This article first appeared in the December 2012 edition of the Projected Picture Trust‘s Rewind Magazine
I am sure that many of you are aware that when it comes to making TV Drama or Films that it is a) often not a true reflection of reality and b) takes a long time to achieve it.
As anyone who may have read my editorial in the previous edition of Rewind will know, the Projected Picture Trust were asked to supply a 35mm projector as part of an episode of Midsommer Murders. For those that may not know, this is a police detective series on ITV which has been running for a number of years, set in the present day.
The PPT were approached about supplying a 35mm projector via member, Neville Demon at ProScreens who was already involved with supplying some digital equipment for the shoot. The setting as we were pitched it was that it was a modern day community film screening in a village hall, and we were to supply the equipment which we would use for such a requirement. Well this is where the ‘true reflection’ of reality bit comes into play slightly, as the chances are that most ‘present day’ film screenings in a village hall are likely to be a BluRay Player and an HD projector! But the production designer insisted on a 35mm projector.
So the hard working Wednesday guys at Bletchley dug out the Weing portable 35mm projectors to see if they would work – afterall, they 
were modern looking and highly portable (as far as a 35mm projector goes!). However, it was discovered that neither of the two machines had a working xenon lamp. As an alternative the …… portable 35mm projector was checked and found to be working – the issue with this machine was that it dated from the 1930’s and looked it!
As part of the request, the production company wanted a projectionist to go with the projector to work on set as well. Conveniently for me the film shoot was taking place on May Bank Holiday Monday, which meant that I was able to take part. The previous Sunday I picked up 2 portable 35mm projectors from Bletchley (it is amazing, but it really is possible to pack two 35mm portable projectors, rectifiers, spool boxes and stands into a Renualt Laguna boot/back seat, but it doesn’t half make a difference to the suspension!).
There was also an initial request that I wore a white shirt and tie for the filming, although in the end the wardrobe team were happy for me to wear a black shirt and tie (but a tie while running a 35mm projector?!).
It was a very early start on the Monday – 4.00am, as although I was only travelling to Henley upon Thames which is about an hours drive away from the house, I didn’t want to get lost or stuck in traffic, so had allowed plenty of time to arrive for the 6.30am call – also with that amount of weight in the car, I didn’t really want to drive to madly.
The idea was that the 35mm projector would appear on screen, while a digital projector and DVD player would actually project the required images onto the screen in the hall. Neville was therefore also on set to provide the digital projector and portable screen equipment.
The most important things at 6.30am is a) have a cup of coffee b) meet the relevant members of the production staff c) go to wardrobe to check my costume and d) have breakfast. This all done, we travelled from the location base over to the actual filming location – a small village hall about a mile up the road.
This is again is where the reality and fiction in TV production comes into play – after taking two projectors both working, but with one not having a working lamp (although it would be easy to fake it by the production team but putting in a separate lamp) the decision was to go with the 1930s projector over the more modern 35mm projector!
Neville and I therefore setup our equipment, working around the ‘official’ crew who were busy rigging lights and generators all over the place.
Eventually at about 10.30 the director and the cameras turned up to start filming – this was after they had already shoot a number of 
scenes elsewhere. From then on there was a consistent two rehearsals, followed by two takes and then reset for the next angle or part of the scene. It was very fast and slick.
The one thing to remember is that this is television, and the concept of what a real projectionist actually does, verses the practically of making a programme means that as a projectionist, I will be seen running the projector sitting down and no sort of checking that the film is in focus or anything professional like that!
Other than lunch we didn’t finish until 19.15, by which point we then had to derig all our equipment and leave – the main crew were down and out of the hall quicker than we were! By the time I had packed and returned equipment I didn’t get back to home until nearly 22:00,
I’m not sure when the actual date of transmission is, or even the exact episode it is, but when you see it on the screen, I am sure that a) the whole scene is not going to last longer than 2-3 minutes, and b) the chances of seeing much of our projector or even me is going to be even less!