my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Film Handlers' Forum   » Worst booth disaster? (Page 6)

This topic comprises 8 pages: 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8

Author Topic: Worst booth disaster? System Notices Forum Watchdog / Soup Nazi Posts: 215 Registered: Apr 2004 posted 04-27-2004 08:02 PM                 It has been 610 days since the last post.  |  IP: Logged Beau Button Film Handler Posts: 4 From: Harvard, Illinois, Usa Registered: Nov 2003 posted 04-27-2004 08:02 PM                    Not a projectionist either (yet, but perhaps will be someday) but was in a booth when a minor disaster struck. Actually, i was interviewing for a position (didn't get it as my avalability wasn't sufficient and the position wasn't what i wanted anyways), but i digress.. The theater in question is the woodstock Il cheap theater (then a twin now a quad) and while sitting in the office which directly abuts the booth at the same time They were running an interlock on both screens (the audience was primarily children and parents as this was a special early day cheap run of a movie already released on video for kids) , there is a sound like a measuring tape followed by an alarm from the automation system and the manager darts passed me, the film had come undone and was nicely crinkeled in some places, needless to say the manager was pretty flustered as he ran from one end of the boot to the other fixing the film, me sitting there with no training helpless to do anything but watch as he tries to continue the interview while fixing the film. A few cuts and splices (and refunds) later the film was back up and running and all went well as far as I know.  |  IP: Logged Jeremy Fuentes Mmmm, Dr. Pepper! Posts: 1168 From: Corpus Christi, TX United States Registered: Jan 2004 posted 04-27-2004 08:36 PM                     quote: Beau Button me sitting there with no training helpless to do anything but watch as he tries to continue the interview while fixing the film. He tried to continue the interview??? Doesnt sound like"film done right" to me. He should have been concentrating on the film, I think you could have waited a few minutes for him to do so. But thats just me.  |  IP: Logged Dominique Replogle Film Handler Posts: 61 From: Highland Utah Registered: Apr 2004 posted 04-28-2004 04:18 PM                        We once had a projectionist that was about to start a film in our booth. He had threaded Ghosts of the Abyss and was about to start the movie when it became necessarry to point out that it is not wise to try to run a movie WITHOUT PTR'S. He was then asked to step aside and the PTR's were put on the projector. More problems followed as time went on. Let's just say he does not work here any more. (not a disaster, but a near disaster)  |  IP: Logged Richard Greco Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1180 From: Plant City, FL Registered: Nov 2003 posted 04-28-2004 04:25 PM                     I might just be clueless here but what are PTR's?  |  IP: Logged Dominique Replogle Film Handler Posts: 61 From: Highland Utah Registered: Apr 2004 posted 04-28-2004 05:05 PM                        Particle Transfer Rollers. The rubber coated metal hubs you thread around on the projector.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-28-2004 05:26 PM                        Check out Joe's review of PTR rollers for more information about how they work. I don't personally agree with his conclusion, but this isn't the right thread to discuss that.  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 04-29-2004 08:50 AM                        PTRs are Particle Transfer Roller film cleaners. They are soft polyurethane rollers that have a slightly sticky surface, so any dirt on the film adheres to the PTR. They can be reused by washing the dirt off with detergent and water, or even by simply using a slightly adhesive tape to remove the accumulated dirt. PTRs are widely used by labs on printers and telecines, in IMAX theatres, or any application where you cannot leave a residue on the film (e.g., IMAX projectors bring the film into direct contact with the "field lens").  |  IP: Logged Brandon Willis Expert Film Handler Posts: 216 From: Richmond, VA, USA Registered: Apr 2004 posted 04-30-2004 11:49 AM                     Moving "Gods and Generals" on a donut, with 3 people, while the print was still built up. Enough said.  |  IP: Logged Chris Medley Expert Film Handler Posts: 180 From: McKinney, TX, USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 04-30-2004 12:01 PM                        God's and Generals...no contest here...I had to go pick up one of our prints of Passion from Cinemark Tinseltown when they had the big hoopla over there on opening day. I had another manager helping me and we had to take it off the platter down two flights of stairs, down an elevator and through the most packed lobby in history while reporters are trying to tak epicture sof the print and ask for comments...i handed one of them the keys and told him to "make himslef useful and open the trunk"...ohh and did i mention we did this with clamps(not my choice, we didn't have time) and while it was raining....God's and Generals indeed  |  IP: Logged Jeff Stuckey Film Handler Posts: 62 From: Oklahoma City, OK, USA Registered: May 2003 posted 04-30-2004 04:23 PM                     Two big ones that I can remember. I had a xenon bulb explode inside a projector. We were cleaning glass up for a long time after that. Thank God no one was actually standing close when it happened. Opening night of a theater in Tulsa...running interlock on 'The Horse Whisperer'. Someone put cue tape on the wrong way. It shut down one projector while the other kept playing. It ended up bending some of the rollers. Luckilly, it was at the beginning of the credits. Still people wanted refunds. I guess because they missed who the key grip was.  |  IP: Logged Joshua Waaland Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 800 From: Cleveland, Ohio Registered: Dec 1999 posted 04-30-2004 06:16 PM                     First: I was working at Cinemark Tinseltown 10 in Sandusky, Ohio. Our booth was in an L formation so I could not keep an eye on everything at once. I was threading a projector for the next showing and had a call on the radio of a customer complaining that a film had quit. Thinking that it was just a failsafe I went to see what had happened. Of the 5,000 ceiling tiles in that big frickin booth wouldn't you know that one that was directly over the projector had filled with water from a roof leak and fell right on the projector. I was cleaning the mud out of the projector for the next 4 hours! Second: I was working at Cinemark 15 in Macedonia, Ohio and I got a call on the radio again that a customer had complained about a stopped film. It was a 7pm showing on a Friday night of the movie Pitch Black with Vin Diesel. The theater was one week away from being one year old. The belt on the Christie projector had snapped and the shutter stopped right in front of the bulb. The movie actually went Pitch Black. But wait, that's not the end. We moved the print (we cut the film and luckily the AW3 platters are removable) and we moved both platters and the audience to the next house. Ten minutes after starting it again the same damn thing happened in that house! I later looked at the projector manuals and they suggested that the belts be changed yearly. They weren't kidding!  |  IP: Logged Brandon Willis Expert Film Handler Posts: 216 From: Richmond, VA, USA Registered: Apr 2004 posted 05-01-2004 12:35 AM                     "Gods and Generals" : The tail of the print was almost flush with the edge of the platter deck. A coworker of mine likes to move prints himself to show how badass he is. He has dropped "Shanghai Knights" and "The Ladykillers" while doing this.  |  IP: Logged Chris Medley Expert Film Handler Posts: 180 From: McKinney, TX, USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 05-01-2004 04:03 AM                        Dropped two!!! Oh my lord!!! I went through a really rough payroll period and I was having to send the projectionist home on thursday nights after he was done building, leaving me to screen and move. I had moved prints a hundred times by myself before and one night one of the clamps gave way on Cold Mountian as I was putting it on the platter...After five hours of fixing(with the help of another manager) i swore off solo moving unless there was no other choice.... Like the old man always said...You mess up once, and it's experiance...you make the same mistake again, and your a damn fool. I hate it when the projectionists try to show off...yeah 9 out of 10 times nothing happens, but it only takes one screwup in the booth to cause thousands in damage.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 05-01-2004 04:31 AM                        quote: Scott Norwood sez: I don't personally agree with his conclusion Ummmmm Scott? You might want to rethink your opinions on this one or I will strip away your moderator status. Notice that John Pytlak ISN'T a moderator. See? Good. You don't want your worst booth disaster to be something like "being proven wrong by Joe Redifer" or whatnot.  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 8 pages: 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.