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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 10-31-1999, 05:07 PM:
This weekend I got the chance to take a crack at one of the newly "remixed" SR stereo prints of "Rocky Horror Picture Show" and I must say, DAMN THAT TRACK WAS CRAP!Although it was possible to make any one song sound great, even dialogue varied wildly from scene to scene. A single eq setting (the standard X curve was just plain horrible) was just not possible for this film.
First, reels 1 and 2 were from an SR print from a number of years ago. Reel 3 was from another SR print. Reel 4 was from another SR print. Reels 5 and 6 were brand new, never ran and had 3 lab splices in each reel that were particularly nasty. (This is of course AFTER we got rid of the random mixed reels of an original, literally unplayable mono Eastman 1975 print that IS STILL IN CIRCULATION! Those reels were so red, there were NO other colors and each had over 100 splices...the operator counted.)
Let's see, reel 1 and 2 sound matched fairly well, reel 3 hits and the entire high end drops substantially. Reel 4 comes along and was reasonably matched to the first two. Reel 5 was so bass heavy the subs and low frequencies had to be almost completely killed and reel 6 was close to reel 5, but not quite as bad (low frequencies could be raised, but sub had to stay off). This of course, doesn't even get into the constantly changing response from scene to scene as mentioned above.
What the hell???
I've ran this film tons of times back when only the mono tracks were available and although the sound wasn't anything to write home about, it was consistent! A general eq could be had for the entire film that sounded pretty good (the original elements are quite poor). The stereo mix was a nice welcome (although the music scenes looked dubbed since there wasn't proper lip sync) but past the fact it was "stereo", FORGET IT!
The only way to present this new "upgrade" is to have 6 user eqs in the auditorium with a subharmonic synthesizer for the music scenes and a tweeker manning them throughout the show. We did this with 2 operators via radios to the booth, but next time wires need to be ran to the auditorium. How embarrasing this must be to theaters that can't change the response of their system throughout the show!
Also, some of the reels were sent in from other prints to "complete" this print and the studio needs to take into account polyester stocks vs. triacetate stocks. They should NEVER be mixed within a print!
The only nice thing I can say is the picture quality (putting the graininess of the 70's film stocks aside) was TOP NOTCH! For once a reprint on polyester wasn't GREEN! Even current releases are too damn green, but old reprints on polyester stock are typically like having a green filter in front of the lens. The colors on this reprint were right on target and very vibrant!
I hearby volunteer to take the original tracks and remix that film PROPERLY for Fox (in case anyone is reading). I know it's just a "bad film" and that the patrons "don't care", but this just HAS to be the worst mix in movie history...and the mono mix was just plain better. Anyone else ran these SR prints? Were your results similar or is all this reel jumbling from print to print part of the problem?
(This print was ran in one of the best equipped and best sounding auditoriums in the area.)
Oh, I almost forgot...the addition of the song "Super Heroes" was a nice one, but THE GLOBE DOESN'T "TURN OFF"!
Posted by Rick Long (Member # 213) on 10-31-1999, 05:25 PM:
Gotta disagree that the patrons "don't care", Brad. I was the Satanic Mechanic for the Roxy, Toronto, running this film every Saturday midnight for five years. Chop a few feet from one change-over, or let the light (or sound) fade at all, and you would have a riot (literally) on your hands.
Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 10-31-1999, 05:47 PM:
Haha, you certainly got THAT right Rick. I'll never forget that first year when we got a crappy print and was running changeovers. There were cue marks scratches all over that print! Yeah, that was REAL funny (to whoever that projectionist was who did that). The print came in late and the operator who ran that first show had to run without an inspection. Needless to say, there was some missing footage from the presentation, even though it was in the print, because he changed over early. We also had a break in that show. I'm not sure if "riot" would be the proper word for that one. Thankfully we switched to platters about 6 months later (because I've seen many prints of RH with random additional cue marks). Aside from that one performance, we never had a film break or stop for any reason...VERY important for Rocky Horror.I ran it for 6 years (not every weekend, but all the time). We had our own little fun with it. I'm wondering if anyone else did similar things or have other stories to tell from a projectionist point of view. Here's mine:
- One booth was a multi function facility and the projector was in the MIDDLE of the room on it's pedestal. Video projector, slide projector, spotlights, light board, etc covered the front wall of the booth. When we fired up the projector, the image on the booth window was probably a foot tall and 1 1/2 foot high. That made it easy for the projectionist to "tweek" Janet's breasts, which the crowd LOVED.
- We also had a catwalk where we would assist in the "toast" (the Mrs. Baird's thrift store always donated a couple of crates worth for us to bake). One of the guys got long boards where he would carefully lay dozens of loafs of toasted bread on and when the cup rose, he would tip the ends of them and COVER the audience with toast! The picture was literally blacked out as they fell on the audience.
- Similarly, we would have rice and water hoses up in that catwalk. It was a good 30-40 feet up, so even the water-oozie guns couldn't shoot that far against gravity.
- We developed a stage show over time (yes, the auditorium had an actual stage flush with the bottom edge of the screen) and ran spotlights for them. My favorite gag was one of the guys would walk onto the stage looking lost during the opening number at the church, only to get stabbed and fall on his back when Richard O'Brien tosses that pitchfork aside! I've never seen that at another theater because it happens too high in the frame for most theaters.
- Finally, one of the operators decided it would be cool to make slides to open each show with. For instance "Your projectionist tonight is...GLEN!". The audience would always applaud (even though no one knew who we really were) and, well...do I even need to say what happened when I flashed mine before Rocky Horror?
It went over so well, I made it a point to save that slide even after we discontinued using them for future Rocky Horror shows.
Anyone else, or were we just cruel? 
Posted by Rick Long (Member # 213) on 10-31-1999, 05:59 PM:
Just before the weeding scene, the projectionist and I would load up the nozzle horns of the CO2 fire extinguishers with confetti and remove the port glass. At the appropriate scene, FOOOOM!!!
We had to cut it out, after a few weeks when the cleaning staff threatened to quit.
Thank God we never actually needed those fire extingushers.
B.T.W., I know exactly what the audience shouted when you showed that slide.
Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 10-31-1999, 07:21 PM:
I've only run RHPS four times. We had an actual cast that performed on stage and also had a spotlight in the booth. Between making changevoers and running the spotlight, it was a pretty busy evening. I also made up a pretty good pre-show program, including things like 16mm footage of last year's RHPS performace (which once jammed in the gate and burned on a bad splice! the crowd loved that! no one realized that it wasn't supposed to happen that way!), an upside-down "apologies for technical difficutlies" slide, and a killer trailer reel with weird old 2-minute cartoons and trailers for really bad movies from the last decade or so. I also used the strictest-sounding policy trailer that I could find: "...loud or disruptive behavior will result in immediate ejection from the auditorium..."--the crowd loved that. And, of course, I got some friends to throw rice out of the booth portholes at the appropriate moment...
One of the RHPS prints that I ran had the SR track. I ran it in mono and it sounded much better...
Posted by Stephen Winner (Member # 8) on 10-31-1999, 07:40 PM:
You've all given me some good ideas for next year's performance! Never even though of live acting (we have a stage!).The print we got in didn't have too much in terms of mixing problems, but it did sound pretty dull, like a 16mm education print. I did notice that reels 2 & 3 are in stereo, but the others aren't...so far, it didn't get noticed! Our print is a little red, and has a few scratches on it.
Thanks for the changeover pointers, I have 1400 VCU students in this place (packed house!) who can memorize this film line for line (they're singing!)
Posted by Ken Layton (Member # 133) on 10-31-1999, 09:16 PM:
You got STEREO SR?? All we ever got was beat-to-hell mono prints.
Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 10-31-1999, 10:55 PM:
If anyone ever runs RHPS again, DON'T get a print from Fox, they are all a hodge-podge of different prints, both mono and the 1990 LPP SR reissues crammed together, usually missing tons of footage, and some so splicy that it was pointless to run the damn thing, but if that wa all you could get for a packed hous for RHPS then so be it 
Get your RHPS prints from Criterion Films! ALL are great condition 1990 SR reissue prints, they have all the footage ( to include the 'Super Heroes' section near the end of R6, which most if not all of the Fox original(1975) prints did not have) I have run FI and Criterion prints of RHPS for almost seven years and have been thoroughly satisfied!
Aaron
Posted by John Walsh (Member # 168) on 10-31-1999, 11:18 PM:
One time we ran "Rocky Horror". (This was in Danbury, CT. in 1983 or so.) Anyway, one of the "things" we did was to run a snipe that had the American flag waving with the national anthem just before the start.
The fire police chief "happened" to be there, checking exit doors, etc. although I think he really wanted to see what these 'kids' were watching.
The manager is telling him about how it's just good clean fun, better that the kids are here, rather than roaming the streets at 12:00 pm, blah, blah, when I run the snipe.
While it's going, a kid in the front jumps up on the stage and gives the Nazi salute. Within 5-10 seconds everybody in the audience is, "Zig-Heiling."
Of course, this fire police chief fought in WW2. He is really pissed. He stops talking to the manager, and storms into the booth, demanding the film stop. There are more cute bits to this story, but that's the meat of it. The film went on, but he had an article written in the paper the next day about how un-american RHPS was. Probably thought the kids needed more gym, or something. People tried to explain to him that it was just a joke-thing to do; maybe not a good joke, but certainty no one wanted Nazis back. We never did run that snipe again.
Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 11-01-1999, 12:34 AM:
OK, it's 1979 and Rocky Horror's on again at the drive in. There were 2 drive ins in the town where I lived and they took turns to run this great film every other Sunday. One Sunday night it was doubled with Phantom Of The Paradise, which screened first. About 30 minutes into the show, in rolled the fog.Instead of a queue INTO the ticket box, there was a queue waiting to get OUT so they could get their money back.
Most of the 250 cars left, leaving only about 80. My dad and I took turns at looking into the Century and calling out the cues 'cos we could no longer see the screen. After interval when RHPS started, that wasn't a problem any more. We had run the thing so often, we could do the changeovers with our eyes closed.
Ah, the fogs...
A topic for another post?
Posted by Tom Ferreira (Member # 70) on 11-01-1999, 07:15 AM:
One of my dreams as a projectionist and managers has always been to run RHPS, but unfortunately, I've never been in an area where it would bring in the crowds it does in college towns. During my younger years, I spent many a Saturday night at the old Cinerama in Providence enjoying this classic film.
Fox Video did a tremendous job remastering the sound and picture for the video rerelease last year. I still think they should strike new prints(in all digital formats)and give it a wide release the way Paramount did for Grease two years ago. I can say this, because I hire people to clean the theater-I'm willing to bet wet rice doesn't come off the floor for months.
Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 11-01-1999, 12:58 PM:
I have been projecting ( and participating in) RHPS at many theatres since 1983. This saturday night we showed RHPS at midnight,without a live cast ( a rarity for us) Well, Obviously most of you are familiar with all the audience participation 'lines' ( for anyone who isnt there are several sites on the Net with full AP scripts) that are now S.O.P. with any showing of RHPS... Well the crowd was pretty quiet, so myself, and a couple others that used to be in live casts from the past were there and we did all of our usual RHPS 'lines' Naturally there are quite a lot of sexual refrences and 4-letter words, etc etc. Well, at the end of the movie, about 5-6 people ( all older women that obviously never have seen RHPS) were walking by us as they were leaving the auditorium bitching at us for 'having a filthy mouth' and 'yelling foul obscenities'( 99% of the lines we used are generic RHPS lines used almost everywhere)... but the kicker was the lady that had to thank us "for RUINING A PERFECTLY GOOD MOVIE".... I have called my DM and requested that we never show RHPS here ever again... Whats the matter with people .... ;(Aaron
Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 11-01-1999, 01:04 PM:
to continue with something I missed from the RHPS nightmare I experienced, Had we had any of the available live casts for this show, those people that complained would have had heart attacks from the pre-show activities, plus the cast lines etc.... and they all bitched to the manager , pointing us out and all ( i am glad that I didnt let anyone klnow I was employed for the company hehe) but th manager, knowing what RHPS is all about pretty much blew them off... Aaron
Posted by Tom Ferreira (Member # 70) on 11-01-1999, 02:45 PM:
Don't feel bad Aaron-screw them. If it weren't for the lines and props, RHPS would have been forgotten a long time ago. I can't imagine that there are people who would voluntarily go to see Rocky Horror with no clue as to what made it famous in the first place. I would have told them if they wanted to see it without the atmosphere to walk into any video store in the country and rent it. These are the kind of people who shouldn't stray too far from mainstream junk like Double Jeopardy.
There was talk at one time of a true sequel to RHPS(not the atrocious Shock Treatment)called Revenge Of The Old Queen. I guess it must have gotten stuck in development hell, because I haven't heard any more on it in years. I'll bet the producers wouldn't have to pay much to reunite the original cast(with the exception of Susan Sarandon).
Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 11-01-1999, 03:21 PM:
I hope they weren't referring to Ms. Sarandon when they were referring to the 'old queen'. Somehow, I don't think so...
Posted by Kenn Fong (Member # 118) on 11-02-1999, 12:22 PM:
Does anyone recall when the audience participation began? One of my friends recalls seeing RHPS in San Diego the first week under normal conditions. But a couple of weeks later, he saw it out of town at a bucker with some friends -- there were only six people in theatre all together -- and noticing two guys seated in the very first row, who seemed to know all the lines and were acting it out.I wonder if this was happening all over the country? If it was, it's an example of a theory sociologists have about a collective consciousness. As this was time before the Internet could be used to spread the word, I wonder if RHPS is an example of collective consciousness.
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Kenn Fong http://qwertyuiop.net
Screenwriter's Home Page
Posted by Mark Ogden (Member # 43) on 11-06-1999, 12:19 PM:
I response to Ken's question, the Waverly Cinema on 6th Avenue in New York is generally credited with getting the audience partici. . . . .pation (sorry, couldn't help it) thing going. The film bombed on its first release and someone from Fox got the idea to book into midnight showings down in the Village, (this was about 1976 or so, in the era where you still could get a decent audience for something offbeat at that hour). The audience started building after about the third weekend, and the screaming response thing happened. After a while, it was moved over to the late lamented 8th Street Playhouse (now a video rental store, fer crissakes), and that's where things really got rolling, with Dori Hartly and Sal Piro starting the first Floor Show. (The Waverly, meanwhile, was running another midnight staple: "Eraserhead". Anyone run that? Pass the Excedrin. . . )