ChatterBank1 min ago
Oval mark on cinema films
What is the oval shaped mark that appears in the top right corner of the screen at the cinema? it seems to flash up on one frame, periodically during a movie. I've noticed this since I was a kid and used to figure it was dirt but I see it too frequently for it to be coincidence.
It doesn't appear on Videos or DVD's. Only at the cinema?
Answers
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.It is called a cue dot. The projectionist laces up the second projector with the film at the corresponding cue position but not running. He (or she) watches for the cue dot and starts the second projector as soon as he sees it. There is gap of six seconds before the old reel finishes. In this time the second projector gets up to speed and at just the right moment the projectionist moves a shuter that blocks the light from the first projector and allows the second projector light to get through.
Some projection copies are made in gigantic cans with several reels spliced together, so you still see the cue dots but there is no actual reel change.
Although many copies of Star Wars are digital, the whole thing does exist as a film print. There is a limit to how much film you can get on a reel without it being to clumbersome and heavy, especially as films are 2 hours+ these days.
I had an old 35mm film print of Beneath the Planet of the Apes, and that was in five cans, each of which would have been at least 18 inches wide.
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