Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: coke in the screen

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Posted by Angel Hultzsch (Member # 1058) on 05-22-2004, 10:19 PM:

Hi everyone, im having a problem here with a screen, some stu... [Mad]

guy of the audience has throw a coke in the middle of the screen, the reason: he don´t have two seat together, how i can clean it because all the film looks very bad in this screen, ill appreciate your help. Bye

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 05-22-2004, 10:51 PM:

Is it a plain "matte white" screen? A simple sheet of white vinyl or something that does NOT have any coatings or rough, sandy surface? Most theaters have matte screens.

If so, use plain water and a clean white cloth.

Dip the cloth in the water and wipe. Keep dipping and wiping until the Coke is gone. Once you have the area as clean as you can get another clean cloth, dip it and wring it out until it's almost dry.

You'll notice that when you wipe, you probably make a "clean spot". All screens get dirty over time. At least the dirt is uniformly distributed. The idea of using the almost dry cloth is to "Feather" the edges of the clean spot. Rub the edges out from the center of the spot so that the border between clean spot and the rest of the screen fades away.

Dry the screen with an unwet cloth.

Don't forget the back of the screen. The Coke will have gone through the perforations. You might want to do the back first, even.

Shine the projector on the screen and see if you need to repeat the cleaning.

The truth is that it's best to have the whole screen cleaned professionally but if you get the stain quicly before it has a chance to dry and you work carefully you'll probably be able to get good results.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-23-2004, 12:38 AM:

The key word there, learned from bitter experience, is to WIPE, not SCRUB. The idea is to remove the Coke, but not the screen surface. The lighter the touch, the better.

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 05-23-2004, 05:33 AM:

I would even go one step further. Dab, not wipe. Take a wet soft towel and press it lightly on the screen, roll it across the sticky spot.

Posted by Angel Hultzsch (Member # 1058) on 05-23-2004, 07:47 AM:

Thanks all for the recommendations, yes Randy it is a matte screen, ill try to clean it today, i write you later with the results [thumbsup]

Posted by Dean Kollet (Member # 1789) on 05-23-2004, 09:15 AM:

please tell me he was throw out [Mad]

Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 05-23-2004, 09:46 PM:

If that person threw Coke on the screen, he should be required to pay the cost of a professional screen cleaning or replacement.

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 05-24-2004, 02:09 AM:

I'd go farther than just feathering the cleaned area, & wash the whole screen. Make sure to just use water, & if soap is absolutely required, only powdered Ivory soap (which is non-detergent). Maintaining a 'wet edge' when cleaning to avoid creating a mottled appearance is *much* easier if you start at one corner, work down a 'row', then start at the top again, etc. You can't maintain a wet edge when washing it if you start in the middle & work to one side then the other.

Posted by Benjamin J. Kepner (Member # 1241) on 05-24-2004, 01:55 PM:

Worst I've seen was when we had some jacka** throw a bottle of Jack Daniels THROUGH one of our screens. Never caught him either. Fortunately we were able to get the screen replaced within a reasonable time frame.