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I agree, carrying made-up platter rolls is not ideal, but I am running a projection department, not a film archive. We handle prints as carefully as our equipment will allow, but this does impose limitations.

One of our three projection boxes has no make-up table, and so we have no choice but to carry fully made-up prints over there (we normally run them in one of the other screens first, to ensure that they're wound tight enough to minimise the risk of the collar falling out). Believe me, hauling a 15,000ft feature up and down twisting staircases and down 300 yards of corridors is not my idea of a fun-packed Friday morning.

When the City Council's health and safety officer visited some months ago, I invited him to carry 'Magnolia' (10 or 11 long reels) to screen 3. By the time he got to the bottom of the first staircase the poor bloke was puffing and panting like he was about to have a heart attack. So I take JP's point about the problem not just affecting women, though I would still argue that it is more likely to affect women more often.

Anyway, the Health and Safety officer insisted that a make-up table be provided for projection box 3 - only to be vetoed by the fire brigade on the grounds that the only place it could be located would block a fire exit and thus breach fire regulations. So the '16 tons' ritual continues.

It could be worse... we could be running 70mm in there.

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I know that having to move a built up roll between platters is a "fact of life" in most theatres. I agree that done carefully, the risk of damage to the print is probably less than breaking it down and making it up again.

My point was that if prints are moved, it should be done with care for the film, and concern for the health and safety of the people moving them. The best method is to let the film wind up on a solid platter disk or "doughnut". (AFAIK, units are sold by companies like Kelmar and Goldberg), and then to have TWO people carefully move the fully supported roll between platters. Moving an unsupported roll risks cinching, dishing, and perhaps spilling the entire roll on the floor. Trying to slip clamps or a "cookie sheet" under the roll after it has wound up on a platter risks edge damage. Trying to move an unwieldy full roll without help is very risky to both the film and the health/safety of the person doing it.

Sadly, there are too many "horror stories" of damaged films and personal injury when trying to move prints incorrectly. For examples, see the thread "projectionist nightmare" started by Scott McFly on 08/11/2000.

BTW, if the built-up roll is being stored off the platter, be sure to cover it, to protect it from dirt and damage.

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com

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*flexes some muscles* Then again, I worked for several months unloading trucks, and thus built up more strength than I already possessed! (And my mom didn't raise me to be a wimp!)

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...It now escapes me where I heard that. d'oh! >_<
I may be enough of a brute that I can move heavy stuff around easily, but at the same time, I'm an artist at heart. It shows in my eye for detail, in my hands with their delicate touch, and in my patience for tedious tasks.
Too, it never hurts if you're able to cope with being isolated from people, and able to cope with people thinking that you're crazy for liking being hidden away in the "dungeon"!

My earlier point wasn't intended to be in any way sexist; rather, I was making an observation based on a specific problem which the only female projectionist I've ever worked with had. I tell all the projection staff I am responsible for, male and (if there were any here) female, that they should only lift weights that they feel comfortable with, and to enlist help if they don't.

You may think this is out of concern and respect for my colleagues - well, OK, but there's another reason: if they do any of their backs in, I'll end up having work hours and hours of (probably unpaid) overtime. Besides, if anyone drops the collar out of a 15,000ft print, I'm buggered if I'm winding it up off the floor!