Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Classic trouble calls.

This is topic Classic trouble calls. in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 05-26-2002, 02:39 PM:

I think this belongs in this tread.

Anyway, for years of servicing and running projection booths, I have heard some lame-brained boner statements about equipment malfunction from the operators/projectionists. The best one I have heard was:

"Duh, you know that axle that sticks out of the back of the camera with the fan blade on it? Well, it don't go around."

That one held the record until this weekend. I received a trouble call that was equal or better than the above.

"Duh, the voices in Star Wars don't work."

Sorry, I just could not resist posting this.

Jeeze........Have some of you heard better ones?

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 05-26-2002, 03:02 PM:

I'd rather get those calls for help...My people used to get a little ahead of themselves...

"...I noticed that the projected image looked extremely blurry on screen. At first I suspected that the lens may have been dirty but after cleaning it the problem still persisted. It was then that I suspected that the gears in the projector may have been off. But after checking them and tightening the washer I realized that the problem was slightly beyond my basic knowledge..."

Solution: Lens needed focusing.

Another problem used to be incomplete reports which didn't specify which location/complex or screen # and, in the case of platters, which disc.

I solved this by creating a form which - for the most part - only calls for circling. There is a very small space for a free-form written commentary on the problem and we added a training module to teach the operators how to (or how NOT to) report a malfunction.

------------------
~Manny.

Some people can read "War and Peace" and come away thinking it's a simple adventure story while I, on the other hand, can read the ingredients on a chewing gum wrapper and unlock the secrets of the universe.
Lex Luthor, "Superman: The Movie"

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 05-26-2002, 03:08 PM:

"How make stick light?"

"Film no longer fit on platter!" (no film was added)

"Everyone sounds like adults from the 'Peanuts'!" (actually a very good description for the non-techie)

Posted by Antonio Marcheselli (Member # 373) on 05-26-2002, 04:37 PM:

A bit Off Topic but sounds like when I'm doing PC network manteinance (during spare time).

No matter what is the problem, a power plug not connected or the mouse broken. The problem description will be
"We cannot access the network".

Once I found that the PC was completely dead and on the monitor there was "NO SIGNAL OR CABLE DISCONNECTED".

Cable disconnected=no access to the network

I imagine that theater manteinance should be very fun sometimes...

Bye and sorry for the OT.

Antonio

Posted by Adam Wilbert (Member # 1184) on 05-26-2002, 04:44 PM:

"Duh, the voices in Star Wars don't work."

You got that call too?! They called me first (don't know why, i'm not the tech!) And I explained that, "No, you mean the center channel." Not wanting to get into an argument over the phone, I just dropped the whole thing after the response came back, "No, it has nothing to do with the channels, the voices aren't working." I can't stand people who don't care enough to learn anything.

Paul, don't forget the "The movie is showing on the top and bottom of the curtains" when the (top) masking was set to scope for a flat film. argh.

Posted by Neil Hunter (Member # 1005) on 05-26-2002, 04:50 PM:

My biggest annoyance is when I get a call from an usher saying that the picture in a certain theater is blurry, or off the screen. I then proceed to run over to said projector, and the movie hasn't even started yet. It ends up being the slide projector that is out of focus etc. I of course fix the problem, but damn, they make it sound so urgent.

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 05-26-2002, 04:50 PM:

Oh yeah...the old standard..."the picture is falling off of the screen."

Translation: we're showing a flat movie with a scope plate.

------------------
~Manny.

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 05-26-2002, 05:05 PM:

The slide may actually be generating more income for the theatre than some movies

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 05-26-2002, 05:18 PM:

Gordon, you got that right!!!!

Posted by John Walsh (Member # 168) on 05-26-2002, 09:49 PM:

I received a call today from a guy who said the volume was too low on his SDDS unit ... turned out he didn't know the numbers on the SDDS display go down as the actual level increases (dB). He kept turning the volume counter-clockwise watching the numbers go up.

My burger got cold...

Posted by Pete Naples (Member # 761) on 05-27-2002, 03:12 AM:

"I've got no sound in any of my three screens"
"Is everything on?"
"Yes"
"Are you sure? Are the LED's on?"
"Yes"

Turns out that the vis leds were not on, he thought I meant the leds on the power amps!

"I changed the lamp and the new one won't strike"
"Is it in properly?"
"Of course, I've been doing this for twenty yearsw, do you think I'm an idiot?!"
"No, just checking. Is it trying to strike?"
"Yes the striker buzzes and I can see a flash in the lamphouse"
"Is the rectifiers ok?"
"Yes, 110v off load"

This 20 year experienced expert had managed somehow to connect both cables from a 2000W lamp to the cathode stud!

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 05-27-2002, 07:35 AM:

I once had:

The screen is moving back and forth sideways!!!

The century lateral guide spring had sprung and was not tensioning the film as it entered the gate.

------------------
"It's not the years honey, it's the mileage". - Indiana Jones.

Posted by Bob Koch (Member # 1062) on 05-27-2002, 12:33 PM:

The one that induced my retirement was from a theatre 100 miles away; the report; "The sound is freaking out"

Posted by Ken Lackner (Member # 1002) on 05-27-2002, 01:29 PM:

Why do people always say "the screen" when they are really referring to the picture on the screen!?? That bugs the shiot out of me!

Can you fix the screen?
The screen is messed up.
The screen is cut in half.
The screen is on the wall.
The screen is not centered.

No, people. There is nothing wrong with the screen here. It is the picture on the screen! Grrrr...

------------------
This one time, at Projection Camp, I stuck a xenon bulb....

Posted by Mathew Molloy (Member # 666) on 05-27-2002, 02:00 PM:

How about "The picture is all purple"

-The curtain was still closed.

Posted by Stan Gunn (Member # 554) on 05-28-2002, 03:04 PM:

The picture is dark on c/over.
Have you checked rect settings? yes
useing correct carbons? Yes
Dowser open fully? Yes

Ok be there tomorrow.

3hours travel.

Adjust arc gap same as other lamp, reset and adjust target.

3hours travel home, time on site 1 hour.

------------------
KALEE FOREVER. CARBON ARC, THE ONLY LIGHT FOR THE STARS!
ALL PARTS FOR VICTOR AND KALART VICTOR 16MM PROJECTORS.SERVICE TO 35 AND 16MM PROJECTION EQUIPMENT.
35MM sprockets made to order.

Posted by Tom Wurz (Member # 42) on 05-28-2002, 04:32 PM:

Projection copy?
Projection here.
Yeah, you need to adjust the tracking in #20.
On my way.

Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 05-28-2002, 04:46 PM:

One of my favorites was from from one of our projectionists who called at the end of our first night of Wizard of Oz rerelease to say that the movie had started both times in black and white then several minutes later the color started. He said he had adjusted everything he could think of but couldn't fix it.

Another was from the owner of a small triple that I was helping keep his decrepit Century's running. His wife called to ask if I could help her get the lamp house on #3 back on the pedestal and the tower upright. It seems that the lamp had not beed striking so he was thumping the circuit board inside the lamp with his thumb and had gotten zapped by the igniter voltage. It caused him to yank the lamp off and turn the tower over. One of the employees heard the crash and found him with no pulse. Fortunately she worked with a rescue squad and gave CPR and revived him. Two miracles: he survived and the equipment was unscathed. We got the second show on time.

Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 05-28-2002, 07:01 PM:

I heard a few stories about "Swordfish" being stopped and checked because it starts out with the Warner opening looking like a bad videotape (rolling, etc). I saw a funny note on a film can that had once contained "James and the Giant Peach" saying "First reel is wrong movie- or whole movie isn't cartoon?" since it was a stop-motion animated film but the first reel or so is live-action.

Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 05-28-2002, 11:37 PM:

Got a call from a completely panicked manager/projectionist who was still relatively new at this particular location. She was walking around the machines as they were running and she saw *gasp!* that oil was spraying all over the place!! She called me and I asked her where the oil was coming from, she replied, 'Its spraying all over the glass door on the back of the machine!' I had to hold back the laughter, and explained to her that it was SUPPOSED to be doing that (Simplex 1050), and to call me if she ever saw that the oil was NOT spraying all over the back... This individual has worked with Century projectors her entire theatre career, and she had no idea that Simplexes had oil slingers in them...

-Aaron

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 05-29-2002, 06:06 AM:

That's kind of funny Aaron, but I would much rather have someone like her in my booth than the typical brain dead concessionist. At least she noticed!

Posted by Kevin Baglow (Member # 721) on 05-29-2002, 07:46 AM:

An assistant projectionist inspecting the operating projector once exclaimed "I know what's wrong with this projector...The Intermittant sprocket is'nt moveing"

Posted by Steven Privett (Member # 718) on 05-29-2002, 12:10 PM:

[ 10-03-2003, 03:17 PM: Message edited by: Steven Privett ]

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 05-29-2002, 12:47 PM:

I came in on a 6pm shift once to have the other projectionist run up and tell me that "#7 is down. This morning, the platter wouldn't spin at all so we cancelled all the shows... the tech should be here in a while." Well, our tech was in Jacksonville at the time, a 4 hour drive, so it must be a pretty serious situation to call him, right? I walk over to #7 to look at it anyway. Sure enough, the platter is dead. Now I'm no electrician, but I think that the wire hanging off the back that was not plugged in to the wall might have had something to do with it!! No sense in having the tech coming all the way down just to plug in a platter, so I tried calling to tell him to forget it... but he was already in our lobby. Not a very happy day.

Posted by Randy Loy (Member # 112) on 05-29-2002, 02:14 PM:

One of the executive directors at one of the performing arts centers I'm affiliated with once told me that she doesn't want us to run movies, only do life stuff, because our old projectors (Simplex Supers) aren't capable of playing newer movies. She also said that the bulbs in our lamp houses aren't big enough. We run ARC lamps!!!

Posted by Brent Neal Jones (Member # 1048) on 05-29-2002, 03:32 PM:

"Oh yeah...the old standard..."the picture is falling off of the screen."
Translation: we're showing a flat movie with a scope plate."

Manny, I can't believe you got that call to !! All of these years I thought I just trained poorly after getting that call.

And, oh ya, I've gotten a call about the Century gate spring also. Though, my solution ws a bit different. The gate wasn't even closed !!!

------------------
Film-Guard directions:
1.) Lather
2.) Rinse
3.) Repeat
***Do Not Ingest***
Brent

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 05-30-2002, 02:35 AM:

I once heard of a theatre supply dealer that convinced a theater owner that he has to buy a new Simplex 35 because his old Brenkert BX-100 could not handle the new 37mm film.

The theatre owner fell for it hook, line, and sinker. He was one dumb son-of-a-gun!.

Posted by Don Sneed (Member # 955) on 05-30-2002, 03:04 AM:

My funniest decription of a problem was "the first wheel in the projector with the little fingers on it is not turning"....I told her "OHHH I don't fix that",

One more....my Dolby Cat. #69T loop broke, so the teenage projectionist said he would re-splice it for me, joking as he walked away, I said be sure to splice it in frame....after 10-mins. he came back & said he can't find the frame lines....not to make him feel dumb I said "Don't worry about it, I will frame it on the machine....while I shook my head & laughed my ass off..to myself of course !!!

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 05-30-2002, 03:19 AM:

From an operator in the company I work for....

That little flippy thingy that wraps around that wheel with all the little bumps fell off....

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 05-30-2002, 10:39 AM:

I often fielded calls where the boss would ask me why I was making so many trips to certain theatres. (And logging so many miles on my expense reports.) I had a hard time explaining in a diplomatic way that the people who run the booth were so... so... how should I put this... DUMB! Things were sometimes so bad that I got to the point where I would take digital pix of the equipment and attach them to the incident reports I e-mailed back to the boss.

#1:

The light won't come on in projector #14!
Which light? There are about a dozen of them on that machine.
You know, the BIG light?
What?
You know, the one inside...
OH! You mean the XENON LAMP won't strike?\
Yeah! That's it! Xenon... I meant to say that...
Okay, I'll be right there.

Three hours later, I walk in and find the problem in about 2 minutes...

The thing had only been left in for 6, 500 hours. I wonder why it quit working?

#2:

The picture is going all over the wall!

Do you think CLEANING THE PROJECTOR will help?
Well, we just cleaned it last month... Oh! By the way, we are all out of splicing tape.

Posted by Barry Hans (Member # 477) on 05-30-2002, 03:04 PM:

I was working relief at two projector booth many years ago and 1st show of the day I went to make the changeover and the motor was dead. Spun the flywheel and it started up. I called theatre supply and they sent a guy out to replace the motor. He was working away, I running on one projector- 20 min reels- the tech orders me to thread the machine he's working on, he'll be done in two minutes. I threaded it up as he was on the back side wrenching away and he comes to the front of the machine. He's gonna make the changeover. He hooked his work light on the feed reel for some reason?? made the change over, reel and worklight drop hitting him in the head and knocking him to the floor! Impressed me!!

Another time I was called to be at a job where they were doing a two projector interlock. The crack Theatre Supply tech came out and I observed the following: He tried threading lag bolts into a block wall for about 30 minutes before he would admit it would'nt work. He said there was no reason to use sync motors and ended up putting two accumulators on the wall and every 10 minutes or so you needed to toggle one of the projectors off so the film would'nt crash into the top of the accumulators. He also was checking out a amp, smoked it and had someone run and get another from there shop.
- all in a days work!!

Also have one were we were putting a platter in place of a second machine (upgrading I think was the word used! Christie Autowind 2!) We pulled the old projector out of the way and the tech was getting ready to pull a sh*tload of wire out of the old conduit. Asked him if I should shut down the power- no need. BOOOM! in his defense he kept the cigar in his mouth! "AH- maybe you should kill the power" were his next words, "I thought you just did" was my response.

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 05-30-2002, 07:42 PM:

That's funny.....But I'll end it there....

Posted by James R. Hammonds, Jr (Member # 673) on 05-31-2002, 02:21 PM:

We are currently running the Doge Aerosmith ad as part of our NCN preshow.
Last night during a screening, my screener called up and said,
"James, there is a bunch of crap all over the screen. No, wait, its just Aerosmith."

Posted by Steven Privett (Member # 718) on 05-31-2002, 02:52 PM:

Got a call from a theatre that the platter wouldn't take up the film. The timing was set correctly.
When I went in, I found that they had plugged the platter into the SLIDE PROJECTOR OUTLET!

Posted by Steven Privett (Member # 718) on 05-31-2002, 03:01 PM:

Got a call saying that the platter wouldn't pay out the film. Headswraps every time they start it. I was a little puzzled too when I looked at it. After figuring it out, I asked who turn the film over. The projectionist told me the soundtrack was down on the platter so he picked it up and turned it over so the soundtrack would be on top.

Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 05-31-2002, 08:02 PM:

>>When I went in, I found that they had plugged the platter into the SLIDE PROJECTOR OUTLET!<<

I had a similar situation at the Noyo when we first opened... The platter (Potts) ran fine for the first several minutes then it began to get sluggish and rapidly quit running altogether... After several hours of hairpulling it was realized that the electrician had connected the platter outlet in the wall to the DIMMER...

-Aaron

Posted by Carl King (Member # 398) on 06-02-2002, 10:40 AM:

This thread is so right on. What comes to mind for me is
somthing that happened about three years ago. A female
usher called me in the booth via the intercom phone. I answered
and she said something like: "Hi, how are you? I said "Fine, what's up?" Her reply was " Well, I was just coming out of the ladies room
and I saw a girl from my Poli Sci class, you've probably seen her with me. Her name is Linda and she is very tall with red hair. Anyway,I asked her how she was enjoying the movie and she said it was
Ok and that she was just going to the washroom for a minute while she waited for the sound to come back on. Can you check Cinema 6 and see if it's back on yet?"

Unbelievable!!

Posted by Jan Hackett (Member # 1231) on 06-02-2002, 10:59 AM:

I worked the Hawaii Film Festival one year and they had a new booth with very old equipment (orc lamp house)and a very long throw to a large screen. That old century head got so hot we rigged a trashcan with a fishtank pump and tubing into the old water cooled head. It worked fine. The head projectionist decided to screen some of his print collection of old nitrate prints one night. Needless to say he burned down the booth. It was right out of Cinema Paradisimo....I bet they have new equipment in their now.

------------------
Jan Hackett
Theater Operations Manager
Extreme Screen Dynatheater
NM Museum of Natural History Foundation

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 06-02-2002, 12:35 PM:

Holy Smokes, Jan!!!!! When I read your post, I said, "Oh, my God"....

Didn't that person know what he was running? He is one lucky dude!

Posted by Richard Tucker (Member # 812) on 06-02-2002, 03:25 PM:

One of my favorites:
"The platter won't feed properly! It keeps wrapping!"

No, you'll never get this one. They had moved prints the night before
and had flipped the print on the platter. It was wound the wrong way!
I had a heck of a time straighteniong it out after they had threaded it!
I told them not to do it again.

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 06-02-2002, 05:38 PM:

Yup...the print was turned over...Steven Privett posted a similar story on this same page...and I've encountered that one too...must be more common than I would ever have imagined.

------------------
~Manny.

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 06-02-2002, 09:54 PM:

Winding orientation definitely affect platter transport. Optimum wind depends on the direction of film curl, which depends mostly on the relative humidity. Use the wind that works the best in your situation.

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: +1 585 477 5325 Cell: +1 585 781 4036 Fax: +1 585 722 7243
e-mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 06-02-2002, 10:10 PM:

I thought they were talking about situations wherein a built-up (plattered) print gets flipped over. Payout heads cannot "track" a print that has film arriving from the right. The result is always an instant brainwrap.

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 06-02-2002, 11:15 PM:

It's even more basic than that: The platter will be turning in the opposite direction from that which would pay out.

For it to work that way not only would the payout head need to have its functions reversed in terms of which way needs means increasing power and which way means less but the motor would need to be reversed to spin the platter clockwise instead of the normal counter-clockwise.

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 06-03-2002, 01:07 AM:

Here is one I have observed several times.

I showed several projectionsist how to use the CFS table to make up a bundle of previews by using the large disc that is driven by the CFS motor. I instructed them they MUST wind the film on the parameter with the sound track down becuase the disc rotates opposite than the platter does. Then, they are supposed to take it off the parameter of the disk, and flip it around so the sound track side is up, drop it in the center, and splice it to the head of the movie.

Well, some forget to wind it sound track down. Disaster then strikes

And then some forget the head goes on first. Disaster strikes again...

I saw some real dandy configurations, that I can say. My question is, Why can't they just follow simple instructions? It is soooo easy....