Projection Quality

Lucasfilm’s Theatre Alignment Program (TAP) exists to improve movie presentation at the source: the individual theater. This is accomplished through a reel-by-reel review of those films whose distributors see fit to hire TAP’s services, and through a check on their equipment.

Because of cost factors, my fellow reviewers and I watch only the 70-millimeter prints. For the remaining 95% of the prints that the public will see--in 35 millimeter--for the most part it’s caveat emptor .

My distress is greater than most moviegoers when I watch an out-of-focus, dim or low-volume presentation of a print I know was given the Lucasfilm seal of approval a few days before. We can ensure that when a print arrives at a 70-millimeter theater it is in perfect condition. But if we turn up a poor projector or sound system in a theater, we can do little but complain.

My advice: Don’t sit there in the dark, folks. Make some noise.

DAVID RESKIN

Hollywood