The White Bus Cinema ( behind the scenes - projection room )

A typical Wednesday night at The White Bus Cinema, Southend-on-Sea, Essex.
Projection room, showing film preparation and screening the evenings programme.
For the technically minded, we're using a Fumeo 16mm projector ( 500w xenon ) running
16mm com-opt ( combined optical soundtrack print ) 1.34: 1 ratio.
16mm sep-mag ( separate picture and magnetic soundtrack print ) 1.34:1 ratio.
... and a Super Simplex 35mm projector ( 1kw xenon ) running
35mm ( Dolby SR stereo optical soundtrack ) 1.85:1 ratio.
Filmed on the 29th January 2020.

[@perhauberg7385]

I've been showing films for fifty years, but never seen a double band projector. Exiting ! Less exiting to watch You run so much film onto the floor... Never seen that either, and thanks for that !

[@dazzfromaus4797]

Good job guys. This is cinema at its best. Well done.

[@jagga10]

Beautiful set up next time l am in Southend-on-sea l will definatley pay a visit

[@Chucklesrailarchive]

Really interesting stuff. Back in the sixties l was the assistant manager of the Southend ABC CINEMA. I used to spend a lot of time in the projection room. When l left l worked in large advertising agency in London in the preview theatre’s and recording studio. Had to learn to lace up the projectors very quickly when the client was there often double head 35mm film. The projectors then were using arc lamps they also had B&W video cameras attached for early video CCTV and recording to video on Sony reel to reel recorders B&W only.

[@Designsbyg]

That was interesting. i've never seen a 16mm setup like that with the separate mag film and reader. how many tracks does that give you? I run a small home cinema as well. Nice setup you have going on there. greetings from ontario canada

[@johnsalim7981]

Greetings to you in Canada ! 16mm 'sep-mag' was a common set up in British TV studios and preview theatres. Our machine is single track mono, but there were two track / stereo with Dolby around too.

[@10meandyou]

Excellent stuff keep it up.

[@user-is4hj8wx8s]

What a Picture quality these films have.... Digital is bullshit 😏

[@shanelipe2552]

Looks GREAT... Working on my own Home Cinema myself.. anxious to see more ... thank you.

[@ubikRoyBatty]

Film forever!

[@williamreid779]

That’s a art form putting on the films on

[@slashmaster2]

The projectors suffer some light loss going through those windows. Wonder how well it would work out to have a black rubber cone go from where window would be to the lens? I've seen something like that at IMAX theaters.

[@johnsalim7981]

There is a little light loss of course, but light-level readings are taken in the auditorium off the screen and adjusted for the recommended 16 foot lamberts luminance.

[@slashmaster2]

@@johnsalim7981 Nice to know there is power to spare. How much brighter can those projectors get?

[@johnsalim7981]

In our situation we could get about one f stop more light.

[@malikedmond8398]

Where you guys from? Love the accent

[@user-is4hj8wx8s]

4:15 what's this magnetic tape use for?

[@bagnome]

It's the soundtrack. I've not seen a setup like this before, but it appears that the projector allows for the soundtrack to be played on a separate magnetic tape. Since it's a part of the projector, it will stay in sync. The sound quality will be a lot better on the tape than what is on the film. Allowing for stereo or even surround sound. Since it appears to be a 16mm one and the optical soundtrack on 16mm film is almost always mono. Other older cinema, including IMAX sometimes used 35mm magnetic tape for movie soundtracks as well.

[@MichaelBeeny]

It is in fact 16mm film coated with magnetic oxide.