Going Digital: The Experience of the Transition to Digital Projection in UK Cinemas

<jats:p> This article addresses the digital transformation in UK cinemas between 2000 and 2014, as viewed by cinema projectionists. During this period digital projectors replaced mechanical 35mm film projectors throughout UK cinemas. This resulted in many redundancies and a fundamental change in the way films are shown. This article draws on interview material with a number of current and former cinema projectionists (including a number who were made redundant and some members of the trade union BECTU) to provide an account of this period of change as it was experienced by those most affected by it. The ways in which the speed of the change was perceived are examined in detail. The article also considers how narratives of personal and professional change and redundancy are mediated through the attachment to technology and the experience of technological change. The respondents' descriptions of the arrival of the digital projectors and the focus on ‘the final show’ are common themes around which such narratives are constructed. </jats:p>