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Topic: Changeover on Inglourious Basterds

Paul Gordon
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 580
From: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Aug 2005

posted 09-16-2009 10:18 AM

We do 12,000 ft tower reels, 6000ft reels, trailer packs, make DTS trailer discs etc... plus our makeup room is not with the projectors. Jesus whats with all the negative bell talk...almost every booth had them before platters.

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Scott Norwood
Film God

Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99

posted 09-16-2009 10:25 AM

I don't particularly like the bells, either, especially when they can be heard in the auditorium (which is most of the time). I can't think of any newer (last decade or so) installations that I have seen that have them.

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 09-16-2009 10:30 AM

I think it would be better if the "bell" was just a sensor, and instead of ringing a bell it sent out a remote command to a taser that is strapped on to the projectionist's ass. If the projectionist is within 6 feet of the projector, nothing happens. If he is not, well, you get the picture.

Of course that is way too technically complex for those old booths.

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Martin McCaffery
Film God

Posts: 2481
From: Montgomery, AL
Registered: Jun 99

posted 09-16-2009 10:32 AM

quote: Joe Redifer
I don't think you'd be too busy making up or breaking down films in a 2K changeover booth.

Not most days, but I certainly recall times when it was pressing. Rep houses were particularly busy with films coming and going on a semi daily basis and often in pretty bad shape during inspection. AFI could get pretty crowded on weekends back when it was still in the Kennedy Center. Theoretically, the contract gave us time to build up and break down, but it didn't always work that way.

I agree that the sound of the bell is a distraction in the auditorium, but for me it brings up an almost Pavlovian nostalgia response [Wink]

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Paul Gordon
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 580
From: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Aug 2005

posted 09-16-2009 10:39 AM

I'm not saying I'm a fan of an annoying bell but it can be silenced after a couple rings. The booth I worked at changed films every day, and we did a lot of double and triple bills all on 2000ft reels so it was kinda handy.

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Tim Reed
Better Projection Pays

Posts: 5246
From: Northampton, PA
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 09-16-2009 11:01 AM

quote: Steve Guttag
I'd ban changeover alarms in all theatres, including 2K reel booths.

With so many c/o's in 2k reel booths, it was just too risky not to have them. Too many other things going on. In drive-ins, where I spent most of my years as a projectionist, our free between-reel time was spent repairing in-car speakers.

quote: Jack Ondracek
The alarm mounted above the plate and had a small wheel that rode against it. I saw the name a million times, but don't remember what it was.

"Can't Scratch".. follow Bernard's link above, to go back in time. [Smile]

quote: Joe Redifer
I don't think you'd be too busy making up or breaking down films in a 2K changeover booth.

Sure you could. I changed 3 features a week in single screen drive-ins. Plus, just a few years before I started working in booths, most theatres changed the bill two and three times a week - and plenty of double-features. There were always prints coming and going. Plus, to inspect prints, remember they had to be hand-cranked on the bench. Didn't see many new prints - they were always several years old. Repairs were made with scissors (to smooth over side tears) or cut out damage entirely and splice it back with a chemical splicer - which took several minutes, by the time you cut and scraped the film, and let the cement set. There were no tape splicers.

A 20-minute-reel carbon-arc booth was a busy place.

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Gordon McLeod
Film God

Posts: 9532
From: Toronto Ontario Canada
Registered: Jun 99

posted 09-16-2009 11:17 AM

The pendulum type was the Jackson reel end alarm made by a BC projectionist named Jackson

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Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!

Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 09-16-2009 11:40 AM

quote: Joe Redifer
I don't think you'd be too busy making up or breaking down films in a 2K changeover booth.

Actually, they can be some of the most intense booths with very many single-show movies...however that being said, you are lazy or incompetent if you can't pay attention to the show at hand and not use the stupid alarm.

Steve

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Monte L Fullmer
Film God

Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 09-16-2009 12:40 PM

quote: Steve Guttag
they can be some of the most intense booths with very many single-show movies

Aint that the blessed truth -I'd go back to a 2k reel carbon arc changeover booth any day of the week instead of playing with platters since you had to always keep your eye on the lamphouse to keep your carbon trims on the focus lines - even if you got your motor feed speed settings right on along with other booth chores that actually made the shift go quick.

Had two booths with "drop dings" and the others, including my last carbon arc booth before my transition to xenon contained Hatke end reel alarms.

quote: Tim Reed
The Hatke alarms were LOUD! "DING! DING! DING!" They always rang three times

Since all of my booths were the open port variety, I would take strips of duct tape and tape across the outside of the bell to the aluminum frame and lay down small spots of the same tape where the ball would strike the inside of the bell. This definitely muted the "DING" down when the ball hit the bell to a very quiet "tink, tink, tink" .. and was barely heard in the auditorium.

-Monte

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Stephen Furley
Film God

Posts: 3059
From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England
Registered: May 2002

posted 09-16-2009 05:29 PM

How common were these things? I've seen pictures of them before, but I've never seen them actually installed in any cinema that I've visited. Obviously, that would be only a tiny fraction of those that existed, but were they quite rare, or was it just by chance that I never saw any?

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 09-16-2009 06:10 PM

quote: Steve Guttag
Actually, they can be some of the most intense booths with very many single-show movies.

OK, I can definitely understand that. But perhaps he should have said "inspecting" instead of "building up and breaking down" which implies that there is a platter in the 2K changeover booth (which there very well could be) and multiple reels are being spliced together.

Though I guess assembling/removing trailers and whatnot could be construed as building and breaking. So I concede. [Smile]

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Bernard Tonks
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 619
From: Cranleigh, Surrey, England
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 09-16-2009 06:29 PM

quote: Stephen Furley
How common were these things? I've seen pictures of them before, but I've never seen them actually installed in any cinema that I've visited. Obviously, that would be only a tiny fraction of those that existed, but were they quite rare, or was it just by chance that I never saw any?

End of reel alarms were around but mostly in some Gaumont British Cinemas, Independent and small circuit cinemas. Gaumont Kalee made a small neat top spool box device. Last time I heard one was as a paying customer at the late Gaumont (Royalty) Richmond, the dong was faintly audible in the circle seating area.

Never did see any of these alarms in any ABC or Odeon cinemas. However in later years Odeon did replace many BTH Supa projectors with Gaumont Kalee equipment removed mostly from closed Gaumont cinemas.

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Jim Cassedy
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1661
From: San Francisco, CA
Registered: Dec 2006

posted 09-16-2009 07:24 PM

Most of the changeover booths I worked in had the Hatke
alarms. Yes, they were loud, and could be heard in the
back row of the balcony. I usually toned them down by
either putting a thick rubber band around the bell
casting or jamming a paper or styrofoam cup over the
bell. Both muffled the sound to where the 3 "clacks"
could be heard in the booth, but not outside the ports.

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Bob Koch
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 183
From: williams ca
Registered: Nov 2001

posted 09-16-2009 08:00 PM

MonteS "drop ding" was indeed after market and was made by an operator in Louisville by the name of R Hullet. Had a small diameter roller that sure ruined a lot of prints.

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Martin McCaffery
Film God

Posts: 2481
From: Montgomery, AL
Registered: Jun 99

posted 09-16-2009 08:46 PM

My favorite reel alarm I hope never existed.

There was an episode of Columbo in which solving the murder came after they figured out the projectionist (in a studio screening room no less) put a nickel in the reel which would drop to let him know it was at the end.

I sure hope no one in the studio they shot Columbo in ever did that.

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