Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Gospel Of John

This is topic Gospel Of John - No Sound in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Paul Konen (Member # 41) on 09-26-2003, 09:03 AM:

No, this thread is not about John P's movie about doing Film Right.

Instead, this will bring up the argument about why prints should arrive on Wed, instead of Thurs.

Reel 6 of this 10 reel behemouth was developed with NO sound formats. No analog, no DTS, no nothing. All other 9 reels were ok. I don't know which lab printed it, but the tail said "Color By Deluxe". Not even the outside tracks that were blue-green on the other reels was there.

Anyway, this is a very limited release, with 2 or so other theatres in the Dallas area showing the movie.

Had this arrived on Wed, I could have very well had a new reel by today.

Instead, because of the amount of calls and inquiries received, we have elected to run the entire print, including the bad reel, if anyone is interested in watching it with the 20 minutes of silence.

There is some buzzing or thumping sound like the analog track is reading frame lines or something, but looking at the print revealed nothing instantly.

I will supply pictures later for all to see.

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 09-26-2003, 09:20 AM:

Lauren Fisher already mentioned this problem:

http://www.film-tech.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=004144;p=23

Proper procedure would be to cancel the shows until the replacement reel arrived. What sound formats were printed on the "good" reels?

Posted by Paul Konen (Member # 41) on 09-26-2003, 01:25 PM:

I can state for sure that there is analog, DTS. The outer edges were clear rather than the blue-green of the other reels.

If it affects what really happened, I will determine the other formats.

Paul

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-26-2003, 05:39 PM:

quote:
John Pytlak wrote:
Proper procedure would be to cancel the shows until the replacement reel arrived.

No, proper procedure would be to ship the prints so they arrive early enough so that defects like this can be fixed in time for the first public shows. [Smile]

But of course if you have to cancel shows, emphasize to the studio that they are losing money as a result.

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 09-26-2003, 06:09 PM:

If proper procedure would have been followed, all reels would have been printed with soundtracks, preventing this fiasco entirely! [Razz]

Posted by Bruce Hansen (Member # 281) on 09-26-2003, 08:22 PM:

Where is the quality control? It should be real easy to notice that there are no sound tracks on the film, as it comes out of the processor. Someone was asleep, or just stupid, to let this get past them. Maybe the printing companies need to put a simple light baised sensor on the output of the processor that could tell the difference between clear film, and having a sound track where it should be.

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 09-26-2003, 08:32 PM:

quote:
Instead, because of the amount of calls and inquiries received, we have elected to run the entire print, including the bad reel, if anyone is interested in watching it with the 20 minutes of silence.

what should have been done is to give the customers rainchecks along with the explanation that the distibutor shipped you a bad reel with no sound. That way people could see something else and come back later when the problem is fixed. You could even give them your office number to call to see if the problem is taken care of so they don't make a trip for nothing. Total customer satisfaction is the rule and letting them see a film with 20 minutes of silence goes against that rule.

Posted by Aaron Garman (Member # 1653) on 09-27-2003, 01:44 AM:

I'm with you Darryl. Why watch an entire film with sound, only for its conclusion not to have sound. In my opinion, that is just wrong and bad showmanship. Give out the rainchecks and please the customer.

quote:
Total customer satisfaction

That's sounds familiar. Doesn't it go "Total and Complete Customer Satisfaction" though? [Big Grin]

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 09-27-2003, 06:57 AM:

When "Buena Vista Social Club" was released, I saw it on opening weekend at a theatre that had received a print with missing subtitles on R1. They did show the print, but the manager came out and explained the situation before the show and offered refunds and passes to anyone who didn't want to stay. They also had signs at the boxoffice. I thought that this was reasonable, since the dialouge in BVSC isn't necessarily critical to enjoyment of the film, though I agree that a reel without sound at all shouldn't be shown, except maybe if the film had subtitles or otherwise could be enjoyed without sound.

Posted by Antonio Marcheselli (Member # 373) on 09-27-2003, 07:18 AM:

Scott

Once we had a fail to an amplifier on one of our theater. Center amplifier, of course...
The movie was "The Core". The movie since that point was showed in Dolby Digital (and was not a comedy/almost mono movie!), and swith suddenly in Bypass was not the best solution for me!
So the show was stopped, a manager came to the auditorium explaining that for a fail to the equipment the show would be restarted with mono sound and that free tickets or refunds will be offered to anyone.

But none can say when an amplifier will fail!

Show a movie INTENTIONALLY with a mute reel is not acceptable, in my opinion, also with signs at box and managers in the theater!!! There's a limit to customer's patience!!

Bye
A

Posted by Lauren Fisher (Member # 1905) on 09-28-2003, 01:35 PM:

actually this is quite funny...last night at work jeanelle mills told me they had the print set up so that they could just reel on the 6th reel when it came in that morning...however the reel didnt come until 5 min before showtime and it was tails out...so from what i did hear the show was late 45 min, and the 6th reel was supposed to be in way before that time.

Posted by Paul Konen (Member # 41) on 09-29-2003, 08:11 AM:

Here is a picture.

(I have a a piece of paper behind the film to try and even out the light. Still a rookie at taking pictures with the scope primary lense and such).

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 09-29-2003, 09:26 AM:

Well lets see the printer light was defineitly on since the soundtrack area has been exposed and is black yet the perf area of DD is clear
I bet the printer operator threaded the soundtrack negative backwards and the clear area of the neg exposed the track to black

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 09-29-2003, 11:08 PM:

I think Gordon's theory is the most likely. Or the sound negative was never threaded. The Dolby Digital and SDDS printer lights were off (no exposure gives clear film).

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-30-2003, 04:40 AM:

John, why haven't you jumped on Paul for taking a picture of copyrighted material? He could go to jail or even face the death penalty for what he has done, no matter his intentions! [Razz]

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 09-30-2003, 11:44 AM:

Paul's posting is "fair use".

Now his peer-to-peer site with downloads of every movie he's projected is another matter. [Wink]