Halloween on Screen

Join us at The Courtyard this Halloween for our double bill of scary films! This years acclaimed Get Out (15) (6pm) a ‘social thriller’ which is one of the most original, entertaining and, most importantly, terrifying debuts of in a long time! Followed by the 90’s classic Misery (15) (8.15pm) a psych thriller based on Steven King’s novel of the same name – being screened on original 35mm film. 35mm is becoming more of a rarity as time goes on, and while much of what we screen here at The Courtyard is digital, we are one of very few theatres who still offer the unique ability to see film on film!

As a celebration of our classic halloween big-screen frightfest, Marketing Volunteer Jack went behind the scenes with our projectionist Simon to look into how Misery’s 35mm print was prepared.

“A feature film is typically delivered on several small (and therefore easy to transport) reels of film, which are then taken up to a spooling machine. Misery was delivered as six reels each about 500m long! For each reel the leaders had to be removed, spooled onto a projection reel, had the footers removed and then spliced onto the head of the next reel – all in the correct, order, orientation and right side up. While the film is spooled it is also checked for any possible damages that are repaired before the film is shown. Then once the whole film had been spooled onto one reel, now totalling almost 3km in length, we then had to re-spool it onto the projection reel as it had arrived header first it had to be connected in order… Picture getting to the end of an old VHS, then having to rewind it back to the beginning! Then you have a reel fit for projection!” 

To find out more about Film at The Courtyard please visit our website or call Box Office on 01432 340555.