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Author Topic: Nature of a job in a film lab John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 08-01-2004 08:16 AM                        As often mentioned here before, it is a matter of what services distributors are willing to PAY for. If a distributor wants a full inspection, or for a print to be rewashed, the TES facility in Wilmington Ohio has the people and facilities to do it. But they charge for the extra services.  |  IP: Logged Don Anderson Master Film Handler Posts: 312 From: West Bend, WI, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 08-01-2004 11:48 AM                     Robert- I worked in the processing department. Poorly ventilated darkrooms-departments that had the actual film processing cines and or tanks. You are not going to get any lung related problems inspecting films. OSHA has really clamped down on these labs for violations in the past. Many labs have since gone out of business, like 3 of them that I worked for. Back in the mid to late 70's they got away with anything.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-03-2004 09:34 PM                     Brad, I said they actually have PEOPLE there doing that??? I understand that alot of places have the macinery... thats the easy part. The people are the hard(and expensive) part. Image guard........ Baaahhhhh So you're leading me to believe that they actually have people operating that machinery? Naaaaaawwwwwww........ no way. Mark  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 08-03-2004 09:36 PM                     Yup Mark, it's true. I've been there and seen it first hand. Whenever Adam finishes the new site coding (hint, hint) a full picture tour of the facility that I took months ago will appear on the site courtesy of the guys at TES. Even though we all know what they do, it's hard to visualize.  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 08-03-2004 10:30 PM                        quote: Brad Miller ...a full picture tour of the facility that I took months ago will appear on the site courtesy of the guys at TES. Even though we all know what they do, it's hard to visualize. Until then, you can read the article about TES that was published in Kodak's "Cinema Notes", issue H-50-56: http://www.film-tech.com/manuals/H5056.pdf  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 08-04-2004 03:57 PM                        I was lucky enough to be given a tour of a small lab last year which used to specialise in processing 16mm negatives used in high-end TV origination, but which is moving increasingly into archival lab work as that sector dries up. The owner, who showed me round, said that the worst job of all was loading the developing machine. You're on the night shift, working by yourself and working in absolute pitch darkness, unloading exposed film from cans and joining it to the end of the footage passing through the tanks. The work is repetetive, and also high pressure, because if you get it wrong and the film transport has to be stopped, you've ruined the footage that was in the developing machine at the time. For that reason it rotates among the staff there, and no-one does that duty for more than a fortnight at a time. We've since sent a couple of things to them, and they did an amazing job correcting some very bad fading on a 1973 regional TV documentary, of which our only surviving element was an Ektachrome reversal dupe from a cut reversal original. They revealed colour information which I'd never have known to have survived in the original.  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 08-04-2004 04:09 PM                        AFAIK, the work done at TES in Wilmington does not require working in photographic darkrooms.  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 08-04-2004 07:11 PM                    So they're not all pasty white like Rochesterians?  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 08-04-2004 08:40 PM                        We all eat our carrots! (for good dark vision) This summer, we're pale because of all the clouds and rain, not just working in darkrooms.  |  IP: Logged

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