Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: How to thread leader, which way is correct?

Topic Closed

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

»	Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE » Operations » Film Handlers' Forum » How to thread leader, which way is correct? (Page 5)

This topic comprises 7 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Author

Topic: How to thread leader, which way is correct?

Phil Hill
I love my cootie bug

Posts: 7595
From: Hollywood, CA USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 05-01-2005 10:52 PM

That's all well and good. But ya gotta drop the old, living-in-the-past stuff and get with modern times.

The young, up and coming kids deserve to know all the correct terms (and procedures) to know how to address and ask the proper questions so as to learn the craft from us old farts.

| IP: Logged

Monte L Fullmer
Film God

Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 05-01-2005 11:08 PM

I agree very well also, Phil.

Yet, I've been chastized for my "old fart" style in this new fandangled team oriented world we're heading into. Chastized from the management that my styles doesn't parlay into this form of operation-the "kids" need to be told what to do on a continual basis and that's it.

Be a baby-sitter.... [Shrug]

Yet..... it be kinda fun to show these "kids" how to work a changeover booth with the old equipment and carbon arcs-learn how to read cue dots to do changeovers correctly, clean out a lamphouse, do bench inspections, wet splicing..being "cooped" up in a small booth with no air conditioning throughout the entire 6hr shift, et.al.

They wouldn't forget about this at all.

thx-Monte

| IP: Logged

Alan Dallas
Film Handler

Posts: 48
From: Prescott Valley, AZ
Registered: Jul 2004

posted 05-02-2005 03:50 AM

Kinoton Heads - Easiest to lace "up". Seriously. I do the "Triangle" like mentioned in the Tips here. A triangle as in the leader thats tree'd up looks like a triangle if you step back and look at it. Actually I was trained by the previous lead booth manager to do it that way who was trained by our assigned Tech. before reading it here.

Our GM on the other hand still can't get the hang of threading from bottom to top and still traps the film in the gate first after running to and from the AW3. Kinda comical really. I can generally thread 3 out of the 14 we have every 5mins. Takes him a bit longer. We also have "No Leader/FILM on the floor!!" policy.

"Mr. Dallas! Number 8 starts in 2 mins and it's not threaded!" "Ya so whats your point?" [Big Grin]

| IP: Logged

Monte L Fullmer
Film God

Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 05-02-2005 04:00 AM

Actually, I do the "triangle" as well, but with my pict tutorial, I went to the "square" load for simplicity's sake. Even with either one, leads don't hit the floor-especially with the Simplex "oilers".

When I started at EDWARDS, I had to forget the "square" since they showed me that the "triangle" was a better loading format-and that was with all of the 21 machines having "gear side" platters.

-Monte

| IP: Logged

Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"

Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 05-03-2005 10:30 PM

quote: Brad Miller
Richard, you might as well stop bothering to quote your tech. It's painfully obvious to everyone reading these forums that he is a certified F'ing moron with those kind of instructions and attitude towards quality presentations.

[prick mode]

Brad,

I think you're coming down awfully hard on someone after hearing only one side of the story...and from someone you really don't know.

Richard mentioned in another thread that his current tech used to be my tech in The Bahamas. I can assure you that my tech was not a moron.

After reading Richard's recent posts about his tech, I decided to give my former tech a call to find out if they were indeed one and the same. Yes, my former tech is now the tech at the drive-in where Richard works. He and I spoke about this situation and, of course, I got the story from a markedly different perspective.

Call me a moron, but I would agree that it's pointless to worry about whether the threading leader touches the floor when there is the bigger problem of having a drive-in booth with no port windows. It seems pointless to fuss over the leader when dust from the unpaved lot and rain are coming through the port hole and ruining actual prints. I would also agree that it might be a worthwhile endeavor to sweep and mop the booth floor once in a while so that *if* the leader *did* happen to touch ground that it wouldn't be the end of the world.

And what's the point of worrying about the floor when the gates are a filthy mess?

Perhaps I will add this theatre to my inspection survey. I hear they're really getting the hang of threading in frame, now that they've had some training.

[/prick mode]

| IP: Logged

Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 05-04-2005 12:30 AM

[prick mode]

Manny,

If Richard is directly quoting something his tech said, then that is PATHETIC! If Richard is mis-quoting something his tech said, then his tech should get it straightened out.

I don't know this guy, and Richard has never mentioned a name. While I do agree with you that if everything in the booth sucks (such as filthy projectors) the leader on the floor doesn't matter much, however the point here is that anyone giving such intentionally shitty training ("it doesn't matter") deserves to be outed as a certified moron.

[/prick mode]

| IP: Logged

Richard Greco
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1180
From: Plant City, FL
Registered: Nov 2003

posted 05-04-2005 12:36 AM

I should tell you Manny, the gates have gotten MUCH better recently. But you are right, I'm not thinking from his POV. In his eyes, it doesn't matter much because of the poorly built booth (e.g. portholes, dirt on the field, etc)

| IP: Logged

Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 05-04-2005 12:38 AM

Do everyone a favor Richard. The next time you see him ask him if his reasoning behind the leader on the floor was a general opinion, or because you are apparently working in lousy booth conditions. His answer will help calm Manny's nerves and possibly something you should edit into your quotes. Don't assume.

| IP: Logged

Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"

Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 05-04-2005 01:09 AM

quote: Brad Miller
the point here is that anyone giving such intentionally shitty training ("it doesn't matter") deserves to be outed as a certified moron.

I'm told that those booth operators can now thread in frame, thanks to the "shitty training." Reportedly, nobody at that location knew about clearing the intermittent before threading.

My point being that people in glass houses should not throw stones.

I can't wait to be in Florida again. Summer vacation is so close, I can taste it.

| IP: Logged

Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 05-04-2005 01:28 AM

Anyone training people that it doesn't matter if the leader is permitted to touch the floor IS providing shitty training. Sorry Manny, but it doesn't matter if the guy is a friend of yours or not. By telling Richard that it is perfectly acceptable to practice poor film handling skills without stipulating something along the lines of "because this booth is such a dump, etc" is doing a shitty job.

You should know the difference.

| IP: Logged

Monte L Fullmer
Film God

Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 05-04-2005 02:08 AM

quote: Brad Miller
".....that it is perfectly acceptable to practice poor film handling skills without stipulating something along the lines of "because this booth is such a dump, etc"...."

..and that's really a poor excuse that one has ever heard. Blaming something/someone for the results.

...and unfortunately, this happens almost everywhere, for I've seen very sloppy booth procedures, even though the manager of that cinema KNOWS of the proper procedures, but doesn't CARE if he practices them or not. Just that the machinery/theatre is OLD and somewhat outdated.

...and if the manager doesn't care, the "domino effect" is in practice: He doesn't care, so why should others under that manager doesn't care as well....

Then the machines are a mess, the booth looks horrible, I fight to get this all straighten up and it's like fighting against the current of a raging river, especially when the ones responsible doesn't care....

I can really see the side of that tech's response of telling Richard his thoughts on booth operations. He's possibly seen what I mentioned above and has probably quit fighting against the stream in this area, plus it's not his booth..so why should he care....

Yet with Manny's explanation of this fellow, he IS probably that tech that Manny has mentioned and Manny acknowledges his attributes as a tech to the letter.

Yet, the tech did a big no-no in mentioning these sort of things (like piling the film on the floor, et.al.) and say "either way was okey": for people like Richard (no offense) who is basically a newcomer of sorts to the business could easily take these comments and quotes as gospel for legal practice. (blind leading the blind, so to say...)

Plus, comments by the tech that IS practiced by the staff operators at any complex is also a big no-no, for it causes conflict with the management of that complex with his training procedures.

He is just the "sound guy" - find the problem. Do the fix. Make sure the fix is good and done. Get the FRIK out of there after the bill is collected.

The tech, no matter who he is, private or corporate, NEEDS to set the example of a professional serviceman-a serviceman who knows how things are to be conducted in a professional manner-so others can follow his example.

For if he sets an example, as the case above, in a certain way, either he'll be praised, or condemned for his actions.

Yet, Richard knows more as times goes on.

-Monte

| IP: Logged

John Pytlak
Film God

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

posted 05-04-2005 05:50 AM

quote: Brad Miller
By telling Richard that it is perfectly acceptable to practice poor film handling skills without stipulating something along the lines of "because this booth is such a dump, etc" is doing a shitty job.

You should ALWAYS keep film and leader off the floor, whether the floor is spotless or filthy. Films with conductive antistats like Kodak VISION Color Print Film no longer attract dirt from a distance with static charge, but if they touch the floor or a dirty work surface, they can get dirty.

Film handling technique is probably the most important aspect of "Film Done Right".

| IP: Logged

Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"

Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 05-04-2005 12:48 PM

You guys astound me. Bash the tech and defend the projectionist who can't thread reliably, leaves a brand new splicer on a platter and lets it spin off onto the floor so it doesn't work anymore and doesn't sweep or mop his booth floor. But his leader doesn't touch the ground. Film done right.

I get it.

Carry on.

| IP: Logged

John Pytlak
Film God

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

posted 05-04-2005 12:59 PM

No one here is defending bad film handling or bad maintenance or bad operators. The bottom line is that you need to do all that is within your power and responsibilities to "Do Film Right". Keeping the film off a dirty floor is a good start, but only a start in what seems to be a bad situation. The important thing here is to fix what is wrong, and keep improving.

| IP: Logged

Richard Greco
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1180
From: Plant City, FL
Registered: Nov 2003

posted 05-04-2005 01:00 PM

First off Manny, My tech doesn't know diddly squat about what happened to that splicer and it pisses me off that he still doesn't believe that I didn't put the splicer on the platter. I had it on the MUT during teardown and it fell from there. It was an accident. Also, it is swept every other day, he doesn't know that. Also I clean my machines daily, he doesn't know that. I also check my oil daily.There are things he doesn't know and tells my higher ups about and they only believe him.

Also, I CAN thread reliably. I have never had a problem threading there.

Did he tell you that, no! My other idiot projectionist can't thread right. I am always in frame. I RARELY have a show go down (only when a machine breaks down, not from a film error.

| IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 7 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Printer-friendly view of this topic

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.