Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Scratch-free presentations

This is topic Scratch-free presentations in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by John T. Hendrickson, Jr (Member # 849) on 10-13-2004, 04:11 PM:

I keep a notice board in our projection booth that lists the number of days of scratch-free presentations. It is updated each day. This serves as an incentive to our booth staff, and has become a topic of pride in our operation.

I am happy to report that yesterday, October 12, we broke our previous record of 156 days of scratch-free presentations. We had gotten close to the record on several previous occasions, only to go back to zero on the board.

I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge my staff for the great job they are doing. My thanks goes to:

Mike Cummins
Bill Mishak
Rob Bell
Todd Maniscalki
Eric Wohltman
Mike DePasqualle

Great work, guys. No mean feat, considering that we run an average of sixty shows a day on 13 screens.

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 10-13-2004, 04:42 PM:

Film Done Right! [thumbsup]

I hope you did something special for your crew as a reward for a job well done!

Suggestions:

Pizza and/or Wings Party (with [beer]

)

Gift Cards (e.g., money at a grocery, hardware, computer, or video store)

Kodak Single Use Cameras [Cool]

New equipment for the booth to make their jobs easier.

Other suggestions?

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 10-13-2004, 05:39 PM:

(Film) strippers.

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 10-13-2004, 07:34 PM:

New equipment for the booth to make their jobs easier.

13 DLP or D/ILA projectors! hehehehe [evil]

Operated via satellite by an $8/hr engineer in Bangalore, India. [Mad]

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 10-13-2004, 10:19 PM:

I'm sure Steve meant $8/day, not an hour. [Frown]

Posted by Chris Byrne (Member # 1563) on 10-14-2004, 04:11 AM:

Good going John (and team), that's an awesome result and a great tool for binding team morale. [thumbsup]

Posted by Steve Scott (Member # 630) on 10-14-2004, 05:32 PM:

Congratulations John!

Were any of those days spent training in staff? Even if they weren't, that's still an impressive feat.

Posted by John T. Hendrickson, Jr (Member # 849) on 10-14-2004, 07:42 PM:

Thanks, Steve.

Yes, some of those days were involved with training, as two of those guys were newbees during the run. They were brought along under strict supervision, but sooner or later, everyone has to learn to fly on thier own.

I had one other situation where we were within two days of the record, and a trainee on his first solo flight scratched a print!! Those are the risks you take.

I am happy to say that the record was tied on a night where one of the two new people was running alone for the first time. Talk about pressure! It's sort of like a pitcher throwing a no-hitter- everyone knows, but no one talks about it. Anyway, he came through with flying colors.

To answer John Pytlak's comment about rewarding the staff, here's what we have done:

1. A letter of thanks from the principle owner, the Managing Director (also a partner), and myself. This letter will be placed in their personal files.

2. A meal voucher to our Nathan's Restaurant in our complex.

3 A $25 gift certificate to the mall where our theatre is located.

Posted by Steve Scott (Member # 630) on 10-15-2004, 10:32 AM:

John, sounds like you can hunt out the good ones from the job pool [Smile]

Rewards well deserved!

Posted by Bill Langfield (Member # 818) on 10-15-2004, 10:56 AM:

Good one John, but where's the free movie ticket?
OH I GET IT PROJECTIONISTS can cheat and watch from the projection room!

I've been going 300 days without seeing a scratched print.

Btw: I left Hoyts 300 days ago.

GUO 'Thats what I want'. and that's what I got! YAHOO

Bill.

Posted by Dean Kollet (Member # 1789) on 10-15-2004, 02:07 PM:

Congratulations....I've gone 500+ days with personally scratching a print....well since I started 500+ days ago...I did get a Chick-Fil-A cupon last week though [Roll Eyes]

Posted by Ian Joseph Parfrey (Member # 2682) on 10-17-2004, 04:11 PM:

Bill, I gather you weren't "Happy on your coit in a Hoyt's Suburban Cinema"! [Big Grin]

Posted by Bill Langfield (Member # 818) on 10-22-2004, 12:31 PM:

Ian,

It's very hard to describe my days at HOYTS.

Basically it WAS great. But they do VERY dumb things.

I quit, went back, then got fired. Due to my posts here.
(I have since admitted I got several facts wrong, though)

I a have file (to be completed) that I will email to you, for your info on what happened.

Bill.

OH a big admission here, those 300 days I claimed above are over, just a few days ago someone (I won't say it was the trainee, but Hmmm) 'train tracked' two prints on the same projector with base scratches. Prints were replaced, but I wish we had the FULL filmguard cleaning system to see if that would have 'fixed' the base scratching to acceptable viewing.

Posted by John T. Hendrickson, Jr (Member # 849) on 11-11-2004, 04:47 PM:

You have to take the good with the bad. I returned to work today after a day off, only to find a scratched print. [Frown]

Base side scratch, and barely visible on screen, but.....

We made it to 189 days. Now we start all over again.

Posted by Chris Brown (Member # 2800) on 11-12-2004, 12:09 AM:

Wow very nice John...my theatre was having a big problem scrating prints in the few months before I came back last summer. A method like this would have probably helped bring things around faster. It's a great idea though, and it can be applied to anything...number of days without sound complaints, missplices or other print problems, etc.

Actually over the summer I personally started something similar to this...keeping track of how many mistakes I had made building prints and dividing by the number of prints I've built. I really just started building in January, and have done about 40 prints since then, with just 4 mistakes, the most recent one being one of the Harry Potter prints in early June. But I was mistake free for the rest of the summer, doing at least a print a week. So now every time I build a print, I keep that in mind. Its a great way to ensure a better quality presentation, in whatever aspect you are going for. I'll pass this idea along to the other booth people when I get back to my theatre in a few weeks. Thanks John!

Posted by John T. Hendrickson, Jr (Member # 849) on 11-12-2004, 07:59 PM:

Good luck Chris. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. You are on the right track.

You have to remember that we are all human, and mistakes will occur sooner or later.

At least we can all try to set our sights high. Is my crew disappointed? Of course. Am I disappointed? You bet! Will it be harder to beat the record? Sure, but records are made to be broken. [thumbsup]