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Topic: What is the worst film mess you've had to deal with? How did you fix it?

Charles Greenlee
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 801
From: Savannah, Ga, U.S.
Registered: Jun 2006

posted 06-08-2008 12:24 PM

quote: Leo Enticknap
If people were shagging on it in the 1970s, I'm not surprised it had to go.

LMAO, pricless. I needed the laugh.

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Jeffry L. Johnson
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 809
From: Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Registered: Apr 2000

posted 06-08-2008 01:12 PM

quote: Jack Theakston
Jeff, FWIW, what was the title of the film?

_Pirates_ (1999) IMDb web page

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Fred Tucker
Film Handler

Posts: 90
From: Sugar Land, TX
Registered: Sep 2007

posted 06-10-2008 01:17 AM

I've cleaned three prints off the floor in the year and half I've worked in booth. None my fault, thankfully. The worst was just the otherday, an employee tried carrying sex and the city across the mezzanine.... yep you guessed all 8 reels on the carpet.

How did I fix it: luckily the last four reels were somewhat intact, the first four..... lets just say there are a whole lot of splices in that print. Another projectionist and I got the print on screen in three hours, cleaned it with filmgurad and was good as new. Oh did I mention the carpet was still wet from the previous nights steam cleaning?

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Joe Tommassello
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 547
From: Coatesville, PA, USA
Registered: Jan 2008

posted 06-11-2008 05:16 PM

quote: Justin Hamaker
I cut the film in sections to make it easy to untangle. I had to cut out several sections and always tried to splice at a cut.

Are you saying you cut at a shot change? Wouldn't that make it infinitely more confusing when putting it back together?

My worst will seem tame compared to most but it was quite frustrating for me at the time. It was the first week "Blair Witch Project" was going wider than art houses and we had two prints. By noon on Friday all shows for that night and most for Saturday were sold out. I suggested the "junior" manager on duty make an "executive decision" and after a brief consult we started slashing other shows from the schedule. By Saturday night our two prints were on six screens. I waited till the last set of shows was running on Saturday and then left the booth in the hands of an operator. All he really had to do was the standard end-of-night tasks as the shows ended. Oh, and not walk into the interlocked film. Of course that is what the knucklehead did shutting down the show for about 700 patrons. Worse he tried to cover it up by starting it quickly but in his panic he failed miserably. Soon the unknowing manager was bombarded with angry patrons. Needless to say that fellow didn't last long after that.

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Justin Hamaker
Film God

Posts: 2253
From: Lakeport, CA USA
Registered: Jan 2004

posted 06-11-2008 06:39 PM

quote: Joe Tommassello
Are you saying you cut at a shot change? Wouldn't that make it infinitely more confusing when putting it back together?

I tried to cut the film at camera changes so that there wasn't a major jump in the middle of a cut. I'm fairly certain there was only 3-4 total cuts and I believe there were in the middle of a reel. Furthermore, we used clear tape when splicing mid-reel and a stripped yellow tape when splicing reel changes. I think I had to take out a total of about 30 frames and the longest section was only about 12.

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Phil Housh
Film Handler

Posts: 24
From: Boise, Idaho, USA
Registered: May 2003

posted 06-16-2008 06:18 PM

Many years ago, while working with a 70mm print of Quest For Fire: I got the print only about 2 hours before showtime. opened the cans and starting inspecting and found that almost all the reels we damaged on the edges of the print. While inspecting the print the edges were folded over and were peeling off. This was terrible! I didn't know what to do at such short notice. Called the manager and arranged to get a new 35mm print for the next day.

No fix: finished making up the print on the platter. Got instructions to run it anyway. When I ran it, the whole edge peeled off out of the mag penthouse. One destroyed print! [Frown]

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Tony Bandiera Jr
Film God

Posts: 3067
From: Moreland Idaho
Registered: Apr 2004

posted 06-19-2008 01:54 AM

Years ago as a tech I was told how a local theatre that shall remain nameless destroyed a brand-new 70mm print of "Empire Strikes Back" in a Century JJ. They stripped the entire mag track off the print on both edges, during the midnite press screening.

Seems the booth monkey dropped the film gate on the concrete booth floor, breaking off the spring metal stabilizer fingers, which left two nice spring steel knife edges to efficiently scrape the track right off. At the end of the show they noticed the print had wound very unevenly on the platter (Phillips/Kinoton) and that there was a huge pile of red dust on the floor.

Lucasfilm was so incensed that they pulled the other 70mm print from that theatre and made them run the 35mm backups.

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Marc Jensen
Film Handler

Posts: 20
From: Auckland, New Zealand
Registered: Jan 2006

posted 06-20-2008 10:30 AM

A few months back I got a phone call with an opening line that went a little something like this: "I-was-doing-a-trailer-change-and-I-got-some-of-it-on-the-floor-and-I'm-really-panicking-man!"

In some ways it was a sentence, but some people might have reason to argue that it was more like a single, very long, compound word. It had been fired at me as if from a machine gun in the kind of staccato delivery that can be a bit worrying coming from a freshly trained projectionist.

Asking him how long he had before the next show I learned that it was still 45 minutes away, so I figured there wasn't much to worry about. I'd be able to give him some advice over the phone and that would be the end of it, right?

Wrong. [Razz]

As I listened patiently to the rapid-fire anecdote that didn't really make a whole lot of sense, my brain latched onto something he'd said and it was like seeing a light bulb labeled "Impending Doom" getting switched on.

"Wait, you're telling me there's a reel of the feature film on the floor?"

"YES!"

"K, I'll be right over." *click*

What greeted me as I walked in the door to the projection room was this:

The entire trailer pack for the movie sitting in a scrambled heap on the floor.
Reels 3, 4, 5, and 6 of the movie safely wound head out on a 7K spool near the rewind bench.
Reel 2 was similarly on a 6K spool, also head out and attached to...
Reel 1 out in the middle of the floor, apparently having flown there like a badly aimed flying saucer.

Naturally all my WTF moments for the week were taken care of right there. My head was reeling with questions like, "How does a simple trailer change reach the point where it becomes a polyester frizzbee?" "Ah, who gives a shit? The show must go on!" [fu]

The funny thing about film spinning at high speed is that it has a half-way decent chance of staying vaguely intact. I was was lucky in that respect, because it was a simple matter to slide the reel onto a wide sheet of cardboard, lift it onto a transport board, drop a spinner into the middle and drag it in onto that. From there it was easy to up-end onto the rewinder and wind it onto that 6K spool with reel 2. Once I'd done that I had two spools worth of movie, all head out and a platter waiting to receive.

Throughout my race to the show deadline the new projectionist to his credit moved away to attend to his show threading responsibilities. He also started dealing with the messed up trailer pack whenever he could spare the time, so I had something to be pleased about with that effort. As for me, I managed to get the print reassembled and threaded up in time for the show with a few minutes to spare.

Leaving the big question, "How?"

He'd had a trailer change to do, which was a fairly straight forward process with a movie sitting there and not playing. He had removed the ring and then started removing the trailers. So far, so good and everything was situation normal. Then the print had bulged inwards from a splice and getting the trailers out had started getting a bit awkward, so He had run into one of those one-thing-led-to-another situations with a bit of a problem developing. At this point the recommended strategy might have been to strip back to the nearest clean part of the presentation and run a show from there, or call me for advice, but instead he reverted back to what he knew... Print breakdown.

His theory that tackling the problem from the outside when tackling it from the inside was failing had one almighty flaw in it and as a result he learned a few valuable lessons that day:

1. It's best to seek advice early on when things start going wrong.
2. An inward bulge in the print is not really that big a problem (I actually shoved in the side of a running print just to prove the point)
3. A full speed platter to MUT print break down, with no ring securing the print, is a really bad idea. [Big Grin]

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Patrick Dunn
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 120
From: newark, DE, United states
Registered: Aug 2005

posted 06-20-2008 12:11 PM

I went to break down a print a while back and didn't know that it was moved before hand, and I didn't think to check and make sure the center ring was secured before I started winding it on to it's shipping reel. I started rewinding the film and looked up just to see the film slide. I quickly went to stop the rewind table but the film had already fell off. I was lucky that all that the film stayed in the roll and didn't get messed up, but the ring was completely busted. But this is where all the time of keeping film off the floor is undone. This was a few years back.

Several months ago one of my managers did the same thing. I don't know exactly why he moved the film because it was one of the bollywood movies and being taken apart right after it played. The film was built up into two halves so there was an intermission. After the intermission he was supposed to break down the first half. I'm think he had one of our regular movies on the platter system so he moved the first half to another platter system to break it down and didn't secure the ring. His exact words to me were "It just slid off the platter, turned sideways and exploded."

What I have learned is always secure the ring, I do it even though I know the print isn't being taken apart since the film is supposed to be centered around the brain while it's playing.

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Mark J. Marshall
Film God

Posts: 3188
From: New Castle, DE, USA
Registered: Aug 2002

posted 06-20-2008 02:32 PM

Not the worst problem, but a fun one none the less...

I came in to take over booth operations from a manager. Said manager was training a new booth guy, and for the moment, he only knew how to thread from the platter to the top roller of the projector then back to the platter, and that was what he was practicing.

The Problem
I came over to thread up Harry Potter V, and saw that his payout platter was spinning at a pretty good clip, and had apparently been spinning for quite a while because he had a brain wrap that went almost into the second reel of the feature. I stopped the platter and looked at the huge wrap of film thinking about my next move. The film was wrapped around the brain fairly tight, and there wasn't much hope of running it without figuring out how to undo or slack off at least part of the wrap. The show was scheduled to start in five minutes. It was the second biggest house, and it was sold out. I'm reminded of the line: "What would you do, hot shot... what would you do?"

The Solution
Step 1. Pulled the brain out of the platter, and some of the film that was wrapped around it with it. Found the splice between the leader and the first snipe, and broke it, leaving the leader on the platter. Then found the splice between the last two snipes before the feature and broke that. Lifted the resulting roll of film that made up the trailers out of the wrapped film on the platter, and laid that roll of loose film on the rewind table, tucking it all back together making it one nice neat roll.
Step 2. Put that roll of film on a split reel with a 4" core, and taped the inside of the roll of film (our first snipe) to the core itself. Mounted the split reel on the rewind table and ran the table at medium speed while holding the film loop in my hand. As the core on the split reel spun around inside the roll, it pulled the film from the roll in my hand to wrap around the core. No scratches.
Step 3. Took the 4" core off the split reel, and held it in my hand. Rewound the film on that core onto a new reel, bringing the head back to the outside of the reel, so I could run it back onto the platter.
Step 4. Put the reel on the make up table, and ran the trailers, heads in back onto the platter on an empty take up ring.
Step 5. Removed the take up ring, threaded the trailers through the brain, attached the first snipe back onto the leader that was hanging there. Finished threading the projector, and started the movie... on time. I now had about 12 minutes to figure out what I was going to do next.
Step 6. Installed a second brain back into the platter that held the print, where almost the entire first reel was wound backwards into a smaller diameter roll than the rest of the print. I threaded the head through the brain and placed it onto the left side of our Kelmar splicer which I had sitting on the platter, and disengaged the platter motor. Then we waited for the last trailer to go through. After the last trailer there would be two more theater snipes. One was our Silence Is Golden snipe which was attached to the film running through the projector now, the other was the Feature Presentation snipe which was still attached to the feature print.
*** WARNING: DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS NEXT STEP! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED, SO DON'T EVER SAY "OH, I SAW THAT TRICK ON FILM-TECH!" IF YOU TRY THIS, THE OUTCOME IS ON YOU, NOT ME! SEE MORE DETAILS BELOW! ***
Step 7. When last trailer went through, we proceeded to pull our Silence Is Golden snipe through the brain and off the payout platter faster than the projector was pulling it, but not too fast - we didn't want to scratch it. Once we had it all off the platter, and I had it's tail in my hand, I attached the tail to the right side of the Kelmar splicer and made a quick splice to the Feature Presentation snipe on the wrapped print. Oh, I forgot to mention that I had peeled the tape off of the two ends earlier, so this was a new clean splice not a splice over another splice. Once the film pulled tight, we started spinning the payout platter (which was now the one with the wrapped print on it) backwards by hand. Since the film was wrapped backwards, if we didn't do this, we'd start wrapping the film around the brain again and we'd either scratch the film at the least, or worse risk a break and a show interruption.
Step 8. Once the feature was on the screen, we found a milk crate and set it on the floor next to the platter, sat the new guy on the milk crate and told him that his job was to spin the platter backwards by hand for the next 20 minutes until that whole wrap was through. I was back in time to re-engage the platter motor because I wanted to make sure he didn't do it too harshly and end up throwing the print off.

For good measure we cleaned the print during the next round, and everything was fine. No scratches, No dirt. But that didn't matter. Some dope scratched the movie before the week was over anyway.

For the splice on the fly routine, we had three guys. One guy pulled the tail of the film off the platter, and kept it untangled and off of the floor. I made the splice. A third guy stood by the "STOP" button on the projector just in case something went wrong and we had to stop. I do NOT recommend anyone ever try this, ESPECIALLY by yourself. It's very tricky and can easily result in a much bigger mess than you're trying to deal with. In about twenty years of projecting, I have only had to do this less than half a dozen times, always to try to keep a show on the screen... never for fun. It's not fun. And every time I do it in front of someone, I always tell them to NEVER attempt that.

I'm sure I'll get flamed for using this technique, and that's fine. The fact is the show went on, on time, the print was fine, the projector was fine, the splicer was fine, and even the new guy was fine, although he said he didn't want to be in the booth anymore after that day. All of the customers left happy and completely unaware of what happened upstairs. All in all, it was a happy ending.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

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

posted 06-20-2008 03:57 PM

I've had to do something similar, but I did it differently since it wasn't caught until showtime. I just pulled the film out of the brain, removed the brain, took a 4 inch 70mm core (it was actually two 35mm cores taped together), wrapped it in film cleaning media, and with a loop of gaffer's tape I stuck it to the middle of the platter where the brain would have been. I then disengaged the platter motor and started the show.

For that next half hour or so, I had a worker spin the platter backwards. No big deal, it didn't flip over on itself since that tall core was in the middle. Then once the wrap was almost done with only a few revolutions left, I pulled the core off and popped the brain back in. Since it was a Christie platter and not a retarded design unlike the Strong brains, I was able to effortlessly drop the film back into the brain and the show continued. No marks of any kind and I had it up and running within a couple of minutes.

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Justin Hamaker
Film God

Posts: 2253
From: Lakeport, CA USA
Registered: Jan 2004

posted 06-20-2008 03:57 PM

quote: Marc Jensen
A full speed platter to MUT print break down, with no ring securing the print, is a really bad idea.

I highly recommend having suction cups with brackets like the ones pictured below. In the case where you need to breakdown a print where the ring has been removed, the cups can be placed around the inside to help hold the print in place. Although you still wouldn't want to spin too fast.

We put these things around any print that might cause a problems (following a move, static problems, etc.) and any time a print gets off center for any of a variety of reasons. 6-8 around the outside works great in a normal situation, but I've used as many as 20 when the print was out of round or off center. Beats the hell out of taping down trailer cores.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

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

posted 06-20-2008 03:59 PM

Oh wow Justin, where have you been???

Click and learn

Suction cups are a foolish way to break down a movie without a ring. If you cannot fit the ring back in, you should simply remove a few rounds of the film (the leader, or maybe the first trailer) to free it up just enough to fit that ring back in. Alternatively break it down the PROPER way by re-running it through the projector.

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Justin Hamaker
Film God

Posts: 2253
From: Lakeport, CA USA
Registered: Jan 2004

posted 06-20-2008 04:32 PM

Actually, I've had to use that method in a few different circumstances.

One was the first time I used the Goldberg reel to build a film. I didn't realize you had to be careful about the direction the film was wound or you'll wind up plopping on the platter the wrong way. This was Indiana Jones. And by the time I had realized the problem, I had already removed the hub and had a huge bulge in the print. Since running it through the projector wasn't an option, the only thing I could do was pull it off onto 6000' reels. And since the hub of the Goldberg reel is smaller than the centering ring on the Christie platters, I felt that using the suction cups while winding slow was a reasonable solution.

Another situation was where a projectionist had threaded the wrong movie and didn't catch it the trailers had all gone through. Normally I would just chop the film and drop what was on the take-up platter back in the middle for the next show. Unfortunately that particular movie didn't run again and was a hot pick-up. So again, I felt the suction cups on the inside was my best option.

I realize the suctions cups may not be the "best" option, but I thought it was a damn sight better than trying to pull the film off without something holding it in place.

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Laurie Higgins
Film Handler

Posts: 45
From: Norcross, GA, USA
Registered: Jun 2008

posted 06-23-2008 08:11 PM

About 2 months ago a young manager and myself were moving films on a late Thursday night. We had moved about 6 and had 2 left to go. Our theater shows 1st run American movies, but we also show Bollywood films. Most of the Bollywood films are 3+ house in length. We were moving one such film off the top platter. He was in a hurry and as we were sliding the board up under the edge of the film I asked, "Don't you think we should clamp this?" and he replied, "No, it will be alright." Approx. 2 seconds later he says , "Uh-oh." and the next thing I know there is a cascading waterfall of film raining down into the floor behind him. I immediately starting cussing my head off. He then admitted that he didn't know what I meant when I said we should clamp it and that he didn't even know that could happen. He has been an assistant manager here for about 3 years.

It turned out that there were very few sections that stayed together the largest was about 1 inch in width. So we had to go through the entire film by hand, cutting it into chunks and then we slowly started piecing them together and then rolled them up onto a 6k and then back onto the platter. The whole thing took almost 12 hours, it was a nightmare.

That's the last time I will ever listen to a manager over my better judgment. This same guy wanted me to rewind a film last year because a chunk was missing after a bad brain wrap I had just undone. So I should have known better.

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