Feed Reel Counterclockwise

[Adam Liberman]

I've seen videos of projectors running where the film feed reel is turning counterclockwise, and then when it is rewound, the film is crossed so that the emulsion position flips back so it can be spooled off counterclockwise again. What is the reason for feeding counterclockwise instead of clockwise? Is it to go against the curl of the film to make it run flatter through the gate?

[Ryan Gallagher]

Which direction you feed depends on which "convention" you subscribe to for reel storage etc... emulsion out versus emulsion in, heads versus tails etc. There are schools of thought and valid points in both approaches... for distribution prints generally speaking it seems to be a geographical preference. Archives will have their own standards they adopt and handling instructions and you just do whatever they say to do.

[Stefan Scholz]

At least, mathematical, CCW is positive direction, and CW negative direction of turn. Some projectors, from construction of their fire trap assembly on the spoolbox, only alliows CW operation, others both.
As Adam stated, it's mainly personal preference, and practices used by organizations.
I store movies head out, can be run from a split reel CCW direction, and I use CW from house reels. Personal preference, never seen scientifically.

[Sascha Roll]

Especially for Acetate prints I strongly prefer emulsion-in winding, which translates to CCW Feed spool orientation.

[Victor Liorentas]

The theory is better more stable focus is achieved running counter clockwise.

[Leo Enticknap]

As Adam stated, it's mainly personal preference, and practices used by organizations.

There seems to be a national split, too. All the changeover houses I worked at in the UK before emigrating ran the feed reel clockwise, with reels mounted heads out/emulsion out, and the take-up ran clockwise as well. In America, every changeover booth I've ever been in does the exact opposite for the feed reel (runs CCW, so reel is mounted heads out/emulsion out). The only clockwise feed reels I've seen on this side of the Atlantic are on 16mm or smaller projectors. Again, the take-up is clockwise: but that is predetermined by the design of the projector (unless it's been modified with an independently controllable, reversible take-up motor, i.e. not chain or belt driven from the main drive motor).

[Ryan Gallagher]

If you search these forums the emulsion out versus in storage topic is discussed in several other threads too.

[Steve Guttag]

Have people forgotten the direction the hands move on the clock? If your upper reel is turning clockwise (CW), you are running emulsion-in. If your upper reel is running counter-clockwise, you are running emulsion-out.

Especially for Acetate prints I strongly prefer emulsion-in winding, which translates to CCW Feed spool orientation

Nope, CCW is emulsion-out.

The theory is better more stable focus is achieved running counter clockwise.

Who's theory? What study? Do you mean emulsion-in or emulsion out (since the CW and CCW notation seems to be in question on this thread)?

There seems to be a national split, too. All the changeover houses I worked at in the UK before emigrating ran the feed reel clockwise, with reels mounted heads out/emulsion out

Nope, if the reel is turning clockwise, the emulsion is in.

Then in the next sentence you get it right:

In America, every changeover booth I've ever been in does the exact opposite for the feed reel (runs CCW, so reel is mounted heads out/emulsion out)

Here is a visual aid:

image.png



Both the upper and lower reels are turning clockwise and the emulsion remains in.

Now, if your film is coming off of the left side of the upper reel, then you are running counter clockwise and you are running emulsion-out.

image.png

In both images above, the takeup reel is running clockwise and the film is winding emulsion-in.

I think, in today's world, most people will not be able to see the benefits of a particular direction because nobody is running the film long enough to see the benefits (or see the determinants) of running the opposite direction. It takes a LONG time (1-2 months of constantly running the opposite to see the change in focus). The larger the radius of the reel, the less of a difference it makes.

You also have humidity and the film stock (base) playing into it all too as well.

[Jim Cassedy]

This topic always reminds me of the endless arguments about which way a
roll of toilet paper should hang.
There have been several papers and studies of this published in SMPTE journals
over the years explaining the pros and cons of each. The most referenced one
was published in 1965, and it can be found in the Film-Tech Warehouse >
HERE https://www.film-tech.com/warehouse/.../SMPTEWIND.pdf

99% of the booths I've worked in over the years are set up for CCW feed
reel rotation. I've always thought that the CW rotation was a "European
Thing" because I've noticed that the little threading diagrams on Kinoton
and Cinemeccanica projectors showed it that way. And maybe also
south-of-the-equator, because everything rotates in the opposite direction
down there,doesn't it?

Back in the mid-1970s', before The Union assigned me a permanent booth
of my own and I was doing mainly 'fill-in'' work, there was one theater chain on
Long Island (NY) that had converted all of it's booths to "reverse-wrap" as we
called it back then. There was a big sign (right below the "NO NITRATE and
"Union Men Only" signs) alerting operators to the rotational change, and they all
had drawn big clockwise arrows inside the upper magazines with Magic Markers.
At a couple of the venues, they had painted the inside of the upper magazines
bright red. There were a couple of issues when running 'reverse wrap' though:
For one thing, the ever-popular and ingenious Hatke Reel-End Alarms were
useless when the reel shaft was turning the 'wrong' way. Also, the ubiquitous
Goldberg 2Kft rewinds found just about everywhere back thenhad to be modified
for the automatic shut-off clutch to work properly.

[Randy Stankey]

I've read most of the studies and listened to many peoples' reasoning on which way to load the film onto a reel and why they think one way is better than another but, as far as I am concerned, the top reel spins <==this=way=< and the bottom reel spins >=that=way==>.

Call it "counter-clockwise." Call it "S-wind." I don't care what you call it. That's the way film goes.

I've got a show to run and I've got an audience full of people counting on me. They don't care what direction the freakin' wheels turn! They want to see a movie and I'm the guy to show it for them. I'm going to do that the best way I know how!

I don't want to waste time thinking about reels spinning one way or another. I want to do things the same way each time, every time, all of the time until "muscle memory" takes effect and I don't have to think about it, anymore. I want to do my job quickly, efficiently and without a lot of fussing around if I don't have to.

Is my way better than other ways? I think so, otherwise I wouldn't do it but, to be honest, most opinions seem to be spit down the middle. If you want to go out, after work, and have a beer and argue about it, we can but, right now... you'll have to excuse me... I've got a show to run.

Call me in about two or three hours.

[Ryan Gallagher]

Muscle memory is for sure important, even when shipping instructions want alternate windings we set up on our house reels to “show” the film our normal way, and just deal with the idiosyncrasies on the bench later when putting it back on shippers.