In the introduction to their anthology Hollywood Goes Shopping, David Desser and Garth S. We purchase our ticket and experience what others have prearranged, or even-in the case of technical difficulties-what they have not. Viewers usually do not know which particular commercials and trailers will be projected. Even in the 21st century, the pre-feature content appears onscreen unexpectedly.
During the Classical Hollywood era, ticket-buyers knew the titles of the features and expected supplementary content, but the particular short subjects on offer were often unknown to them. Screenings during the early cinema period were announced, but in some cases specific film titles were not, particularly before the rise of the nickelodeon. Some of their planning results in surprises. Producers, distributors, marketers, exhibitors, projectionists, and others plan the choice of subject material and the schedule for the same. It is an event, one controlled by forces external to the audience.
A film is most alive while it is being projected, and yet that is when it is immaterial: virtual and intangible, the “imaginary signifier, as Christian Metz called it.” It is, and then it is not, once the projector stops.
But even the screen is not a film’s permanent home, certainly not in the same way that a frame provides for a painting. Rather, light pulses temporally and temporarily on a screen, presenting images to viewers.
Film is spooled around a reel or encoded on digital media, but that is not where the audience sees it.
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