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Communities at Work: Behind the scenes April 25, 2009
Every day, across the world, people are grabbing a bag of popcorn and having a seat to watch the latest flick at their local theater. What few think about is what's going on behind the scenes and how that movie ends up on the screen. That's where Brad Winder steps in at the West Theater. He's been loading movies at the theater for more than 10 years. And, surprisingly, it's not as easy as putting in the DVD and pressing play.
Brad Winder looks for the beginning of the next reel. When movies arrive at the theater, they come packaged with a reel of previews as well. Each of these reels must be kept in order as they are loaded onto the master reel.
After the leader is spliced off the beginning of another reel, Winder uses tape to connect the two reels. He marks the beginning of each smaller reel with shoe polish as it is loaded onto the master reel. When the movie is done showing, the entire process is reversed, and the shoe helps Winder differentiate each reel as he puts them back on the smaller reels.
movies arrive at the theater in small reels, each containing between 15 and 18 minutes of a movie. Winder splices together the reels on a splicing table and then loads them onto a master reel.
Brad Winder plays local advertisements that are aired before a movie is played April 17 at the West Theater.
Winder loads the leader into the projector Friday at the West Theater. After a movie is assembled, it is threaded through a series of pulleys before it reaches the projector.
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Question of the week
Should the Craig Chamber of Commerce revise its State of the County attendance policy to allow people to hear speakers without paying for a ticket?
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