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Ways of Knowing

 

The World According to Sound

 

Season 2, Episode 7

 

Glitches

 

[sound of projector]

 

[20th Century Studios movie intro music plays]

 

Sam Harnett: It’s simple to overlook all the equipment needed for you to view a film — until an issue arises.

 

[projector sounds and music stumble and skip]

 

SH: The projector malfunctions. The audio falls out of sync. The frame goes askew. Or if you’re at home: Your internet connection fails, your laptop shuts down, the movie buffers, the image locks up.

 

Mal Ahern: When you encounter that glitch, it serves as a reminder of the entire physical framework that supports what we regard as immaterial, what we perceive as magical.

 

SH: Mal Ahern, an educator in cinema and media studies at the University of Washington. To her, glitches are not to be dismissed, but examined. They serve as clues that can aid us in revealing the intricate mechanisms of our surroundings, guiding us to fresh viewpoints and unearthing hidden narratives.

 

[sound of projector]

 

SH: Mal has dedicated years to analyzing glitches in various devices from printers to projectors. She has traced the faults in film projection, especially in cinemas. Over time, these flaws narrate a tale of automation, labor, and shifting perceptions of quality and consistency. They illustrate how we’ve come to accept a viewing experience on our digital devices that earlier audiences would have never endured.

 

[sound of projector]

 

[cartoon music plays]

 

SH: During the 1940s, there were typically two projectionists in a film booth: a head projectionist and an assistant, who was always on the lookout for any potential errors before they occurred. It was a perilous job. A mistake could lead to the film catching fire.

 

MA: Film could even become trapped in the gate and melt right in front of the audience.

 

SH: A dual-person team was essential not only to avert calamities but also for quality assurance. The duo ensured that the film remained aligned, focused, and synchronized with the sound. A significant aspect of their role was to guarantee a flawless transition between film reels.

 

[sound of projector]

 

[cartoon music plays]

 

MA: If you converse with projectionists today, they will indicate that much of their role involves predicting and resolving such errors before they arise. Many of them mention that it’s quite a sonic experience. They can hear the first signs of impending trouble before viewing it, right? They might hear odd clicking or lag and recognize, “Oh, I’ve slipped a sprocket, or the tension is off.”

 

[sound of projector]

 

SH: In the 1950s, the film industry innovated a type of film that was considerably less combustible than nitrate. With less fire risk, cinemas began reducing staff from two projectionists to one.

 

MA: Fewer individuals occupied the booth. Initially, projectionists protested this change because they believed it would compromise their projection quality since the second projectionist monitored the screen image while the lead projectionist prepared the next projector.

 

[sound of projector threading]

 

SH: Despite opposition from projectionists, cinemas persisted in decreasing personnel in the booth. The shift from two-person teams to one was merely the beginning.

 

MA: That was a relatively minor adjustment compared to what followed with the automation of projection booths.

 

[instrumental music plays]

 

SH: Throughout the 1960s and ‘70s, theaters introduced machinery and methods for automating tasks like swapping reels and interlocking projectors, enabling one print to be showcased across multiple screens. Theaters began expanding from single screens to multiple screens: multiplexes.

 

MA: At the multiplex, a single projectionist frequently manages five, six, or eight booths, darting from one booth to another. This is why film schedules are staggered in multiplexes — to allow the projectionist to be present during changeovers if necessary, or to load and unload platters.

 

SH: With the shift towards automation in multiplexes, there was a spike in errors — the sorts of mistakes that a skilled projectionist would have corrected.

 

MA: The exact issues that projectionists cautioned against in their publications during the 60s and 70s emerged: if you integrate these automated systems, you’ll observe an increase in mistakes. Out of focus images, erratic volume shifts, jittery transitions, potentially even a noticeable blank screen section for a few seconds. I have an entire folder of local news reports, mainly from the 1980s, documenting complaints about projectionist mistakes and subpar film presentations at multiplexes. Numerous local film critics in Long Island and suburban Michigan remark, “I attended this movie, and it was impossible to follow it due to the projection quality, not like in the past….” and so forth.

 

SH: Moviegoers were subjected to the types of projection errors that previous audiences would not have tolerated — fuzzy visuals, misaligned frames, with the image out of sync with the audio. These were the kinds of errors a proficient projectionist would have intercepted beforehand.

 

MA: Much of what they do revolves around anticipating and correcting machine errors. And if they’re absent, you witness a multitude of errors on screen, right? Thus, these errors hint at the evolving working conditions for those employed in cinemas. They shed light on the transforming technology within movie theaters, the transition from a singular screen to a multiplex, and what labor theorists refer to as deskilling.

 

SH: The rise in automation transitioned projectionists from more engaged, skilled roles to merely overseeing machinery.

 

[instrumental music plays]

 

SH: These mistakes narrate a story about the audience as well. Over time, spectators have accepted diminishing control over their theater experiences.

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Given what alternatives remained if an issue arose? Most likely now, there was no one present in the booth.

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MA: If an issue occurs, individuals can’t simply shout, “Focus!” They must step outside, approach the manager’s office, consult the teen selling popcorn at the counter, and state, “This film image is faulty, the film is jammed in the projector, the switch never transpired, the frame lines are positioned in the center of the screen, the audio is incorrect, the focus is off.” You see, there’s a significant delay in someone’s ability to address these problems.

SH: Prior to all the automation, there was usually at least one if not two individuals stationed in the booth. However, with multiplexes, it was often the case that no one was managing the projector. You were left at the mercy of the machine and subjected to any errors it might produce.

MA: And then you reach a stage where if the problems are trivial enough, you don’t really consider complaining. You just sort of overlook them and adjust to a different standard of image quality.

SH: This adaptation to inferior quality has persisted. Now most individuals stream films at home instead of attending theaters to view them. And at home, you face a multitude of new errors and malfunctions — issues with your internet connectivity, streaming device, laptop, or projector. Not to mention that we are viewing films on significantly smaller screens with much lower audio fidelity. If you do experience a challenge with your film — it won’t load, your bandwidth suddenly can’t handle acceptable quality, the visuals get out of sync with the audio, your operating system won’t support the streaming service — well, then, you are even further removed from a person who might assist in resolving this issue. It’s now just a part of your movie-watching journey.

[sound of video glitching]

SH: Laptops, smartphones, televisions, home projectors, wireless routers, modems — these represent just a fraction of the growing array of devices and electronics surrounding us.

[sound of video glitching]

SH: Much of it is purposely crafted to deter us from pondering how it operates, directing our attention solely to what it produces or permits us to accomplish. Errors are a portal to see beyond that.

[sound of projector glitching]

MA: When you detect a small mistake, when you notice a defect in something, it seems almost more tangible. It serves as a reminder that this is a constructed object.

SH: Because whenever there’s a malfunction — whenever we face an error or a glitch — it doesn’t appear without cause. There’s always a rationale. It occurs due to something genuine, something material and substantial.

[sound of static]

SH: There’s a mechanical breakdown in a movie projector, a mistake embedded in the code, a misaligned plate in a printing press, an electrical disturbance in a radio transmission.

[computer sounds]

SH: When you encounter an error, consider: What does this indicate about how the machinery operates? How it’s crafted? Who constructs and maintains it? What type of content it fosters or suppresses? What biases are built into its design? How is it shaping our interpretation of what we see, read, and hear?

MA: That’s the type of contemplation that arises when you notice errors, as you begin to consider why it occurred and what was absent for that error to materialize. It occasionally unveils how the machinery functions, right? Because it’s the role of humans to obscure how the machinery operates. It’s the responsibility of humans to make the machinery seem intelligent.

[sound of projector starting, stalling, and restarting]

SH: Today, it’s exceptionally easy to overlook the material essence of our surroundings. The internet, smartphone applications, streaming movies, generative artificial intelligence. They may all appear magical. Yet all these digital entities rely on physical components, created by humans, which are prone to failure.

[sound of stalled printer]

SH: And truly, whenever we enjoy a seamless interaction with something produced by a machine, it isn’t due to machines being flawless. Machines encounter errors continually. It’s because humans intervene to rectify the mistake before anyone else notices. They realign the plates of the printing press, service the engine of the vehicle, adjust the algorithms of the generative AI program, and correct the focus of the projector.

MA: Humans are always essential to complete the labor of machines.

SH: Therefore, with an error, you’re not just gaining an insight into the inner workings of a machine. You’re also observing the mechanisms through which humans have been automated out of the process, leaving us to confront the machine and its errors independently.

MA: What you’re witnessing with the errors is the absence of humans, which is an intriguing thing to observe.

[sound of projector whirring and crashing]

[sound of static]

[instrumental music plays]

SH: Anytime something fails, there’s always a rationale. Errors, blunders, glitches — these are all avenues for inquiry. Learning how to identify and analyze these types of anomalies can aid us in understanding the inner workings of what surrounds us and also how humans have been stripped from a process through automation. This type of scrutiny is particularly crucial in the digital era, a period when the material nature of things is increasingly veiled from us.

[instrumental music plays]

SH: Here are five resources that will assist you in learning more about examining glitches and the history of film projection.

“Glitch” by Sean Cubitt

SH: This essay serves as an excellent theoretical introduction to glitches and their importance.

“The Glitch Moment(um)” by Rosa Menkman

SH: Creators like Rosa Menkman have centered glitches in their work. This book is not only an entry point into glitch art but also includes theoretical considerations of the aesthetic qualities of glitches.

“The Dying of the Light” by Peter Flynn

SH: A documentary film concerning the automation and digitization of film projection, along with its repercussions for projectionists and film quality.

“Cinema’s Automatisms and Industrial Automation” by Mal Ahern

SH: In this essay, Mal presents her findings on automated media and errors as evidence in pre-digital media.

“Duck Amuck”

SH: This animated short from the 1950s completely revolves around film blunders.

CREDITS

Ways of Knowing is a creation of The World According to Sound. This season explores the diverse interpretive and analytical techniques in the humanities. It was produced in partnership with the University of Washington and its College of Arts & Sciences. All interviews with UW faculty were conducted on campus in Seattle. Music provided by Ketsa, Human Gazpacho, Graffiti Mechanism, Serge Quadrado, Bio Unit, and our friends, Matmos.

The World According to Sound is produced by Chris Hoff and Sam Harnett.

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