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| Will occur tomorrow...11/16/99, 10AM eastern, at the Regal Imax in Atlanta, GA. When you are pushing 30 years in the projection biz, you make major decisions inside the 4 walls of a movie theatre. My Best Man is an IMAX technician...but we won't tell who. :) My Bride is the assistant manager of the IMAX theatre...Wish us luck! I'll post pictures on my home page, I promise! Hmm...I sure am nervous....you could email helpful encouragement to her at still4upc@prodigy.net, and me at imaxguy@prodigy.net. Golly gee whiz......any advice from experienced 1570 projectionists? |
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Thanks to all of you who wrote with your good wishes! We both appreciate the honesty and humor with which many of you replied!
http://pages.prodigy.net/movepix for a look at a couple of wedding pix... |
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 Anonymous posted on Tuesday, November 23, 1999 - 08:31 am
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| I do hope that the 15KW lamp shown has been de-gassed... |
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| Of course! |
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Here's an IMAX/matrimony anecdote:
On December 29th, 2000, we had a fellow come in to the theater and coerce our projectionist into letting him propose marriage in the theater, and even brought a script for our staff to follow.
The prospective bride-groom had the prospective bride-to-be's friends and family show up and hide at the back of the theater, then had the projectionist ask her (over the PA) to step down to the stage area and wait. The lights go out and the spotlight goes up on the groom asking her to marry him. The usher cuts in at this point (according to script)and threatens the audience with no movie if she declines the marriage offer.
She said yes, and everybody was happy.
I think this is a first for our theater. I wonder what the building-rental folks would've charged them for it. :) |
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| Jim DiDio posted on Tuesday, January 02, 2001 - 09:45 am
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| I had a guy who wanted to "splice a marriage proposal" into the film. I told him I really couldn't do that in the ten minutes in between shows. |
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| We have had two marriage proposals in Boston. The most recent a week or so ago. Maybe we should start thinking about charging a fee. Speaking of fees, do you get a lot of requests for tours from the public? The most recent is for a birthday party of 10 "well-behaved" 12 year olds. Would you do it and would you charge? |
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Glad to see our wedding has sparked some other interesting stories. We had a great first anniversary, and she is one of the IMAX theatre managers. Makes it easy on me...this way she's the boss at work and at home! :)
Cherie: If you are talking about tours of just the projection facility, we've always done them for free. It's an easy way to show off the technology, and in our case, has resulted in "second bookings". Several times it was the "clincher" that got someone to book with us. One was a group of 120 Girl Scouts...and we did a tour for all of them too! Coupla ushers, some poles and ropes from the lobby...no problem. The booth has an entrance at both ends, so traffic flow is much easier. |
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| Here at Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, we have a curtain that slides back between shows so that visitors can see inside the booth and watch the projectionist at work. If a group requests a tour, usually myself or a knowledgeable host will accompany the group up to the booth and will give an explanation of the projector and how it works, what it cost, what the projectionist is doing, ect. Then, if the projectionist has time, he will usually come out and answer any questions that I was unable to answer, or will give a different perspective on the job. Usually this will satisfy most groups, and the kids usually enjoy it. Rarely do we actually take a group inside the booth, that is usually reserved for VIP groups and donors. As far as charging for the “tours,” I believe that they are all free (I could be wrong), so long as you make the request. Out of curiosity, does anyone have someone to answer questions outside the booth on a regular basis, and how often are questions asked if there is no tour guide. What are your most common questions, and what do you generally tell people in a to |
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I give tours to people who ask (there really aren't that many); our booth is hidden way up in the back of theater and most folks don't even look back, let alone ask, to see it. So when someone does ask to see the projector, I'm happy to oblige. We have a line of tape on the floor that is well away from anything that could be touched, and we keep the touristos on their side of it while explaining the projector, sound, etc. We have a good amount of scrap film, which we cut into 3 or 4 frame bits that we hand out....people really like that, especially kids. We tell them it makes a good book mark (and it does...I haven't yet found a better use for used 70mm film), and the parents and/or teachers appreciate that, too.
People get to see the booth on the following conditions:
1) they ask either a projectionist or usher. If the usher is asked, he must call ahead on the intercom to see if the projectionist is available.
2) the projectionist on duty feels like conducting a tour, or has time to do it. Usually we do.
3) before they enter, they must agree not to touch anything or step past the line o' tape.
This is a museum theater, and I figure that since the museum is all about education, we should teach what we can to the interested masses.
I kinda miss the dome booth I used to work in, because all the folks waiting to see the next show could see the equipment without having to come inside. Also, if you work in the 'fishbowl', you can have fun with the audience...we used to put on the full lamp-changing gear and act like the projector was gonna blow up. (The fishbowl becomes less fun, however, if something really does blow up) |
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At the Famous Players Colossus theatre here in Toronto (Vaughn), we have blinds that open up in between shows so patrons can see the projectionists do a changeover, change reels etc. We usually raise the blinds as the credits are still running giving those coming out of the theatre to see the QTRU and projectors in action, which is kinda cool when your running 3D. Four platters in motion.
I'll give tours if there is time between shows and if the parties outside looking in are really interested in what we're doing. Booth tours are usually arranged ahead of time, although there isn't really alot of room to move around in it.
If your a visiting IMAX projectionist or even 35mm projectionist and want to see the booth just go to 'Guest Services' and tell them who you are and ask if you can see the booth, it usually isn't a problem.
We don't charge for our tours. I don't think we have ever had a marriage proposal inside our theatre, although we have had other 'things' happen! ;) |
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| Jim Walker posted on Monday, January 08, 2001 - 09:26 am
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Before I left Birmingham, we hosted a full wedding ceremony in the (dome) theater. Seems the couple wanted to do something "different", so they decided that our auditorium was the best such venue.
No center aisle to walk down, and the bride was afraid of tripping on the relatively narrow side aisle. The couple wanted real-time on-screen video image magnification of the wedding party walking through the entry "tunnel", but didn't want to contend with all the necessary cabling and equipment.
In the end, their video crew show video of the wedding party walking down the side aisles in "street clothes" at the rehearsal. After the guests were seated, we ran the theater preshow (!) and a short video montage of the bride and groom growing up, followed by the video of the wedding party walking in to overdubbed music. Then, when the lights came up, the whole party was in position at the front of the theater, and the preacher performed the ceremony. There was also live music by a singer/guitarist and 3 or 4 video cameras capturing the whole thing.
The bride's main aim in haivng the wedding at the theater and the reception in the science musuem was to drive her mom crazy. She achieved that before the ceremony even started. |
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