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» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Film Handlers' Forum   » Something must be done about these $^%&*&@#! reels! (Page 1)

 
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Author Topic: Something must be done about these $^%&*&@#! reels!
Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

- posted 07-02-1999 02:09 AM      Profile for Brad Miller   Author's Homepage   Email Brad Miller       Edit/Delete Post 
Ok, please excuse me for this in advance...

So I'm going through a print of Summer of Sam from the glorious Technicolor depot...wait, do I really even need to say this?

Allow me to cut to the chase. I found one reel out of eight that would actually hold together fairly well enough to get the film off. Has anyone else noticed that this problem is problem is getting worse and worse by the week? Those guys really need to purchase some more reels to replace the broken ones.

Why not just ship on cores??? Since Technicolor's introduction, I think even the usher/concession projectionists have learned how to handle film on cores.

And while we're at it, why not forget those pre-World War I film cans? (You know, the ones that weigh 50 pounds empty.) Fox's cardboard boxes work pretty darned well. Plus, they use a new one with every film release! Save those halfway decent film cans WITHOUT the cardboard liners for repertory prints.

Come to think of it, I think Kodak should come out with a new film stock with a lifespan of say 150 runs. The labs could ship in boxes on cores straight to the theaters and the projectionists could just toss the plattered film (less center ring) into the dumpster after the run.

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

- posted 07-02-1999 03:58 AM      Profile for Joe Redifer   Author's Homepage   Email Joe Redifer   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
150 runs for a Kodak print? I dunno. I don't think that Kodak has the smarts needed to come up with a film stock that good. I have told Kodak multiple times that their best bet would be to do some industrial espionage and just use FUJI's formula. We ran Shakespeare in Love for 6 months and exactly 600 runs (yes, I counted) and it left the theatre looking the same as the day it came in brand new. Of course this is because it was a FUJI print. A Kodak print would have shedded itself into nothingness by that time.

And what IS up with those cardboard liners inside those huge gray cans that weigh 50 pounds (empty)? Perhaps we should all just start taking them out and throwing them away. The cardboard inside also has to be from the 20's as well. We would be doing a world of good for prints shipped in cans like this if we all did that!

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Aaron Mehocic
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 804
From: New Castle, PA, USA
Registered: Jun 99

- posted 07-02-1999 11:07 AM      Profile for Aaron Mehocic   Email Aaron Mehocic   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Hey Joe,

Thats no joke about those liners. Last winter I broke a can open and during the make-up noticed some writting inside. It was the name of a person from Souix City, Iowa, (Probably the projectionist), and dated September, 1954!


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Erika Hellgren
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 168
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: Jun 99

- posted 07-02-1999 06:14 PM      Profile for Erika Hellgren   Email Erika Hellgren   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
You know how sometimes, a print will come with an extra reel to hold all the hundreds of loose trailers together? Well, if it's a decent reel, and it's intact, I keep it. Then when I come across a bad Technicolor reel, once I get the film off it, I throw the bad reel away and put one of my extra good reels in the can. (Wow, I'm doing Technicolor's job!)
Every once in a while, I come across one of those nice plastic reels that's not designed to come apart. Remember those? I jealously keep those in the booth permanently


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Chris Wootten
Film Handler

Posts: 50
From: Moonlit Cinema, RAAF Tindal, N.T. Australia
Registered: Dec 1999

- posted 03-01-2003 07:08 AM      Profile for Chris Wootten   Email Chris Wootten   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
The distance the film bins have to travel before they get to me, they really need to be in the "old metal Bins". Anything else gets trashed and then I have a real mess to try and make a presentation out of. I await a decent replacement?? [eyes]

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Steve Kraus
Film God

Posts: 4094
From: Chicago, IL, USA
Registered: May 2000

- posted 03-01-2003 10:58 AM      Profile for Steve Kraus     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Has anyone considered the possibility of simply gluing the broken reel halves to the core? Someone will have to suggest the optimum adhesive to use considering the different types of plastic. I think when the depot people are confronted with the shear horror of having to actually wind the film off like they did in the good old days the need for better reels will be expressed most clearly.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

- posted 03-01-2003 11:01 AM      Profile for Brad Miller   Author's Homepage   Email Brad Miller       Edit/Delete Post 
I do believe the order is to literally junk the reel with the film on it if they receive a non-clip together reel (which in all essence is what you would be doing.) Now if we made it a point to "repair" all of the broken reels we receive in with some kind of Super Glue, then you're on to something!

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Daryl C. W. O'Shea
Film God

Posts: 3977
From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from)
Registered: Jun 2002

- posted 03-01-2003 11:41 AM      Profile for Daryl C. W. O'Shea   Author's Homepage   Email Daryl C. W. O'Shea   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Two part epoxy has worked for me in the past.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

- posted 03-01-2003 12:07 PM      Profile for Mike Blakesley   Author's Homepage   Email Mike Blakesley   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Why don't they just go to plastic shipping containers?

- Lighter
- More durable
- Won't dent
- Don't need liners (why do ANY cans need liners??)
- Probably cheaper

I mean, they are undoubtedly buying new cans SOMETIMES, why not buy plastic ones?

I agree about the reels. Maybe we should just all start keeping the reels, buy some plastic bags, and ship all the film back on cores?!

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Steve Kraus
Film God

Posts: 4094
From: Chicago, IL, USA
Registered: May 2000

- posted 03-01-2003 12:08 PM      Profile for Steve Kraus     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
How about we "repair" all the reels period? [evil]

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

- posted 03-01-2003 12:21 PM      Profile for Brad Miller   Author's Homepage   Email Brad Miller       Edit/Delete Post 
As I understand it, the plastic shipping containers are actually more expensive. It would pay for itself in the long run though, as those things are extremely durable.

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Steve Kraus
Film God

Posts: 4094
From: Chicago, IL, USA
Registered: May 2000

- posted 03-01-2003 02:57 PM      Profile for Steve Kraus     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I wonder if film shipments are handled by weight or at a flat rate. I presume the smaller companies are paying by weight when a print is moved by messenger or regular overnight service like FedEx. Therefore I wonder if they realize that their contract film handling service is dispatching their prints in nitrate era cases that weight as much empty as modern metal ones do full, not even counting the plastic ones.

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Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"

Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

- posted 03-01-2003 05:13 PM      Profile for Manny Knowles   Email Manny Knowles   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I usually "steal" reels out of another movie (from the same depot or studio) if I'm sending back a movie with damaged reels. Broken reels go into the trash. Sometimes they ship back as place-keepers if there's an empty space. (More often, I will ship back DTS frisbees or trailers in those slots.)

Once, we got to the point where we were running very low on reels -- we had stolen from so many prints that there were about three movies with NO reels! Replacement reels had been ordered but they were very slow in getting here. Many months had passed since I had made my first request for reels. I called the depot and asked if they wanted me to send the prints back on cores. I got my reels before the week was out.

The trouble with stealing reels:

1. Paramount, WB and Fox have custom reels. I try to keep their reels with their movies.
2. This slows the break-down process because you lose out on "marked reels."

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Don Bruechert
Mmmmmmmmm, bird!

Posts: 340
From: Manitowoc, WI, USA
Registered: Jan 2003

- posted 03-01-2003 09:38 PM      Profile for Don Bruechert   Author's Homepage   Email Don Bruechert   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Don't assume everyone "gets" the core thing. I think those cores the trailers come on are a pain in the ass. What I did was take a piece of dowel the size of the hole in the core and drill out the center so it fits over the pin on the makeup table. Then, since all the trailers come tails out, I make up my trailers onto a reel, and then from the reel onto the platter, where they are now on head first. The other folks think it is stupid for me to do it this way because it is so mich easier to stick a screwdriver through the core, spin the trailer off onto the floor and then go from the floor right to the platter... I tried that once... I don't know what I didn't get about it, but it took me 45 minutes to get all the curls out of that one trailer and then I ended up throwing it away and cussing because if I had done it my way it would have only taken 15 minutes.... Hey, don't shoot me, I'm just the messenger!

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John Hawkinson
Film God

Posts: 2273
From: Cambridge, MA, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

- posted 03-01-2003 09:51 PM      Profile for John Hawkinson   Email John Hawkinson   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Don, the 1" "trailer cores" (perhaps better known as sleeves,
to avoid confuson with standard U, J, K etc. cores) are designed to be used with a tool called a "trailer flange."

There's a picture on the Neumade website, but it does not do it justice. Anyhow, you place the trailer on the trailer flange, and now you have a solid disc with a 5/16" shaft key to handle your trailers on.

Some makeup tables may need specially designed trailer flanges though.

--jhawk

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