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Topic: Set the dwell

Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

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

posted 01-20-2011 04:48 AM

A "gentle tug" won't suffice with a Strong platter. It requires a rather significant tug and you need to be very careful otherwise it will slam into itself and destroy leader. If you tug it gently, the rewind deck will take off with the torque of a thousand tractor trailers and destroy leader. I always tug and engage the rewind deck before I start threading the projector, Strong or Christie. Even Super Platters.

I would like to see video of various peeps threading, all the while keeping leader off of the floor. Platters only. Keeping off of the floor with changeovers is too easy, it's almost harder to get it on the floor.

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Louis Bornwasser
Film God

Posts: 4441
From: prospect ky usa
Registered: Mar 2005

posted 01-20-2011 09:32 AM

A small, clean cardboard box works OK as well.

(You could make the case that, since leader never runs through a projector, it doesn't matter anyway. A circuit that we once knew had 35mm UNPERFORATED leader to the threadup point. i guarantee you thsat this never ran through a projector.) louis

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Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"

Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 01-20-2011 09:45 AM

Joe - I'm talking about when I had Christie AW3's, which is what I had when I still worked with platters on a regular basis (up til 2003).

Last time I worked with Strong platters was 1997 when I still worked for AMC. I'd go give the rewind platter a spin to engage the tension (at the end). I guess you (and your kind) can do it before threading coz you work bottom-up.

I suspect people may be apprehensive to post a video of themselves working for fear that they'd just picked apart "for doing it wrong."

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

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

posted 01-20-2011 02:12 PM

quote: Louis Bornwasser
You could make the case that, since leader never runs through a projector, it doesn't matter anyway.

You could try to make that case, but you'd be wrong. Dirt does transfer from layer to layer. Why do you think the first thing that hits the screen at most theaters is usually incredibly dirty? Because of the leader touching the floor, that's why.

Manny, as long as the leader doesn't touch the floor, the rest of the technique doesn't matter. There wouldn't be anything to pick apart from that. I don't really care about speed, either. I'm just curious to see how people keep it from touching the floor when they make these claims. I'm not a big fan of the box as that is cumbersome and not really effective. Better than the floor, not as good as the air.

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Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"

Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 01-20-2011 10:54 PM

quote: Joe Redifer
I'm just curious to see how people keep it from touching the floor when they make these claims.

My first time meeting Scott Norwood was in 2003 when I was in Boston for a Dolby training session, and he was running a Technicolor print of Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window."

Scott showed me a neat way to take the leader off the supply reel and get it down to the takeup reel without it touching the floor. Up until that point, I had only ever worked with platters, so that evening I got a few of my long-standing questions answered. Scott's neat method stuck with me and, when I started doing changeover shows (about a year later) I remembered it. I still do it Scott's way.

It's kind-of impossible to explain in words. Maybe Scott will post a video..?

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David E. Nedrow
Master Film Handler

Posts: 368
From: Columbus, OH, USA
Registered: Oct 2008

posted 01-29-2011 09:09 PM

Joe, et al,

I have always threaded top down, but leader on the floor wasn't a problem in the past, as I always ran reel-to-reel w/ changeover.

But, with the use of a spool tower, I've been having a devil of a time trying to figure out a functional way to keep the leader off the floor, since the spool tower is on one side of the room, and the projector on the other. I've tried rolling a large loop, but then I have to manage that as I thread. I've been tempted to place some type of clamp on the ceiling just to hold the film while I thread.

Then I read about bottom-up threading in this topic, and it solved my problems. I can "lock" the leader from the takeup to the last sprocket, then work my way back WITHOUT having to manage a bunch of film in one hand.

Thanks all!

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