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Author Topic: Green Bands on Trailers John Hawkinson Film God Posts: 2273 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 04-16-2008 02:26 AM                     Glancing through our trailer inventory database (which doesn't consistently have years of titles), it looks like scope trailers became prevalent around 1989, though the oldest one I ran across is for Barbarella (1968). One imagines that before platters, there was every reason to run all trailers in flat (for the trailer reel) and there was no reason to have scope trailers. --jhawk  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 04-16-2008 04:45 AM                        We remain change-over to this day (and on three screens too), and so we are able to retain that old protocol of always changing from the Attraction Reel to a wider screen for the Features, even when running only 1.85 or believe it or not, 1.66 flat Features -- when we do allot of. When scope trailers first showed up, I remember saying, "How useless is this!" The whole sacrosanct concept of going from a smaller screen for attractions (1.37) to a wider screen was part and parcel of the whole deal, with a curtain and mask move in between. A scope trailer just screws up the whole works -- so much so that we've axed scope trailers when we couldn't get a flat replacement. For certain old-style protocols like ours, they are just really annoying.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-16-2008 05:26 AM                        quote: John Hawkinson One imagines that before platters, there was every reason to run all trailers in flat (for the trailer reel) and there was no reason to have scope trailers. Unless the theatre has top masking for scope, which I have seen in several 1950s conversions. Obviously, no one would want to see the screen get smaller for the feature....  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 04-16-2008 10:57 AM                     That didn't stop Cinemark in the late 80s. Believe me, LOTS of people would come out of the auditoriums angry because "the curtains fell and are covering up half of the image" along with similar complaints. Nobody knew technically why it was happening, they just knew they didn't like it.  |  IP: Logged Thomas Pitt Master Film Handler Posts: 266 From: Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK Registered: May 2007 posted 04-16-2008 03:19 PM                     And that doesn't stop UK cinemas from having top masking, even today! The Leeds Light cinema still uses fixed-width screens with top masking, meaning the image shrinks significantly when changing over to scope! I've seen it many times, the ads and trailers in flat and then the screen shrinking for the movie. In fact, before going to see a movie there, I like to check on Film-Tech's Feature Info forum to see if it's a flat or scope film. If it's scope, I sit slightly lower than I would normally so that when the screen 'falls down', it's more centered to my vision  |  IP: Logged Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 04-16-2008 03:22 PM                    I stopped playing flat trailers on scope movies that were in our smaller houses (which had top moveable masking) for that very reason. We had some studios call to complain, but we told them we were getting frequent complaints from our customers (which we were), and if they could send me a scope version, I'll be glad to put it on. When complaining to me didn't work, the studios would complain to our corporate office, and then we would get a rash of shit for it. But our GM was well aware of the problem and he was ok with what we were doing. He was tired of the customer complaints too. After several months of calling every studio on Friday morning and saying "if you want your trailer on this movie, you'll send me a scope version" we started getting scope trailers on a more and more regular basis. This was around 1990 or 1991. [ 04-16-2008, 05:39 PM: Message edited by: Mark J. Marshall ]  |  IP: Logged Patrick Dunn Expert Film Handler Posts: 120 From: newark, DE, United states Registered: Aug 2005 posted 04-21-2008 11:27 PM                        I hate sitting in a theater that has the masking that falls from the ceiling for scope. Just about every auditorium in the cinimark near me has one and some of the ones in the regal by my house have them. After the first look crap we have to sit through and the movie is about to start the top curtain starts falling, than the screen looks like it is too low for the theater. And at my theater we don't cut off the green band, but my boss said only leave about 10 frames of black at most in between trailers since if you leave all of the black in people trying to find a seat will have as much light as possible, even though the lights are left up high enough during trailers. I usually count in a few frames from the tail so no sound from the previous trailer is carrying into the green band of the next, and cut in a few frames away from the green band on the next trailer.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-21-2008 11:53 PM                        quote: Patrick Dunn my boss said only leave about 10 frames of black at most in between trailers since if you leave all of the black in people trying to find a seat will have as much light as possible, even though the lights are left up high enough during trailers. 10 frames is less than half a second. Boss notwithstanding, that's not good showmanship. You need a break between the trailers. You're not running a TV station. I like to leave in as much black as possible, so there's a good 2 - 4 seconds from the fadeout of one trailer to the green band of the next.  |  IP: Logged Robert LaValley Expert Film Handler Posts: 104 From: Tampa, FL Registered: May 2007 posted 04-22-2008 12:17 AM                     I totally agree on doing at least a two second fade between trailers. The theatre I am at now has an odd policy to have me just leave the first trailers green band on and cut the second and third trailer green bands off. We never run more then three trailers per show, still though I found this an odd practice but too each his own.  |  IP: Logged Kurt Zupin Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 989 From: Maricopa, Arizona Registered: Oct 2004 posted 04-22-2008 02:16 AM                     The company I work for now has a policy of no Green bands or Blue Bands ever to see the screen. I like it and think that the trailers flow better and has a better presention. It also looks more "neat"  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 04-22-2008 02:31 AM                     What I do also - leave the green on the 1st trailer, then whack off the green on the others and leave the black at the end.. agree - makes the pak flow smoother and it seems to hasten the trailer time as well.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 04-22-2008 11:52 AM                     As hectic and fast as trailers are cut together lately, inparticular the way some trailers these days end and then show more clips, followed by the next one starting and going for awhile before the studio logo pops up, I feel the green bands are a good dividing marker and help the pacing of the trailers. I don't like them all slammed up together like television commercials (no green bands).  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 04-22-2008 11:57 AM                     quote: Kurt Zupin The company I work for now has a policy of no Green bands or Blue Bands ever to see the screen. I like it and think that the trailers flow better and has a better presention. It also looks more "neat" It's one thing to say it "flows better" but come on; better presentation!? That's a pretty dubious statement at best.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-22-2008 02:45 PM                        quote: Kurt Zupin It also looks more "neat" It might look "neat" but it sure won't sound neat if you're cutting off the first second or two of sound when you cut those green bands off.  |  IP: Logged Thomas Pitt Master Film Handler Posts: 266 From: Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK Registered: May 2007 posted 04-22-2008 03:22 PM                     If you have no black at all between the trailers, you'll often see a noticeable splice mark on the screen - plus the sound cut-off problem that Mike Blakesley mentioned. I've seen it happen in a few cinemas; they actually cut off the tail of the trailer before it's started to fade out and go straight onto the next one (minus BBFC card)! TV networks in the UK used to have a few frames of black between each commercial during the breaks. This has now been eliminated - whether due to technological advances or management decisions I don't know, but it often makes it hard to distinguish where one commercial ends and the next one starts! I can imagine how that would look to a cinema audience... like a 6-minute trailer!  |  IP: Logged

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