Topic Closed

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

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Film Handlers' Forum   » Hey you, you suck! (AKA: Outing bad film handlers) (Page 8)

This topic comprises 100 pages: 1  2  3  ...  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  ...  98  99  100

Author Topic: Hey you, you suck! (AKA: Outing bad film handlers) Sean McKinnon Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1712 From: Peabody Massachusetts Registered: Sep 2000 posted 02-01-2003 02:14 AM                        Grrrr. That makes me frustrated. There is no such policy that customers cannot get passes or that you have to wait until the bulb goes out to change it. I am dissapointed.  |  IP: Logged Gracia L. Babbidge Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 709 From: Bowdoin, Maine Registered: Aug 2000 posted 02-01-2003 03:37 AM                        A few weeks ago, I built up a print of Bowling For Columbine ... according to the stickers on the cans, it has shipped out of the Eveningstar Cinema in the Tontine Mall in Brunswick, directly to my theatre. That print was unbelievably dirty! As well as an interesting mix of heads & tails out. It gave me a really nasty feeling when handling the edges of the film whilst making the splices. *shudders* It left my booth in a cleaner, more orderly state than in which it arrived! ...and I was quite sure that the Eveningstar has a changeover booth... makes me curious to go down there & see if I can take a peek at their booth!  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-01-2003 06:18 AM                        So has anyone here received a print from the "Princess II" yet? (see an old thread in Yak)  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 02-01-2003 02:50 PM                     Not personally Scott, but I hear they have done some upgrades there and installed a Cine Gong.  |  IP: Logged John T. Hendrickson, Jr Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 889 From: Freehold, NJ, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 02-07-2003 08:52 PM                     I am citing Lowes Freehold Multiplex 14 in Freehold, NJ. This morning I received print #594 of Chicago from that theatre. I knew I was in trouble from the moment I opened the cans, when seven reels sans film bands greated me, leaders taped down with heavy masking tape. The heads and tails were taped on every reel- not spliced, and the splicing tape was not removed. Okay, par for the course so far. It gets better! There were NO DTS discs enclosed. Bench inspection turned up damage to the SDDS track along the edges- not a problem for me, since we do not have SDDS, but what about the next guy? Also, scuffing on the emulsion side of the print inside the sprockets on the non-soundtrack side (all reels). I suspect this print had been run on a system with a roller that was not spinning freely. I could not detect damage using a magnifying glass and hoped I was home free. WRONG! Detected slight vertical "speckling" on the right side of the screen on the very first run. Would the average patron notice? I doubt it. Would I? You bet! I called the theatre in question, identified myself, and spoke to the manager on duty. I told him about the mising DTS discs and he called the booth, and sure enough, they still had them. I asked him how they were going to get them to me. (their theatre is about 11 miles away). I was told that they could not spare anyone, but he would call the managing director. Got a call back a short time later from the same manager and was asked if we would pick the discs up. I told him that we could not spare someone and that it was not our responsibility. He then offered to call TES to ask what they should do! I also asked him if they had trouble with their SDDS presentation. Surprise, surprise!! They were not running it in SDDS- something wrong with the print. You bet. It's called FILM DAMAGE!!! Unfortunately, it was not until later that I discovered the speckling when we ran the print for the first show. I called TES and told them about the missing discs. They said they would get discs out to us right away. As of 6:15 PM, EST, when I left the theatre, no discs had been delivered, and I doubt we'll see them until tomorrow. In the meantime, our customers get treated to analog sound in a DTS house on a Friday night. Thanks a bunch, Freehold Lowes.  |  IP: Logged Evans A Criswell Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1579 From: Huntsville, AL, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 02-07-2003 10:14 PM                        I just attended a showing of "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" at the local Regal Madison Square 12 in auditorium 8. When the machine was started, a scope commercial was played with the flat aperture and lens. When the flat material started, the image lacked a foot touching the bottom of the screen (all the way across) and it went at least that far above the top masking onto the top drapes. A few minutes into the show, tape was put on the port glass to block the top overthrow. The operator fiddled with the framing to try to adjust the bottom edge problem. We all know that didn't work. I wondered, how long had it been that way? I hadn't seen an image out of alignment that far in a long time.  |  IP: Logged Philip Duquette Film Handler Posts: 4 From: gilford NH, USA Registered: Jan 2003 posted 02-08-2003 02:49 AM                     I see a lot of post about "problems" from "bad" theaters. Everybody talks about how not to break down a film. About this horrible experience and that. Great... now I know how to not properly break down a print. But it doesn't do any good for the person trying to figure out what is considered proper. I was taught from a manager, who was taught from a manager, who was...etc, you get the picture. So masking tape has been used, splicing tape not removed, and I'm sure that damage was done to more than one print for the sake of these problems. With that said, No yelling please, you're asking people to change, who are probably doing it the "right way to them", but not showing the right way, only expressing the wrong way. So to make one less person a problem...and a long overdue question... What is the proper directions to break down a print. Not the "thread the film through this pulley" way, but when you open a used print, what would you concider to be good practice. Another question....if you don't use masking tape to tape the leader down to the leader, than what do you use? It comes from the distributor with masking (probably artist...I'm learning) tape holding the leader down, doesn't it? And the protective paper, keep it...even though it says disregard after use, or trash it. Sorry to keep the post so long.....but goodness....everybody is complaining,and not fixing. Also I couldn't find "Break down" in the TIPS section.  |  IP: Logged Tim Turner Film Handler Posts: 87 From: Chula Vista, CA, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 02-08-2003 10:46 AM                     I agree with you Philip. I myself was originally trained by the other projectionist working in the booth. Whatever they showed me I took it as being the right and only way. But when I came here I see how much I lack really good formal training. We use masking tape at my theater also, mainly to use as lables for trailers, and while breaking down prints. The problem with masking tape I can see is that when it gets really old it may leave behind residue on the film, but we don't keep or use film long enough for that to happen. And I really don't know why used prints come with yellow markings on the sides of the splicing tape. But anyway thats why I love this website. There is so much information here that I never learned by training the booth,It has made me better at what I do. I'm really shocked at how smart all these guys are. I wish I had some real formal training, I always have a desire to learn more and more. And this site has been a good influence on me. I may not do everything right, but I do think I'm a little better than most of the other projectionist working at other theaters in my area. I can tell just by thier presentations.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-08-2003 11:59 AM                        Tim, I wish there was a way for you to contact all the other projectionists who haven't had formal training and point them to film-tech! You're obviously someone who cares about presentation and is willing to learn and adapt when a better idea comes along.  |  IP: Logged Mathew Molloy Master Film Handler Posts: 357 From: The Santa Cruz Mountains Registered: Nov 2000 posted 02-09-2003 12:49 AM                     The "TIPS" section of Film-Tech explains the proper way to build up a print and also describes to some extent how it is expected to be broken down. In a nutshell, be sure you remove all the cues and tape from the print. When reattaching heads and tails do so with easy to remove splicing tape with the splicer. Depending on your preference tape just one side or both sides. Once the reel is completely rewound, and the print has paper reel bands, be sure to tuck one end of the band under approximately 6" of the end of the film and wind the string around and wrap the string around the grommet about three times, tucking the rest of the string down the side of the reel. If no reel bands be sure to use a good 6" or so of UNUSED tape (preferrably artist's tape) to tape the end down. It is common courtesy to write the reel number, whether it is a head or a tail and the aspect ratio and sound format(s). For example: ADAPTATION - HEAD REEL 1 OF 6 - 1.85 - DTS/SRD/SDDS Many of these techniques are discussed ad nauseum here on the forum and new film-techers should just go through past posts and read, read, read...IMHO! I just received two prints of Adaptation from two different theatres here in L.A... Neither theatre attached the heads and tails correctly, neither did they attach the reel ends with new tape (small pieces of old masking tape or whatever was laying around on the floor so it was spaghetti-time) and neither theatre knew how to cut a fade to black properly! - one left too much black, one cut too much off. One of the prints was badly platter scratched and the ends of the reels were taped 'off center' to the core of the reel damaging a good 4inches or so of film. Brad, I'd suggest adding to the tips section a 'how-to' cut fade ins, outs. I also think that any print that has these should either have an obvious lab mark or a note in the can as there's way too many new guys who don't know how or even realize that it matters.  |  IP: Logged Philip Duquette Film Handler Posts: 4 From: gilford NH, USA Registered: Jan 2003 posted 02-09-2003 05:29 AM                     The "nutshell" was great. Thanks Mathew.  |  IP: Logged Tim Turner Film Handler Posts: 87 From: Chula Vista, CA, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 02-09-2003 11:10 AM                     Well just to be on topic. I remember building two films with strange problems. One was Hook. The movie came with absolutly no Leaders or Tails nor paper bands. The only thing marking which Reel was which, were written on the plastic reel holders. And those are usually wrong because the markings are usually left over from other prints longer before. But I just had to trust it and rely on my knowlege of each scene of the movie when I looked at the frames. Then to make it worst the film was really old, and I had to handle it like rice paper because it was so easy to rip by mistake. Is that due to bad storage of the film? Then another time I built Charlie and the Chocolat Factory, that movie was like rice paper too. And while I was building up I noticed that in one of the reels the film slowly started to fold over until it was upsidedown! I didn't notice it until I went to attach the next reel. And then when I built up Shanghai Knights....reels 5-7 had the wrong paper bands.  |  IP: Logged Jason Black Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1723 From: Myrtle Beach, SC, USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 02-09-2003 11:56 AM                        Being a first run location, we rarely get cicuited prints, unless it happnes to be the random pre-opening sneak that gets sent back only to open, of course, either the upcoming Friday or the following Friday. We did, however, get a recently ciruited print of "Chicago" from the TES's fine delivery service. It appears, according to the labeling, that this print (1127) came to us from the Town and Country 4 Theatre in Lumberton, NC . Here's a YOU SUCK!!! to the person responsible for breaking down the aforementioned print. The print came in with loads of masking tape holding the heads/tails on. Also, the break down person was nice enough to incoude two of their trailers with the print! Not only did we get an unexpected two trailers, we recieved them attahced to the print with masking tape, of course. How else would one expect to "piece" the film together were it not for the glorious invention of MASKING TAPE. Luckily, the one thing they did do right was to leave only 1 ID frame for reference. Also, for anyone out there playing Chicago, watch out for REEL 1 - Print 1717 as the original reel has no SR-D encoding. I found out the hard way, as told in my Murphy's Law thread. End of rant, on to work.  |  IP: Logged Mathew Molloy Master Film Handler Posts: 357 From: The Santa Cruz Mountains Registered: Nov 2000 posted 02-09-2003 07:37 PM                     I did a union gig at a theater on Bainbridge Island in Washington State that leaves all the trailers on when shipping them out. Aint that nice? Tim, older films on acetate stock, especially when stored in warm/dry condtions break/tear easily. When inspecting these prints you have to be real careful not to let the small tears in the sprockets catch on your fingers or gloves as it'll tear right through the film. I've found that these older prints will run just fine with the slight tears in the sprockets on a limited run. I think it's better not to try to fix 'em up with a bunch of splice tape that will cause a ton of focus-shifts. I've got an old cartoon - all of the sprockets are torn on one side (however none are missing) but it runs just fine - you'd never know except for a few visible marks on that side of the picture. And it tears really easy! In the past I've received a few prints missing heads and tails. I would suggest 1) get another print or 2) find someone who knows the film like the back of their hand to help figure out the order. Then if you have time, run it to make sure it's right. In some cases rental fees will be reduced if the distributer is told of these problems and what you've done to fix them. Remember, when you do ship a print like that out and you have figured out the correct order, please, please, PLEASE add heads and tails, labeled correctly with a note stating that all the originals were missing. I always keep the heads and tails I remove from trailers for cases like this. You should live by the rule that you always ship a print out in as good as if not better condtion than when you received it. Sorry my last couple posts have trailed from the HEY YOU SUCK banner. Just want to be sure to answer the questions being asked.  |  IP: Logged Joseph D. Olson Film Handler Posts: 26 From: Seattle, WA, USA Registered: Jun 2002 posted 02-12-2003 04:14 AM                        In reference to a post earlier on... I'm usually pretty excited to see that whomever tore down a print before I recieved it used masking tape instead of splicing tape. It is many of the big chain's policy to cut out frames with splicing tape instead of removing it. So, every time a print moves, it loses two frames per reel. At this rate, if a print moves six times, it loses twelve frames at the beginning and end of each reel and the reference frames no longer match their on-reel counterparts. I like the masking tape just fine, thanks. Of course, this is all redundant information, as I've discovered by browsing the more recent threads, but all the same. I'd prefer they use masking tape for heads and tails.  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 100 pages: 1  2  3  ...  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  ...  98  99  100

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.