Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: 70mm shipping cases and reels in poor condition causing print damage

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 05-23-2014, 11:51 AM:

I ran my first 70mm show since 2007 last night (Baraka), and was worried by the poor condition of the shipping cases and reels in which it arrived, which had clearly inflicted significant edge damage on the print itself. I ran 70 on and off throughout the '90s and early '00s, and cannot remember any cases and reels being this bad.

The cases were full of dents and dings, the latches had either failed or were about to (one was held sealed with duct tape) and several handles were missing. I suspect that these cases have literally been tossed about in the course of transit.

The reels were all seriously bent. I got the print off onto house reels by winding slowly and cautiously, holding the edges of the stock at an angle to prevent them from catching. I then went to work on the shipping reels with a wooden block and a hammer, which hopefully has straightened them out to the point at which the edges won't catch, even if the print later encounters an idiot who tries to project it straight off the shipping reels. The film had significant edge "swirling" already, from where the stock had caught the bent edges of the reels.

Sorry - didn't manage to get pictures, because my cellphone battery was dead and I forgot to bring a charger or USB wire. If the print is still there on Sunday, when I'm next at that theater, I'll take some then.

I'm guessing that the chances are close to zero that any new 5/70 prints will be made again, now, even of the usual corny favorites. Surely it would be safer to ship the remaining ones around the few remaining theaters that still play them on cores and in cans now - ideally with paper cladding and "fragile - handle with care" labels on the outer boxes?

Posted by Terry Lynn-Stevens (Member # 7349) on 05-23-2014, 12:17 PM:

How did the picture look?

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 05-23-2014, 12:52 PM:

Photographically, lovely. There was, sadly, a nasty vertical base scratch (tramline) throughout reels 3 and 4 (reel 2 in the doubled-up configuration), that varied in intensity, but was present throughout. Unless you're looking for it you can only really see it against a bright background (e.g. sky), but it was still disappointing to see that the print had picked up a serious scratch. The starts and ends were also a bit dirty, though I've seen a helluva lot worse. It hadn't been plattered though - there were no splices on the heads and tails, and the reel-doubling splices were ultrasonic: yet more proof of the point that many of us here have made many times, namely that banning the plattering of valuable prints is not in itself an insurance policy against accidental damage. There were also properly scribed cue marks, which should prevent any amateur ones from appearing in future. The DTS six-track played fine throughout - no timecode dropouts.

Posted by Paul Gordon (Member # 3320) on 05-23-2014, 02:27 PM:

Leo there are also 6-track mag prints of Baraka still around. We played one in 2010. Some light intermittent base scratches but a super sharp great looking print. A couple new DTS prints were made in 2011-12.

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 05-23-2014, 04:29 PM:

The only new 70MM prints are what Fox did. When NFS closed they had hundreds of 70MM reels and cases that they junked in their Los Angeles area depot. What ever prints that the studios did not want back they junked. And the LA depot still had hundreds of prints sitting in the depot.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 05-31-2014, 10:16 PM:

There's a postscript to this. I mentioned the knackered cases and reels, plus the scratch down the middle of reel 2, to our programmer, who passed that on to the distributor.

The distributor replied that the print is looked after by a facility (I don't feel comfortable naming it here, just in case anything I've been told was garbled in transmission) which charges a $300 examination fee every time it comes back from a booking. She (the distributor) was surprised to hear that we'd found damaged cases and a scratched reel, because her storage people had just told her that they had just examined the print and found it to be in perfect condition! [Eek!]

If this is true, it is yet another reason why the dwindling number of 70mm prints in circulation are deteriorating as fast as they are. If the distributors, and/or the companies to whom they subcontract the storage, maintenance and circulation of these prints, simply aren't catching damage as it takes place, then the theatres that are doing this will simply carry on with no-one alerting them to the fact that they're causing a problem.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 06-01-2014, 01:21 AM:

quote: Leo Enticknap
If the distributors, and/or the companies to whom they subcontract the storage, maintenance and circulation of these prints, simply aren't catching damage as it takes place, then the theatres that are doing this will simply carry on with no-one alerting them to the fact that they're causing a problem.

This has always been the case. An excellent example was the DFS depots. They hired people COMPLETELY unqualified to inspect their prints and those reports are what the studios went by.

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 06-01-2014, 11:20 AM:

The DFS depot in Los Angeles was a dump. When they closed they sent back only prints the studios wanted back. Whatever 70MM prints went back to the studios for them to send to a new depot to service. But what was left in that depot were hundreds & hundreds of 35mm prints waiting to become landfill. All the inspection equipment was so wore and dirty. The only way to keep a print clean in that place was not open the can.

Posted by Jason Metcalfe (Member # 5739) on 07-27-2014, 11:13 PM:

We had a similar incident with a 70mm print of Vertigo

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 07-28-2014, 01:35 AM:

Jason, the rules are clear. No off-site linking to pictures. Upload them to this thread.

That's not the first time I've seen a 70mm reel bent like that though. [Frown]

Posted by Sean Weitzel (Member # 244) on 07-28-2014, 11:46 PM:

At least there were no magnetic tracks to destroy [Frown]