Rural theatres are undergoing a revival in Saskatchewan, and Reel Attractions Cinema and Video in Humboldt is leading the charge. The two-screen theatre recently underwent possibly the biggest shift in its history by going digital. The Journal found the owners of Reel Attractions Cinema and Video - Shari and Brian Wormald and Dudley and Laurie Warford - in their projection room recently, being trained in how to run this new equipment. The new digital equipment has twice the resolution of a high definition television, Brian explained, with a full 2K presentation. "The technician (who installed the system) said with the quality of equipment we've got, and the short distance to the screen, it's actually screening room quality," Brian said, which means they actually could be certified as a screening room, and that the theatre could host a film festival.Some work is actually going on behind the scenes right now, Brian indicated, to hold such a festival, tentatively titled HUFF - the Humboldt Universal Film Festival - which would be open to anyone who has a camera. A film festival is just one of the opportunities the new equipment presents to its owners. "There are going to be so many new opportunities," said Shari, because of the flexibility of the system. The new equipment has HDMI inputs, so they can plug in gaming machines, and laptops, if businesses want to use the theatre for presentations.They have satellite TV hooked up in both theatres, so people could rent the theatre and watch those, or hook their Ipods up to the system. They can also now do digital advertising, or show Blu-Rays and DVDs, Laurie said.A group of women already came in this year to watch the season finale of "The Bachelor" in their 3-D room upstairs, she noted, and with this new system, they could do that for groups in the actual theatres. The new equipment is also much simpler to run for the staff at the theatre, though in comparison to the old reels, projectors and lamphouses on display, it looks almost intimidatingly technical. When they used film, explained Laurie, movies would come on a number of smaller reels in canisters - about 20 minutes of movie was on each reel. Those small reels all had to be spliced together to put on a huge reel in order to show it in the theatre without interruption.With that process came the risk of the film snapping, requiring repair, and it took a good hour of work to put an average movie of a running length of one hour and 45 minutes on a big reel.Add another hour to take the other movie off the reel, Laurie said, and that's two man hours just to load a film. And they still had to get it onto the projectors, which were circa 1948. The old equipment was amazingly reliable, considering its age, Shari said, but it did require maintenance that they had to look after themselves.Other equipment in the projection room, just as old, was kept running by the owners using an interesting assortment of parts, including a Dodge ignition, nuts and bolts and vacuum cleaner parts. But that's all in the past.Now, it's just a matter of loading the hard drive the digital movies come on onto their server, and having it play with the push of a few buttons. And there's no risk of film snapping or falling off a reel while a movie is being shown, Laurie indicated, or of showing reels out of order, or upside down.There's nothing to focus either - it's all ready to go, Brian said. "It's set up now and we don't have to adjust any of that."The new digital system also means the theatre will get movies faster - on the day of release, or a few days after, which they were only able to do only once in a blue moon before."We get the movies pretty much on demand (with the digital system)," said Laurie. "Received on release or two to three weeks old."The ease of operation of the new system means they can also offer showings of more than two movies at a time, too. "We are working towards having early movies (and late shows)," Laurie said, which means they could show anywhere from two to four movies at a time. "That will really help the business," said Shari.It took six days to install the new digital system with the help of a technician who is now roaming Saskatchewan, installing similar systems in other small, rural theatres. Humboldt's was his first complete install.Their equipment came from a company in Vancouver, they said, owned by a man who does sound editing for Hollywood. "He knows his sound," said Brian. "This is the best stuff on the market," said Laurie. "It's newer than the Galaxy theatres (in Saskatoon)," she said. Imax, she said, is actually switching to this system.They've been told their theatres actually have better quality than the Galaxy theatres, because they're smaller.When Laurie first saw the quality of the projection, she said, it felt like she got a new pair of glasses. "Everything was clear and beautiful," she grinned. Down in the theatre, it's not just the quality of the picture that's impressive, but the quality of the sound. That's due to the 7.1 surround sound that's now in the theatres, which includes 1,000 pounds of speakers behind each screen, and more situated around each theatre.They had their first showings of movies with the new system the weekend of April 11-13 to packed houses. Before, their crowds really varied, Shari said. They could have six people a night, or on a busy weekend, about 40 per night. The two theatres seat 70 in one, and 80 in the other. Their first weekend of digital projection, they were between half-full to maximum capacity for each of the four showings of "The Croods" and "Safe Haven." The owners had been hoping to replace the old system since they purchased the business in 2009, Dudley noted. But they dealt with the old system - "that's the word - dealing with it," he smiled - for a few years for a few reasons. One was cost, Laurie said - that was the main reason. "But second, we had to clean up (the building), revamp and build up the clientele again," she said. The public, Laurie noted, has been very supportive and encouraging of their efforts over the years. "They are always telling us, we love what you're doing, keep it up," she said. The public, Shari added, has been energizing for them - working seven days a week and doing renovations all the time can be tiring, she smiled. Now that they've switched, their business should get even busier, and that's okay with them."I'm looking forward to blisters on my feet," Shari smiled.
