This is topic Water Damaged Film in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.
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Posted by Paul Cunningham (Member # 501) on 12-22-2000, 06:17 PM:
We have had a rather bad storm which resulted in the roof leaking onto one of the platters.One of our films had quite a lot of water on it and the film has subsequently stuck together as if glue had been pored over it. We have taken it off the platter and wound it backwards and forwards by hand quite a few times. Part of it remains very sticky and is not runable.
Suggestions?
Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 12-22-2000, 06:26 PM:
Unfortunately, bite the bullet and order replacement reels, and fix your roof. Chances are, even if you could save the print, you will probably have to babysit your platter to make sure the film does not suck itself through the payout head, and the water damage on the print will prove to be an unsatisfactory presentation to your audience. Since the world can put a man on the moon, send a probe up to Uranus, they still don't have the technology to make a roof that doesn't leak. My best suggestion is to cover your film with a tarp at night just in case the roof springs another leak, or at least try to plan it so your last run of the day puts the film on the middle or lower deck. 
Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 12-22-2000, 06:38 PM:
If you hadn't have unrolled the film, you could've wiped a very, very generous amount of FilmGuard on the edges, then with film clamps flipped it over and repeated for the other side. That would've loosened it so the emulsion would not peel from the base and you could've then ran it through a freshly soaked set of FG soaked media pads and been just fine. I've saved many a print in this manner from roof leaks and the prints always play and look just fine and dandy afterwards....but you've already unwound it, so that idea is pretty much gone. 
Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 12-22-2000, 08:00 PM:
It is usually recomended that the print be kept wet and sent to the nearest film lab for rewashing and drying
Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 12-24-2000, 10:48 AM:
I had some 16mm that got wet back in July. There was one roll of Estar and 2 reels of acetate that were damaged. They were left near an open window and we had one of those nice summer cloudbursts that the mountains are famous for...After a few choice swear words, I tried to unroll each of them. It was the same as your problem, Paul. Glued together.
I applied the FG by spraying a cloth pad with the product and then wiped it on both sides of the film. It sat there for a couple of days. The film unwound with no sticking whatsoever!
In the past, I threw out a set of I Love Lucy episodes that got wet when I lived in Atlanta. If I had FG back then, I'd probably still have the films today.
Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 12-24-2000, 12:05 PM:
Bruce, was there any emulsion damage? I remember (how could I forget) transporting a 7-reeler to one of our theaters that was already built up. When I was putting it in my car, the center ring collapsed. It fell out of the trunk like a Slinky and the whole shebang landed in a puddle of water. To add insult to injury, it was raining, too. Lots of water. I panicked and literally dragged the print back into the theater lobby. Naturally, it had tied itself into one big soggy beautiful knot. It took me six hours to re-assemble the print. In addition to emulsion damage (nice big green splotches on the screen), the projector sounded like a Gatteling Gun with all the splices I had to make to re-assemble it. The name of the movie was "The River". How appropiate, as I was definately Up The Creek! (without a paddle, too.) Nothing worse than seeing my show sitting in a puddle of water that looked as big as Lake Michigan! The cause of such a blivit? It is called, "Insufficient attention to insignificant minor details" -- in other words, "Screw-ups by the Gross!!" 
Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 12-25-2000, 08:11 PM:
The only emulsion damage was where I tried to unroll the reels before the FG application.
Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 12-27-2000, 03:03 PM:
Generally, if the film is really soaked, keep it submerged in clean, cool water and have a film lab "re-wash" and dry it.For minor wetting, it sounds like the oils in Film-Guard prevent the wet gelatin emulsion from sticking to the adjacent convolution, so that when the roll dries out, the emulsion doesn't delaminate. Gelatin and protein-based glues are closely related!
Obviously, the best idea is DON'T GET THE FILM WET in the first place!
------------------
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 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Posted by Paul Cunningham (Member # 501) on 01-01-2001, 07:03 AM:
Luckily for us the film was on the second deck. The water went through the space for the brain in the top deck and soaked into the first few inches of film. This was leader, film adds, trailers and about 2 minutes of feature.After eventually drying it out there appears to be no emulsion separation but there is some dirt that has found its way in. Overall I think we got out of this very lightly.
Paul
Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 01-02-2001, 01:31 AM:
You sure were lucky... I wish I would have had the same luck when I dropped the movie "The River" in a big puddle of water. All 14,000 feet of it! 