Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Hulk: Film damage or bad print?

This is topic Hulk: Film damage or bad print? in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 06-22-2008, 07:14 PM:

The print of The Incredible Hulk I saw today had these weird white horizontal "dashes" in the image as shown below. These were present in the entire movie, including the 2 trailers preceding the feature (but not the ones before those 2). It looked like this:

These horizontal marks were flashing randomly in that general area of the image throughout the movie. It almost looked like binary code or something. At first I thought it was a bad reel 1 but it continue to varying degrees all the way through.

I've never seen anything like this before. Anyone know what the heck would cause that? They were very visible in dark scenes, or on any dark object, and very distracting. Not visible in light areas. Always white. It reminded me of bad pixels on an LCD panel, only these were not all the same size.

Posted by Carey Barber (Member # 1586) on 06-22-2008, 08:23 PM:

Could it be burn damage from a xenon bulb that was too hot or too close? This can cause a sparkly/starry pattern.

Posted by Michael Brown (Member # 890) on 06-22-2008, 10:37 PM:

Do a search for the topic "Scratching....Help! " in this forum, that looks to be a similar if not the same issue.

Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 06-23-2008, 06:01 AM:

I'm thinking "hot spotted" xenon bulb, where the lamp was not properly focused and there was too much heat on that spot and burned the film.
(Then we will be told it's a digital presentation and yet again I look like a dumbass)

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 06-23-2008, 09:14 AM:

It was film, not digital. It was like someone took an xacto knife and randomly scribed small horizontal marks all the way through the emulsion in that area.

Posted by John T. Hendrickson, Jr (Member # 849) on 06-23-2008, 03:07 PM:

Certainly a good case for Xenon burn. We had it on the 4th reel of a Wizzard of Oz print we screened at the Count Basie Theatre a couple of months ago. VERY annoying!! [Mad]

Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 06-23-2008, 05:49 PM:

Almost definitely a misaligned xenon hot spotting. Think of it as a very slow burn. The image begins to blister but is pulled away before the base is completely penetrated.

Did the white "sparklies" seem to be attracted more to black in the general affected region?

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 06-23-2008, 05:52 PM:

quote: Mike Olpin
Did the white "sparklies" seem to be attracted more to black in the general affected region?

Yes, definitely. The darker the image in that area, the worse the sparklies.

Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 06-24-2008, 01:36 AM:

Definitely Xenon burn. The dark areas trap more heat on the film than light colors. The manager should be notified, as every print that is run on that machine will scorch until the bulb is aligned properly.

Posted by Marco Giustini (Member # 4544) on 06-24-2008, 05:52 AM:

I had something like that few times in the years. All the time the prints were coming from a cinema with Prevost Projectors and that was the result of too big loops in the projector. The loop was hitting somewhere in the projector causing some greenish/white spot in the same place.

Marco

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 06-24-2008, 09:37 AM:

I sent Regal a comment card pointing out the damage. Whether it occurred on that screen or another one is for them to figure out, if they care.

Posted by Jaime Tuzzio (Member # 4760) on 07-04-2008, 06:14 AM:

While comment cards are a good method to get your message to the theatre, when it comes to a presentation issue that can be currently and continuously causing damage, notifying a manager of the issue then and there can be mutually beneficial. They might not have been aware of the issue and can try to get it resolved ASAP, and you will hopefully not find yourself watching another feature with annoying white lines.

Now, it's not always certain at any theatre that your message will get to someone who cares, but it never hurts to try. And I know for a fact that the booth manager at that facility does care.

Edited to fix a really annoying typo.

[ 07-05-2008, 04:20 AM: Message edited by: Jaime Tuzzio ]

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 07-04-2008, 10:14 AM:

I should have said "online comment card", submitted on the Regal web site. I gave Regal my email address but never heard back from them. Usually they reply, but not this time.