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Author Topic: New Company Policy on Movie Pre-Screening John Koutsoumis Master Film Handler Posts: 261 From: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Registered: Aug 2003 posted 02-27-2008 06:37 PM                     Yeah sometimes we get prints that have some weird flash colour shifting that's really annoying and recently we had a print where in place of the credits there was lab tech jargon printed instead. Looked like end cedits on the bench but on close inspection they were not. Of course the print had been shown elsewhere several times proir to us receiving it but no one noticed! Most of the problems with prints that I have are Lab stock joins that are in the middle of the frame and poor printing quality on some prints but well what can you do. 9 out 10 times I get replacement prints due to the ones we receive having been trashed by others. Of course only really noticed after test screening. I like testing prints before hand and will continue to do so regardless of what others think. Most importantly it gives me the chance to see the film too which I like doing  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 02-27-2008 06:52 PM                       quote: Blaine Young I've called DFS at 2am to order a replacement reel which was delivered by 10am Well, that's a new one on me. As I said, the routine has changed in the 20+ years since I was a full time projectionist.  |  IP: Logged Stu Jamieson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 524 From: Buccan, Qld, Australia Registered: Jan 2008 posted 02-27-2008 08:48 PM                     ^^ I've certainly cut out crap loads of lab joins but these can be done on the bench. I don't understand how it is that labs can't get those joins on the frame line anyway. quote: John Koutsoumis I like testing prints before hand and will continue to do so regardless of what others think. Most importantly it gives me the chance to see the film too which I like doing [thumbsup] Can't argue with that, mate.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 02-27-2008 10:19 PM                     It all depends on the event for me. For a Studio screening...oh you betcha...there WILL be a run-through. Then again, I normally have two prints at my access and they have long been assigned as "primary" and "backup." During these run thoughs we have have found bad digital tracks, odd marks/scratches in the picture and such. These shows only have one chance and must be perfect. This is not limited to film events either...digital or even analog tape are always prescreened. One never knows what "hits" are in the picture or possible audio drops. So as to once-time shows...it all depends...if the event warrants it, then absolutely. Then again sometimes it would be time prohibitive....take the Warner Bros collection that was screened some years ago...each film only ran once and there were 12 hours of screenings per day...you would need to run the theatre 24 hours to "prescreen" them all....it just wouldn't be practical. In a typical cinema application though...having to run on analog versus digital is not a show stopper...an odd mark or color shift is also not a show stopper. Heck, the labs can't color time two reels the same way anyway. I have no problem with theatres prescreening films as it makes some amount of sense. I have never done it myself in the theatres I've worked however and never had a situation come up that was a show stopper as a result. Steve  |  IP: Logged Mike Sellars Film Handler Posts: 34 From: Robertsdale, AL., USA Registered: Oct 2006 posted 02-28-2008 06:56 PM                     The only time we do not preview a film before we show it to the public is when we get them in Friday morning and only have time to build them and show them... cross your fingers! In addition, every print coming in the building gets Filmguarded during the preview, and since we only have one Kelmar machine, they get previewed one at a time. Luckily some come on Wed and some on Thurs, and Sun-Thurs during slowtime we don't run lates, so we are not usually here forever. As long as I'm the GM, and we still run film, it will be this way. Mike  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 02-28-2008 07:38 PM                       You guys could also just get Moviolas in the booth, and run through them at high speed.  |  IP: Logged Daryl C. W. O'Shea Film God Posts: 3977 From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from) Registered: Jun 2002 posted 02-29-2008 12:57 AM                        Here I thought that was why my variable speed drives can exceed 60 hertz. It's odd how all the last shows of the night end at the same time.  |  IP: Logged Sonja O'Reilly Film Handler Posts: 18 From: San Diego County, CA, USA Registered: Jun 2002 posted 03-05-2008 08:29 AM                     I work at an 18-plex in Southern California and we try to pre-screen every movie possible. Because we live so close to the border with Mexico (Tijuana, specifically,) theatres in the area have gotten reels that were in English and reels in Spanish. I received a foreign language film that had R4 with no subtitles at all. I like pre-screening and thankfully my GM agrees that it is vital, because it allows for us to catch unusual situations, like poor sound or even a quirk of the film itself. Like Cloverfield, shot on mini-DV and transferred to film, so it has a lot of video "noise" on it and it was also a shaky film, so I made sure that warnings went up for customers with motion sickness problems. Plus, pre-screening is fun.  |  IP: Logged

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