Whatever happened to Kodak trainer Jeff Johnson? Did he get fed up and quit and go become a police officer or something?

A tip from Joe: Don't listen if somebody tells you to wind the film on the platter "emulsion in". This is bad. Always wind "emulsion out" or soundtrack up. At least the guy in this picture seems to have done that, as far as I can tell.

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The guy in the ad is Mark, a skilled film technician who works with me at Kodak. The photo was one of many posed at a local General Cinema Theatre by an outside photographer, working for the ad agency. We did not have a say in the choice of the photo chosen, or of the later digital manipulation of the image done to enhance the ad's visual impact, at the expense of "real" practice. For example:

The photographer insisted on the flashlight prop, to add visual interest. Film handler's gloves are a Kodak recommendation rarely followed by projectionists. I personally prefer to handle film "bare hands", which is fine as long as you have the discipline to handle the film by the edges only, and not get fingerprints onto the image area. But lint-free gloves are recommended if you tend to touch the image area. Can everyone honestly say they never leave fingerprints on the image area?

Keen eyes would see that not only is the platter "misthreaded", the threading shown is impossible to achieve in reality. Note that two strands of film seem to be coming from the inside of the feed roll. Note that the platter column is behind Mark, but the film strand is going off to the left. I'm surprised that no one caught that the frames on the print appear to 6-perf pulldown (no, it's not a Cinerama print), and the film does not have a soundtrack. The ad agency evidently thought that these changes enhanced the appearance of the ad. I suspect that sometimes these "errors" are deliberate, to attract attention to the ad.

Mark was told to "look concerned". He was playing the role of a ScreenCheck inspector, but they used the photo to represent a projectionist who worked hard, but Kodak could "help you to do your job better".

BTW, Mark does NOT have a beard --- it was digitally added later to make the ad more interesting (or change his identity to protect the innocent).

With platters, the effect of winding orientation on focus flutter is much less important. Compared to a core or reel, the hub diameter is much greater, so there is little "core-set". The preferred winding orientation on a platter depends mostly upon the curl of the film, which in turn, depends upon the relative humidity in the projection room. Use the orientation that gives the best winding quality, and the least tendency for "static cling" in your situation.

Those of us with dry skin can! Of course, it really doesn't matter when using FilmGuard. (shameless plug )

"Note that the platter column is behind Mark."

Actually, no. If you look at his head, you will notice the top platter's arm with burned out light. Also, simply look at the brain's orientation to realize the film is headed toward the column.

You need to get the right kind of attention. Oh yeah, notice how the film has a complete tralier pack. Must have cost a ton of $$$ to print up a special film just for this ad. I don't think most people will really dive into it except those of us who already know this stuff.

If you like that, then I have a short (about 2 minutes or so) projection seminar video that you would like to see. Please specify VHS or S-VHS. I believe I still have your mailing address at Kodak.

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