Motion-Picture Projection Unit

a set of equipment for showing motion pictures. According to their operating conditions, projection units may be stationary or portable. A stationary projection unit includes two or three projectors, sound-reproduction equipment with loudspeakers, electric power equipment, auxiliary equipment for controlling the lighting in the viewing room (light dimmers), curtain controls, reel containers, and film rewinds. Certain theaters are equipped for automated projection. Stationary projection units are used in specially equipped rooms. Most of them have equipment for showing conventional, anamorphized, or cropped 35-mm films; some projection units for small theaters are made up of stationary projectors for showing 16-mm films. Since the early 1960’s, motion-picture theaters have had equipment for showing widegauge stereophonic films. The projection equipment is operated by specially trained projectionists. Theaters with complex projection units have engineering and technical personnel. The projection unit is the basic unit of accounting in the motion-picture distribution system.