This is topic Mistakes you have seen OTHER projectionists do... in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by Thomas Pitt (Member # 4322) on 06-04-2007, 03:55 PM:
 
I decided to start this thread so people could post bad experiences they've had when just watching a movie in a theater; when you're not the actual projectionist or film handler (at least, not at the time). Anything that's not supposed to be part of the presentation, from misplaced cue marks to failed lens changeovers.

Myself, I could probably make a blog of the many mistakes I've seen in theaters... I'll start with three here.

When I saw "Mr Bean's Holiday", the theater used an Opticue system that simply counted the number of cue marks on the film, and used that to determine what to do at each point. For some reason, it missed the cue mark at the start of the credits (though it clearly flashed on screen), which was supposed to put the lights back up. Then, when the final cue came along (switch off lamp), it took that as the 'lights up' cue... meaning that the projector stayed on, and the entire tail leader - including masking tape label - was projected on screen with a horrid buzzing sound! Of course, the fail-safe stopped everything when the film flew out of the projector...

I also saw "Bridge to Terabithia" recently. Whoever had spliced the showreel together had done it very badly... they'd spliced the movie onto the final trailer in the MIDDLE of the frame! Of course, this made the picture go drastically out of frame, and since it was a flat film, you could only see the bottom quarter of the picture at the top of the screen! After I ran out and told the staff, the projectionist re-framed it, but the first 5 minutes of the movie were 'spoiled'

(Note to others: always make sure the framing knobs aren't locked down, just in case something like this happens!)

When I saw "Paradise Lost", for some reason the screen masking changed to Scope as the projector started up; even though the adverts and trailers were in flat format! Oddly, the lens turret didn't change over. Since this theater uses top masking, the top area of the image was projected onto the blinds and looked strange - e.g. the people in the Get a Mac adverts were headless!
After a while the projectionist noticed and tried triggering the turret manually - this only squashed the picture, so back it went and the blind finally went up... just before the last two trailers!
The projector and masking then changed over to Scope at the beginning of the movie, like it was supposed to. I dread to think what would have happened if it had come across the cue mark while the masking was wrong!

Those are three memorable errors I remember from when I watched movies. I've seen plenty of others, such as coming up badly out of frame, the BBFC card being spliced in BACKWARDS, and even an engineer trying to adjust the projector's vertical position in mid-film!

What errors have you witnessed in movie theaters, when you're not the projectionist?
 

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Posted by Michael Brown (Member # 890) on 06-04-2007, 04:08 PM:
 
hmmmmmmmm

quote:

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Leeds, West Yorkshire,

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OK fess up, do you work at one of the Vue's or an independent like Hyde Park Picture House, or Cottage Road.

Then I'll give my review of that location.
 

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Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 06-04-2007, 04:16 PM:
 

quote:

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(Note to others: always make sure the framing knobs aren't locked down, just in case something like this happens!)

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 06-04-2007, 04:27 PM:
 
The opticue thing you mention, though, wasn't a mistake. It was equipment failure. And in this case, a fairly minor one at that.
 

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Posted by Michael Moore (Member # 3867) on 06-04-2007, 04:29 PM:
 
NO lock the frame knob down so you can't change it! This way you are forced to thread in frame and also building your prints, trailer, ads, in frame!
shame on you.

Mike
 

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Posted by Peter Mork (Member # 1336) on 06-04-2007, 04:32 PM:
 
I would like to suggest... do we really need this thread?

Film is a medium run by imperfect human beings. Thank God for that. When all exhibition is automated and every show is exactly like every other show, something will be lost. There is no one on this board who runs film for a living who will not admit to making errors like the ones above at some point, if they're honest.

Some mistakes such as a bad splice that throws the picture out of frame are obviously worse than others. As an audience member you should point these out so they can be corrected. If you're in the habit of attending the first matinee on opening day of a new film, this sort of thing will happen sometimes.

For minor things - like a picture starting out of frame but the operator fixed it immediately - stop whining! Or take it to "Crybaby Corner" (a.k.a. the "You Suck" thread) but please let's not do another nitpick topic.
 

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Posted by Ben Wales (Member # 92) on 06-04-2007, 04:49 PM:
 

quote: Peter Mork

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For minor things - like a picture starting out of frame but the operator fixed it immediately - stop whining! Or take it to "Crybaby Corner" (a.k.a. the "You Suck" thread) but please let's not do another nitpick topic.

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At least we could look forward when D-Cinema takes over 35mm we will not have to read this crap from people who are clearly just "Machine Minders"!
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-04-2007, 05:18 PM:
 

quote:

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For minor things - like a picture starting out of frame but the operator fixed it immediately - stop whining!

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