Wednesday 11 March 2015

A Piece of History

As Borderlines Film Festival 2015 rolled into The Courtyard, the technical department decided to go for a bit of nostalgia and set up one of our Victoria 5 35mm film projectors for all to see in the foyer for the duration of the festival.

The Victoria 5 was first introduced to the world of film in 1975, built by Cinnemeccanica based in Milan. Developed as a low cost 35mm machine for use in multiplex cinemas, the Victoria 5 would become the firm’s most installed unit accounting for 95 percent of sales of 35mm equipment worldwide.

Here at The Courtyard we still have the capability to project 35mm film and a fully functional Victoria 5 projector is still used within our studio space, although with the coming of the digital age, the distribution of 35mm film prints is becoming more infrequent with most films arriving on a hard disk as a Digital Cinema Package.

But with some of Hollywood’s biggest studios still shooting on 35mm film every year, there will always be a place, certainly in my generation, for this wonderful medium to continue allowing films to be seen as the director intended when they shot it.

Below are a few photographs of the Victoria 5 in the foyer here at The Courtyard, taken by our resident Production Manager, Carl Hulme. More of Carl’s photography work can be found at carlhulmephotography.com.
Lens housing of the Victoria 5
L to R: Simon Nicholls, Chief Projectionist, Martyn Eatkins, Deputy Chief Projectionist
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Simon making adjustments to the lens housing


Martyn checking the film has been laced up correctly
 Dave Beever
Chief Technician
The Courtyard, Hereford

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