Something is Missing

There is one thing that doesn't happen at a movie theater anymore and it makes me sad. It's something that most parents do with newborn babies, it's what we do with marriage proposals and it's a large part of the theater to me.

The unveil.
Peek-a-boo, the ring box opening, and the curtains being drawn open at the theater. How I remember it is much more exciting. There was build up. They didn't show you the screen until the movie was playing, and until then, you stared into that thick velvety curtain waiting for it to unveil the magic behind it. The lights would start to dim and the mysteriously controlled curtains would pull from the top, swinging the heavy bottoms with it. The projection would then show you what you paid for.

Awe.

Well, I've taken a little of the "awe" into my own hands by showing people something they don't see anymore. Film. Real, physical film movies. I bought a 16mm projector, a screen and learned as much as possible regarding handling and fixing film and its projector.

I set up as my friends show up. I feed the leader into the projector carefully, which pulls the rest of the film through a variety of spring loaded pulleys and sprockets.

---The Moment ---
The films perferations grab the first sprocket and bends the film like a snake back up, and then down and into the shutters view. The moment when the film hits the rapid scissor like action of the shutter, everyone grins. It's that nostalgic sounds everyone knows, but are now hearing in person for the first time in years.... or possibly ever.

That's what I like. Child-like excitement and the uncontrollable smiles and exclamations from adults of all ages surrounding a machine that is over 40 years old. We gather around a fire, talk and converse until that moment hits, and then get reeled in (pun intended) to the fanfare of classic movie goodness.