Cinerama Projection Booth Uptown Theater Washington DC

Taped around 1996 during the revival of Return of the Jedi, this is in the projection booth of the Uptown Theater in Washington DC, a former Todd-AO and Cinerama house with a giant curved screen. The projectionist was Steve Guttag, who in 2003 described, online, the theater and his tenure there:

Well it has now been over a year since I worked the Uptown…I was one of the projectionists at the Uptown from 1988 until 2005. After college, I only worked Saturdays though. I can honestly say, we had the best show in town. What some projectionists think as a clean/sharp print woudn’t cut it at the Uptown. The screen is so big and curved, any damage just shows up more and scratches take on a curved appearance.

Focus was another issue. 35mm is too small a gauge for the Uptown’s screen. The relatively poorly made prints of today really don’t have a great focus to begin with..combine that with the small gauge and the deep curve screen, which taxes the depth of focus of the lens, and you have a very tricky arrangement. While I was there, focus was checked at least every 5-minutes to ensure it is at its best. Some films were just a demonstration of futility. CinemaScope films being the worst for the Uptown due to lenses adding the most to the image challenges.

70mm is the only format the Uptown should run. It is the only format that has the resolution, light throughput and the projection lens at the Uptown is designed for the curved screen. Yes, even 35mm blow-ups to 70mm would make (and have made) HUGE differences.

As for the Uptown’s sound…it suffers from lack of attention combined with being played with by the latest special show that comes to town. The equipment within the place is quite good and you won’t do much better just by replacing it (in fact you will most likely do worse). The Uptown’s sound system is quite similar to the Senator’s in Baltimore, MD. Altec A-4 stage speakers, JBL subwoofers, Altec A-7 surrounds (12 of them), QSC amps, and the Dolby CP200 (upgraded). Probably the best the Uptown sounded was back when three of us tuned the room for a Paramount film with Al Matano…we had three analyzers going for the various zones throughout the room…one could really balance it out better than even with just a multiplexed mic system…and then critical listening was done by several people rather than taking just one person’s opinion. As some have discovered…the sound in a room that large can vary quite a bit…a bit tinny downstairs towards the screen (in the middle, particularly), and notably subdued in the balcony. Then again, many techs don’t realize there are two HF horn systems for each speaker to properly cover the Balcony and main section separately. The potential to have good sound there is indeed doable…just not every tech is up to the task nor has the time available (nor prior experience) to do it.

As to the projection at the Uptown…I left shortly after the platter went in. However, once the non-projectionists started to operate, the equipment damage as well as print damage had started. Shutters were damaged, among other things. They went through several prints of THE AVIATOR in the weeks after I departed. I still hear of continual print damage to this day (March 2006) though I do not have first hand knowledge of it anymore. Given the operating policy there…I can’t see how it could be any other way though.

However, the sad thing that is also true for movies at the moment…they need to make something worth watching. Movies that have a number after the name or have the same name as a TV show just is not original thinking. Hollywood needs to start making good movies again and shooting them in 65mm as if they actually cared about the movie at the start.

Steve

Duration : 0:4:17

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