thanks

 

Intermission is to be in the most appropriate place at the end of reel 5.

Part One – Reels 1 to 5: runs 83 mins. 50 secs.

Part Two – Reels 6 to 9: runs 68 mins. 15 secs.

Cast list (inclusive is 8 mins.)

You will need to contact Warner Bros. for a customised Harry Potter Intermission title. We changed our minds and decided to run straight through due to the length of the entire programme plus 25 minutes opening time because of no advance booking.

"It's always better on the big screen".
 

------------------
Greg Mueller
Amateur Astronomer, Machinist, Filmnut
http://www.muellersatomics.com/
 

As a guestimate you will probable be able to squeeze HP onto one tower reel ok, depends how hardcore you are!

It is 9 reels but not many were full, so its not an exact science. Polyester will take up less space too.
 

run it in one go if you can...

Warners have specified the place for an intermission, and as Bernard already said, there is a special intermission title available.
 

Pete:

I’m not familiar with DGBs. I do have one 36" Cinemeccanica easyspool which I have never used and the hub is 11-3/4” so perhaps Harry Potter would be too tight or oversize.

------------------
Greg Mueller
Amateur Astronomer, Machinist, Filmnut
http://www.muellersatomics.com/
 

------------------
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
 

I also heard that editors dislike projectionists. Editors are upset that they spend so much time putting peices of film together, while some projectionists take peices of film out. I have heard that an editor who manages to put c/o marks during bright, flashing scenes (like in a disco) with the camera flying around, gets a free year of union dues. I also wish to go on record protesting the current practise of placing good looking, naked babes in the lower, left side of the frame during c/o time.
 

------------------
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

Having said that I must state that I have only been involved with a few independents, AND that I have seen changeovers in AWFUL places in films before!
 

I get a few prints now and again with fade ins/outs at reel changes. Those guys must hate us to do that, it's like a 'f&%k you guys, suck on this'!
 

------------------
Greg Mueller
Amateur Astronomer, Machinist, Filmnut
http://www.muellersatomics.com/
 

So its looking like an interval for definate. If we do end up runnig it in the new year.

Because you can't alter the take up tension on a DGB you can't use smaller hubs, as the tower won't take up quickly enough on start-up. I guess you could slug the projector start up down more, but I think you'd reach the point where it won't start The DGB's won't let you use those 8" hubs from Rigby / Premier, nor do they like the Goldberg easy start spools.

Michael. 2 hours 12?? Ye're an amateur!!! JJ. Is the tower behind the machine or to one side?? If it's behind the machine you can employ the 'tri-pair beer mate theory' to get that last little bit of film safely on. Not something for a ergular show, but ok for those one off screenings of "Apocalypse Now" etc!
 

Do you not have a frame counter at your theatre??? If not, just use a piece of mylar leader with framing marks to measure from the point where you can see the frames to the point you need to cut. Not a big deal.
 

FPC is one vendor of "frameline" leaders:
FPC Frameline Leaders

They also have other "goodies" of interest to projectionists:
FPC Product List/Links

------------------
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

Michael, if you have got 2hrs 12m of Hannibal on your tower, there isn't much more to go with HP, maybe 20mins, which at that diameter on the tower is not much. Just ask Pete Naples for more info on the 'Tri beer mat theory' which i used when i worked towers. If you are running from your proj to the tower in a straight line it should work ok.
 

A month back i ran croutching tiger, (2hour 9 seconds) and i had to run our adds/trailers(approx 15-17 mins) from a separate reel. At First I tried to wind the adds/trailers on the feature and i had to stop about three quarters of the way when the reel became absolutely full.

I would estimate the max capacity of the reel to be about 2 Hour 15 mins at the maximum.

Michael it sounds like you are using large centred spool. Measure the diameter of the hub, there are three sizes in common use, the Cinemec being the largest. The smaller ones can be a wee bit tricky to use, but once you get the knack you can fit that little extra bit of film on, although you might still have to run the ads on a separate reel, although I'd have thought for an operation like yours that would be the norm. With a tower I like to still have the spool boxes/arms in place, so you can run ads/shorts/whatever on it, then run the feature from the tower.
 

Or are you recommending that the reel be overfilled past it's flanges?
 

The changeover from hell I'll never forget in in 'Taxi Driver', right in the middle of a quick-fire dialogue exchange. You've got to be almost frame-accurate to avoid clipping a syllable or two from the incoming reel, and if frames have been lost from the print by previous users, then forget it.

Why is it senseless to put the tower behind the machine? We've a lot of theatres where this is the only location it could possibly go. I have a couple of places with platters behind the mech.

If the tower is located directly behind the machine, with the running side spools absolutely parallel with the film path of the mech, you can safely run with the spools full to capacity. If the tower is to one side, then it is virtually impossible to get the film path accurately enough aligned to allow you to run with full spools. I've tried all kinds of things over the years, but the bottom line is it won't work. I've tried to fix rollers to the tower, but that doesn't work as no two spools are identical, and most tower spools are warped to one degree or another, even when new. ( I recently rejected several Goldbergs that were delivered to one of my services, brand new and all were buckled, the replacements were only marginally better)

I am by no means recomending that spools be filled overfilled past it's flanges, you cannot do that on these large spools, it WILL fall off, get wrapped around the bearing assembly and make a right mess. I have on a couple of occasions, when running spools right to the edge or rotten close to it, attached several pairs of beer mats to the spool cheeks, as film can sometimes fall off a tower spool as it gets close to the edge, particularly if it's less than perfectly straight. The beer mats stop this from happening. Not something any right minded person would do everyday, but for the odd one off show it can help a lot.
 

Preferably the tower would be double- sided and supplied with 2 spares plates. A programme could still be moved to another screen when necessary.

It would all be possible, I have proved it by experimenting with a 22” diameter 6,000’ spooling off plate and a 4” plastic core. Works perfect, so how about a new Film-Tech Tower.

BTW in Sussex there is an old cinema from the silent days that has a Westrex tower situated the floor below under the tiny loft projection box.

The magazine (spool-box) doors on a Cinemecannica would work well, because the side flanges of the magazines are part of the door (rather than the fixed magazine), and so don't block the film. Although a Norelco AA2 has the right pedstal design, I don't think (trying to remember!) the magazine side flanges stay on the magazine, so don't allow the film to go straight back.

Towers seem like a way to keep your two projector c/o booth for one-off showings, but also make things easier for repeated showings.

One question, though; Could'nt the same thing be done with a regular platter? It does seem that towers take up less space, but since platters are avaible with smaller diameter decks, they might fit and avoid the problem of having to rewind.

What a lot of people did (unfortunately for those who wish to restore their Norelcos) is to cut a square hole in the back of the magazine to let the film pass into, and out of, to the rear of the machine. I have taken mine off completely even though someone had cut them previously. I use my tower directly behind the machine so the film doesn't have to go around corners. (Just a fetish of mine)

------------------
Greg Mueller
Amateur Astronomer, Machinist, Filmnut
http://www.muellersatomics.com/
 

Yes the same thing could and has been done with a platter, but remember here in the UK where Westrex was king, platters are a fairly recent arrival. Towers have been in use for thirty or so years, the first platters arrived here in Scotland about half that length of time ago. A lot of theatres have towers which have been in service for years and years, and they either don't have the space or don't see the need to replace them with platters.
 

Those aren't really magazines, just "plate" to hold a spindle, if reel operation is desired. Not even a exhaust duct for the lamp, which might not be allowed in some places in the US.

Does the pedestal hold the projector firmly enough to prevent vibration while running?

I didn't notice that (it looks like) the tower pivots 180deg so you can thread a show on the other side.

Are those speakers above the ports?

I did remember how clean the place looked.. hat's off to the gent(s) that work there...
 

Does the film pass directly over the lamp exhaust on the middle machine? (I can't tell from the picture.) If so, doesn't that cause problems?

Also, it's interesting that the film is wound emulsion-in on the feed reels. In the US, at least, standard practice is for the feed reel to be wound emulsion-out and the takeup reel to wind emulsion-end. (Insert debate from Brad, Steve G. and John P. on proper winding practices here.)

What kind of bases are those? They're certainly not standard Century models...

As for fade-outs at reel changes: I'm pretty indifferent on this, but would tend to be against it for platter use. Improperly blooped splices would cause an annoying 'pop' in the soundtrack and most changeover houses (at least the ones that aren't using exciter lamp changeover) have a 'tick' or 'pop' at every changeover, too. Also, as a print makes its way among many booths and an array of platter systems, large reels, and small reels, frames tend to get lost in the process ("film done wrong") and fade-outs would become cuts. Finally, there's the problem of making poor lab work more obvious, since 'black' tends to appear slightly different on each reel of a film...yeah, I know it "shouldn't" happen, but it does...

The pics of the original carbon booth in Fortuna are a funky mix of yellows greens and blues!

-Aaron

 

Below is the best way to set up the rollers:

Below is the severely outdated way to set up the rollers (due to magazines and techs who can't seem to change their ways). This sort of configuration also wears out the threading leader three times as fast. Clearly no thought has been put into this.

So Pete, are you telling me that if the rollers were set up according to the first picture that the tower would be fussy? No way.

Scott said: Nice picture! I've never seen a yellow-green booth interior before.
......................................................................

Thanks for the compliments, the pictures of the projection box are of my cinema the Regal in Cranleigh, Surrey situated in a village 8 miles from Guildford where Odeon have a multiplex, and 42 miles from London. I have owned the freehold for the last 24 years, but sadly next year it will close and be demolished, as it is no longer viable due to ongoing building repairs and running costs. There is just not sufficient population to support it any longer, even for Harry Potter now showing on the release date. Apart from myself running the box, I am most fortunate to have a team of four fully experienced and dedicated part-time projectionists.

Now to answer the questions:

The pedestal bases are the famous Ross make, whose projectors were widely installed throughout the UK many years ago. They are very strong and firm, and will support any make of projector head without any vibration problems whilst running. Before the Tower was installed they were used with 6,000' reels.

The Tower is double sided and does revolve into position to show another programme, you can also rewind during projection. It is also on 8 caster wheels and can easily be moved into position behind No 2 projector.

The three speakers above the ports, well you've guessed it, stereo in the projection box, and with surrounds! On the far right of the picture out of view there is a very large port and a nice chair, which also has a set of stereo speakers and where the monitor amplifiers rack is. We have often been told that we have better quality stereo sound in the projection box than some cinema auditoriums. This is nothing new I know of a couple of other places this has been done, one being the old Leicester Square Theatre (now Odeon West End) in London.

The film does pass directly over the lamp exhaust. It is a large and high ceiling room, which is well ventilated. It does'nt appear to have ever caused any problems. Xenon bulbs were 1.6 kw but now increased to 2 kw.

Films were always wound emulsion-out only on Simplex projectors in the UK. I have no idea what the standard practice is now with platters.

I was told in my trainee days that a green decorated room eased the eyes and reduced tiredness, but made the place look smaller.

I can say if set up correctly, it is pssible to run film up to the edge of a full spool from the side, with EXTRA care!.
that was with a Kalee 21 and a Kalee 37.
 

The Westrex tower is a very fussy beast, I ran them for ten years with Kalee, Westar, Westrex 7000, Phillips, Cinemec, Prevost, Ross, Fedi, Century and Spectra machines, and I am always very unhappy about running full spools with the tower not directly nehind the machine. at ninety degrees to the mech it is safer, but still not something I'd be happy doing, it's not the tower itself that's the problem it's the poor state of most of spools these days, and at the price of those things you don't find too many people willing to replace them for the sake of the odd film that runs to that length.

I'm not saying it's not possible to run the spools full with the tower at the side, as Ben rightly said it's been done with 'extra care', but if you are single manning three or four screens, in different booths with no automation and no turrets etc, that extra care is simply not available. I remember running a sunday matinee of Apocalypse Now some years back, which just fits on a tower spool, in a screen with the tower at ninety degrees to the mech. I drafted in another staff member and has him nurse this show from start to end, he wound up guiding the film onto the take up reel by hand towards the end of the feature. OK that man's time and effort made that show run impecably, but the cost to our wages budget soon made me see that we should have either not run it in that screen, or run it with an interval.

Bernard: What are you going to do with yourself after your theatre closes? Another sad day for real cinemas in the UK.

For info the Ross was the favourite of the ABC circuit, there aren't many still in service, but the pedestals seem to have outlived the machines! I've got quite a number of Westrex mechs on Ross pedestals dotted around the place.
 

Hopefully a small circuit will be buying the equipment. The lovely new looking light receptive tabs will be going to The Projected Picture Trust’s new cinema at Bletchley Park. They will take some alteration reducing the size but should look super.