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

Frank Angel
Film God

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

posted 01-16-2012 03:48 PM

quote: Brad Miller
If you don't stand your ground, then sure, they will walk all over you.

This is no different than the lab defect scam Technicolor has going on right now. Basically it works like this. The lab (Deluxe or Technicolor...doesn't matter) makes thousands of reels for a release. Out of those thousands we all know that a few WILL have defects in them, whether it is wild color shifts, loss of sound, etc. You call in the defective reel after your first screening and request another one. Then they send you a bill a few months later for $300-400 claiming YOU damaged it.

Play them at their own game. Put that defective splice and the discoloration footage on a scanner and scan it; keep the scan file on your computer. When they come back with a claim that you caused the damage, just print out that file showing the damage and send it to them stating that the kind of damage shown is LAB damage and not PROJECTION damage.

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

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

posted 01-16-2012 06:14 PM

Theaters that generally handled film poorly will do digital wrong as well, make no mistake. Unfortunately it is kind of hard to call out a theater in a thread like this unless you get a hard drive from them that they have fubar'd. Maybe just a general "Your presentation could be better" thread? Not sure if that would piss a bunch of people off.

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Monte L Fullmer
Film God

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

posted 01-16-2012 09:29 PM

We've already seen bad digital handlers ... using wrong lens templates, light cue factors, yellowish blotches on the screen, focus issues...et.al.

Oh, heard of a BARCO bulb install where the digital monkey , on a bulb install, didn't check to see if the foam rubber that supports the bulb in the plastic carrier, wasn't stuck to an end seal when the bulb is removed from the carrier to be inserted in the module...melted rubber sorta did a number on that mega dollar reflector.

It's not going to end ..... Just a new beginning which will be more costly for the owners now.

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Louis Bornwasser
Film God

Posts: 4441
From: prospect ky usa
Registered: Mar 2005

posted 01-17-2012 02:43 PM

Do you ship back the defective reel? If so, put the "scan" in with it and keep a copy.

If you are being charged, just keep the reel. Louis

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

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

posted 01-17-2012 02:54 PM

I'd email the scan to them right away -- when the request for the replacement reel is called in -- that way you have correspondence that is time/date stamped.

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Brent Francis
Film Handler

Posts: 84
From: Toronto Ontario Canada
Registered: Nov 2008

posted 01-19-2012 08:58 AM

"Fubar'd"...?

Out of the thousands of prints, a few will be bad - OMIGOD! SAY IT AIN'T SO!

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Jesse Skeen
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1517
From: Sacramento, CA
Registered: Aug 2000

posted 01-21-2012 08:39 PM

Wonder how many people running 35mm now are being told "Don't worry about it, we're gonna replace this with digital any day now anyways."

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Victor Liorentas
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 800
From: london ontario canada
Registered: May 2009

posted 01-21-2012 09:00 PM

I get it all the time. I hate it!

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David Buckley
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 525
From: Oxford, N. Canterbury, New Zealand
Registered: Aug 2004

posted 01-22-2012 04:43 PM

quote: Brad Miller
... and worse yet, out of all the prints made, the one YOU are handling just might end up being the one that is randomly selected to become the future archive print while most or all of the other prints are junked.

I saw that print last night.

As this wasn't the multiplex I was in's fault, I wont shame them.

I went to see The Matrix on 35mm. Whichever changeover house mangled that print back in the 20th, you really, really suck, big time. How could you have possibly done that much damage to the print?

This is probably the only Matrix print left in the southern hemisphere, and its fucked.

Strangely, the second half was much less bad, so I suspect some of the reels have different history to the others.

Back to the Future next week, wonder what that'll be like...

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

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

posted 01-24-2012 12:47 PM

Maybe we need a new topic for "Digital Done Wrong." Here's a story that I just got from our booker.

He and his wife went to see "War Horse" at the Hollywood Theaters Gallatin Valley Cinema in Bozeman. First, they headed for their auditorium and the programmable sign outside of it said "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," but the usher assured them that "War Horse" was going to be showing in that screen.

Then, they get inside the auditorium and ... the cleaning lights were on. Drew (our booker) immediately went out to the hallway and found an employee and said "The cleaning lights are on in auditorium 1." The employee's reaction was "huh?" and not really knowing what he was talking about, but after explaining the situation assured him that they would take care of it.

He went back and sat down, and then the trailers began...with the cleaning lights still on. He assumed that the problem was being taken care of, but they stayed on. Then the feature began...lights still on. So Drew went back out to the concession counter, asked "Is the manager available?" and the concession girl said "I don't know where she is." So he said, "The cleaning lights are on in auditorium 1, and the feature has started." She said "The what?" He said, "The bright lights that you turn on when you clean up the theatre are on." Then he finally said "Just tell the projectionist to LOOK OUT THE PORT WINDOW in #1 and he will see the problem."

The wind-up? It took TEN MINUTES into the feature before somebody had the brains to find the switch and turn the damn cleaning lights off.

On top of that, once the lights were off, Drew said the picture was unacceptably dark. It's a Sony 4K system, but not 3D, so who knows why that was.

Way to go, Gallatin Valley Cinema in Bozeman, Montana! [Roll Eyes]

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Scott Norwood
Film God

Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99

posted 01-24-2012 01:30 PM

I hate cleaning lights, especially when they are controlled from the manager's office and not the auditorium. Often, the projectionist has no control over cleaning lights at all, and cannot do anything more than call the manager's office and ask him to turn them off.

Especially with digital, it should be easy enough to tie them in to an automation system that will kill the cleaning lights when the show is running. (Of course, this can be done with film as well, but it would not help in cases when the show is being run manually or in theatres without automation.)

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Frank Cox
Film God

Posts: 2234
From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada
Registered: Apr 2011

posted 01-24-2012 01:36 PM

You would probably need to have an over-ride on that. I play occasional special shows for a group of disabled people and they require all of the lights left on.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

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

posted 01-24-2012 08:37 PM

Scott and Frank, both standard features of the DCS.

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Robert John Jeromson
Master Film Handler

Posts: 264
From: Auckland, New Zealand
Registered: Jul 2004

posted 01-25-2012 03:37 AM

quote: David Buckley
Back to the Future next week, wonder what that'll be like...

Pristine I hope, it's 2K digital [Smile]

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Martin McCaffery
Film God

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

posted 01-25-2012 09:01 AM

quote: Mike Blakesley
Then he finally said "Just tell the projectionist to LOOK OUT THE PORT WINDOW in #1 and he will see the problem."

Projectionist?!? It probably took them ten minutes to figure out what he was talking about [evil]

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