It was only a few decades ago that the screening of nitrate films was forbidden unless there were several fire trucks parked outside the facility, or the facility was special built with a number of protections for staff and audience.
Now there are facilities built with the confidence of past knowledge but no checklist to ensure that the past knowledge is/was inclusive of all the potential points of failure. Too often it seems that there are elements missed and the training is only anecdotes passed on from second-hand knowledge.
This Instructive Course is designed and built to create a knowledge base of proven fundamentals and critical nuance that can be used by fire safety personnel, designers, builders, projectionists and their administrators, bringing the safest installations possible worldwide.
Curriculum
- 2 Sections
- 7 Lessons
- Lifetime
- Background: Nitrate FactsThe magic of movies relies upon chemicals that can filter light. These chemicals need to stick to something so that they can be moved into position and then moved away using gears and motors and pull down levers and reels. What those chemicals required was a base that they could be printed upon and woven through the machine. A piece of board wouldn't do. Plastics hadn't been invented or refined. Cellulous was part of the key, and it was combined with a nitrate in the base. That is where the story begins.6
- Architecture: Nitrate Safety1