This is topic A Note From Brad Miller in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 08-30-2004, 12:33 PM:
 
In my TES film cans! Holy cow! "The Importance of Smooth Winding During Breakdown."

I hope there will also be one about the importance of resplicing leaders.
 

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Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 08-30-2004, 01:38 PM:
 
Can you post the recommendations?
 

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Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 08-30-2004, 02:26 PM:
 
Easier for Brad to paste over; it's a full page of text and a couple of photos. In a nutshell, avoid anything that might produce offset turns on the reel; if you have to stop mid reel, back off a few turns before resuming.

Brad can be the new Betty Crocker or Ed Rymers. Is he real or is he just an invented character?
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 08-30-2004, 02:32 PM:
 
That was fast. I only gave that to TES a few days ago. I have the file on another computer. I'll post a pdf later.

As anyone who has ever been in a film shipping depot, uneven winding is a real problem and causes an amazing amount of film damage during shipping. Maybe the explanation and pictures will help, maybe not. Technicolor has been working overtime lately in training with their staff and the hope is that by placing short informational papers in the shipping cans that projectionists without proper training will be able to better their film handling skills, which benefits everyone.

Technicolor is also setting up an email account for direct feedback from projectionists. This way when something is wrong with the shipment (broken reel / missing or broken dts discs / unsecured leaders / etc) they hope to get feedback from the projectionists so they can track down the particular staff members who are letting these sort of things happen. As soon as I can confirm it, I will post it.
 

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Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 08-30-2004, 03:32 PM:
 
It's always good to open up additional lines of communication between the people most affected when there is a problem or question.
 

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Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 08-30-2004, 07:30 PM:
 
The link to F-T is included at the bottom so maybe we'll see lots of newcomers and Film Done Right will spread across the land.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 08-30-2004, 07:47 PM:
 
The problem is that the link on the sheet included in the cans can't be clicked on, and it requires people to type it into their browsers with their own fingers letter by letter... hyphen and all. Hopefully this won't be asking too much of people, but it'll help weed out the morons. Key word being "help".
 

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Posted by Chris Hipp (Member # 1788) on 08-30-2004, 09:44 PM:
 
Well, maybe Brad can revive the cue cat scanner dealy. I would never type in a URL.
 

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Posted by Rich Granata (Member # 2285) on 08-30-2004, 10:50 PM:
 
I found the address of F-T on the sheet that came with the Film Guard bottles. Ever since, I have been reading my ass off trying to catch up on the years of experience and wealth of information here.

So...i guess people do type in addresses [/OT]

That is a great idea. Honestly, "i believe" a big reason that there is film done wrong is that many believe that no one cares and no one is affected.

Messages in the can like this should promote good film.
It says: "yeah just because you didn't get a phone call/email about the crappy print you sent back, doesn't mean its not a pain in someone else's ass."
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 08-31-2004, 11:46 AM:
 
You are right. I think one of the biggest problems has been that multiplex operators think THEY will be the only one to ever use that particular print. In reality, with today's nationwide distribution, a print may be in three or four theatres before it even leaves first-run status, and a couple of other small sub-runs before it hits the shredder.

I think Film-Tech site has helped to spread the word that film should be preserved for the users down the road. Now, the biggest problem is that not enough "projectionists" are reading Film-Tech!
 

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Posted by Vernon Cramer (Member # 1181) on 09-01-2004, 07:37 PM:
 
Found a copy of Brad's sheet in our TES shipment today of Fahrenheit 9/11 PLUS an empty film can to fill an empty space in a shipping can AND no broken reels! A very pleasant surprise. Now if ETS would just do the same...
 

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Posted by Steve Scott (Member # 630) on 09-02-2004, 07:41 PM:
 
Joe, you could OCR the document...
 

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Posted by Jeremy Fuentes (Member # 2135) on 09-03-2004, 08:05 AM:
 
I was expecting to find a letter in my TES cans this week, but nothing. I guess its just random cans that get the notes.
 

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Posted by Dominic Espinosa (Member # 2122) on 09-03-2004, 12:39 PM:
 
I'm very pleased with this and hope they keep it up, maybe even a biquarterly change of what the message is? Or would it leave the weak minded too quickly for them to assimilate it into habbit?

Though, doesn't the angle of the MUT on breakdown (with Christies at least) make a difference in the way it takesup to the reel?
I've noticed I achieve smoother, more accurate results with the MUTs lower roller dead on with the end of the platters foot and then moving it a couple inches further down towards the tree about every 3 reels or so. It seems to get rid of most of the uneven winding problems of slowing/stopping durring breakdown.

Just my $0.02. Word up, Brad. I like the idea.
 

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Posted by Tony Hall (Member # 2490) on 09-03-2004, 01:01 PM:
 
Great Idea, and Good Note came with both of my TES prints But i could not tell what the picture was of, I guess it was a copy of a copy of a copy.
 

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Posted by Dean Kollet (Member # 1789) on 09-03-2004, 04:04 PM:
 
I liked it a lot, great idea. It was especially nice when the people at work (I won't say which group) saw the notice after telling me how bad FT is
 

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Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 09-03-2004, 05:59 PM:
 
We bad? Oh yeah! Uh huh!
 

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Posted by Erica Peterson (Member # 1784) on 09-09-2004, 10:30 PM:
 
Well...we got a copy of the note in our shipment of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" from TES today. Unfortunately, in the very same film can was a blatant example of poor winding. Love the note though - the photos came out well.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 09-09-2004, 10:34 PM:
 
Here is the Technicolor newsletter. Page 2 has the bit on smooth winding.

Do note the feedback@technicolor.com email address that has been set up for receiving field comments. If there is something they can do to make their service better, drop them an email about it. Alternatively, feel free to post something here, as the forum is checked regularly by TES management as well. The idea is to let them know what needs to be corrected. After all they can't fix what they don't know about.
 

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Posted by Jeremy Fuentes (Member # 2135) on 09-09-2004, 10:42 PM:
 
I got the full newsletter yesterday, but I received it as a fax, and not with a print.
 

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Posted by Kenneth Wuepper (Member # 1174) on 09-10-2004, 07:04 AM:
 
Sept 9, 2004
Received a copy of the "even wind" page in a can with "Terminal". The film had no academy leaders but somebody had used Mylar threading leader for about 2 feet on the beginning of each reel. The cans were sealed with green locks but there were no inspection tags on the film. The ends were attached with artist tape. The can contained reels 1, 2, 3 and a metal empty reel with the DTS disc between the flanges.
KEN
 

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Posted by Edward Jurich (Member # 1787) on 09-10-2004, 10:22 PM:
 

quote: Steve Kraus

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I hope there will also be one about the importance of resplicing leaders

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Well, I used to but since most prints are going to be plattered again, what's the point. On prints that don't get much play like Art or Classic I do splice leaders and tails back.
I got Brad's "Tip Sheet" in a print of DeLovely. Now I don't want to be too critical because whoever had the print before sent it back in flawless near mint condition. But, the heads were all spliced on but the tails were all taped on. That could cause some poor guy running reel-to-reel a headache thinking everything was intact
 

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Posted by Daniel Alt (Member # 2303) on 09-11-2004, 10:50 AM:
 
We got the note in our print of "Farenheit 9/11" last night. It was in the plastic box with the DTS disks. So I went looking for our MUT to make sure we were taking the film off the platter correctly.

Then I remembered that we're a changeover booth, and we don't have either.

But I sure hope this improves the quality of prints we get in. Thanks Brad!
 

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Posted by Jacob Szewczyk (Member # 2513) on 09-12-2004, 04:18 PM:
 
We got a note, too. I think it came in with one of our movies this week, but I don't know which one. We now have it hanging up at our main desk and have a note up saying to come to this site for good tips, which, hopefullly other projectionists will do.
 

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Posted by Joseph Pandolfi (Member # 223) on 09-14-2004, 09:13 PM:
 
Got ours last week in Orange, CT. Don't know what print it came from, but it was posted at our make-up bench.
 

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Posted by Barry Martin (Member # 1376) on 09-14-2004, 10:37 PM:
 
Got ours with Door in the Floor and Anchorman last Thursday, 9-3, as soon as I saw the name I knew it was worth reading. Thanks Brad, I used to run a big 20 plex so I rarely saw used prints and what can happen in transit and now we still run mostly new product but the last few weeks have been running an "independent" film with a sub-run and I've received some real examples or "film done wrong". Thanks for trying to make a dent!
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-15-2004, 12:47 AM:
 
Where is the mystical link to Film-Tech that was spoken of?
 

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Posted by Kenneth Wuepper (Member # 1174) on 09-28-2004, 06:42 AM:
 
Our print of "Anchorman" arrived late Thursday afternoon with Brad's illustrated note enclosed.

Reel one could have been the subject of his photo as there were several palces where the film was outside the pack and crushed in shipment. Some sections were 5 to 8 feet in length. They were so badly deformed that they would have opened the pads on the sprockets. Removing those sections yeilded a reel which looked like the TV late show with missing words and jump cuts. I called TES and they were happy to replace the reel.

The first reel had a leader with the correct title and one frame of the rating bar from a formerly attached trailer. All of the other reels had leaders from "Cinderella Story" with no check feames attached in random order, 2 0n 5, 3 on4, 4 on 3! It was not until I wound each reel to the end that there were corect tails with the title and "one check frame attached" that I was able to assemble the feature.

The booth is not equipped with a computer nor an incoming FAX. TES was willing to describe the check frames over the phone for me if I couldn't find the order of reels. That was a very kind gesture.

KEN
 

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Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 09-28-2004, 09:54 AM:
 
I thought it was discussed in the "outing bad film handlers" thread as well as a couple others that no one really reads notes that come with prints. Those who do take the time to stop and read the notices already care about doing a good job and thus care to see what the note has to say about potential presentation problems (like a fade-out at a reel or the fact that a reel is on another stock).

Unfortunately, those who DO need to read the notes and DO need to heed the good advice throw them in the trash so they can start spinning on the reels at full speed while they eat their Big Mac on the rewind bench.

Don't get me wrong, it's an excellent idea and reminds me of the "tips" pages that BV used to include in the cans, but it's like putting a bandage on gaping wound.

I can see others have posted here that the cans included the note, but the reels are in the exact opposite condition it reccomends. Hopefully they were printed on recycled paper.

=TMP=

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quote: Edward Jurich

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But, the heads were all spliced on but the tails were all taped on.

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