It’s a Friday night, and the theaters are packed with movie-goers. Past the hustle and bustle of anxious crowds, one man stands alone behind the curtains. He is the projectionist.

Nick Buckendorf, a 10-year veteran projectionist at Regal Cinemas, does more than just press a button to run a movie, though.

The first thing Buckendorf does is power up the two-story projection booth. This seemingly easy task is quite the responsibility when there are at least 19 movies running at one time.

Each projector must be focused and adjusted to the screen prior to the first showing of the day. After that, each machine must be checked to make sure the films are ready to roll.

“You have to make sure that the films are placed in a position where they won’t get scratched,” Buckendorf said, “as well as make sure the soundtracks are facing the right way.”

If the soundtracks are placed in the wrong position, the whole movie will play backward and project upside down. Most people would agree that movies with incomprehensible words are not worth the $7.50 paid to watch them.

The precision and patience required to set up a film goes beyond just checking to make sure everything is ready to go. This is where splicing and threading come in.

Contrary to popular belief, the busiest day for a projectionist is not Friday, but a Thursday night.

“Thursdays is when the film reels come in,” Buckendorf said. “Each reel is 2,000 feet long, and each one is 20 minutes in length.”

A full-length movie is usually comprised of about five reels, with the exception of movies such as King Kong, which was made up of a whopping 12 reels.

After the film reels are delivered, the projectionist must carry each reel, which is about 40 pounds, to the splicing desk. There, he must splice together a whole movie.

Splicing, quite simply, is taping together the film strip. The projectionist must make sure the films are put together so that the head meets the tail. The head and tail are the start and end of a film strip, respectively.

“We have to make sure the heads and tails match up so that it’s easier when we break the films down,” Buckendorf said.

Breaking down a film is merely the reverse process of splicing. Once a film is broken down, it is returned to the studio it came from.

After the film reels are spliced into a movie, the projector must thread the film onto the platter of the projector. There are two platters that correspond to each projector, and each platter has a diameter of about five feet.

The projectionist must manually lift up the enormous film reel and place it on the upper platter. The film must then be threaded, or wound up, in the projection system.

Not only does the job of a projectionist require a lot of muscle, but it can also be quite dangerous.

Within each projector is a light bulb, which is pressurized by xenon gas. While the projector is running, the temperature of the light bulb is a blazing 500 degrees. When and if this bulb gives out during a movie, it would take 20 minutes just for the light bulb to cool down. The projectionist then must put on protective gloves, mask and suit to change the xenon-surrounded light bulb.

To prevent such an inconvenience to audiences, movie theaters have a light bulb log attached to each projector complete with the date, hour and minute of the installation of the bulb. Another responsibility for the projectionist is to make sure the light bulbs are changed before they reach their maximum number of hours used: 2,400.

A new problem for theatres and studios alike is bootlegging and piracy.

Dan Long, manager and projectionist for the Grand Cinema, says studios have recently changed their delivery dates due to such issues.

“You usually get movie reels the day before a film opens, which is usually Friday,” he said. “But studios lately tend not to send it earlier because the problems surrounding bootlegging ad piracy. It’s all under a very tight print control.”

Projectionist must make sure that their tight schedules are kept up with.

With the majority of their time spent walking to and from the projection booth to keep an eye on the 19-plus movies running, projectionists such as Long and Buckendorf have to keep their schedules with them at all times.

But with modern technology, projectionists can keep an eye on which movies are running, finished, or threaded up and ready to go.

Long says that nowadays projecting is quite simple.

“Most theaters use automated projectors, which requires you to just thread up the movie, push a button and then you can just go from one theatre to another to make sure everything’s running on time,” he said. “Some projectors even have a timer. So if you have two movies starting at 2:30p.m., you can set it so the film starts running at that time and all you need to do is thread it up.”

To organize things a little, modern technology has provided projectionists with an electronic organizer, so to speak.

“We have a machine that indicates each projector’s state. Red means a film is threaded but not running, yellow is out and green means its running,” Buckendorf said.

Although he must run the whole projection booth by himself, without so much as a lunch break, Buckendorf admits he enjoys it.

“Sometimes it gets kind of creepy especially when I’m shutting things down at the end of the day because one by one it gets quieter, but I like my job,” he said.

With all the squeaks and eerie noises from the projectors, however, only a handful of brave souls can accomplish the task of being a projectionist.

Reporter AeJung Yoon: features@thedaily.washington.edu