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Getting the flick: movies

to be seen in a new light

The Sydney Morning Herald - August 4, 2012

By Garry Maddox

''When you're using one, you feel a very hands-on-coaxing-it-through-the-projector thing.'' …
Alan Butterfield is a projectionist in the middle of the digital revolution taking place in cinemas.
Photo: Quentin Jones
ALAN BUTTERFIELD describes the 35mm projectors that have been screening movies in
cinemas for decades as lovely machines.

''When you're using one, you feel a very hands-on-coaxing-it-through-the-projector thing,
especially when it's an old damaged film print,'' says the veteran projectionist. ''It's a bit like a
steam engine really.''

And like the steam engine, the 35mm projector has been overtaken by technology.
In a shift that some industry experts say is bigger than going from silent movies to sound, digital
projectors have become the dominant way of projecting movies this year, replacing celluloid for
the first time in cinema history.

Without moviegoers noticing, cinemas have been ditching their 35mm projectors, with most
destined for museums, private collections or scrap metal yards.