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Topic: Former Employees Sneaking In To An Employee Screening.

Jesse Skeen
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1517
From: Sacramento, CA
Registered: Aug 2000

posted 03-22-2004 01:50 PM

In my experience, it's next-to-useless to have anyone besides myself prescreen a film anyways, because most people aren't as picky as I am. I once ran one for someone where right away I could see the picture was bouncing up and down during the first reel- I asked the manager watching it if she noticed it and she said no, then later proceeded to give a blowjob to the guy she brought with her (no I'm NOT making this up!)
Another time I had a used print and it turned out there was extra cue tape on the end credits that caused it to shut down early, but I only knew because I happened to be in the booth- the kid who screened the film left at the beginning of the credits. [Roll Eyes]

This place PAID people to pre-screen prints too!

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Daryl C. W. O'Shea
Film God

Posts: 3977
From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from)
Registered: Jun 2002

posted 03-22-2004 02:25 PM

...and you were worried about the bouncing. Ya should've just got in line! [Smile]

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Mark J. Marshall
Film God

Posts: 3188
From: New Castle, DE, USA
Registered: Aug 2002

posted 03-26-2004 08:48 AM

Employee screenings are good in my opinion. As with anything else, if you have a couple of bad eggs spoiling it for everyone, then you have a bad egg problem, not an employee privilege problem.

Someone mentioned that the studios would frown on so many people seeing the movie without paying for it. I doubt that. The employees WORK at the theater, and it only makes sense that they know the products they are selling. How many times a night does a customer walk up to an employee and ask what they would recommend, or what's this movie about, or which is the Tom Hanks movie, or whatever. I think they should be encouraged to watch the movies when they're screened. Like everything else you do with your employees, you set rules, and if you have someone who can't follow the rules, you get rid of the employee.

I recently worked at a theater where there were no employee screenings at all. Yet the managers would come in on Thursday nights with ten friends, usually drunk, and screen the new movies. The employees of course took this as a big [fu]

and it showed in their productivity and dedication.

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Dave Williams
Wet nipple scene

Posts: 1836
From: Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 03-26-2004 09:54 AM

quote:
Typically, I could be finished with a 5 or 6 reel movie in 20 or 30 minutes (okay, I know you have longer movies today, so I'll give an hour). Even if I had a print in marginal condition, I might be in for an hour or less. No one should have to run it through a projector to see if they can splice in-frame. What a colossal waste of time!

In one instance we had a damaged print come in of "the messenger". This was not caught by the person building up, as he was too lazy to notice the giant green scratch down the middle of it. It was caught during screening.

HOWEVER

TES did not get our replacement copy to us until 25 minutes before first show.

And yes I got all 47 reels together perfectly because I KNOW WHAT THE HELL I AM DOING, and I also care too. I got the show off on time as well.

Then again, I did get the last three reels on as the film was running. I learned very quickly how to splice one end of a reel to another while it is spinning on a platter and get it right in a matter of three seconds. Not recommended, but if you know what you are doing and understand the equipment and what film is, then you have a pretty good shot of pulling anything off.

I hate booth ushers.

ciao

dave

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Jeremy Fuentes
Mmmm, Dr. Pepper!

Posts: 1168
From: Corpus Christi, TX United States
Registered: Jan 2004

posted 03-26-2004 10:00 AM

47 reels?!?!

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Daryl C. W. O'Shea
Film God

Posts: 3977
From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from)
Registered: Jun 2002

posted 03-26-2004 10:50 AM

Dave meant 74 reels. The Messenger was definitely longer than 47 reels.

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Dean Kollet
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 591
From: Florida State University
Registered: Jul 2003

posted 03-26-2004 11:20 AM

I agree with this....employees should definately know the product they are showing the public. And the what's the difference of your friend sees the movie before it comes out, or the next monday when you can take them to see it for free? I don't think the studios care. IMO, I'd much rather have a print screened (no one is perfect all the time), even if it's flawless and have employees excited that they saw a good movie. It's a perk of working @ a theatre....much like people work @ a sandwich shop get free food

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Carl Martin
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1424
From: Oakland, CA, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 03-26-2004 04:35 PM

quote:
Then again, I did get the last three reels on as the film was running. I learned very quickly how to splice one end of a reel to another while it is spinning on a platter and get it right in a matter of three seconds.

yikes! that's insane. i'd much rather run one show with the scratched print so i could build the replacement at my leisure and ensure that that one didn't get damaged as well. i can hardly imagine trying to splice moving film like that. what did you do, turn off the feed platter, spin it by hand to give yourself slack, then do a quick splice while it's at rest? there must be absolutely no room for error.

carl

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Scott Norwood
Film God

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

posted 03-26-2004 05:13 PM

I think that employee screenings are basically a good thing because they a) give people a reason to want to work at a theatre as opposed to McDonald's (probably the only benefit that most of the floor staff get) and b) help to ensure that employees know what they are selling and give them a basis on which to provide advice to customers (as mentioned above in this thread). If you have the time to run the film and if employees are interested in watching it ahead of time, then I see no problem with showing it to those who are interested.

I also agree that running film to "check the print" is generally a waste of time, unless there's some other reason for the screening (e.g. someone wants to watch it). Aside from digital tracks (which can be checked on the first show and which aren't an issue in non-digital houses), there's no reason why any and all problems can't be spotted on the bench. I've had no problem running films with their directors in the audience without prescreening them, and I've never heard of anyone getting paid for prescreening a print.

And what about venues which show a given film only once? I've run lots of film at colleges, festivals, etc. where there's only one show. If every film had to be pre-screened, labor costs would go through the roof. Also, many prints show up hours (or in some cases minutes) before the showtime, where there's just barely enough time to inspect the first reel before starting the show. The rest of the print has to be inspected as the show runs. This always makes me nervous, but I've never really had a problem.

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Mark J. Marshall
Film God

Posts: 3188
From: New Castle, DE, USA
Registered: Aug 2002

posted 03-26-2004 10:53 PM

quote:
Aside from digital tracks (which can be checked on the first show and which aren't an issue in non-digital houses), there's no reason why any and all problems can't be spotted on the bench.

Anyone remember Fellowship Of The Ring, Reel 9, Opening Night, Midnight show, sold out?

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Jack Ondracek
Film God

Posts: 2348
From: Port Orchard, WA, USA
Registered: Oct 2002

posted 03-27-2004 12:17 AM

From Dave Williams:

quote:
Then again, I did get the last three reels on as the film was running. I learned very quickly how to splice one end of a reel to another while it is spinning on a platter and get it right in a matter of three seconds. Not recommended, but if you know what you are doing and understand the equipment and what film is, then you have a pretty good shot of pulling anything off

...and I thought I was the only one who got film in so late that you had to do that!

Another stunt that happens at the drive-in from time to time... if a film comes in too late to build properly and wind on the platter, I reset the upper feed roller & run the feature from the reel to the takeup platter (we build a full feature on a big reel at the makeup table, then rewind it through a Kelmar cleaner (w/Filmguard) it & wind it on the platter.

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Dustin Mitchell
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1865
From: Mondovi, WI, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 03-27-2004 01:51 AM

Scott, those venues that only screen the print once are generally dealing with used prints. Problems with used prints are usually limited to bad splices and other film damage from previous handlers. The point of pre-screening 'virgin' prints is to find any lab related damage. Damaged digital tracks, defective DTS discs (which was a big problem this summer but seems to have been cleared up), etc can be a serious problem if the feature is special effects oriented. I know not all theatre get the same level of service from TES (based on comments on this board) but in the paste when I've found a digital problem during pre-screening I was able to get a replacement set of discs by the second showing the next day. If I had waited to find the problem until the first public showing I know the new discs/reel whatever wouldn't arrive until Saturday. Try explaining to some techno geek why you are running Matrix or LotR in analog when they were expecting digital.

And we've moving into FHF territory here, but I'd really like someone to explain to me how they can detect a lab defect like fogging with a bench inspection. It seems to me if you were to wind slow enough to be able to see something like that it would take you so long to inspect you might as well just screen the print. I don't know, perhaps I'm doing something wrong when I inspect film (when I actually have the time/inclination that is).

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John Hawkinson
Film God

Posts: 2273
From: Cambridge, MA, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 03-27-2004 02:20 AM

Safelight fogging is one defect you can detect. Simply inspect the colors of the image on both sides of the lab splice, and then compare them to the colors 50' away.

(I do agree that in general there many defects you cannot catch with a hand inspection alone.)

--jhawk

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Darren Crimmins
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 130
From: Dallas, TX, USA
Registered: Jan 2002

posted 03-27-2004 11:44 AM

"The point of pre-screening 'virgin' prints is to find any lab related damage."

Finally, someone else who understands. It is so frustrating when going to a new theater and have to explain to every manager why we screen movies. They think it is for us to check to see if we can build up correctly, and then to get paid to "watch" the movie. Usually, once I explain (sometimes till the point of being blue in the face) that it is for lab and problems and not whether or not I can put together a print correctly, they understand enough to stop harrassing me during my screenings.

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 03-27-2004 01:39 PM

Jesse Skeen writes:

quote:
I once ran one for someone where right away I could see the picture was bouncing up and down during the first reel- I asked the manager watching it if she noticed it and she said no, then later proceeded to give a blowjob to the guy she brought with her (no I'm NOT making this up!)

She was probably bouncing up and down too, hence the reason she didn't notice.

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