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

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Film Handlers' Forum   » Looking to improve a bad house (Page 2)

This topic comprises 3 pages: 1  2  3

Author Topic: Looking to improve a bad house Chris Trainor Expert Film Handler Posts: 161 From: Greenville, RI, USA Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-21-2003 03:16 AM                        I didn't notice anyone respond about the static/brainwrap issue. At my theater we would spray FilmGuard on a rag and wipe down the print with it after it was built on the platter. The filmguard helped cut down on static a lot. We would do this generally once a week with each print in our two smaller houses (main house had a cleaner applying filmguard on every run so it wasn't needed there). See if you can get your manager to spring for a bottle of the stuff, it works great... even if you don't have an actual film cleaner. --Chris  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 11-21-2003 04:29 AM                        I have assistants who can't seem to keep the film from dropping to the floor when they gather up all the excess lab footage at the head of some prints. While it is very good to have protection footage to protect the print, it can be a challenge to manage it while spooling down to find frame lines to properly thread on. Some try to wrap it around their arm, some around their neck; because some just can't get comfortable manuvering all that film while trying to thread the machine, we decided to put a small common waste paper basket on the floor beside the projector. They can drop as much gack footage as necessary to get to the workable frame lines. I have them line the bucket with plastic bags which they change very week or so. This way the same dirt that settles on the floor doesn't wind up in the film drop bucket. This is for change-over operation. I don't know practical it would be for platter booths. Frank  |  IP: Logged William Hooper Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1879 From: Mobile, AL USA Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-21-2003 06:01 AM                        I'd rather have too much leader, although I've also seen yards too much of it on the front. Sometimes there's not been enough to go two turns around the takeup. A changeover booth I work is used only sporadically, & (happily) they don't even send anyone up to clean. It's never really dusty, because a HUGE return air shaft is open to the adjoining storage room. But if I come over, generally the floors will be a little dirty & there's not enough time to do housekeeping to the extent of sweeping & mopping until the night's over. I just bring two old beach towels to put on the floor under the front of the takeup magazines, let all the leader drop onto them, & spool up from there on the takeup. Running a booth that's in occasional operation is sort of like field medicine; you control specific areas like the bench & projectors first until you can set up everything by the book.  |  IP: Logged Carl Martin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1424 From: Oakland, CA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 11-21-2003 06:19 AM                        i've never run changeover so maybe i'm missing something, but why not store all that excess leader on the takeup reel where it going to end up anyways? carl  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-21-2003 09:30 AM                        For reel-to-reel shows, I usually find it easiest to loop excess leader around the douser handle on the lamphouse. This works especially well with old-style Christie K20s or Peerless lamps, both of which have big douser handles that stick straight up. Trying to hook excess leader into the takeup reel can sometimes be cumbersome, especially with 6000' reels or 2000' reels with enclosed reel magazines. Whatever works, I guess, as long as the leader stays clean and off the floor. I really do get annoyed, though, when receiving prints that have excessively long leaders (I'm talking 20-50') without framelines. If I were running one of these prints for a number of shows on a reel-to-reel setup, I'd probably add ~10 feet of frameline leader at the start of each reel so that one could thread up on that and then motor down through the clear section to the actual countdown.  |  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 11-21-2003 11:13 AM                        Unless I'm using enclosed magazines I've always wound the head on the takeup reel regardless of it being a 2000' or 7000' reel, or anything inbetween. It's a heck of a lot easier to do if you're using roundthane drives that can slip a little. Winding the leader on to the takeup reel eliminates having to motor down the leader, which IMHO is a good thing.  |  IP: Logged John Hawkinson Film God Posts: 2273 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 11-21-2003 03:00 PM                     Daryl writes, "I've always wound the head on the takeup reel regardless of it being a 2000' or 7000' reel, or anything inbetween." I wonder if I'm missing your point (or vice versa). It is desirable to thread the projector in frame, so one has to pull out enough leader such that you have visible frameline indications in the vicinity of the gate in order to frame properly. If you're a platter house, you presumably have a house threading leader on the print, so you're guaranteed framelines. But if you're a changeover house and the reel has very long protective leaders of clear film, then it's awkward. If you're dextrous and skilled, you can hold the excess film in your hand (or wrapped around the douser handle, etc.) while you pull out film to reach the frameline indications. This is pretty easy with 10' of film, but becomes more challenging with 20' or 30'. I don't see how you could easily wrap it around the takeup reel at this point. You'd either have to pull it all out first (which leaves you with juggling the film until you're gotten it all), or you have to thread it through the projector, advance it, and then re-frame, or you wrap it around the takeup reel and advance both the takeup and supply reels in sync with each other by hand taking care not to scratch the film on the unthreaded projector as it runs by. In these situations, I try to take notice while inspecting on the bench and throw down a piece of paper tape with frameline markings on it a few feet in from the end of the leader. "Winding the leader on to the takeup reel eliminates having to motor down the leader, which IMHO is a good thing." It also means you're handling the film much closer to the projected image, which is undesirable. --jhawk  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 11-21-2003 03:33 PM                     Daryl is saying it is not hard to attach the head of the leader and spin the takeup reel by hand to get to the framelines. I agree and whenever I have a "one time" show with excessive amounts of clear on 2000' reels, I do the same thing. If I am running the show on large reels, they would have been spliced together on the bench and I would have *at least* added 10 feet of frameline leader of some sort to thread in frame on, then motor down to the starting point. That being said, if the show is going to run more than once, or maybe twice, I will always add frameline to the head. I agree with John that handling the film on the countdown itself is not such a great idea, as the idea is to handle the film as far away from the first and last frame as possible. Those who have worked a changeover booth with me or been around my screening room probably noticed I tend to put about 50 feet of head and tail leader on those reels (again, assuming the print is not just a "one time" show).  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-21-2003 03:47 PM                        Brad--I think I can imagine a new use for the CA-21 (if you already haven't set it up this way): put a foil cue at the appropriate place on the countdown and then set the automation to let you thread up anywhere with framelines, hit "START," and then let the automation motor the film down to the appropriate frame and stop at the exact point on the leader where you would want the film to be threaded for each changeover. This would take some trial and error (and wouldn't necessarily be frame accurate, due to differing feed and takeup reel sizes), but would make it really easy to work with prints that have so much extra leader added to the head and tail of each reel.  |  IP: Logged Josh Jones Redhat Posts: 1207 From: Plano, TX Registered: Apr 2000 posted 11-21-2003 04:48 PM                        I'm not sure if he still has it programmed or not, but the last time I was down there, the machines would automatically motor down to the cue. Neat, huh? JJ  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 11-21-2003 06:14 PM                     Already done Scott. I guess you weren't in the booth during the threading of the 2nd movie, or you would've seen that.  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 11-21-2003 07:52 PM                        I recently ran the CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON and there must have been a good 30 ft of frameline-less lab gack before the sync countdown. Amazingly, someone added a foot or two of frameline leader ahead of the lab stuff. It was a really perfect compromise between having a goodly amount of protection leader that is difficult to handle and an easy way to thread up without having to juggle 30 ft of polyester spaghetti in order to find framelines. Brad said: quote: I would have *at least* added 10 feet of frameline leader of some sort to thread in frame on, then motor down to the starting point. Isn't that what why the MPAA provides that strip of blue film at the end of the last reel?....in case you need frameline footage, you snip lengths of that off and use it to thread in frame. I always thought that was very considerate of Jack and his henchmen.  |  IP: Logged Chris Hipp Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1462 From: Mesquite, Tx (east of Dallas) Registered: Jul 2003 posted 11-21-2003 10:34 PM                     quote: I had a copy of Looney Tunes get a brainwrap in the credits due to severe static build up pulling layers of film into the brain. Remember that brain wraps are not always caused by static. Usually if it is static, the film will "snake" and jump a roller on the brain; thus causing the brain to either go full throttle or not at all. Were you there when this occurred? it sounds to me that someone left tape (from moving the print) on the tail and it screwed it up. One thing is for sure though, anytime you have a brainwrap or anything of the sort, you must find out what caused it before your start he movie back up. If you dont it will probably happen the next round. Also, you seem very eager to learn new things and that is good. However, make sure that you always get approval from your manager before trying something new. I have seen guys that were pretty good in booth screw up royally because they thought they would do something to impress me or whatever. As far as build up goes, it really depends on the person in charge. I was in booth for over a year before I Started building up.  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 11-21-2003 10:50 PM                        All that sticks is not static: http://www.film-tech.com/manuals/H5056.pdf  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-22-2003 07:01 AM                        Brad--I guess I missed that. No need to worry, however, since I think I've seen enough of the CA-21 to have completely fallen in love with it. It's a great product.  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 3 pages: 1  2  3

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.