Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: "Film done right"... ???

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Posted by Antonio Marcheselli (Member # 373) on 10-29-2001, 04:47 AM:

Hi.

Let's me tell you another story of "film done bad".

When I recevied my copy of "moulin rouge", there weren't DTS disks. So the next day, in the morning, I went to the distributor (Giglio FIlm-Florence) asking for the disks and, luckily, they gave me a copy.
After a month of projection my colleague forgot to send back the disks so today morning I went to the distributor to give them the disks.

The person that manage the depot, said me to "leave the part number on the print".

Let me explain. Usually we receive all prints (sometimes also New print) with a sticher on the print with wrote which reel is and what side (for example "P1" after the start of the reel and "F1" before the end).

Since I DON'T WANT TO SEE ANYTHING ON MY SCREEN, I carefully remove every time the stickers from the print.
Today I was told to leave the sticker where they are. I told to the men that "I will continue to remove them because stickers can be seen from the audience" and the answer was "No, they cannot be seen".
I reply with "Yes instead. Otherwise I'll left on the print" but I told him that I will remove the stickers and then I will put new ones when the print leaves my theater.
I told him that it is unnecessary because I always splice correct leaders to each reel and I put a sticker on the leader with the number of part (also if it is already wrote on the leaders itself).
He reply me that "Why do you splice leaders? We throw them away each time"...
I told him that leaders are for protective purpouse and he reply me that "No, prints doesn't scratch during transport because the emulsion is not on the external side of the reel; scratches are made in the projectors".

I reply him that I never scratched a print during my 3 years job in the cinema and that the emulsion can be at the external side, it depends how the projectionist have rewind the movie. I've projected "Moulin rouge" for one month and there were absolutely NO scratches on the print, just few black spots at splices; I manually clean the print every week.

Few weeks ago I put pieces of an old trailer around each reel of my copy of "save the last dance" (projected by another theater for just *a week* and DESTROYED) because leaders were not in the boxes.
Now I know that distributors throw away the leaders...

I'm very demotivated after this interesting conversation.
Ok, what I'm doing is for my audience, not for the distributor, but...

Bye

Antonio

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 10-29-2001, 08:11 AM:

Antonio:

You are absolutely correct that the leaders provide protection for the print during shipping, and should always be properly spliced back on. Standard SMPTE 301 specifies the length of the leaders, and recommends that "it shall be restored to its original length" when sections are lost.

You are also correct that the audience should never see or hear stickers, splices, or any other distraction during the movie.

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 10-29-2001, 05:26 PM:

Good on you, Antonio. No-one should be permitted to tell you how your screenings should look...especially someone who believes scratches and marks are only caused by the projector!

Posted by John Walsh (Member # 168) on 10-29-2001, 05:58 PM:

Another example of the downward spiral of the film industry; people working in film depots/exchanges that don't know what they are doing. Not to mention that the emulsion is out for a standard wind.

Siete un buono uomo, Antonio.

Posted by Jon Miller (Member # 163) on 10-29-2001, 07:39 PM:

Last March for a film festival, I had to make up a print so "labeled" and thought, "what kind of

-head would do such a dumb thing?"

Needless to say, I had to spend an extra twenty-thirty minutes peeling off the labels and cleaning the goop off in order to "do film right." All along I thought this was the work of a clueless operator and not of a well-meaning but horribly misguided film exchange.

It's a shame we can't clone and send the clones into these film exchanges to stop this kind of thing, not to mention to enlighten the unwashed on leader-removal etiquette.

Posted by Rachel Gilardi (Member # 4594) on 10-30-2001, 02:26 AM:

Hmmmmm,

clones... that would be alot of help in my booth.

Would the clones work cheap??? Minimum wage maybe???

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 10-30-2001, 11:04 AM:

Send in the clones!!!

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 10-30-2001, 11:28 AM:

We'll call it 'Film-Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones'

Posted by Antonio Marcheselli (Member # 373) on 10-30-2001, 02:45 PM:

John said:
> Siete un buono uomo, Antonio.

Grazie John, sei veramente gentile!!

I told the happened to my manager: he told me that, unfortunately, this happen frequently but that I have his support for "making film right"!

My theater will probably close within 2 year, due to new megaplex builded out of the city. I'm now thinking about changing type of job: I make computer manteinance in a school during spare time and I like it but I like Cinema too.
However I think that my manager is just an unique event and surely I will hit a wall if I will start working in a multiplex or in another theater.
I love this job, but I want to do it in the right way. Be a projectionist in a theater where the clock is the main thing and no attention is put to film and its presentation is like working in a supermarket. And I don't want to work in a supermarket.

I saw many multiplex and "normal" theaters around Italy and in my town: I saw new Medusa (italian company) multiplex and the presentations was horrible (despite what the manager said to me).
I heard very bad about Warner Village and Kinepolis.

So I'm convincing myself that the right way to love cinema is to be there as a customer...

Thanks for your support!

Bye
Antonio

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 10-30-2001, 03:02 PM:

Antonio said: "So I'm convincing myself that the right way to love cinema is to be there as a customer..."

Your sad-faced "Smilies" icon is appropriate. I hope you can continue to find theatres that value presentation quality, and the skilled people needed to maintain it. IMHO, the best way to improve the movie industry is from the "inside", doing the best job we can and providing good business reasons for having skilled people as projectionists, and for putting projection and sound quality high on the priority list. Maybe you can be the one to "make a difference" in improving the presentation quality within one of those theatres that are run like "supermarkets".

Posted by German Marin (Member # 918) on 10-31-2001, 01:23 AM:

Antonio:
I see you don't like multiplex presentations. I work in a 7 screen multiplex and i do the best screen presentation of all multiplexes in my city (I ever go to others cinemas just to see it). I'm proud for all my projectionist team because it's a hard work to keep the trailers clear (thanks to Film-Tech team). The best way to demonstrate that we want to be the bestest projectionist of my country is on screen presentations.

I know if you were work in a multiplex u would make the difference between the "normal" theaters and your theater. Show other projectionist how the movie must be ran in a multiplex, no matter how many screen you have. I know You like this job a lot and you should try the multiplex 'cause i guess it's a big experience to keep under control at least 5 projectors running, and I specialy love interlocks (this is the great one).

Posted by Antonio Marcheselli (Member # 373) on 10-31-2001, 04:23 AM:

German,

No, I LOVE multiplex! I told you that I go to Milan (600 km from Florence) once for year (last time to see "Jurassik park 3" and "Final Fantasy") because it is an "ultimate experience": the owner is convinced that good presentation is the key of the theater and usually his 5 screen are plenty of people coming from all Italy. Presentation are perfect: no scratch, no dirty, sound PERFECT, huge screens, best seats. Only after 3 years of projection I was able to see the Change over and the automation cues... With his 5 screen is at 11th place in the Italian list of "best City"!

However I'm convincing myself that Multiplex works like a supermarket.
I told you about "Medusa" one (200 km from my home): screen one had all digital formats (including SDDS-8 and 70mm DTS), Crown amplifiers, Dolby EX, THX certification, 20meters long screen, a LOT of speakers in the auditorium...

However the film was scratched from the beginning to the end, the sound was poor and low (poor sound=poor EQ considering the quality of speaker and auditorium): I heard NO surround sound, NO subwoofer sound. Just a good Stereo movie.

I saw other three movies in that multiplex, all three bad-presented. And I will never go to that Multiplex of course.

I would like to work in a Multiplex, I would like to give my best improving not one but 20 screens... However I believe that I will faced up with a manager that say "No matter if DTS is doesn't working" or "you have to build the movie in less than 20 minutes" or "You don't have to clean film/equipment because you spend too many hours" and similar.

German, in Florence almost ALL theater work like Supermarket, not only Multiplex. That is the reason cause I'm deciding to "be a customer"...

John,

I know that movie presentation can be changed only by inside but I believe that, in Italy, it will be a very "Mission Impossibile".

Thanks to everyone!

Bye
Antonio

Posted by Neil Hunter (Member # 1005) on 10-31-2001, 11:29 AM:

Antonio, even being on the inside it is difficult to make the presentation better. At the multiplex I work at, I am trying everything I can to make my fellow projectionists do things the propers ways, and keep the projectors clean, and things like that, and sometimes it works, but the next day they all forget and it goes back to the way it was before. I hate watching movies there because of it. Sorry to hear that your theater might close. It is terribly unfortunate that the only way to enjoy the cinema is to enjoy it as a customer. What has the industry becaome?

Posted by Frank Rapisardi (Member # 435) on 11-01-2001, 02:01 PM:

In response to Neil,"What has the industry become?" It seems that as of right now it's dying! I know that sounds disheartening;but how can a mutiplex say between 16-20 screens stay in business,when we are running Mondays-Thursdays with nearly empty houses? Even weekends are not what they used to be. And to boot the product for the most part is junk! Maybe,just maybe;things will improve for the holiday seasons.

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Posted by Antonio Marcheselli (Member # 373) on 11-02-2001, 02:33 PM:

Neil,

So it is not only my colleague, it is common to all projectionists...

But, forgive the question, who are you in your booth?

Bye
Antonio

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 11-02-2001, 03:48 PM:

Antonio said: "But, forgive the question, who are you in your booth?"

For many of us who care enough to "Do Film Right", it's because we LOVE the movies. After all, we work in SHOW BUSINESS!

Posted by Will Kutler (Member # 770) on 11-02-2001, 04:12 PM:

Personally, it is a tone of fun to be able to combine my hobbies, interests and college education into being a projectionist and be able to earn a living! Personally, I do think that most of the films being made today are crap, but I do love being around the equipment and being a showman--putting on an excellent presentation!

I know that we have talked about this before--but the majority of the movie going audience are totally ignorant of what a booth looks like or what goes on behind the scenes. This is where education comes in. It is always fun to see the expression on peoples faces and their reactions at seeing a booth for the first time! Yes, I have conducted booth tours for Boy Scout Troops and the like!

Posted by Zac Manning (Member # 1031) on 11-03-2001, 09:20 AM:

For the most part I work on doing installs and don't get the chance to project as much as most of you do; other projectionists operate the equipment that I install. So you leave having given them the best lenses, having used TEF and SMART to tweak the hell out of the sound system, automate the masking for every aspect ratio, cut the 8 (we only install pairs of projectors for archival playback)apertures so that they are all razor sharp and fit perfectly on the screen. And you hand it over to the projectionist....

Anyway, my point is that I think we usually have everything locked down technically for a good presentation. But unfortunately a lot of projectionists aren't as committed as you guys are, and most of the projectionists are running only two machines and doing changeovers (albeit a bit more demanding in terms of the operators constant presence)not running a multiplex and making sure that 10 projectors stay in frame and in focus. It's just refreshing to know there are guys out there who really care, who want to have a great presentation and care.

Posted by Antonio Marcheselli (Member # 373) on 11-03-2001, 03:22 PM:

John,

I realized that my questione "who are you in your booth" was not clear.
Neil said that he try everything he can to have better presentation bu that the day after all projectionist acts as nothing was said.
I wonder if Neil is a Manager or just a projectionist.

Will and Zac,
I totally agree with you. I know that there are many people that are soing their best to achieve a perfect presentation.

However I'm afraid that the best people in the best theater can do NOTHING with a bad manager.

Let's take my theater for example (and let's ignore for a monet that it will close within 2 years making useless every technical update): I make all efforts providing the best presentation possibile. Just few days ago I reviewed the movie because there were a visible lens change. I added a piece of leader with 7 (seven) frames. I went to another theater and I saw a lens change starting exactly at the start of the movie: 7 seconds of black with just the music in the background.

However my screen is in TERRIBLE conditions, it should be changed because is very dirt with visible "patterns" of dirty, the sound system should be re-equalized, and many others thing.
In this situation how can I have a good presentation?

Ok, my theater is "forget" but I'm afraid that I could find a similar situation in a new Multiplex where a dirty screen is not acceptable.

This is my fear

Posted by Neil Hunter (Member # 1005) on 11-04-2001, 04:33 PM:

Antonio, I am a projectionist at my theater. There are usually two of use on each shift, so there are about six projectionists total. Sorry for the confusion.