swell knowing you.