Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: booth falling apart

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Posted by Jeremy M Smith (Member # 4913) on 08-12-2008, 08:58 AM:

Just wandering has any body had really bad days. like everything breaks down on the same day. or is it just my booth.

Posted by Ben Wales (Member # 92) on 08-12-2008, 09:23 AM:

Been There, Done That......

I bet you have not worked a Arts Centre were the Projection Room/Booth was built on Scaffold Tubes and Plaster Board Walls and NO Cooling.

Also having to spend at least a couple hours repairing or replacing worn out Projector parts or Sound issues, before they could even consider running film.

Several Technician's that worked there I know had almost a Nervous breakdown when running film [Eek!]

Posted by Demetris Thoupis (Member # 833) on 08-12-2008, 09:43 AM:

The main thing to do when everything seems to go bizare "DON'T PANIC"
If you panic or get stressed you will surely make a big mess. My suggestion would be to write down a list of things that you have to do in the booth to keep it up and running and start doing it either yourself (if you have the skills and experience) or bring a reliable technician to do it and cross out each thing that is finished. Take your time to do the list don't just rush.
Demetris

Posted by Jeremy M Smith (Member # 4913) on 08-12-2008, 10:51 AM:

Yea I think I might of lost it a little ie: couldn't even make up a movie that is getting screened tomorrow I will be sure to make a list.

1. torch all my strong platters and buy new ones lol. Just kidding they are not that bad except the brains.

Posted by Damien Taylor (Member # 4255) on 08-12-2008, 11:13 AM:

Our main booth is 70 years young, but unfortunately water damage is making it actually fall apart. We leave the plywood print donuts on the platters overnight to catch concrete, plaster and rusted conduit and rebar. The new owner is really turning things around though, the place was really neglected during the 70's and 80's. The scary part is the rain coming through the old exhaust vents onto the lamphouse. We have the same Vic 8's that were put in for 70mm mag in the 60's and they never miss a beat, although the are due for a rebuild.

Don't panic is the best advice anyone could give during training I agree.

Sometimes I can sense before work if its going to be one of "those" days, where everything stuffs up.

Posted by Robert E. Allen (Member # 1351) on 08-13-2008, 03:12 AM:

Don't feel bad Jeremy. When's the last time you had a pile of film dumped on the floor? It happened to me last year when I was booth manager for a major chain here in the US. I had threaded the machine in question (one of 15 in the booth) got it started OK and came back about 10 minutes later only to see most of the film that had gone through the projector piling up on the floor. So we shut the show down, handed out passes and two other assistants wound the film up on the platter and I instructed one of my projectionists to mount a film cleaner on that machine when the feature finished playing. What really hurt was in my evaluation by my GM he said it was my fault. To this day I have no idea why the platter stopped and the fail-safe didn't work.

Posted by Ian Freer (Member # 1940) on 08-13-2008, 06:22 AM:

Hi Jeremy

I may be passing by at the beginning of next week. I've got to drive to Auckland (not via Taupo), but will probably come back to Wellington via Taupo, so I'll stop in and see if I can help you with anything.

How'd you get on with the Automation problem?

Ian

Posted by Jeremy M Smith (Member # 4913) on 08-13-2008, 09:02 AM:

Hay Ian

I will let you know how I get on. didn't really want to touch anything today had a break from repairs to clear my head. projectionist just got through the day with half of the automation only played wide screen movies in that cinema.

Just give me a txt or ring me when your coming through thanks heaps.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 08-13-2008, 09:58 AM:

quote: Robert E. Allen
To this day I have no idea why the platter stopped and the fail-safe didn't work.

Maybe you had a situation like we had one time: There was a splice in the film that got stuck going around the last roller on the failsafe mechanism. The film was just tight enough under the failsafe to avoid tripping it; meanwhile the film was cascading out of the machine right behind the failsafe onto the floor. This happened during reel 5 of a six-reel movie and I was quite surprised to go upstairs at the end of the show to find a couple of reels worth of spaghetti on the floor!

Posted by Barry Floyd (Member # 385) on 08-13-2008, 10:56 AM:

quote: Robert E. Allen
it started OK and came back about 10 minutes later only to see most of the film that had gone through the projector piling up on the floor. So we shut the show down

Could you have not saved that show?

Same thing happened to me during our run of Zohan earlier this summer. I started the show as normal, and as I left the booth, I leaned over the edge of the take up platter to flip off a light switch. In the process of leaning over the platter, I stopped the platter from turning and didn't notice. 20 minutes later, one of my cooks came and asked me if the film was supposed to be all over the floor. I had a wrap building on the payout deck and 20 minutes of film on the floor underneather the projector. I called the cook into the booth with me to spin platters by hand. Disengaging the motors from the platters, he spun the payout deck, while I spun the takeup deck. It took about 10 minutes to get it all back up on the machine, but the show never stopped, and the audience never new what was happening inside the booth. No print damage. I have no failsafes or automation in my booths.

Posted by Damien Taylor (Member # 4255) on 08-13-2008, 12:02 PM:

I had a lab splice break on a 7 reel film at the start of reel 3. We have physically separate booths, and by the time I made it back to the main booth, there was 5 whole and very full reels of a very big release of this year on the floor.

Posted by Robert E. Allen (Member # 1351) on 08-13-2008, 07:06 PM:

The GM came up to the booth when he heard me call for the assistants Barry and when he saw the film on the floor he stopped the show.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 08-13-2008, 07:29 PM:

quote: Damien Taylor
5 whole and very full reels of a very big release of this year

"Dark Knight," eh? [Big Grin]

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 08-13-2008, 07:39 PM:

quote: Damien Taylor
I had a lab splice break

This is exactly the reason I inspect all my prints and remove any lab splices I find. Besides the fact that they look ugly as hell on screen.

Also be careful to check for tape adhesive stuck to the film within a few feet of the lab splice.

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 08-14-2008, 09:43 AM:

OK, so a rollothan belt on a takeup magazine breaks -- par for the course you say. But does it have do break in the middle of the FIRST reel of a 7 reel picture? Get an usher up here to hand turn the last 10 minutes of R1....annoying, but nothing unusual. Start up the second projector and THAT takeup belt breaks as well. What are the chances? Ran the whole show with two ushers unhappily turning take-up reels by hand and I am thinking, was I nasty to someone in a former life or something?

quote: Ben Wales
I bet you have not worked a Arts Centre were the Projection Room/Booth was built on Scaffold Tubes and Plaster Board Walls and NO Cooling.

Ben, I'll go you one better -- how bout a "projection booth" built on a metal scaffold 30 feet tall on a hill in the park, covered with with heavy tarp for the walls, no Air Conditioning (tarp made it a virtual greenhouse -- 110 degees EASILY during the day with the sun beating down on it) AND multiple lighting strikes DURING a show, then torential rains with wind blowing the rain side ways directly into the booth, tarps trying to take off like big sails. So there's the choice -- do I scrable to cover the projectors, the film, the equipment with extra tarp, or do I get my arse off this feakin LIGHTING ROD in the middle of an open field?!

Yah, you know I covered the equipment.

Posted by Gordon Bachlund (Member # 124) on 08-14-2008, 10:31 AM:

Frank, I'll bet you use leather belts now. [Smile]

Posted by Dominic Espinosa (Member # 2122) on 08-14-2008, 12:11 PM:

Well I can't say anything about scaffold or rain...

But I do recall, a situation in a certain shopping center where the managers of the shopping center hired some roofer to re-roof the building in the fall without consulting with the theater.
Long story short these idiots opened up holes in the ceiling (4x4 holes) shining light into auditoriums, all their trapsing around on the roof lead to debris falling on people, in their food, etc.
and the piece de resistance: it rained. A lot.
Readmits flowed like the water coming into the booth, restrooms, auditoria, lobby, hallways, etc. for over a month.

Posted by Fred Tucker (Member # 4482) on 09-30-2008, 09:18 AM:

I recently had knee surgey and was away from work for a month & a half. When I walked into work on Thursday night i had not 1 but 2 bollywood films laying on the floor with the enter rings pulled out (too lazy to tear down but needed the rings). Port glasses that had chewing gum on the auditorium sie along with the usual dust. My white floor was nearly black..... I say all of his to day that your booth is deffinately not the only one that has problems. Without proper management and maintenance the best maintained booth WILL fall apart in a relatively short period of time & there is zero excuse for upper management not being involved. Sure they might loose a bonus if they hire outside help but how much money will they loose when someone from upper management sees what is really going on behind the scenes?