Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Universal lot fire

This is topic Universal lot fire in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Jim Bedford (Member # 4) on 06-01-2008, 08:57 AM:

Watching the Universal lot fire this morning on CNN it was noted that the Universal film archive was on fire as well. Wonder what will be lost from this one.

Posted by Ron Yost (Member # 1850) on 06-01-2008, 10:43 AM:

Live feed from KNBC:

http://www.knbc.com/videostream/10954229/detail.html

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 06-01-2008, 11:22 AM:

It was a video library that was damaged, not the film archive.

Posted by Allison Parsons (Member # 2728) on 06-01-2008, 12:17 PM:

Maybe they can hire Jack Black and Mos Def to recreate the videos they lost... [Roll Eyes]

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 06-01-2008, 12:46 PM:

A lot of movie studios are storing original negatives and safety masters of films in places like deep underground vaults far away from Hollywood.

Hutchinson, KS is home to one of these vaults. It even has a popular tourist museum. Many visitors check out this place and the space museum there. Things like valuable art, rare stamps, microfilms and various elements of motion pictures are stored 650 feet underground. The temperature at this former salt mine usually never wavers from 68° and the humidity level is a constant 40%.

Details are still fuzzy, but from various searches on the topic I have the feeling the video library that was damaged may have been a distribution vault with lots of dupe copies of TV shows to be sent out to various television stations. Hopefully the original master tapes, especially the older analog based ones, were stored elsewhere (such as sites like that in Hutchinson, KS). Tapes can degrade just like film if they are not properly stored.

Posted by Jack Theakston (Member # 4484) on 06-01-2008, 04:39 PM:

Most of Universal's library (at least nitrate) are stored in vaults just outside of Jersey City, NJ. The film vault on the lot is for current productions.

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 06-01-2008, 04:50 PM:

Having been on that lot many times, to me from the live stream/feeds, it looks like one of the video vaults was lost but none of the film vaults were damaged.

The "King Kong" attraction which was totally gutted is on the left side of the pic and the video vault is on the right...the "clock tower" that was struck by lightning in "Back to the Future" was spared but most all the street sets west of the town square set were destroyed.

Bobby's got it right about off-site storage!

Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 06-01-2008, 06:42 PM:

For what it is worth, NBC Nightly News did refer to it as the "tape" archive, but showed truckloads of film cans being hauled off (and saying they tapes).

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-01-2008, 09:50 PM:

Another site said a lot of music masters were lost...can anybody confirm that? I always thought most of Universal's music masters were stored in New York.

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 06-01-2008, 11:06 PM:

By far, the BEST pics

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 06-01-2008, 11:17 PM:

I just looked at a few of the most recent online news reports. They're consistently saying it was copies of movies and TV shows that were lost (in addition to the sets that burned). No "masters" or anything that is not replaceable. Also no mention of music.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 06-01-2008, 11:23 PM:

It's the biggest chunk of the Universal/MCA label country music? Wouldn't a bunch of that stuff be in Nashville?

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 06-01-2008, 11:28 PM:

Country music was lost? I now declare this fire the greatest thing to ever happen in the history of mankind.

Posted by Brad Allen (Member # 470) on 06-02-2008, 12:20 AM:

Sure looked like film canisters being carried out as well as video.

Posted by Charles Greenlee (Member # 3856) on 06-02-2008, 12:46 AM:

quote: Joe Redifer
Country music was lost? I now declare this fire the greatest thing to ever happen in the history of mankind.

Aboslutely! I listen to just about every kind of music, except country. Fingernails on a chalkboard actually don't bother me, but country music does have that effect on me instead. [Big Grin]

I'm sure no masters were lost. And I might add, aren't large tapes stored on reels? I reem to remember reel to reel tape players. So those pics possibly could be reeled tape. Just a thought.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 06-02-2008, 06:58 AM:

quote: Charles Greenlee
And I might add, aren't large tapes stored on reels? I reem to remember reel to reel tape players. So those pics possibly could be reeled tape. Just a thought.

Open reel magnetic tape is normally archived either in acid-free cardboard cartons or inert polypropylene shipping cases with a sealing latch mechanism (the norm for 1" and 2" VTs). Steel containers (i.e. film cans) are a no-no because if they become magnetised they could endanger the signal on the tape.

Since 1" 'C' became obsolete in the mid-90s, almost all professional videotape has been in a cassette format of some description, AFAIK.

Posted by Paul Goulet (Member # 297) on 06-02-2008, 08:32 AM:

Check out these pictures:

RR

Posted by Phil Blake (Member # 2012) on 06-02-2008, 09:05 AM:

I wonder if anyone got a camera rolling , it would have made good library stock footage.
Title for new film
"The Day the Country Lost its Music"

Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 06-02-2008, 05:19 PM:

For those who run classic films, Universal just announced:

"It is with great sadness that I must inform you that yesterdays fire destroyed nearly 100% of the archive prints kept here on the lot. Due to this we will be unable to honor any film bookings of prints that were set to ship from here. Over the next few weeks and months we will be able to try and piece together what material we do have and if any prints exist elsewhere. For the time being please check your rental confirmations and look under shipping instructions. If the print was set to ship from the studio then you date is now canceled. If the shipping instructions say ship from Deluxe then those dates are still good."

The good news is that the elements survive. The bad news is that most likely, only the "big" titles will ever be reprinted in 35mm. Many Universal titles will never be seen in 35mm publicly again.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 06-02-2008, 05:30 PM:

One upside to this is it may influence Universal to utilize digital scanning and digital intermediate techniques for "catalog" titles of interest when transferring them to 2K/4K digital cinema format or authoring for Blu-ray and DVD.

Quite a few catalog titles are simply being duped to HD digital formats via telecine. It seems a little safer to use scanning techniques on items like original camera negatives rather than try to run them through a telecine in real time.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 06-02-2008, 06:41 PM:

I guess those are the film cans we've been seeing on the news.

Posted by Ron Yost (Member # 1850) on 06-02-2008, 07:42 PM:

AP photos, via chicagotribune.com, showing 'media' being saved by firefighters.

In addition to the one that comes up on the main page, click on 'More Photos', then photos 4 thru 10.

Chicago Tribune Universal fire story with many pics

I, too, wondered if someone set up a camera. [Big Grin]

Posted by Charles Greenlee (Member # 3856) on 06-02-2008, 07:45 PM:

I wonder if they'll try to rebuild as it was, or put something different in place of what the fire destroyed.

Posted by Betsie Beadling (Member # 591) on 06-02-2008, 08:04 PM:

Doc Brown must be thinking
"Great Scott" [Eek!]

Posted by Brad Allen (Member # 470) on 06-02-2008, 09:38 PM:

Their "Video Vault" looks suspiously like an ordinary post steel building.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 06-03-2008, 04:43 AM:

That's probably all it is. Most of the big studios and TV companies outsource the secure long-term archiving of their master and irreplaceable elements to a specialist service provider such as Hollywood Vaults or Iron Mountain. Their facilities are built to withstand both natural threats (e.g. fire, flood and earthquake) and man-made ones (e.g. theft), and have appropriate temperature and humidity control for the media type. However, all that costs money, and therefore a studio will only pay to keep uniquely valuable material in there. My guess would be that the facility on Universal's lot only held material that could be replaced (i.e. copies of stuff, the master elements of which were stored elsewhere).

Presumably the insurance claim would potentially replace all those prints, but for some reason Universal's thinking is that they're not going to do that. Maybe they have their eyes on hi-def digital transfers and a large server farm to replace the vault that's gone. If so I have mixed feelings about that. On the one hand, it'll make the content more readily available, save shipping costs, blah blah blah. On the other hand and sadly, it's another nail in the coffin of the film viewing experience.

Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 06-03-2008, 09:01 AM:

Iron Mountain

About 10 years ago, there was a huge fire here in New Jersey when 2 side by side Iron Mountain warehouses went up in smoke. The contents were mostly paper business records that various companies were paying to have archived in their fireproof underground vaults. It seems that Iron Mountain ran out of room at the vault but continued to take deposits for archiving. Never did hear the outcome of the lawsuits that resulted.

Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 06-03-2008, 09:23 AM:

This FAX was forwarded to me by my boss-

It is with great sadness that I must inform you that yesterdays fire destroyed nearly 100% of the archive prints kept here on the lot. Due to this we will be unable to honor any film bookings of prints that were set to ship from here.

Over the next few weeks and months we will be able to try and piece together what material we do have and if any prints exist elsewhere. For the time being please check your rental confirmations and look under shipping instructions. If the print was set to ship from the studio then you date is now canceled. If the shipping instructions say ship from Deluxe then those dates are still good.

Please call either myself or Dennis Chong with any questions. I can be reached for the next two days at 818-882-3014 and you can reach Dennis at 818-777-0609.
I will be back in the office on Wednesday.

Paul Ginsburg
Vice President NBC Universal Distribution
100 Universal City Plaza Bldg. 2160 Suite 8G
Universal City, CA. 91608
Ph: 818-777-1689
Fx: 818-866-0261

Posted by Jack Theakston (Member # 4484) on 06-03-2008, 07:20 PM:

The "big" titles that are in circulation are all housed at Deluxe. The prints that were on the lot were lesser rented prints and studio prints. Unfortunately, because of that demographic, I'll bet that more that 2/3 of the prints that burned won't be printed up again.

Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 06-03-2008, 08:10 PM:

I just returned American Graffiti to them last week :-(

Posted by John Hawkinson (Member # 1135) on 06-04-2008, 02:21 PM:

I wonder if there's any chance their insurance will cover new prints and we'll actually get some nice new prints out of the deal? (Though Universal & Merilee Griffin have always taken pretty good care of their studio prints, from my perspective...)

--jhawk

Posted by Kenneth Wuepper (Member # 1174) on 06-04-2008, 02:26 PM:

A local film festival will be showing three titles from DVD with Universal's blessing since the prints were destroyed in that fire.

One of the films will have a writer in attendance for the showing.

In this case it is digital or drop the titles. Too bad!

KEN

Posted by John Hawkinson (Member # 1135) on 06-04-2008, 02:29 PM:

Did you ask about HD-DVD or BluRay? I'm sure people at Uni are busy tearing their hair out over this and have their hands full with damage control, but I bet for any individual title if you were to cover the costs they could cut you a print in under a week (one day to ship it out of the salt mine to a lab, one day to print, five days of slack).

--jhawk

Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 06-05-2008, 06:56 AM:

The Ohio Theatre announced that they will not be able to get THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE from Universal for the summer film series. They have replaced it with VICTOR/VICTORIA.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 06-05-2008, 09:12 AM:

quote: John Hawkinson
but I bet for any individual title if you were to cover the costs they could cut you a print in under a week (one day to ship it out of the salt mine to a lab, one day to print, five days of slack).

It might not be that simple.

Firstly, if the destroyed print was an acquired print from the original release run, rather than one that was struck from a preservation element, they may not have a suitable printing element. If their only preservation element is, say, a cut camera negative, then a f/g interpos and a dupe neg would be needed before a release print could be struck. Timing and printing those could take a significant length of time, even if the lab dropped everything else they were doing.

Secondly, if their preservation or printing element is in cold storage, it will probably need to go through an acclimatisation process, which in the worst case scenario (e.g. a colour negative which has been stored frozen) can take several days from storage conditions to room temperature.