2. Watching The Film Is An Intensely Stressful Experience
So the film is spliced together and has been correctly laced up. The audience are sat in their seats and ready to go. Now there is nothing left to do but hit forward and hope for the best. For me, watching the film provides no enjoyment whatsoever. I cannot free myself of the projectionists shackles and simply watch the film as a casual spectator. I am constantly thinking of the multitude of things that could potentially go wrong with the showing. Every time I see the cigarette burns indicating a change of reel, my heart stops and I expect the worst. What if it goes out of rack? What if the sound cuts out? What if Vicky spontaneously combusts? No doubt there will be some calm and collected projectionists out there who show remarkable sang froid during the showing of their films. But I am not one of them. It is only when the credits are rolling and the audience begin to leave can I breathe a sigh of relief.