AFI SILVER THEATRE AND CULTURAL CENTER
Silver Spring, Maryland

The main screen at the portal touch panel. Here the operator finds all of the normal controls they will need during a typical start or finish of a performance. On the extreme left are the hard buttons for controlling the projector the touch panel is next to (film or digital). In the case of digital, the “start”/”stop” buttons will control the currently selected VTR. The small circle button is the douser open button. It is opposite from the Start button to ensure the projectionist can tell by feel where they are without taking their eyes off the screen. In the touch panel proper (the same controls are available at ALL port locations), on the left, are the lighting presets, next is the Crestron fader level (not active in this picture as the CP200 retains full control via the Cat 204s…note, the Creston knows if it has control or it doesn’t). Moving over, the operator may mix the PA system into the booth monitor feed and adjust its relative balance. Next to that they can turn the PA system on or off. In a latter screen, the operator can preset the PA as to what mics are needed so a single on/off can call that preset up for Q&A after a performance and without having to punch around the touch screen menus during critical timing situations. Below the PA controls are the lip-sync controls. Thus, during a digital performance, the operator, while looking at the screen, may set lip sync as needed since the latency tends to vary depending on how the video was processed. Lastly, the grand drape control.

December 2009 photo from the Steve Guttag collection.