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Author Topic: What's the most creative way you've seen a print destoryed? Bernard Tonks Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 619 From: Cranleigh, Surrey, England Registered: Apr 2001 posted 04-26-2003 08:24 AM                     A projectionist I knew managed to write off two newsreels. The Paramount News at the Roxy was shared with the Odeon almost opposite. The reel was being spooled up far too fast, and shot off the end of the rewinder into the fire water bucket. The 2nd time was even worse, shooting through the window into the high street below. Talking of sharing newsreels, two cinemas close to each other in Camden Town, fitted a steel curtain cable to transport the reel to each other. Must have been very reliable as I never did hear of any accidents or incidents.  |  IP: Logged Patrick McDonough Expert Film Handler Posts: 118 From: Greenfield Ma. Registered: Jul 2002 posted 04-26-2003 09:12 AM                     This didnt destroy the film but stupid non the less, our other projectionist cut out the green preview beginings to get out a few seconds sooner at night.  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 04-26-2003 05:44 PM                        We've got a film made by a Newcastle cine club that describes films being 'crossed over', reel by reel, between two cinemas by bicycle. This was while other reels of the feature were playing at both venues, so I dread to think what would have happened if the bicycle courier had sustained a puncture! As for tricks to get home early, the most frightening I ever came across was a Thursday evening procedure which a projectionist we'd taken on from a nearby cinema showed me about 6-7 years ago. It involved running the feature to a take-up plate until the join between the penultimate and final reel, and then physically cutting the film with a pair of scissors as the final reel join emerged from the bottom of the projector. She then very quickly attached the tail to a waiting 2,000 foot spool (which was already mounted on the projector's take-up spindle), the idea being to give her a 20-minute head start on taking apart the contents of the platter. Needless to say, I told her that we weren't doing that here!  |  IP: Logged Bernard Tonks Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 619 From: Cranleigh, Surrey, England Registered: Apr 2001 posted 04-26-2003 07:01 PM                     Leo wrote, quote: We've got a film made by a Newcastle cine club that describes films being 'crossed over', reel by reel, between two cinemas by bicycle... This was common in the old days, the last time it was done on a large scale was for the 1953 feature length Coronation, on the ABC circuit “Elizabeth Is Queen”, and on the Odeon & Gaumont circuits “A Queen Is Crowned”. I myself only experienced this a couple of times at the Playhouse, Hampstead on the Sunday morning Indian films. Fortunately I was the first showing, as every reel came off on the take-up plate, there was someone ready to do the ‘cross over’. Quite a task as Indian films were always 3 hours plus length. For historical interest, Technicolor prints always had on leaders, letter by letter on frames 'PROJECTIONIST PLEASE FOCUS'. On the “Queen Is Crowned” prints was also the following... 'GIVE IT THE WORKS MR PROJECTIONIST'. I seem to remember a note in the can to play the sound at a higher fader setting.  |  IP: Logged Daryl C. W. O'Shea Film God Posts: 3977 From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from) Registered: Jun 2002 posted 04-26-2003 07:20 PM                        I've never used a bicycle to 'cross over' prints since the 10-15 mile stretch done the highway would take a little too long. I have nearly missed arriving on time though... once I got stopped in a huge line up for a R.I.D.E. (Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere) check. When the officer asked me why I seemed so nervous, he quickly let me go when I told him my boss was going to kick my ass if I didn't make it to the other theatre in the next three minutes.  |  IP: Logged Brian Guckian Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 594 From: Dublin, Ireland Registered: Apr 2003 posted 04-26-2003 07:56 PM                     Greetings all, from the Emerald Isle...a few years ago I previewed a film made here called "Crushproof" (about teenage delinquents). A release print was flown in from the UK lab, and was conspicuously marked with the title. Well...let's just say it may have proved a challenge too far for the guys at the airport or the freight depot...we disposed of the remains and got a new print the next day! Best Brian  |  IP: Logged Daniel Fuentz Expert Film Handler Posts: 230 From: Fresno, CA, USA Registered: Apr 2003 posted 04-29-2003 03:52 AM                     RE: cutting off the green ratings from trailers, I had NEVER seen this done, until tonight! The trailers all ran together, like ads on TV. (This was my first time at a Cinemark theater. Surely this isn't common practice with them?)  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-29-2003 06:05 AM                        Cutting off the green bands is a standard policy at several chains. I know that AMC does this. Regal used to as well. I've never been to a Cinemark, so I wouldn't know what they do. I wouldn't mind it _if_ a) cutting of the green band never cut into the trailer soundtrack and b) the theatre always spliced in about 5-10 seconds of black leader between trailers instead of running them in rapid-fire mode.  |  IP: Logged Bill Langfield Master Film Handler Posts: 280 From: Prospect, NSW, Australia Registered: Apr 2001 posted 04-29-2003 10:34 AM                        Brian: Love the 'Crushproof' story!!! Did they lable the next print 'Handle Like Eggs' ? Leo: I miss the old days of 6000ft drops. Running to a 6k reel rather than the platter, then breaking the join at end reel 3 then taking up to another 6k reel. Bill.  |  IP: Logged John Wilson Film God Posts: 5438 From: Sydney, Australia. Registered: Dec 1999 posted 05-02-2003 08:26 AM                     Bill, don't you still do the Herron Drop at Cremorne?  |  IP: Logged Carl King Expert Film Handler Posts: 199 From: Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada Registered: Mar 2000 posted 05-02-2003 08:46 AM                     About 15 years ago I was working in a twin booth using two projectors in each house with 600' reels. Upon returning to the booth after a couple of days off I began to rewind the last 6000' reel of POINT BREAK that contained reels 4,5 and 6. When the tail of r6 showed up it was split straight down the middle from the tail splice all the way to the head splice. 2000' of film was split in two. I was not happy  |  IP: Logged Lindsay Morris Expert Film Handler Posts: 233 From: Darlington, WA, Australia Registered: Sep 2002 posted 05-03-2003 11:55 PM                     When I was just starting out in the cinema scene as a rather raw recruit in 1960 we had a film delivered to the cinema with one reel presented as a tangled up mess in a big cardboard box. The prints were shipped to the cinema (The Melody at Rockingham south of Perth in WA) by the local carrier and one trunk had fallen over onto its side. Somehow all the jolting over the rough road managed to let the reels out. They were sliding all over the tray of the truck which had a wire mesh side and rear with canvas over the top. One reel was caught up by the turbulence of the truck movement and the film began to unravel from the spool and trail out of the rear of the truck flapping in the breeze as it drove along. An overtaking vehicle flagged down the truck and the perplexed truckie wondered how he would get ALL that film back onto the reel which had unwound about 3/4 of the spool. So he just dumped the reel into a big cardboard box he had on board and hauled in the film hanging out the back.. all dragging on the road as well and left the lot at the cinema for us to sort out. We had one hell of time getting it all untangled and back onto the reel for the show that night and then checking it for "show stopping" type of damage and a clean as best we could with carbon tetra-chloride from the pump type fire extinguisher in the bio box. On the screen it was not that bad with lots of random scratches and some pretty big gouges down to the base and we just sent it back with a note telling the story and heard no more about it. In those days there were not that many prints about so I guess the next cinema copped that reel as it was. Lindsay  |  IP: Logged Bill Langfield Master Film Handler Posts: 280 From: Prospect, NSW, Australia Registered: Apr 2001 posted 05-04-2003 02:50 PM                        John, In mainstream like Hoyts, which I just quit, (see post in 'A Few Good Men'), there are so many prints going around, they don't really seem to care when they are ready for pickup. But with Art House, well, we often need the print ready to go within the shortest time after screening so we can send it to YOU or you to US! (you know what I mean) At Cremorne, No they have never done it (Herron Drop) since I've been there. Were you doing it when you were there? That said, Brett created the Brett Drop a few weeks ago, seems the take-up rollers on the speco in C#5 ran all the to the top at thread-up and jammed there. So when the show started, the take plate had no reason to spin, the rollers did not drop to the projector cut-off/film-break microswitches, so an hour later he created the Brett Drop, by simply breaking the film coming out of the projector and taking the rest of the movie up on a spare plate. His version has the on screen show never missing a beat, but Hmmmmmm. His clean up would have been fun, but I've cleaned up at least 60 minutes of similar stuff ups. And complete dropped prints (Neither, were my fault, they were call-outs for a place I no longer work for - see above!) But I do dread walking into a projection room I have not not checked since feature start, to find the lot on the floor) However I have already had my fair share of film all over the floor of my own to deal with, in the past. Bill.  |  IP: Logged System Notices Forum Watchdog / Soup Nazi Posts: 215 Registered: Apr 2004 posted 08-20-2004 09:53 AM                 It has been 473 days since the last post.  |  IP: Logged Jason M Miller Master Film Handler Posts: 284 From: Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA Registered: Jul 2004 posted 08-20-2004 09:53 AM                     The worst brain wrap(if you want to call it that) was when one of our training projectionist had just started the village and but forgot to take out a splice marker (we use a wooden ring) which of course could not go through the brain, lets just say it was bad, we had to take a nice section out of a trailer, lucky none of the movie was damaged.  |  IP: Logged

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