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Author Topic: How many Prints have you made up? Sally Ann Burgess Expert Film Handler Posts: 120 From: Queenstown, New Zealand Registered: Apr 2008 posted 11-07-2008 03:22 PM                     Joe, something else i forgot to mention...when I first started I was shown when threading to pull all the leader onto the floor by the projector, lace up then take all that dirty leader over to the platters. I didn't know any better since that was when I first started in Projection. The two guys I was taught by were old boys who didn't let me make up a print for SIX months as that was 'their' job. (this was over ten years ago)However, when I first made up prints, I knew that leaving smudges and fingermarks was a very bad thing so handled it by the edges. I was still using chinagraph, but only for a couple of inches instead of several feet! When I went to work for the newly-opened multiplex at Bluewater, I was shown to lace up without putting the leader on the floor...although they were using white marker for their reel joins. I thought that was so much neater than chinagraph...we were doing slightly overlapping splices which was how I was shown at the previous cinema. The cinema was bought by Showcase in 2001 and we were shown how to splice properly by their tech...called 'butt-joins' and bloop splices (putting a black spot over the analogue part of the soundtrack at the join over the splice tape to stop any popping sound) Now, when making up a print, I use a white sticker on the very edge of the film just to one side of the join (this comes off with the splicing tape)I still 'bloop' the prints as we have one cinema here that has Dolby SR only. I didn't discover Film-Tech until mid-2003. I try to glean as much as I can from it. One thing I didn't know until recently is that when lacing up, the soundtrack should be facing in and in so that the emulsion side sits on as many rollers as possible. I have always gone out and out for years as I wasn't shown any better, but now I teach all my newbies the in and in way and explain why. Would be interesting to find out what bad habits everyone had but I guess we can start another thread for that!  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 11-07-2008 03:44 PM                        I was also taught by an old union projectionist and he showed me to use white shoe polish at reel joins. I can't remember when I stopped using the shoe polish - it might have been when I went to work for my present company about 10 years ago. To the best of my knowledge, that was the only really bad practice I was taught.  |  IP: Logged Ed Alvarado Film Handler Posts: 60 From: Fort Worth, TX,usa Registered: Oct 2004 posted 11-09-2008 12:51 PM                        Hmm I started back in late 2001 and since I worked for REGAL and we had everything from family film festivals to Indy films and your average release films I have to say about 1089 films Ive build. The most in one day is 6 films while running the booth and tear down 6 films before the end of the night. first film I ever build is "American Pie 2"  |  IP: Logged Dennis Benjamin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1445 From: Denton, MD Registered: Feb 2002 posted 11-10-2008 02:43 PM                        Going back to the original question: "How many prints have you had to put together in one day." I clocked in at 40 print builds in 48 hour period. So, 20 in a single 24 hour period (one day) -or so. No joke. I was assisting in opening a 20 plex theatre. They got in the intial 20 prints to go on the twenty screens AND 20 older prints to run for thier VIP day - where they ran movies for .25 cents and donated the money to charity. It was decided to let me build the prints because I was the only one in the building who knew how to. Imagine getting forty prints delivered and being told to have them ready in 48 hours to go on screen. It was one of the worst 2 day periods of my life I can't get back. I earned my keep that week. I did train people over those two days. But these were people who never had been in the booth before. Going into the tangent that ever was getting into: My first print build was "Gross Anatomy". Which I built tails first and every reel was upside down. I stayed with my manager until 4 a.m. to help fix the print. I probably have built/tore down over 10,000 prints in my 19 years in the business. My number is higher than average because I typically assisted in opening new theatres in my career and was usually put in the projection booth the week of the openings. I had to train people and run the projectors opening weekend in addition to building prints. One of my other worst "Thursday nights" in a projection booth was when I had to build 9 movies and break 9 down - all in less than a twelve hour period. That's also the night I accidently tore down an entire print of "Operation Dumbo Drop" onto a single 6000 foot reel. When I came around the corner and realized my mistake, I had just enough time to utter " Oh, Fuc*" before half the print fell on the floor into a big pile. I've had some doozys.  |  IP: Logged James Westbrook Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1133 From: Lubbock, Texas, Usa Registered: Mar 2006 posted 11-10-2008 02:55 PM                     In the 80s, UA theatres was instructing their booth staffs via a manual and VHS training tape to apply white shoe polish at the reel joins. When I complained to a booth tech about how long it took for the shoe polish to dry, he told me to get white correction fluid and apply that instead. In all fairness, this was to only be applied to a couple of frames on the sound-track side (which was up on the platter.) The print they were showing being built-up in the training video (Witness) had obvious rings of thin white lines where someone had used considerably more shoe polish than just 2 frames.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 11-10-2008 03:15 PM                        I hate how theaters have to run a bunch of old crap for one day when they open. Such a waste of time, and the prints are usually awful.  |  IP: Logged Jonathan Althaus Master Film Handler Posts: 435 From: Bedford, TX Registered: Dec 2008 posted 12-18-2008 12:14 PM                     This week, 7 in, 7 out. 1st print I built was Bourne Ultimatum, have only been in booth 2 yrs now.  |  IP: Logged Michael Hossen Expert Film Handler Posts: 136 From: Perth, Australia Registered: Apr 2007 posted 12-19-2008 09:38 AM                        Hmmm, Let's see. I've never actually been allowed to make up prints yet. I work for a family owned business and they are trying to keep the current head projectionist making up prints for as long as possible. I've been a projectionist for nearly two years now, so I'm hoping they'll teach me soon...  |  IP: Logged Cory Renkenberger Film Handler Posts: 2 From: Kendallville, IN United States Registered: Dec 2008 posted 12-19-2008 11:40 AM                     I have never built more than 3 prints in one day. Primarily because I have worked in a twin-screen main street venue since 1984. I belive "Ghostbusters" was my 'learning print' and if I ran at our Drive-In, we were reel-to-reel until recently, so I can't count that. -However, I would estimate at least 1200-1400 prints between this theatre and any of the others I was sent to in the last 24 years! And not to toot my own horn, but in a rush a few times, I have seperated and diverted reel 6 onto an unused platter as it was running for an audience, and proceeded to tear-down reels 5,4,3,2,and 1 as customers were watching the end. I believe I had reel six in the can as the last few customers were driving away from the theatre! It pays to get creative in your booth! just be careful if you are a daredevil!!!  |  IP: Logged

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