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»	Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE » Operations » Film Handlers' Forum » Technicolor to stop using reel bands (Page 3)

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Topic: Technicolor to stop using reel bands

Darryl Spicer
Film God

Posts: 3250
From: Lexington, KY, USA
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 04-10-2004 01:44 PM

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here is the situation when it comes to TES and ETS.

TES=break film down on thursday night so it can go out either at midnight because sky courier showed up to get it or goes out Friday for Airbourne/DHL pick-ups. Big theaters many screens many prints equals rush job nobody caring as much as they should to do it properly.

ETS=Break down thursday night if you need to for a pick-up otherwise hold and break down on another day until the films are picked up on the next print delivery date. In most not all situations more time is available so people tend to care a little more and do it right.

I never liked the idea that TES has the prints picked up the following day when they could just as easily be picked up on the following monday and get to their next destination with plenty of time.

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 04-10-2004 05:12 PM

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Good point. the RUSH RUSH RUSH mentality of TES does not allow for the best job to be done in all cases. This has also been discussed before. TES knows this, but they really don't care. Hell, it's one of their selling points to the studios for their service!

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Joop de Gruiter
Film Handler

Posts: 33
From: Lund, Sweden
Registered: Jul 99

posted 04-10-2004 05:36 PM

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Working in Sweden I've never seen a reel band. Can anyone post a picture of what it looks like?

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Jon Miller
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 973
From: San Diego, CA, USA
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 04-10-2004 09:37 PM

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Ask and ye shall receive, subject to availability... [Smile]

[Smile]

The entire band, about 51 inches (129.6 centimetres) long with a 42" (106.7 cm)-long string...

Closeups...

Spaces are included for distribution branch, print number, release number, title, number of reels, and reel number. Since the band dates from the acetate days, it includes a reminder to "please allow 15 seconds for splices to set." (That's cement splices. The advisory persisted long after tape splices became the standard.) The last block of text reads, "Do not rewind after last showing. Please place this band on proper reel and securely fasten" (an artifact from the days of changeovers).

A banded shipping reel...

(Edited to spin off the question regarding length of tape to fasten the end of the film)

[ 04-12-2004, 09:04 AM: Message edited by: Jon Miller ]

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Steve Anderson
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 168
From: Nashville, TN
Registered: Feb 2000

posted 04-11-2004 09:10 AM

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Wow! no film bands....how will we cope [Razz]

[Razz]

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Dan Lyons
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 698
From: Seal Beach, CA
Registered: Sep 2002

posted 04-11-2004 02:14 PM

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Jon,

Is that band missing some length? I think I see some uncovered film on that reel.

danny

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Jon Miller
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 973
From: San Diego, CA, USA
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 04-11-2004 03:54 PM

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Dan...No. In fact the band is long enough to overlap itself by about a foot (30.5 cm). It's just placed so the film overlaps the band by about eighteen inches (45.7 cm) or so, then the band is wrapped around the exposed film end and properly secured with the string. Holds the film end in place much better. [thumbsup]

[thumbsup]

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Thomas Procyk
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1842
From: Royal Palm Beach, FL, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 04-14-2004 01:42 PM

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quote:
A show of hands please for anyone who would actually want Thomas working for them (keep in mind also his comments about customer relations and management/staff relations).

Must you be so rude? Care to throw in other unrelated points from various threads to make your argument actually seem concrete? Or do you just ignore other people's posts with the same sentiment and single me out? Hell, did you even read my entire post, or just spastically clicked the POST REPLY button after the first line? You're mean.

Now, back to the reel bands...

When we get prints from TES, the bands are so sloppily attatched (or not at all sometimes) that most aren't salvageable anyway. In the manner that the TES people attach them, it seems to me that they don't care about them either.

quote:
another thing they like to do is put the bands on the reels and not even lable them with a reel number or anything.

Or what's worse is the reel number is scribbled into the little circle on the band. So bad that you can't tell if it's a 4 or a 7, a 2 or a 5. They're not consistent in the direction they write them in. [Confused]

[Confused]

But all of it won't matter since everyone will switch to ETS eventually. [eyes]

[eyes]

Didn't trailers from NSS used to come with reel bands? Back when trailers had to actually be returned to be reused? Ah, the good old days when film wasn't "disposable" in the studios' eyes.

=TMP=

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Floyd Justin Newton
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 559
From: Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Registered: Jun 2002

posted 04-14-2004 01:59 PM

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Thomas--

You asked, "Didn't trailers from National Screen Service come
with reel bands"? YES... however that was when film was taken
care of!!

fjn
[Wink]

[Wink]

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Zach McQuaid
Film Handler

Posts: 37
From: Erie, Pennsylvania, USA
Registered: Sep 2000

posted 04-14-2004 05:25 PM

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Wow! Feels good to be back here. (haven't been online in 4 years or so!) Anyway, Thanks Randy for refreshing my memory that I was a former member here and I looking forward to writing with all of you!!

In regards to the Technicolor Strap they are getting rid of...I am glad because like Randy used to say: "I hate Tape", I used to say: "I hate string!"
[Smile]

[Smile]

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Bill Gabel
Film God

Posts: 3873
From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA
Registered: Jan 2002

posted 04-15-2004 09:01 AM

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New Fax as of 04/14/04 from TES

Attention: Theatre Managers and Projectionists

Last week we advised you of our plans to eliminate the use of reel bands sometime in mid-June. Several theatres have contacted us requesting more details on the tape to be used in lieu of reel bands.

The tape used will be higher grade of tape than is used by the films labs to bond the film reels before shipping to distribution centers. That tape is discarded, and we use a high grade PF2, printable paper flat back tape that is 5.8 mil thick. It has a natural, rubber adhesive that removes cleanly from a wide range of applied conditions, including film stock. Four-inches of tape will be applied and our employees will be trained to centrally postion two-inches of tape on each end.

As for assurance of this working, Technicolor has shipped, in cases of late arriving prints, on on average over 6,000 prints for at least each of the past six-years, absent reel bands, with said tape, without reported complaint.

Please call our Customer Service Team at 800-99-FILMS if you have additional questions.

Thank-you

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John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 04-15-2004 09:19 AM

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quote:
That tape is discarded, and we use a high grade PF2, printable paper flat back tape that is 5.8 mil thick. It has a natural, rubber adhesive that removes cleanly from a wide range of applied conditions, including film stock. Four-inches of tape will be applied and our employees will be trained to centrally postion two-inches of tape on each end.

A machine-printable tape would offer the possibility of identifying the title and reel number on new prints. But as others have said, reused tape may not hold as well, and certainly could end up on the wrong reels. It's probably best to use a length of new tape to secure each reel when returning the print.

Kodak prints complete product indentification on the tapes used to seal cans of film:

http://www.kodak.com/country/US/en/motion/support/sleuth/seal.shtml

quote:
Inspect the tape seals on each can. In addition, insure the identification on the can tape and label match.

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Dave Callaghan
Film Handler

Posts: 60
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Jan 2003

posted 04-17-2004 09:06 PM

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quote:
our employees will be trained to centrally postion two-inches of tape on each end.

If they are like the typical, large corporation, I could cynically suggest that training, even so rudimentary, is wasted on the workers. Despite my respect for the minimum wage employees, I imagine I won't need a ruler, given the rate they have to work to ship thousands of reels each week, that 2 inches on each side of the end looks different to me than it does to the management team at TES.

quote:
absent reel bands, with said tape, without reported complaint.

Does TES actually think that taping the reel ends would even solicit a comment, let alone a complaint?

With their wonderful, printable, tape, why didn't they print something like the following on their tape if they WERE actually interested? - "What do you think about taping the ends this way? Please call our Customer Service Team at 800-99-FILMS if you have questions, comments or complaints."

quote:
on on average over 6,000 prints for at least each of the past six-years

Six years? 6 years for beta-testing tape? Hmmm...

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John T. Hendrickson, Jr
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 889
From: Freehold, NJ, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 04-18-2004 06:18 PM

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Like the man said: "There are lies, and there are damned lies!"

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Brad Allen
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 688
From: Evansville, IN, USA
Registered: May 2000

posted 04-19-2004 05:22 PM

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Like technicolor has ever listened to any of our gripes before.
The junk reels they send out each week is proof.

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