Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Hey you, you suck! (AKA: Outing bad film handlers) Part 2

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Topic: Hey you, you suck! (AKA: Outing bad film handlers) Part 2

Scott D. Neff
Theatre Dork

Posts: 919
From: San Francisco, CA
Registered: Oct 1999

posted 02-09-2009 04:12 PM

quote:
Wow, I didn't realize the big "K" had made it that far west!

Kerasotes opened a 16 in Manteca, CA while I wasn't looking. An odd place for them to go but hey, they're in California now.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 03-14-2009 02:45 PM

I can't believe over a month has gone by with no posts here!

I don't know what "projectionist" handled our print of "Slumdog Millionaire" but whoever you are, YOU SUCK. Actually the condition of the print probably accumulated over time, but still.

The last bonehead opted to cut every reel "wherever" instead of on the actual splice points. So none of the ID frames matched the reels. Luckily the last person at least taped the leaders to the appropriate reels and I was able to verify by the soundtracks.

But the worst part was the awful condition of the film. Lateral green scratches, dust, and roller abrasions abound. This is easily the worst print we've had in at least 10 years. And of course we didn't get it until late Friday afternoon, making it impossible for a swap.

On top of everything else, our platter MUT picked this moment to bite the dust. It just flat won't work at all. So I had to get the film onto the platter by propping the feed control arm to make the platter turn. Slow, but it got the job done.

This kind of crap makes me want digital cinema reeeeally bad. (On the other hand, I was able to get onto the screen at least!)

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Geena Phillips
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 198
From: Norcross, GA / USA
Registered: Apr 2006

posted 03-14-2009 07:22 PM

quote: Mike Blakesley
The last bonehead opted to cut every reel "wherever" instead of on the actual splice points. So none of the ID frames matched the reels. Luckily the last person at least taped the leaders to the appropriate reels and I was able to verify by the soundtracks.

Mike, this happens to me all the time with Tamil and Telegu films. Worse is when I discover a print in that condition has come from another of our own locations. Makes me wish I had the time off necessary to drive to these places and administer a smiting with the Clue Hammer of Justice. [Smile]

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 03-14-2009 08:32 PM

I have no idea what Tamil and Telegu films are but no matter where they are from that practice sucks!

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Geena Phillips
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 198
From: Norcross, GA / USA
Registered: Apr 2006

posted 03-14-2009 08:52 PM

They're a couple of the regional languages in India. The prints are generally circuited from theatre to theatre, so by the time I get them, they've been through the wringer (maybe even literally!).

And when they're new, a lot of the time they're sent from the lab without cores (and sometimes they're filthy when they're brand new).

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Monte L Fullmer
Film God

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

posted 03-14-2009 09:24 PM

(..and I still can't get over why some location's operators, or usherbees whack off the tail leader on the last reel, then just masking tape the end back on....)

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 03-14-2009 10:02 PM

I do cut the tail leader off in order to put our own cue-taped junk tail leader on (or in the case of placing two movies on one platter), but I re-splice the tail leader with a two-sided splice just in case the next guy doesn't cut it off.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

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

posted 03-14-2009 11:48 PM

But if you cut the tail leader off and don't leave a reference frame on the rating band, the next theater will never know for certain what movie is on the platter! Oh the horror!!! [Eek!]

Anyway getting back to the topic, this is why I hate running arthouse stuff. There are probably 5 decent arthouse theaters in the country, meaning the odds of you getting a beaten to crap print is about 99.5%

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Tony L. Hernandez
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 158
From: Windsor, CO, USA
Registered: Dec 2005

posted 03-17-2009 04:41 AM

I cannot completely agree with you Brad. Yes, there are plenty of bad arthouses, a few of which are on my major [bs]

list but I will not name in hopes of keeping good relations with them. However I've found that a lot of arthouses are on college campus or at film societies that have trained operators in the booth at all times. Also, I've found that a lot of arthouses still use changeover as opposed to mainstream theaters where there are hardly any changeover houses left. Needless to say, with changeover you usually have an operator paying attention to things and no platter damage.

My favorite stunt that I have seen twice in a row this month is when some AH decided that it is unnecessary to re-attach tails. This means that I get to use my leader and my time to make new tails. I am forced to do this both because I run 2k changeover and because I have a strict policy of shipping out prints in better condition than I got them. Let me assure you that many obscenities fly out of my mouth just as soon as I discover that a print has no tails.
Not even to mention how I love operators that do not tape the ends down and I get to play with film spaghetti for 10 minutes or so before I can build my print...

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Jim Bedford
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 597
From: Telluride, CO, USA (733 mi. WNW of Rockwall, TX but it seems much, much longer)
Registered: Jun 99

posted 03-17-2009 09:22 AM

quote: Tony L. Hernandez
I have a strict policy of shipping out prints in better condition than I got them.

This is our policy as well. If everyone did the same we'd all have a lot fewer complaints and more prints in better shape.

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Martin McCaffery
Film God

Posts: 2481
From: Montgomery, AL
Registered: Jun 99

posted 03-17-2009 09:45 AM

quote:
There are probably 5 decent arthouse theaters in the country,

Let's see: AFI, Michigan Theatre, Tampa Fox, Capri Theatre (yeah, mine)...

Now, there is more than one other art house on Film-Tech, so several of you must be [bs]

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Barry Floyd
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1079
From: Lebanon, Tennessee, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 03-17-2009 10:08 AM

quote:
But if you cut the tail leader off and don't leave a reference frame on the rating band, the next theater will never know for certain what movie is on the platter!

Being a drive-in, I typically play double features every night. I generally build both prints to the same platter, with a 10 minute intermission clock in-between features. I normally cut the tail off of the first feature, but like Brad mentioned I do leave at least one blue band ID frame on the tail. When the prints leave my place, I do double-side splice the tails back on.

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Frank Angel
Film God

Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 03-17-2009 10:51 AM

quote: Martin McCaffery
Let's see: AFI, Michigan Theatre, Tampa Fox, Capri Theatre (yeah, mine)...
Now, there is more than one other art house on Film-Tech, so several of you must be

(yeah, mine too, Martin) So I guess that would make all of these also [bs]

operations here in NYC alone; let's see....there's

The Museum of Modern Art
BAM Rose Theatres
Film Forum
Brooklyn Museum
The Japan Society
American Museum of the Moving Image
The French Institute
The Ziegfeld
The ImaginAsian
The Whitney
Walter Reade Theatre at Lincoln Center)
The NYU Cantor Film Center
Anthology Film Archives
IFC Center
Angelika Film Center
Symphony Space's Leonard Nimoy Thalia
and upstate in Rochester, there's that really crappy operation, Eastman House.

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

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

posted 03-17-2009 11:12 AM

I usually get new prints at my quasi-arthouse theater, however when I get used prints it seems like absolutely NOBODY re-attaches the tail leader correctly. They simply tape the reel itself (often with masking tape) to the tail, and not at the frame, leaving an overlap by at least 10+ inches. Am I the ONLY person who reattaches film with a single-sided splice to the tail? I even peel off my previous splice before I do it, too. I even do this for Indian prints. Indian prints have never been treated as well as I treat them anywhere in the entire world (clearly evidenced by the quality of any used Indian print I have received).

So to ANYONE who breaks down a print and doesn't splice it properly to the tail leader of each reel, YOU ARE A FUCKING ASSHOLE and you do not deserve to be employed anywhere, much less a movie theater.

Also, who cuts the tail leader off of the end of the print? WTF? Why? If anything, I add extra tail leader to the end of my prints so the actual print itself doesn't ever drag across the floor.

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Scott D. Neff
Theatre Dork

Posts: 919
From: San Francisco, CA
Registered: Oct 1999

posted 03-17-2009 12:05 PM

People who don't have working cue detectors or were never taught how to use cue tape.

Certain Century Theatres (usually the older ones) would cut off the tails so they wouldn't run through at the end of the show. I hated this, I always barked at them to get their cue detectors fixed or figure out how to put on cue tape.

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