Post
by Pumpkin_Man » Fri Sep 21, 2012 10:36 am
It was truely my pleasure, Witchy. I had so many fond memories of that theatre. Probably the only good thing that came out of moving to New Lenox was being close to the Hill Top. I was a regular at the Hill Top long after I moved to Dwight, though.
When they announced that the were closing, and I attended the very last movie there were a lot of people crying, because they were losing their jobs. At least the guy who operated those projectors found work at the Louis Joliet Cinema, until they went Digital, too. I guess digital cinema is a pretty recent development, but I can't help but to feel bad for the IBEW guys who are being put out of work by the DLP machines that have taken over. 35mm projectors actualy require the equivalant of an associates degree to operate. You also have to have some electrical training, especialy if the projector you operate uses carbon arc as the light source, because that carbon arc can kill you if you handle it wrong. For the new DLP digital Christies, all you have to do is down load the movie from the studio's web site and burn it to a disc, or just stream it to the projector and audio equipment right from the web site. No real training required, so no need to hire a projectionist. They do need technitiions to replace the lamps and DLP chips once in a while, but as a whole, a lot of jobs are lost.
Well, I guess a lot of guys who ran libery stables, and built horse drawn wagons went out of business when everyone started driving cars, but then those ocupations were gradualy phased out. This whole arbitrary change over from 35mm to Digital is just a total and imediate end to many people's livelyhood.
Mike
