Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: "The Master" 70mm London Screening

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Posted by Ben Wales (Member # 92) on 11-03-2012, 11:03 AM:

Did not go well for the Press Screening this week, 70mm Audio not in Sync and Projector problems. so it was screened in 2K DCP!.

Odeon West End 70mm Press Screening

Posted by Jock Blakley (Member # 6552) on 11-03-2012, 04:49 PM:

Please tell me the problem was not as simple as the DTS offset being set incorrectly.

Posted by Ben Wales (Member # 92) on 11-03-2012, 06:18 PM:

From what I can find out it was a Projectionist error who laced up around the wrong roller! [Roll Eyes]

Posted by Michael Brown (Member # 890) on 11-03-2012, 07:41 PM:

This was at an Odeon who no longer employ dedicated projection staff.

So it would have been a 'manager error' not a projectionist.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 11-03-2012, 09:06 PM:

Couldn't the operator have just adjusted the DTS offset during the show? Is this a reel-to-reel or platter house? Either way, this doesn't really sound like an insurmountable problem.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 11-05-2012, 04:35 AM:

quote: Scott Norwood
Couldn't the operator have just adjusted the DTS offset during the show?

Or even better, just stopped briefly to correct the lacing.

If the problem was that the projector had been laced up incorrectly, then that would suggest that the operator didn't know the correct way. Again, if that was the fault, then I also wonder if any print damage was done. In order to put enough extra footage between the DTS penthouse and the gate to cause an audible sync fault, that film must have taken quite a detour, possibly over some sharp or non-recessed surfaces.

This is going to become a bigger problem as film projection recedes further into the distance. Just as there are very few people left who can drive a steam locomotive or fly a DC-3 (and almost all of them are based in a small number of museums and heritage venues), within a generation or two there will be very few people left film projection skills, and even fewer with advanced film handling and maintenance/repair skills. Maintaining that skills base is going to be a very real challenge for the cinematheques, museums and rep houses that want to maintain the ability to project film prints into the long term future.

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 11-05-2012, 05:30 AM:

quote: BEN WALES
Did not go well for the Press Screening this week, 70mm Audio not in Sync and Projector problems. so it was screened in 2K DCP!.

quote: Ace critic TOM SUTCLIFFE
But as the film restarted and we saw the same opening images unfold – lustrous, pin-sharp and steady as a rock – it was very difficult to feel that there'd been a regrettable alteration of quality.

In 2K?? This guy must be:

A) On crack
B) Blind
C) Stupid
D) All of the above

Posted by Tim Asten (Member # 4051) on 11-05-2012, 01:48 PM:

A couple of weeks ago, I was talking with the tech who fitted the 70mm reader for this show, and he said they were going to get an operator who had retired to run the film apparently.. Vic 8, platter, XD10.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 11-05-2012, 02:54 PM:

If the offset had been set on the assumption that the film would not be threaded through the mag penthouse and it was then threaded through it, or vice-versa, that would cause the sync problem alright.

Posted by Derek Young (Member # 7160) on 11-06-2012, 03:21 AM:

I went to a showing yesterday and as i walked in to the foyer there was a note telling patrons that the print has a scratch
for the first 20 mins and they can refund you within 20 mins if
the scratch on the 70mm film puts you off.

It did have a Digital cert and first logo then we went over to the 70mm, it was badly over the top and right hand masking then
up to 3 scratches come and went for 20 mins, all was right after.

The picture was bright and the DTS sounded great, the 70mm bits
looked really good,plus if you showed this reel to reel you would never miss those cue dots.

I asked an usher and he said the scratch happened in the morning,i think it was done in the Press show re the above posts.
Also this was in screen 2, I saw lots of 70mm when this was one
screen and i was never really impressed then.

Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 11-06-2012, 07:48 AM:

quote: Derek Young
I went to a showing yesterday and as i walked in to the foyer there was a note telling patrons that the print has a scratch
for the first 20 mins and they can refund you within 20 mins if
the scratch on the 70mm film puts you off.

I don't know about putting the customers off, but it will probably put the cinema of doing any more 70mm in the future, and may put distributors off making any 70 mm prints available.

quote: Leo Enticknap
This is going to become a bigger problem as film projection recedes further into the distance. Just as there are very few people left who can drive a steam locomotive

There are probably more people who can drive a steam locomotive today then there have been for decades. It's still a very small number compared to the number when steam was in normal service of course.

There does seem to be a renewed interest in older technologies as they are replaced in normal use, traditional letterpress printing is becoming quite popular again, as are the older photographic processes. It may be a very small proportion of the total number of photographs taken, but there are certainly more wet plate photographers around today than there have been for well over a century. It's quite easy to find wet plate courses today, though they seem to be fully subscribed, so it may not be easy to get onto one. The same applies to the Neon sign course which I want to go on, at a time when neon is becoming rapidly replaced by LED for mainstream sign work.

None of them will ever be on anything more than a very small scall in the future, but it's a bigger very small scale than a few years ago.

Posted by Ben Wales (Member # 92) on 11-07-2012, 03:07 PM:

quote: Leo Enticknap
If the offset had been set on the assumption that the film would not be threaded through the mag penthouse and it was then threaded through it, or vice-versa, that would cause the sync problem alright

That sounds like it I heard what happened, not sure if it got scratched at the same time or another screening, the first reel has now been replaced today I hear, let's hope the remaining screenings are a success!.