posted 05-11-2009 08:09 PM                    

quote: Chris Slycord

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Maybe it's just me but wouldn't having the fog come in (to the point of making the image impossible to see through it) also make the on-screen image awful, even for a drive-in?

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Yes. At which point most patrons leave.

We once had a double of Rocky Horror and Phantom Of The Paradise...250 cars lined up to get in. They got in and about 30 mins into Phantom in came the fog. We then had 200 cars lined up to get out. Bummer for them was, as soon as interval hit, the fog disappeared so everyone who stayed (all 50 cars) got to see Rocky Horror with no fog whatsoever.

We ran Phantom on 2000ft spools and did changeovers looking into the Century to see the cues.

posted 05-11-2009 08:13 PM                       

quote: Chris Slycord

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wouldn't having the fog come in (to the point of making the image impossible to see through it) also make the on-screen image awful, even for a drive-in?

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posted 05-11-2009 09:26 PM                    

quote: Robert E. Allen

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If you do use grease pencil make it a small mark not clear across the frame like I've seen some apparently half-blind operators do.

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We were talking about the guy who taught me about changeovers. This reminds me of a funny story he told me.

The theater he worked at had an Employee of the Month promotion. They'd put the person's photograph up in the lobby, near the concession stand. As time goes by, he gets his picture put up on the wall.

One day, he was walking by the concession stand and he noticed somebody had taken a grease pencil and drawn a big slash mark on the picture.

posted 05-18-2009 03:06 PM                    

quote: Paul Burt

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I'd sure like to get one of those. Anyone have a contact in Japan?

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Paul, I hope I never see a print coming from your theatre after you've used one of those hole punches...

posted 05-19-2009 01:41 PM                    

quote: Paul Burt

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Tony, I can't imagine why you'd want to see scribed circles rather than the tiny Japanese punch holes. Neither one can be removed, and the tiny holes are a lot less visible on the screen.

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I can tell you why: Let's say the print's been around the mill for a long time, and sloppy operators keep cutting frames off of the tail, to the point that the last frame of picture is the changeover cue. (I have seen this more than once.)

Now, with scribed cues, you can fill them in with grease pencil which blacks them out, and you can now add proper cues again at the right locations. The end result is actually pretty unobtrusive onscreen. This is a good fix for prints with multiple cues too...best of all, those who don't like it can wipe the grease pencil off and have all the cues they want.

With the holes there is no way to black them out.

The ONLY holes that belong in film are the ones for the sprockets.

posted 05-19-2009 07:29 PM                       

quote:

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Do not use scribe circles! Grease pencil can wear off much too quickly. Instead, I highly recommend hole punches. Never miss another changeover again!

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Joe that brought back some memories from my early days , even over here in the land of precission projection we used to see prints ome in with puch holes, i will however admit there was no ecuse for missing the cues!

posted 05-20-2009 01:21 AM                    

quote:

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I would assume that if the last frame of picture has the changeover cue due to bad handling, then the correctly timed changeover cue would appear first and there would be no problem. And if a print is that beat up, the obtrusiveness of a tiny punch hole is not something that an audience would be likely to notice. Ever see those holes? They're tiny.

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To answer back in reverse order, yes I have seen the holes, yes they are tiny and yes they are permanent and cannot be covered up no matter what. And if the print is that beat up, why add to it with more hole punches? As I said, even scribe cues can be covered up with my method.

Did you not read all of what I replied?

And as for the part I highlighted in bold, how can you say that the original motor cue will be correctly timed when the actual changeover cue being at the last frame will be about a foot too early? Many is the film where I would have to hesitate a half to 3/4 of a second at the actual changeover cue to make sure I don't cut off dialogue.

The original instructions for a proper changeover used to specify that the sound changeover should lag about 1 second behind the picture to keep the sound correct.

Most films have music, background sounds or random stuff to help hide the changeovers. Try running "Chariots Of Fire" where every reel had dialogue at every changeover with your assumption and you'll be hacking up a lot of talkin.

If you're missing frames off the end of the reel, the proper way to re-do the cues is to re-scribe BOTH sets displaced by the amount of missing frames.

Otherwise you risk losing dialogue or other sound glitches, or flashing black frames from the tail of the outgoing reel on screen.

Changeover timing is an art, takes lots of practice and if done with precision, you should be jumping from the very last frame of the outgoing reel to the very first frame of the incoming reel. According to the many directors who have been to my screenings, I tend to hit the marks pretty well. (I'd better as I have been doing this since 1982.)

quote:

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Why risk missing the changeover with the cue only in one corner? Get out your pocket knife and scratch a big X across the whole frame. Emulsion side, of course. [evil]

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Martin, you're diabolical.