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» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Film Handlers' Forum   » Hey you, you suck! (AKA: Outing bad film handlers) Part 2 (Page 7)

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Author Topic: Hey you, you suck! (AKA: Outing bad film handlers) Part 2 Luci Reeve Film Handler Posts: 50 From: Telluride, CO, USA Registered: Feb 2006 posted 01-10-2007 04:07 PM                        I've found that denatured alcohol gets the tape and cue residue off the print and it seems less toxic than the film cleaner or the acetone, (which melts my plastic countertop). Of course the film cleaner sees alot of use too but the alcohol stays open on my bench while I'm checking in the print.  |  IP: Logged John Hawkinson Film God Posts: 2273 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 01-10-2007 08:10 PM                     Luci: acetone is a bad idea as a film solvent; if you use it on tri-acetate film, it can actually disolve the film base! John Pytlak briefly mentions this in this post. For a good reference on reasonable solvents to use for cleaning film (not disolving it... ), check out Kodak's Film Cleaning Solvents page. My recommendation is VM&P naptha (see recent other thread); its less flammable, and more effective than alcohol (though alcohol does evaporate faster). --jhawk  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 01-14-2007 09:55 AM                        Awhile ago when I heard someone say that ordinary lighter fluid is a good film cleaner, that sounded a little off the wall, but I gave it a try and low and behold, it seems to have all the qualities you want in a film cleaner. It is especially good at removing most any common film crud, especially hardened masking tape adhesive, the curse of retrospective houses that get decade old prints. It cleans without leaving any residue and it's easy to wipe of. It evaporates slowly so you can leave it soak on bad areas. It's also easy to find locally and comes in well designed containers with positive closures and controlled squirt spouts. I like it. And since I am running out of my suppy of 111-trichlorathane, that baned stuff that they say causes cancer and something to do with holes in the sky, I think I will definately keep a can of lighter fluid on my rewind bench. But in a projection booth where there is a culture of heightened awareness of fire safety, I think I may avoid the word "lighter" and just call it film cleaner fluid.  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 01-14-2007 10:26 AM                        Don't forget the msds sheet! Louis  |  IP: Logged John Hawkinson Film God Posts: 2273 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 01-14-2007 03:24 PM                     Gosh, Frank. Read the label on your lighter fluid! Unfortunately it can be different things, but Wikipedia is instructive here: quote: Lighter fluid may refer to: * Butane, a highly flammable, colorless, easily liquefied gas used in cigarette lighters * Naphtha, a volatile flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixture used in wick type lighters * A aliphatic petroleum solvent (Aliphatic compound) used in lighting a barbecue * Methylated spirit or denatured alcohol also used in lighting a barbecue It's best to be particularly clear about what you're recommending, and its worth looking it up on Kodak's solvent page. Of course, when lighter fluid is naphtha, I agree . But it might have additives that are not helpful for film cleaning. Probably not the others, either, but it's hard to be sure. I think you'll find buying a big can of VM&P naphtha at your local hardware store to be cheaper than small bottles of lighter fluid, but whatever works... [blah blah economies of scale, supply and demand, etc.] --jhawk  |  IP: Logged Marc Hansen Film Handler Posts: 93 From: Seattle, WA, USA Registered: Dec 2000 posted 01-21-2007 12:11 PM                     AMC Renton Village 8 Screen 5 Night at the Museum 5.30 show Renton, Washington First the good in frame, in focus, not a single scratch visible after 4 weeks running. Now the bad, so filthy it looked like it had been run in the mud, 2 very impressive lab splices, and personally I enjoy watching the tail run thru after the credits.  |  IP: Logged Sam King Expert Film Handler Posts: 120 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: Oct 2006 posted 01-25-2007 04:33 PM                     The Majestic Crest Theatre in Westwood (Los Angeles), CA. I got your old print of Pursuit of Happyness. Thanks for the leaders barely taped on with masking tape! Also, could you have scratched your print a little more? I mean I could still see some picture behind those thick green scratches! Seriously, this single screen theatre was bought by a rich guy who is some big movie lover and tears tickets at the door on weekend nights, yet he allows his prints to get destroyed. GRRRRRR!!!!!  |  IP: Logged Paul Burt Film Handler Posts: 46 From: San Francisco, CA, United States Registered: Apr 2006 posted 01-29-2007 12:46 PM                     For the past five years I've worked as film inspector for the Hawaii International Film Festival. A necessary job, since prints come in from all over Asia, and and while most are in fine shape, some of them are in very sketchy condition. (Shipped with no cores, or sometimes with no cores, cans or reels, which can make for a very unpleasant surprise when you open the box). We also ship prints to the Neighbor Islands, and here's where the rant comes in. There's this place called the Maui Mall Megaplex, where the projectionists seem to have trained at the Valvoline School of theater projection. Every print we shipped to them was returned with the heads coated with oil and dirt. Every one. And most of these were brand-new prints, or prints run once or twice at the festival on Oahu. Some prints were shipped on 6K reels, to save buildup and breakdown time. Those only had grease on the heads of reels 1 & 4. The others shipped on 2K reels had the goo on all reels. And no one there seems to know how to make a splice. They've discovered some kind of permanent splicing tape that cannot be removed, so I had to splice out the frames when building up the print for Oahu screenings. I'm having no luck uploading the picture (taken with too many mb), but it shows dirt on the leading edge of the splicing tape, and sprocket bits not removed by the splicer, kind of like hanging chad in the sprocket holes. Not to metion heads & tails re-attached with masking tape, which by comparison is no big thing. Most of these prints are the only ones in the country, and some are the only English subtitiled prints anywhere. One was shipped on to another festival, where the inspectors there emailed to tell us that the print-originally in very good condition-was unrunnable. Watch out for these guys.  |  IP: Logged Dominic Espinosa Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1172 From: California, U.S.A. Registered: Jan 2004 posted 02-02-2007 01:55 PM                     Century in Folsom for FAILING TO INCLUDE reel 2 in our Arthur and the Invisibles print upon breakdown. And Thank you so much DFS in L.A. for "misrouting" the reel TWICE thus causing us to miss our shows FRIDAY AND SATURDAY!!!  |  IP: Logged Sam King Expert Film Handler Posts: 120 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: Oct 2006 posted 02-03-2007 03:09 PM                     Plaza 14 in Oxnard, CA. YOU SUCK! Platter burn all throughout The Departed on the left side of the frame nicely compliments the sets of continuous vertical scratches on the right. It must of been hard work getting so many different scratches all the way through this print, but you guys did it! Kudos!  |  IP: Logged Dustin Mitchell Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1865 From: Mondovi, WI, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 02-03-2007 07:21 PM                     Careful, that's probably a used print they have, no way to tell when the damage occured.  |  IP: Logged Sam King Expert Film Handler Posts: 120 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: Oct 2006 posted 02-03-2007 09:21 PM                     Not a chance, if they got it like that, they would have ordered another. It's truly an "unplayable print"  |  IP: Logged Dustin Mitchell Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1865 From: Mondovi, WI, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 02-03-2007 09:24 PM                     Would they have? I suppose not ordering another print would still put them in the 'You suck' category.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-03-2007 09:30 PM                        Not if it was a one-show-only booking where ordering a replacement print might not have been an option. This may be unlikely for a multiplex, but I'm tired of hearing people say "just order a replacement print." For most of the shows that I do, this just isn't an option, either because there are no other prints or because the film screens only once and the print isn't available for inspection until shortly before the screening.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-03-2007 10:55 PM                        quote: I'm tired of hearing people say "just order a replacement print." For most of the shows that I do, this just isn't an option, Same here. We play most movies for one week, and at least half the time the film doesn't arrive until Friday, so even if we called in for a replacement immediately, we couldn't get it until Monday because we have no UPS/FedEx on Saturday. (We DO have postal service delivery on Saturday, but for some goofy reason TES won't use them.) At least with ETS/Deluxe prints, if there's a problem we can get a new reel in on the bus...if they have any spares, which they don't always.  |  IP: Logged

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