Interrupted Reels or Platters, Best Practices?

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  • Ryan Gallagher
    Film God
    • Nov 2022
    • 2855
    • Austin, Texas, USA

    #1

    Interrupted Reels or Platters, Best Practices?

    Spinning off this topic from this thread.

    I shared a story of having to reset a 20min reel mid roll on changeover (with no reverse function).

    We were lucky to have two people in the booth to make our method work, and relatively close to the beginning of the reel, but if you were by yourself... what is the safest method of carrying two reels back to the bench?

    Depending on your designs one handing 20min ones are actually not that hard, but just feels like unnecessary risk. Larger reels need alternative methods. My instinct, not having done it, but fully expecting to need to some day again, to avoid awkward one handed reel handling situations... would be to unthread, remove slack, and then remove the takeup reel first to avoid having to manage the loop of slack and floor contact.

    Then open the pin on the feed reel (perhaps do that before you even start) and maybe mount the takeup reel atop the feed reel, then using both hands one could grab both flanges and carry the two securely together back to the rewind bench, reversing the process there.

    Alternatively:

    Another approach might be to not attempt the dual wielding, (especially if dealing with non-metal or 24in reels). Take the takeup reel off, give it just enough slack to reach a clean horizontal surface or the floor, rest it safely there. Then remove the feed reel and as lowering it turn slack back onto it to prevent the loop from contacting the floor. Collect the other and the only dual wielding phase is the carry back to the bench? If you have an elevated clean surface I think you could do either reel first, but if floor is needed has to be takeup first.

    I've never operated platters, and even if I had basic resonable experience of building, threading, and startup... I doubt this interruption situation would be obvious to me how to proceed.
    Last edited by Ryan Gallagher; 07-30-2026, 10:00 AM.
  • David Ferguson
    Pro Film Handler
    • Jan 2020
    • 269
    • Edinburgh, UK

    #2
    Assuming the interruption isn't due to equipment failure meaning you can't run it through the projector any more, could you not just continue to run it incorrectly (with no sound an picture of course), to avoid handling the middle of the reel, and then once wound (probably in a very wrong way) on the takeup, take to the rewind bench and wind correctly for presentation?

    Or: get a Kinoton E and just hit "rewind" on the projector

    Comment

    • Ryan Gallagher
      Film God
      • Nov 2022
      • 2855
      • Austin, Texas, USA

      #3
      Originally posted by David Ferguson
      Assuming the interruption isn't due to equipment failure meaning you can't run it through the projector any more, could you not just continue to run it incorrectly (with no sound an picture of course), to avoid handling the middle of the reel, and then once wound (probably in a very wrong way) on the takeup, take to the rewind bench and wind correctly for presentation?

      Or: get a Kinoton E and just hit "rewind" on the projector
      Let's assume the premise of the question is to get set up as quickly as possible to restart from the beginning, or a projector failure that causes you to abort mid reel/platter in a way that rolling through a dark projector is not an option.

      Comment

      • Kyle Mikolajczyk
        Film Handler
        • Jan 2020
        • 78
        • Worcester, MA

        #4
        I think your first method is reasonable. When I've experienced a problem when starting a reel during a changeover on a projector (that isn't an E machine lol) open the gates, pick up the takeup reel, then grab the feed reel and walk over to the bench to rewind. Yes, there will be some dirt and possibly a few scratches depending on the projector and your skills, but that is just the cost of this physical medium.

        Comment

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