Not as big a deal, but it still taught me-USE CLAMPS!!!
 

Personally, I say one person should never move a print by themselves, although I am guilty of moving as big as 8 reel beasts by myself such as "Forrest Gump" when I HAD to. Dwayne has me topped though. He has moved Green Mile multiple times by himself (not an option) with only 2 clamps and on platters that would wind unbelieveably loose (very old AW3s).
 

Joe
 

I move prints by myself with no clamps 20 times a week. Big prints, small prints doesn't matter. I do stay away from the big loose ones. Biggest print I moved alone was Titanic.

I know it's not the proper way, but I have to. I end up closing my 24-plex alone most thursday nights, and I have to get the prints moved before opening. Of course I don't let my staff see me doing it and they all know that if I see them doing it, or drop a print doing it they will be fired on the spot.

It's beed five years, and I haven't dropped one yet. Knock on wood.
 

At the place I first started at we had Speco and it would be just about impossible to move a print alone. Getting it over the brain would be just about impossible to do without the print falling apart.
 

I absolutely agree print moving should be a two-man job. I used to work with an operator who would put two prints up on his shoulder at once and carry them that way. The booths were separated by a long distance. I am not that strong. I've hurt myself a few times hauling prints. I used to be in a situation where I was the only person in the building when prints were moving, so no help was available. On top of that, getting into one of the booths required climbing a short ladder. Also, having to put a heavy print onto the top deck of a 5-deck platter by yourself is lots of fun.
 

The horror...the horror...

But then again, I'm a cheeky bugger. and they are always wound nice and just tight enough.

Most recently moved The Patriot on my own...no big deal really, but I won't move them alone unless I really have to.
 

Sometimes, if projectors are close and print is tight, I will move without clamps.

Paul.
 

"Are those what beginners use?"

John's reply:

"No, they're what PROFESSIONALS use."

Speco, as an example have a collapsable centre so are dangerous to move without a board or clamps. Cinmemeccanica or Kinoton have solid centre rings that do not collapse, these films can be moved without clamps or boards quite safely - not immediately after make-up though.

David Kilderry
 

I made a wedge-like thing I jammed in the split on a Christie ring one time. I guess you could make a bar of some kind to keep the tension on a Potts-type ring.

Maybe they should make a (locking) take-up ring with a flange around the top to help keep it from falling through?

When we move prints, it's always on a sheet of masionite. (sp?)
 

I still favor winding the print onto a doughnut-shaped platter disk (e.g. the new Kelmar antistatic mat or the one from Stuart AV) or the Goldberg platter reel, and then using TWO people to carry the print between platters.

Using clamps requires care to not scratch the platter surface or nick the edges of the print, as you try to slip the clamp onto the print.

Using nothing to support the print roll while moving it is like Russian Roulette --- 5 times out of 6 you can get away with it. The other time you'll have a big mess on the floor .

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com

RORY
 

If I am sending it to another AMC I will ask them if they just want to move it as is or if they want it on shipping reels. This only works if the person picking the print up has a large enough trunk for the print to fit into all built up though. Works well with SUV's, as you can even strap the print down so it can't slide around during transport.

1st: get assistance from another person

2nd: throw any non-salvageable film on the floor. Its useless to you if you cant make heads or tails of it. (that was supposed to be funny.)

3rd: start unwinding where ever the film makes the most sense.

4th: when your film gets too twisted, splice it off at a frame. Use pieces of masking tape, place one on either side of the splice with a number or letter on it.

5th: any splice that doesn't match up with another, tape it to the wall for later reference.

6th: wind all the film back onto a ring using the numbered pieces of film to keep you organized.

Finially, This may not be the best way to put a print back together. It may make your print dirty since its all over the floor. But, this is the method i use the most and it works very well for me. I'm sure lots of people will disagree with me, but that's their problem.

P.S. We've got "Surge" at our theatre, and just drank a whole lot, so if this doesn't make perfect sense, its cause i cant keep still. ahhh!

 

We put it back together pretty much the same way Mike wrote. It took two guys, 4 hours and lots of splicing.

Unfortunately many booths aren't bright enough to guarantee safe film handling. I have seen booths that actually have a seperate room for film handling. Brightly lit with a Buildup Table, MUT and a spare platter. I thought that was a cool idea.
 

One idea I had was to get a large, clean garbage bag and slide as much of the print into it as I could (actually, I could see two sections that were still intact, so I cut those sections out and placed them aside.) Then pick up each section and place it in one of those large (55 gal) garbage buckets with wheels on it. Usually, you can find an end and untangle it such that you can start to pull the film out. It will start to twist as you pull it out, but is not tangled.

Have another person spin the garbage bucket around and around in a circle to untwist the film as it gets pulled it out and you take it up on a reel or platter.
 

After that incident I took an old Potts ring, took off the attaching knob so that the ring would expand to fit even a Christie sized ring. To date that has saved me 6 times, when picking up prints from Century and UA houses. For some reason, these people don't think that it is difficult to play a film that is oblong on a platter.
 

I hope you've had the booth lighting improved since your little mishap with Saving Private Ryan. It must have been pretty dark for you not to realize there was no ring in the print. I'm all for keeping booths dimly lit, but not to the extent where you are putting yourself and the prints at risk.

Safety first.
 

We also use clamps or straps WHENEVER we move a print,,, for Safety reasons, of course.

By the way, what is a cheeky bugger

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
 

To anser the question about booth nightmares I will tell you that on one occasion I had removed the centre ring (Strong platter) to thread up and then remembered that the print was to move from that house. Just as I reached for the ring to replace it the intercom rang. I answered it and when I was finished placed the clamps around the print and lifted..guess what I forgot to put back? Yes..somehow I had placed the clamps around the print and not noticed that the ring was not in place. What a mess. I was able to save the show but it was sure a frightening thing to look at that mess sitting on a platter.
 

The large sleeve is a two person operation but the small sleeves are comfortable with only one person.

Regards,

Michael.
 

In the very rare and unfortunate circumstance that I must do breakdown at this point, I can usually get the center ring's pins into the holes. If I cannot, I remove part of the mylar leader, which is just enough to allow the pins to go down and still maintain good tension.

And now it's time for my confession. I do this all the time, and usually alone. But if I'm tired, I always ask for help. Haven't slid or dropped one yet.

(BTW, one of our film festivals had nine 35mm films in three days. Single screen, tiny booth. No place to store the films in it. To get them out of the booth, they had to go thru an ordinary size door. Once I got them on the masonite, with the center ring in, I tipped it up, hugged the print to it, and walked. Had a volunteer walk with me, since I couldn't see well past the print. We stacked up the prints in a room behind the concession. Had to swap some prints between shows. What fun.)

On the other hand: Tower spools also need a bit of brainwork: one night the projection booth pet (st bernard) had luck to flip over a full 4000 meter reel, which was leaning at the wall (never again !). Now this full reel got to lean on to the lower spool of the running tower instead, and "Dances with Wolves" got an additional intermission. Sold out cinema never got the truth - guess they'd never believed it anyway....

/ p.

When I was a brand new assistant manager-operator for a first run twinplex, in 1983, I went to start a show and some part of the equipment wouldn't respond. It's been a long time and I can't remember this clearly, except for the punch line. Anyhow, all that filled my head was what I had been trained on and I ran over it and over it and could not figure out why things weren't working. I did not step back from the situation and ask myself, "What is wrong with this picture?" I got on the phone to our service company. They could not help me. They had three simultaneous emergencies on much larger screens in separate locations. So I broke the bad news to the audience, that I couldn't fix the problem and I've have to give them all passes. Thankfully, it was a small crowd!

Later, after everyone had gone, I walked back up to the booth to have a little look around. Much to my amazement, I noticed a power cord with the plug laying on the floor. I, or someone, obviously knocked it out of the outlet. I plugged it in and indeed that was my problem. I remembered a piece of advice I once heard. It's the sudden, acute problems that are usually easy to fix. The slow ones sometimes take a while to diagnose. It's the intermittent ones that drive one nuts.

And who'd have thought that such fancy equipment would have ordinary power cords? I never looked at them before. I thought it was all hard-wired.