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Author Topic: Hey you, you suck! (AKA: Outing bad film handlers) Travis Hubrig Expert Film Handler Posts: 175 From: Minot ND, USA Registered: May 2003 posted 06-02-2003 09:39 PM                     I have read many good points, except I haven't seen anything about shipping reels. Here it is: The distributers are terrible with the reels and it seems that many theatres are worse. It must get expensive to replace the shipping reels when they become damaged, because I have seen new prints wrecked from broken reels. I urge any projectionists to be extra careful with the reels when plattering and storing the reels during the run. I have also received many new prints in film cans that are dirtier than an ash tray- (WHEN BREAKING FILM DOWN, MAKE SURE THE INSIDE OF THE CAN IS CLEAN AND FREE OF DUST AND DEBRIS!!!) The theatre I work at gets 99% First-run, and I would rather make-up a new film than chance getting a 2nd-run that is trashed with masking tape or even scratches... I feel for all of you that are not fortunate enough to always receive first run... hopefully you will some of our prints and be pleased with the condition... -------------------- Travis Hubrig Complex Manager Cine 7 North Minot ND 58701 hubr@ndak.net  |  IP: Logged Aaron Garman Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1470 From: Toledo, OH USA Registered: Mar 2003 posted 06-03-2003 01:58 AM                     Hello all. I have not broken a print down in awhile, but when I have recently, I have been splicing the heads and tails back on. When I was trained, all they told me to do was use masking tape. At the time, I saw no problem. Who cared about the next guy? Of course, I learned more and more, and read this wonderful site. Now, I use splicing tape when breaking down. Everyone at works thinks I'm wasting time and that it is NOT necessary to do this. I think it is. Like Brad said, masking tape is just unprofessional. We are a first run place, so we do not get many used prints. However, I would feel more confident getting a print that had the heads and tails spliced on rather than with some stinkin masking tape! Maybe one day theatre owners will MANDATE membership with and regular visits to Film-Tech for projectionists.  |  IP: Logged Brian Zeisler Film Handler Posts: 39 From: West Chicago, IL, USA Registered: Jun 2002 posted 06-04-2003 06:34 AM                     to Dan Lyons: i used to work for amc 30 cantera in warrenville il. they made the mistake of buying out a union theater chain. now the union has a say on how they get to run the booth. so what they (amc) did to comply with the union and to save $money$, is that they made all there projectionist part-timers and threw a bunch of popcorn-shovelers with a whopping 1 day of training up there and said "HERE, GET TO WORK!!!" to brad (who quoted): There simply MUST be a place for a splicer and it MUST be in a position to facilitate proper and easy use. sorry to say this and no offence intended, but..... GET A F##KING CLUE!!!! i have used strong equipment for years now and have never had a problem finding a place to "facilitate proper and easy use". when you are building up, you have more-than-enough space to work on the make-up table. or be bold and do the splicing on the platter. and when you're tearing-down, same thing, do your buisness on the platter or on top of the reel. i have worked for a lot of different theaters, all of which use platters, and all of them have the same "problems". all of these "problems" took about 2 whole seconds to remedy now dont get me wrong, i fully apreciate all the help over the years, but you need to do a little more research before you go repeatedly bitching up a storm about something as minor as this.  |  IP: Logged Sean McKinnon Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1712 From: Peabody Massachusetts Registered: Sep 2000 posted 06-04-2003 06:43 AM                        FYI... Splicing on the platter deck is not a reccomended practice for "Film Done Right" as it will damage the platter by a. scratching it, and b. bending it. As Brad stated the current design of the strong MUT is kind of a pain. I prefer to leave the splicer on a chair next to the table and just pick it up when I need it. oh... and I believe that Brad does have a clue seeing as he is a very qualified tech and also invented Filmguard. (I just noticed I am now A Jedi Master! Yay it only took me 2 and a half years! )  |  IP: Logged Brian Zeisler Film Handler Posts: 39 From: West Chicago, IL, USA Registered: Jun 2002 posted 06-04-2003 07:01 AM                     im not doubting brad's booth-tech ability and im sure that he is more than capable to handle any problem in the booth that arises. but also im not saying to apply the full weight of your body when splicing on a platter deck. im saying to place the splicer on the deck and lift the front-end up slightly while clamping together the cutter end at the same time. thereby preventing unneedy scratches and at the sametime preventing bending and warping of the platter all-the-while having a very convenient place to due your buisness while building or tearing down. i also use film-guard on a regular basis.  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 06-04-2003 09:00 AM                    There is no reason that MUT could not be redesigned slightly to create a work area capable of holding a splicer. Yes, people make do and there is certainly a degree of "you get what you pay for" in this but a bit more sheet metal for a longer table or at the vary least an add-on shelf at the front isn't going to set the maker or the buyer back very much. Not there aren't other improvements it could stand such as perhaps a vertical feed reel orientation to eliminate spills (less of an issue on the take up side). Brian: Are you saying that 110 now runs the two pre-existing Chicagoland AMC's?  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 06-04-2003 09:26 AM                     Brian, you need to read the FAQ before you post again. Also, I have used Strong platters more than enough and know what a major pain the design of the mut is. Having to splice on the deck wastes time and leads to more unnecessary handling at the splices. It also brings about the chances for scratching the decks, warping the platters and most importantly, launching a splicer across the room by accident. (Seen it happen!) If you take a look at the Strong mut, all that needed to be done was to move the drive spindle over to the right about 2 inches either by relocating the mount inside the existing table (room permitting) or widening the table by 2 inches. As it is now, trying to fit a Neumade splicer between a 2000' reel and the roller assembly is a damned tight fit with maybe 1/8 of an inch clearance assuming the back edge of the splicer is on the very edge of the table. I've seen the splicer go falling off the backside onto the floor during breakdown due to the shaking. Also, there was no need to place the supply shaft where the operator's crotch needs to be during a properly controlled breakdown. It's like Strong kicking you in the nuts repeatedly, all the while laughing at you for buying their platter. Sure it "hauls ass" in regards to speed, but if speed is your #1 priority, you need to get out of the booth and go work the concession stand. Now remember what I said about reading that FAQ? Go do it before you make further comments or it will be your last.  |  IP: Logged Christopher Seo Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 530 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: Jun 99 posted 06-04-2003 10:55 AM                     Yes, everything Brad said above. For breakdown, I usually just squeeze the splicer into the space on the top of the Strong MUT, and a nasty scraping sound upon starting up the shipping reel will tell me if I don't have enough clearance. Splicing on the platter is simply a nuisance; even if the print to be broken down is on the reachable middle deck (which therefore means you have to slow that speed-demon MUT down to a snail's pace if a film is paying out below), platter splicing means you have to rethread the tail leader for the next reel through the 5 million MUT rollers, wasting valuable time. And yes, that feed arm really does make it a pain to break down. Moving it to the other side of the MUT would be an improvement on all counts.... It would be out of the way for breakdown, and you could easily switch a reel from motorized shaft to clutched shaft if you needed to stop and go back. The arm wouldn't need to extend out as far either, as it could overlap with the area allotted to the motorized spindle.  |  IP: Logged Brian Guckian Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 594 From: Dublin, Ireland Registered: Apr 2003 posted 06-05-2003 10:32 PM                     Brad, at the risk of dragging up old stuff, you've hit the nail on the head re. the breakdown speed issue. Over here, it's a badge of honour how fast you can break down a print, and whilst I admire the skilled guys who can do it, I think it sets a bad precedent. It's like : "If you can't have this done in 20 mins you're not good enough", whereas I was always trained to do it properly and take enough time. Also in my experience some of the newer distribution companies in this part of the world are just as bad - they tend to have little understanding of projection practices and thus put operators under ridiculous pressures ("Get film X broken down, the courier will be there in 45 mins to pick it up") and so on. We don't have to worry about masking tape; it's standard (mis)practice to leave all leaders loose in the cans  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 06-05-2003 11:02 PM                     It's nothing more than a matter of "downtime", that being the time the mut is not spinning. Leaders should be ready and already placed on the splicer while the reel is being pulled off onto the reel. Once the splice is found, the leader is rejoined and the next reel started. During the winding time other things can be done, such as preparing the next reel and it's leaders, mounting the reel band on the reel you just finished or bagging the reels in plastic liners before placing them back in the dirty cans. It's that downtime that the operator has the most control over. This is where marking the reels with a "fill line", using oversized takeup rings and using a platter clutch comes in as a huge timesaver. Otherwise you are sitting there for the entire winding time "braking" the platter and having to run the mut at a lower speed to be able to maintain the same amount of control while feeling for the splices. (This is, assuming you don't want to damage the print by letting the deck free-spin.)  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 06-13-2003 01:59 AM                        Here's a new one: I got a print of "Together" today, apparently from the "Ritz at the Bourse" in Philadelphia, PA (or possibly some intermediate theatre) where the leaders were simply wound around the reels and not attached at all. Of course, the soundtrack was flipped on half of the reels. As much as I hate leaders that are attached with masking tape, this was much worse. Whoever was the first to platter this print also felt the need to leave two reference frames on each head and tail leader. For added fun, someone didn't bother to use the reel bands (and apparently threw them out, since they weren't even in the bottom of the cans), so the film was a tangled mess when it arrived. Better yet, someone felt the need to use non-removable yellow crap (paint marker?) along the edge of the film to mark the reel changes. Film done wrong! Oddly enough, someone actually did use Filmguard on this print.  |  IP: Logged John Hawkinson Film God Posts: 2273 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 06-19-2003 06:22 PM                     ETS Print #8001 ("Select") of Animatrix Compilation Opus (shorts). Came to us from ETS Chicago. R2-R6 heads cut late, to the tune of 6-8 "ID" frames. R1-R5 tail cut early by about 7 seconds, ignoring the terminal fade to black. Most cut about about 1sec after the lab motor cue. R1-R5 hand-scribed with cues ~7 seconds before the lab motor cue (presumably it was thought to be the lab changeover cue). Some hand cues scribed over lab motor cues, others scribed a few frames away. Oh, and R1's 7-second early scribed motor cue was doubled, as well as accompanied by full frame-height scratch marks, as if somehow the presence of two hand-scribed cues was insufficient. In lab-land (TES), only R3 cared to mention the A/R was scope. One might expect double vigilence for animation where it can be more difficult to tell by inspection... --jhawk  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 06-20-2003 07:56 AM                        jhawk wrote: quote: In lab-land (TES), only R3 cared to mention the A/R was scope. One might expect double vigilence for animation where it can be more difficult to tell by inspection... AFAIK, in almost all cases, "flat" (1.85:1 aspect ratio) animated features will be hard matted with thick framelines. "Scope" animation will always have very thin framelines, with the image greater than 0.690 inches high.  |  IP: Logged David Favel Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 764 From: Ashburton, New Zealand Registered: Feb 2002 posted 06-30-2003 06:28 PM                     This is the third print I have recieved ex USA (print # unknown where lab splices have been taped over, not removed, but just spliced. Is this normal in some places?  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 06-30-2003 08:27 PM                        If a lab splice is on the frame line, I tape over it. If it's not on the frame line, I remove that frame.  |  IP: Logged

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