As part of the North American premiere of Leipzig photographer Ricarda Roggan's series KINO at the Goethe Media Space Toronto, we asked two former Goethe-Institut projectionists to talk us through the images of 16mm and 35mm machines in the show from their "user" perspective. The exhibition, part of the Images Festival and the Contact Photography Festival, is on view until 19 September 2020 with a forthcoming commissioned video essay by the artist called "Ricarda Roggan: The Moviegoer". Here is TIFF technical manager James King pondering the sound, feel and elegance of the machines that bring us films:
16mm always fulfilled the oxymoronic role of amateur-professional in the realm of cinema technology. Able to pull its weight in a proper cinema, the gauge was also portable, fit for the home. The Siemens 2000 16mm projector, a machine of the 1960’s, recalls this duality from the smooth, curved metallic outer shell to the industrial grill and control knobs facing the operator side.
As a projectionist, what grounded me in the booth was always the sound;
every acoustic moment that ensured I was setting up and running my machines properly. With projectors like this Siemens in
Ricarda Roggan's Goethe Media Space show "Kino", I would have to pre-trim the start of the reel, quite literally cutting and rounding the edges of the film off, an initiation rite to run through this machine. Then, the latching lock of the gate assembly, two snaps of the upper and lower sprocket clips, followed by a distinct cinching sound as the motor knob is turned, engaging its forward, rhythmic march before the film is caught and escorted through. What follows is what I consider the most natural, audible resonance – a cyclical sound that relies on a timing of 18 or 24 frames per second (selectable, of course, on this model). From there, the image would appear as the lamp struck, it was like hearing it blink.
Projecting 16mm on portable machines such as this Siemens, what always struck me after the film started to roll was the earthy smell of the dust burning off the lamp, drawn in and through the motor as the intermittent movement plugged along. I was always impressed by how simple, yet commanding these machines are; the elegant design of the early models that demanded they be seen, and yet by their nature, these are devices that need to be hidden, or risk pulling the viewer from the film. Despite this potential “risk”, I was always happy to run portable 16mm shows, screenings that could quite literally be setup anywhere because then the machine would at least receive due recognition, just before the lights went out.
James King is TIFF’s Senior Technical Manager. From 2004 to 2007, he was a projectionist and gallery technician at the Goethe-Institut Toronto, projecting films in the Institut’s in-house “Kinowelt Hall” cinema on 16mm and 35mm Bauer projectors – one of which is part of the show Ricarda Roggan: KINO at the Goethe Media Space 2020. During his time at the Goethe-Institut, he was responsible for overseeing the technical coordination of hundreds of film screenings, from "Berlin: Symphony of a Great City" to "Aguirre, The Wrath of God", live events and art installations in the adjacent gallery. His go-to pre-show music for all screenings was typically Kraftwerk.
image courtesy Ricarda Roggan
