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Author Topic: Changing Trailers on a Platter Sean McKinnon Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1712 From: Peabody Massachusetts Registered: Sep 2000 posted 01-27-2008 10:10 AM                        My issue is not with his opinion that he likes Changeovers. My issue is with the statements that you cannot change trailers or add shorts to a platter system. Anyone can have any opinion they want but when you post innacurate information to back up that opinion is wrong. His OPINION is that Changeovers a better for him but he stated a FACT that certain things cant be done with them. On this forum you are not allowed to post private emails and I think that is how it should be, if I had wanted to make a public spectacle out of it I would have. I only wrote to the man so that he would realize that it can be done, and so that he wont make those statements of fact in the future so that down the road no one else will call him out publicly on it, I was trying to spare him the embarrasment. You know it seems like some people over there dont understand the difference between stating an opinion and stating a fact. An opinion is "I dont like chocolate milk" a fact is "Chocolate milk will kill you" so saying "I dont like chocolate mile because it will kill you if you drink it" is an opinion and a fact. What ifa new theatre owner who read that board to find out where to start to get his theatre open read that and decided that because it says you cant change trailers or add shorts on a platter that he is going to toss a perfectly good platter and spent a lot of money to purchase and install a second machine? Is that fair to him? In all fairness though I realize that my email to him did not come out the way I had intended, maybe I was too tired and frustrated at the time but I can see that it is more blunt and accusatory than I had intended, Lesson learned I should have slept on it and wrote it when I was fresh and relaxed. I only meant it as a friendly note to educate but it did not come out that way, I can admit that. At the end of the day though I still think it needed to be adressed because it is not fair to the newer readers of that forum who take what the more experienced people say as gospel.  |  IP: Logged Ron Funderburg Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 814 From: Chickasha, Oklahoma, USA Registered: Nov 2007 posted 01-27-2008 10:44 AM                        Sean, communication through email or forum posting is an inexact science at best. If add in person problems of the individuals such as turned around letters resulting in spell check having to be used and quick selection without a lot of thought put in to (Guilty as Charged)then it gets even more dicey! However, the exchange of ideas is whats important.  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 01-27-2008 11:50 AM                     quote: Thomas Pitt I would have thought it would be dead easy to change trailers (or commercials) when the movie's on a platter. Run the film onto a reel using your MUT (as if you were breaking down), then when you see the trailer you want to change, splice the film and pull the trailer out. Then splice the new trailer onto the reel and platter film, and wind it all back. That way will, obviously, work but the problem is that it's way too time consuming. Other methods take a few minutes at most. And the idea that it's better on a changeover house since one could change out the trailers during the movie would only matter if the gap between shows was too short to do the swap.  |  IP: Logged Ron Curran Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 504 From: Springwood NSW Australia Registered: Feb 2006 posted 01-27-2008 09:19 PM                        As I have to load trailer reels onto the MUT and onto the platter, depending on the circumstance, I can say that I don’t like either. Whatever method I use, I find it easier to make up a feature than a trailer reel. One of the complications is the legal requirement to have like-rated trailers on the feature and to splice the appropriate classification tags on each trailer. Having a second brain helps (for me and the platter) so that you can wind out the whole trailer run, then make changes on the bench and put the altered pile back into the centre. Trailers are probably God’s way of telling us that we should all go totally digital.  |  IP: Logged Chad M Calpito Master Film Handler Posts: 435 From: San Diego, CA Registered: Apr 2006 posted 02-03-2008 10:51 AM                        When I change out a trailer(s) from a particular movie, I look at my trailer pack listings for that movie to locate it's position. Then, I take out the center ring, place it on another platter and take out the trailer pack up to the end of that un-needed trailer. Then, replace it with a new one. Of course, I would use a 2,000-foot reel to rewind the trailers onto and load onto the platter and resplice the tail end and do a drop. For me, that's the easiest way to do it. Granted, I never worked a change-over booth, so, I don't know what that is like.  |  IP: Logged Peter David Bruce Expert Film Handler Posts: 187 From: East Anglia -England Registered: Aug 2007 posted 02-03-2008 12:02 PM                    quote: Ron Curran Trailers are probably God’s way of telling us that we should all go totally digital. ron is right there. i also apply that to adverts. looks like our cinema is next in line to go digital. apparently sooner rather than later! never thought id miss 35mm but i think i will. for about a day!!!  |  IP: Logged John Hawkinson Film God Posts: 2273 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 02-11-2008 01:24 AM                     Scott wrote, "I've always thought that someone should build a rewind bench with three spindles (two powered), as it would make it easier to, say, remove a trailer and replace it with another one when dealing with reels." I think this picture from the Dolby Screening Room (in the Picture Warehouse) has this feature: (or maybe there's something else going on there? It looks kind of offset...) --jhawk  |  IP: Logged Stephen Furley Film God Posts: 3059 From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England Registered: May 2002 posted 02-11-2008 02:41 AM                     I think it's just two sets of rewinds, 6k powered ones behind 2k hand ones, with the left hand ones of each set almost lined up with each other from the angle the picture was taken.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 02-12-2008 09:14 AM                     This is pathetic...changing out trailers/ads are God's way of saying YOU SUCK...get out of the business. Handling film is what the job is...just check the title of the forum. If you find it hard, you have no technique. The whole platter vs. reel-to-reel on trailer changes is beyond a stupid arguement. From trailer on a core to trailer on a core...reel-to-reel is going to be faster and brain dead easy but with the right tools or just plain simple forethought, changing trailers on a platter isn't such a big thing either. For those that have not changed trailers on changeover booth...it kinda works like this...you rewind your film as normal...when you get to the trailer section (Which can even be kept on a separate reel to begin with)...you stop and spool off the trailers you no longer are supposed to play and you spool on the new ones...continue rewinding until the leader is back on and whola...ready for the next show. It is so fluid that it practically is not like you are doing anything extra. The number of ways to change trailers on a platter are quite numerous though I tend to favor an isolate and drop method, if I have adequate warning and the time to isolate (sponge/core off). But I've double-decked and just about every trick as well and have done so on a great many platter types. The one that seems to freak some out is I'll pull the trailers mid show...after about 3-reels go on the take up platter, it won't scoot about on its own...so I pull the trailers after about an hour into the movie...take em to the rewind bench to adjust them as per the trailer schedule....drop em back in before the show ends...make the one splice to reattach and thread up without taking much more time than that one splice once the show drops to get it ready for the next show. If you have one of the handy retractable hub split reels or trailer retrieval reels, this makes this method go all that much faster as the MUT never has to come out. But there are really many, many techniques out there. What I do often depends on the tools/equipment available in the particular booth and the time allotted for carrying out the task. Oh an Sean...I defy you to name an exhibitor that would read THIS or any other forum...see just one guy say something to the effect of an opinion...not verify the opinion and then proceed to throw away their equipment, spend yet more money. If such an exhibitor exists, then they are not doing THEIR homework. One is always going to get conflicting opinions. Then again, in today's world, if you plan on running FILM...2-projectors are not a bad idea...as films start to become more of an archival medium, platters and large reel transports will limit the available choices of films to play. Steve [ 02-12-2008, 10:17 AM: Message edited by: Steve Guttag ]  |  IP: Logged Peter David Bruce Expert Film Handler Posts: 187 From: East Anglia -England Registered: Aug 2007 posted 02-12-2008 04:23 PM                    I guess my only nag about changing ads and trailers on the platter is that i once had one cause a brain wrap. I am alot more cautious now when running them through - although technique-wise I have it down to an art, theres always that 'one time that went wrong' which I hope to avoid in future. I rather like how it all sits on the platters and watching them play through is almost hypnotic... as it feeds and that. A proper piece of engineering happening there. Nice to see it working right, as it should be. Now to find a reliable brain unit. weve had so many go down over the years. it not just a case of cleaning them or dismantling and rebuilding the unit... somethings just stopped most of them working. Oh well. Looks like they will all be sent off for servicing soon.  |  IP: Logged Thomas Pitt Master Film Handler Posts: 266 From: Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK Registered: May 2007 posted 02-12-2008 06:10 PM                     I don't know about this 'drop in' method that you guys are talking about. It sounds as if you run your trailers onto a reel, change the one you want, then literally drop the new trailer package onto the centre of the platter before winding the other film round it. Surely this causes uneven tension in the winding, and could lead to brain wraps. Can a platter run backwards? If so, then the MUT method I mentioned would be ideal - after changing the trailer, run the film backwards through the brain onto the platter again. If not, the way I would do it would be to thread everything up except the projector, run the film until I see the trailer that needs changing, then splice and pull it out. Stick in the new trailer, then allow the rest of the film to run onto the other platter. When you next run the movie through the projector, it'll have the replacement trailer on it.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-12-2008 06:32 PM                        Re: the "drop in" method: no, you don't need a MUT or a reel. In the case of "adding a trailer," the quick version is as follows: - inspect trailer and wind it heads up on a core; take it over to platter and set it aside - remove center ring of made-up print - locate existing splice where you want to add trailer - remove tape from both sides of this splice - remove leader and trailers up to this (former) splice - take this "loop" of film and place it loosely around another center ring on an empty platter deck - take new trailer, remove leader, and splice it to the loop of trailers - wind the new trailer by hand (or with platter motor) onto loop - take entire loop off of center ring, remove tail of new trailer, and splice loop back onto print - fit loop as best as possible into print; since it is now larger than it was when you removed it, it will form an "outward bulge" as part of it will need to sit on top of the print - thread and run film as usual This will look odd, but should feed fine on most platters. Ideally, you will want to stand next to the platter until the entire new section of trailers has fed through. Someone really needs to do a photo page for this procedure, since it's easier to show it than to describe it. The complete process takes about five minutes and can be done easily between shows. It gets more complicated when there are multiple trailer changes or when the order of existing trailers needs to be changed.  |  IP: Logged Peter David Bruce Expert Film Handler Posts: 187 From: East Anglia -England Registered: Aug 2007 posted 02-12-2008 07:04 PM                    perhaps I will be able to help on this one. ill go about getting step by step photos done for how we do this drop in procedure. also, if i have to remove a couple of trailers about half way thru the inners, i remove the ring, flick thru til i find the head of that trailer, break the join and remove the tape, flick thru to the foot of the trailer, and do the same. then i grab both sides of the trailer (head and foot) and literally pull it out, leaving a lovely even circle gap in there. i join the loose foot and head of the 'keep' film and then go about the rest of my changes.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 02-12-2008 07:27 PM                     One of my projectionists has agreed to videotape changing trailers in a few different styles, so we'll see if we can't whip something up here.  |  IP: Logged Chad M Calpito Master Film Handler Posts: 435 From: San Diego, CA Registered: Apr 2006 posted 02-13-2008 09:48 AM                        That would be awesome, Brad. I'd like to learn and see other people's method as well.  |  IP: Logged

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