Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: How do you store acetate and estar trailers?

This is topic How do you store acetate and estar trailers? in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Jonathan Smith (Member # 5609) on 03-09-2010, 11:05 AM:

Do you store them EMULSION IN or EMULSION OUT?

I recently had the horrific experience of watching some of my prized trailer collection and having an acetate trailer jam up the following polyester trailer of "Pearl Harbor," burning through thankfully only the credits.

So should I store head or tail out soundtrack up or soundtrack down to avoid an obnoxious reverse bend in the film?

Also, is there any amount of time they should be stored before winding to prevent vinegar syndrome? I want these trailers to outlast me. . .

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 03-09-2010, 01:02 PM:

Heard emulsion in - be like when acetate prints came in cans that needs to be rewound.

Store items like this in a controlled 50% humidity atmosphere.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 03-09-2010, 04:19 PM:

Emulsion-In and I'm sticking to it.

All prints should be aired out at least once per year (rewound back and forth).

Steve

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 03-09-2010, 05:17 PM:

Nope, emulsion out...unless you like your films to warp and shrink. Steve is using 1960's data.

Also don't rewind them twice. Only rewind them one direction. The head of the print should alternate between being stored against the core vs. the outside of the reel.

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 03-09-2010, 05:28 PM:

Emulsion in

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 03-09-2010, 05:42 PM:

Don't store trailers on trailer cores; they will eventually curl and won't be able to be focused properly. Either splice them together onto reels or get some 3" or 4" diameter cores and use those.

I don't know the official recommendation about this, but I doubt that it would be a good idea to store both acetate and polyester film together on the same core/reel. When nitrate and acetate were mixed in the same can in the 1950s, the nitrate would be fine after many years, but the acetate would have gone vinegar.

You really want to store acetate in either sealed Kodak lab cans with "molecular sieves" in the can or in plastic vented archival cans.

Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 03-09-2010, 06:09 PM:

Hmmm. I've got one trailer that dates from 1985 - don't know for sure but I assume it is acetate. The other handful of trailers I have are all of late-'90s or newer vintage. They are all spliced and stored together on one 4" core (head-up, emulsion-out), located either in my room or in the refrigerator. It is in a baggie, no can.

I haven't screened it or even wound it since probably 2003. I wonder if I should separate the assumed-acetate one to its own core...

Posted by Ian Parfrey (Member # 5122) on 03-09-2010, 06:20 PM:

Alternate head out/tail out and emulsion in/emulsion out.

Do this once every 6 months or sooner if you are able, and keep the prints in a cool place with no temperature swings.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 03-09-2010, 07:06 PM:

1960s nothing...using my own data from actual use.

I have no particular problem with only winding once to alternate head/tail though.

Steve

Posted by Bruce Hansen (Member # 281) on 03-09-2010, 07:19 PM:

OK, I know how to solve this whole thing. Here is how to store your trailers, and films: send them to Bruce Hansen Stone Mountain Georgia. (Sorry, could help it)

Posted by Ian Parfrey (Member # 5122) on 03-09-2010, 07:30 PM:

Ok - but how would HE store them. [Big Grin]

Posted by David Kilderry (Member # 142) on 03-10-2010, 12:00 AM:

Just last week I ran though a few old trailers.

Nine to Five was first, then Divine Madness, which was a little curly at the end and "bang" it went in the payout, just before a prized Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines trailer.

Don't leave old trailers wound too tight for too long and run them and wind them frequently.

No comments on the first couple of trailers please - I recently acquired them in a pile of stuff!

David

Posted by Jonathan Worthing (Member # 803) on 03-10-2010, 04:12 AM:

quote: Steve Guttag
Emulsion-In

quote: Ian Parfrey was the last to post
emulsion out

quote: David Kilderry was the last to post
in

quote: Ian Parfrey was the last to post
out

You shake it all about [Big Grin]

Posted by Ian Parfrey (Member # 5122) on 03-10-2010, 04:31 AM:

You do the Hokey Pokey

And switch to Dig-i-tal

Thats what it's all about. [Big Grin]

Posted by Jonathan Smith (Member # 5609) on 03-29-2010, 08:30 AM:

So I should split the difference and store half EM. out and half EM. in? [Razz]

Should it be EM. out for acetate and EM. in for estar (polyester)?

I think my biggest problem, though,was storing them on shitty cores.

BTW, anyone know where I can get the U-hubs and some of those protective cardboard bands on the cheap?

I guess I need to invest in them if I don't want my collection to further-deteriorate.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 03-29-2010, 11:55 AM:

quote: Paul Mayer
don't know for sure but I assume it is acetate

hold it up to a light. If the light goes through it, it's "poly", and if opaque, it's acetate.

(funny though, on open reel recording tape, it's the opposite: acetate tape would let light go through and the mylar,"poly" base was opaque)

-Monte

Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 03-29-2010, 07:15 PM:

Thank you for the tip Monte. I'll give that a whirl.