Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Kodak Employing the Blind?

This is topic Kodak Employing the Blind? in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 05-17-2003, 03:18 AM:

I was just wondering if Kodak or any other film company's or labs are employing a large number of blind people in their dark rooms.

I remember that they're used to be many blind individuals working at Kodak in Toronto and was just wondering if this is still common.

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 05-17-2003, 09:12 PM:

Are you looking for a job?

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 05-17-2003, 09:52 PM:

"Looking?" [Eek!]

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 05-18-2003, 12:01 AM:

No disrespect to the blind folk, but hopefully they are not put in a color balancing position!!!
Mark

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 05-18-2003, 02:09 AM:

That's almost as good as the blind man who applied for a job as projectionist in Bell county, KY.

True story.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 05-18-2003, 02:12 AM:

It could be done. Granted he would need some assistance with focusing, but the rest can be done blindfolded. (Note I did not claim it is easy, just that it can and has been done.)

Posted by Carl Martin (Member # 1146) on 05-18-2003, 04:47 AM:

feeling for framelines?

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 05-18-2003, 07:42 AM:

quote:
"Looking?"

I do not know how else to put that in English. "Are you feeling around in the dark for a job?" would probably be too insensitive. I have much compassion for Daryl in his handicap.

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 05-18-2003, 09:53 AM:

Blind people use the word "look" and similar terms that imply sight all the time. I would guess that it's more annoying when sighted folks go to great lengths to avoid ordinary sentence constructions when talking to them. But since you asked you could say "seeking" or "searching" for a job.

Back when I was at the post house there was an assistant editor who was fond of saying, "Hey Steve, there's a blind man in the lobby; he was wondering if he could see you."

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 05-18-2003, 09:56 AM:

Yeah, but just think... In a dark room (a ROOM that is completely DARK) a sighted person might be at a disadvantage. (S)he is used to getting around in life using visual clues as to his/her position in the room and the locations of objects.

A blind person, out of necessesity, has to know how to do that instinctively. I would imagine this to be a distinct advantage for blind people. The only DISadvantage I can imagine for a blind person would be to know that the lights are off, lest the film be spoiled.

If the person is not 100% blind (s)he might be able to tell if there is light in the room. (I don't know much about that, really. I'm just supposing.) Otherwise, I can imagine some kind of photoelectric alarm could be rigged up so that when it's time to get the film out a person could check for light in the room before proceeding.

Hiring blind people could also potentially save a few bucks on the electricity bills! [Wink]

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 05-18-2003, 02:56 PM:

Here's omne for ya......"Deaf person gets masters in Music"!!
Mark
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/South/05/18/deaf.composer.ap/index.html

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 05-18-2003, 03:52 PM:

The Scottish classical percussionist Evelyn Glennie is deaf too. She takes off her shoes for playing and can feel the sound through her feet as well as through her skin. She is widely considered one of the best percussionists in the world.

Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 05-18-2003, 04:49 PM:

Don't foget a blind woman worked for a photo lab in the darkroom in the movies SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and the remake RED DRAGON.

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 05-18-2003, 04:58 PM:

I KNOW that Kodak used to employ lots of blind people in their dark rooms, I'm just wondering if they (and others) still do.

As for myself... I can see just fine and have more jobs than I can remember.

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 05-18-2003, 04:59 PM:

This character (Reba MacLane if my memory doesn`t deceive me) only appears in RED DRAGON which is not a remake of THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS!
Thomas Harris first wrote the book RED DRAGON which was also adapted for the screen by Michael Mann as MANHUNTER. Then Harris wrote THE SILENCE which was turned into a movie by Jonathan Demme.
RED DRAGON is rather a remake of MANHUNTER or a new film version of the original RED DRAGON.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 05-19-2003, 04:30 AM:

I was recently given a tour of a small film lab in Leeds which specialises in TV work. The job of loading exposed elements into a developing machine must be soul-destroying. There is a large loop absorber mechanism at the head of the machine, and after the end of a reel has gone in you have a small time window (30 seconds I think) to attach the head of the next one before the loop runs out. If that happens, the film has to be stopped, thus ruining the element which is immersed in the chemical baths at the time. The reason for this is that relacing the machine is a very long job which requires draining all the chemical baths, and there are over 800 rollers in the film path, all told! At the end of the run a roll of leader is attached to the end of the last film and fed through the machine in order that it remains laced up at all times.

So you have to work in complete darkness unloading and attaching exposed reels, and with 100% accuracy.

Getting it right every time also applies to packing off the reels at the other end as they come out of the drying cabinet, but at least this can be done in the light.

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 05-19-2003, 09:53 AM:

Employment at Kodak:

http://www.kodak.com/US/en/corp/careers/index.jhtml

http://www.kodak.com/US/en/corp/principles/principles.shtml

http://www.kodak.com/US/en/corp/principles/eoe.shtml