This is topic "Narnia" is a 9-reel print in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-05-2005, 09:12 PM:
 
Had a call from Technicolor tonight saying that "Narnia" is going to ship on 9 reels in 3 cans.

Also said they are going to deliver on Wed.

Why in the world is it NINE reels? If it's 140 minutes, I'd think 7 would be plenty.
 

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 12-05-2005, 09:43 PM:
 
Guess they've decided to not load the reels all the way up to 2k each. Japan's Studio Ghibli does that, usually loading up to only about 1.5k on each reel.
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 12-05-2005, 10:20 PM:
 
Perhaps the editor is from the old school where they didn't want to break reels at place with music. With some title this can mean really oddly loaded reels, but many a change-over projectionist was happy for that system. This was very prevelent with musicals where change-over were rarely in the middle of the songs.

Hey, don't complain about 9 reels? Try MY FAIR LADY topping out at 14!! It could have easily been put on 9, but then there would the danger of hearing: "I'm gettin married in the mor....BLUP....els are gonna shine...."
 

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Posted by Robert John Jeromson (Member # 2559) on 12-05-2005, 10:56 PM:
 
From memory Moulin Rouge was 128 minutes on 9 reels and most of those were small, which I thought at the time was curious.
 

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Posted by John Stewart (Member # 989) on 12-05-2005, 11:41 PM:
 
We played Hamlet in 70mm a few years ago and it seemed like it was 20 reels or there about. A couple seemed to be much less than 10min. each.
 

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Posted by Peter Mork (Member # 1336) on 12-05-2005, 11:44 PM:
 
Recently, "Nine Lives" shipped on nine reels (one life per reel). Would've fit on six. No excuses of the sort Frank mentioned.

No one cares about us booth rats.
 

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Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 12-05-2005, 11:53 PM:
 
I remember with the 35mm release of "Ben-Hur"-the full length version - was sent out on 16 reels, but on an average of 9 to 12 minutes each.

Then Paramount sent "10 Commandments" on 12 full reels...

...go figure. Maybe the labs love to play games..

-Monte
 

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Posted by Dominic Espinosa (Member # 2122) on 12-06-2005, 12:15 AM:
 
I can live with 9 reels.
It was those 13 of Gods & Generals that I couldn't stand.
At 4 hours it was a monster.

EDIT: I agree with Monte. The labs are evil.
Wasn't the last from on both leaders for each reel of feardotcom different than the frame preceeding it?
 

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Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 12-06-2005, 06:23 AM:
 
Dont blame the lab. Its the editor. Id take full reels anyday over little short ones.

I'm getting 3 prints of Narnia on Wednesday.
 

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Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 12-06-2005, 07:37 AM:
 
I agree. Reel length is an editorial decision, not normally a lab decision. I would much rather see short reels with reel changes having a minimal impact on continuity than trying to fill every reel with changes in the middle of important dialog or action.
 

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Posted by Adam Wilbert (Member # 1184) on 12-06-2005, 11:51 AM:
 
too bad the same doesn't apply to DVD layer switches.
 

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Posted by Dominic Espinosa (Member # 2122) on 12-06-2005, 12:49 PM:
 

quote:

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I would much rather see short reels with reel changes having a minimal impact on continuity than trying to fill every reel with changes in the middle of important dialog or action.[QUOTE]

That's a great pipe dream, John. Unfortunately some features are still really slopilly edited so as to have the changeovers in the middle of a scene. I recall Star Trek: Nemisis had at least one cut like that.

One of the things I liked about Kill Bill Vol. 2 was that some of the changeovers took place over black film therfor making the changeover completely seemless unless one was looking for the cue marks.
I wonder how many non-film-teching theaters just lobbed it off after at some random location though...

[QUOTE=Adam Wilbert]too bad the same doesn't apply to DVD layer switches.

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quote: Monte L Fullmer

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Then Paramount sent "10 Commandments" on 12 full reels...

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The original preview for that film was just about one full reel..... Ole C.B was quite a long winded guy!

Mark
 

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Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 12-08-2005, 05:03 AM:
 
R2 definately got a double take from me. I'm also going to side with John. You cant place a reel change between any two succesive shots. You must place them in a scene that doesnt require frame-by-frame continuity over the change (such as dancing or a battle). Also the sound must not require continuity into the next reel (music or dialog). A good example is in "Big Toruble". Durring one of the reel changes, the score pauses briefly before the reel change than kicks back in a second into the new reel.
 

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Posted by Paul Gordon (Member # 3320) on 12-08-2005, 07:16 AM:
 
I think the studios are starting to forget that some houses still run change overs. Theres been a lot of films lately with really bad changovers during dialogue. The main projectionst were I work has even had to change were the marks are and change some leader threading so we don't clip the dialogue. It can't be to tough to place a change over on a non-dialogue scene or on a fade to black? Plus fill those reels to their 20mins please nuff said...
 

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Posted by John Hawkinson (Member # 1135) on 12-08-2005, 02:51 PM:
 
Don't forget that most platters lose 2 ID frames across a changeover. That's 83 milliseconds, which is noticable in the midst of dialogue.

So this is not just a "changeover" issue.

--jhawk
 

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