So, confused over all the technical jargon at your local cineplex? Be confused no more as you read these definitions.
Auditorium: The screening room where your particular film is playing.
Aperature plate: The metal plate inside the film gate which cuts off or "masks" part of the film as it goes through to keep certain areas of the film from being projected on the screen. Usually, keeps the sound tracks from showing up on screen, but mostly works best for 1:85:1, or "flat," films to cut off the full square photographed image on each frame to make it finally appear wide on the screen.
Brain: This is the device in the middle of the platter which keeps the platter turning and allows the film to feed to the rollers and finally through the projector. The feed arm on the brain is connected to a sensor which tells the platter to speed up if the speed of the platter is failing to keep up, and to slow down if platter goes too fast and the film is getting too far ahead.
Cans: The metal container which holds the film reels for shipping. Sometimes grey boxes are used instead.
Digital sound: The type of sound available on almost every film print today. DTS, which stands for Digital Theatre Sound, was introduced in 1993 on Jurassic Park. Whether it be DTS, Dolby Digital, or SDDS (Sony Dynamic Digital Sound), the sound is encoded in 1's and 0's and decoded to reproduce sound which offers clean, crisp, sound with full dynamic range. It's quite a difference from optical sound.
Gate: The mechanism in the projector head which holds the film in place so the images can be projected onto the screen.
House: Same as auditorium.
Interlock: Playing the same movie through two projectors simultaneously. The film feeds from one projector's platter to play on its projector, then the film heads down the hallway to the next projector to play, then finally finishes up on that take-up platter.
Masking: The black material which surrounds the theatre screen which renders the screen the proper aspect ratio.
Platter: A large, metal dish which the film rests on while playing.
Perf: Sprocket hole. 35mm film has 4 on each side of the frame, whereas 70mm film has 8 in the case of the Megadome, and 15 in Omnimax. The gears in a projector have teeth which protrude through the holes and pull the film along so it can be shown in the projector.
