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Topic: Technicolor sucks

Erika Hellgren
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 168
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: Jun 99

posted 11-06-1999 12:31 AM

Oh, you mean everyone else got their Insider prints on Wed, too?! I was hoping they did that for us as a result of one of my co-workers bitching at them. Damn!

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Masao Garcia
Film Handler

Posts: 34
From: Lancaster, CA, USA
Registered: Oct 1999

posted 11-24-1999 01:13 PM

Just another quick rant about TES. Last night, one of my Toy Story 2 prints ended up having the 4th reel's head intertwined with reel #5. And it was more than just the head--the actual movie was scratched a couple feet in on R#4. And I also cut my finger on one of their patented broken azz reels. Technicolor can burn in hell.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 11-24-1999 01:34 PM

I can easily top that! (unfortunately)

Last night I had to GO GET MY PRINTS FROM THE AIRBORNE DEPOT MYSELF! They wouldn't deliver them!!! Technicolor called and said we would "receive them Wednesday afternoon". Excuse me? Are we pulling another Saving Private Ryan here? The movie opens Wednesday MORNING! Did this happen to anyone else?

Also, out of 2 prints of "End of Days" only ONE reel in each print had any strength whatsoever to stay together. The others fell apart in the cans before I even opened them up. Also, most of the paper reel bands didn't have strings and the prints were extremely loosely wound onto the cores! It was hell just babying them to a Goldberg split reel they were so loose...and I'm very comfortable with handling 6000' film rolls on a core.

Yes, Technicolor has definitely mastered the art of screwing up. When oh when will the hell end? I'm thinking Kodak needsa "DepotCheck" training system for these guys.

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Jim Ziegler
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 753
From: West Hollywood, CA
Registered: Jul 99

posted 11-26-1999 02:56 AM

Technicolor: The AMC of film depots...

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Bill Carter
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 162
From: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 11-26-1999 05:01 PM

Last Thursday night, Technicolor was late as usual delivering The Limey. None of the reels would hold together. All the leaders were spliced both sides, but three of the six had head and tail leaders reversed. All six reels had half a dozen deep scratches running through, non-stop. The last three reels looked as if they had been thrown off a platter, and untangled in the parking lot. More ground in dirt and abrasions over sound and picture than I have ever seen.

So, at about 1am Friday I'm leaving messages that I need a replacement print. Surprisingly, it arrived during the first show on Friday. It was in much better shape, but ALL SIX reels had head and tail leaders switched (who keeps doing this?) Plus, the attached trailer was gone, but someone had thoughtfully left the green band behind, spliced to the feature!

I don't know what I would have done, if I hadn't been taught to inspect everything!

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Mike Bianchi
Film Handler

Posts: 40
From: Independence, KY, USA
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 11-26-1999 05:05 PM

I'd rather see a return of the old tin shipping reels. They may have gotten warped but they never fell apart!

The only technicolor shipping reels that seem to stay together are the ones with the hole blocked for the turning peg. Of course they stay together...

I guy's it's Murphy's Law of Technicolor (or one of the many)

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Gordon McLeod
Film God

Posts: 9532
From: Toronto Ontario Canada
Registered: Jun 99

posted 11-27-1999 02:22 PM

Thankfully in Canada we don't have Technicolor delivery we used to have two film depots in Toronto
One and the largest is Victoria Film Service which now warehouses and mounts and junks all the 35 prints. The other was Universal and they were the best All prints were hand rewound and inspected and repaired
When you opened a Universal can each band had a sticker saying Head Up ready for Showing
or Tail up Ready for showing

And they meant ready for showing I regularly had screenings where we would put the head up shipping reel right on the machine and showit right onto another shipping reel with confidence that there would be changeover cues, leader in frame and a good print

Two months ago they closed there depot and now it has moved to Victoria Film service and even though they are better than what Technicolor sounds like they still arn't as good as Universal was.

Film shipping is handled by Mavety Cartage that is owned by Victoria film service and out of town prints go by greyhound> One of the reasons that the ELR reels haven't been implimented is that Greyhound Canada won't take them in bus cargo as they exceed federal regulations here

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George Roher
Master Film Handler

Posts: 266
From: Washington DC
Registered: Jul 99

posted 12-15-1999 11:07 PM

I had to build up a 7 reel feature for a screening the other night, and all 7 reels had the cores in wrong so the holes weren't aligned. Half of the reels were broken. Heads and tails were attached with masking tape, and the previous operator had used opaque tape to build the show. It was kind of TES to deliver the print the day of the show. They also delivered a print that's not playing until next week. Strange luck.

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Scott Ribbens
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 118
From: Los Angeles
Registered: Oct 1999

posted 12-16-1999 12:55 AM

Watch out George, TES will probably want that print that they delivered early back, so they can ship you the "new" one that you were supposed to get on the first day of the show.

------------------

Scott

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John Schulien
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 206
From: Chicago, IL, USA
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 08-30-2000 06:17 PM

Just to resurrect an old thread ...

I was amused at just how long projectionists have been complaining about defective shipping reels ...

Every operator should have a full supply of good reels for use in the machine and should never let these get out of his house. The reels furnished by the exchanges are often very bad and if perchance a real good one is sent out, some wide-awake operator will surely keep it.

- Motion Picture Operation, Horstmann and Tousley, Chicago: Fredrick J. Drake & Co. 1914.

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Scott Norwood
Film God

Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99

posted 08-30-2000 08:44 PM

I don't know what kind of shipping reels were in use in 1914 (1000' metal, perhaps?), but surely they were better than any of the three varieties of TES reels, right?

(Yes, I've used TES reels as take-ups and have lived to tell about it...some of them are OK...I still don't like them, though...I've gotten better reels from TES at second-run art houses than at the first run gigaplex.)

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 08-31-2000 02:58 AM

1914??? Wow, that sure is outdated information. I'll bet the authors never saw TES on the horizon.

Nostradomus may have predicted Adolf Hitler but even he couldn't predict TES and the horrors that accompany it.

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John Wilson
Film God

Posts: 5438
From: Sydney, Australia.
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 09-01-2000 04:42 AM

Imagine it...TES in 1914? That guy would still be waiting for his print.

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