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What type of platters are you two guys using?

My first problem was over 10 years after running projectors with no accidents/disasters. It was on Titanic. The film had been out for about 2 months and was already completely trashed by the time I transferred to this theater. The last 3 reels went flying off the platter like a frisbee some 20 feet away on my first shift, the first show. Turned out the platters were timed to a ludicrous 55RPM!!!

The movie was running on our antiquated Vic 8 (w/ Strong platters), which at the time was having brain wrap problems constantly (because of the static in our booth, and a brain that worked when it felt like it). Anyway, the movie wrapped to the point where there was a good 3/4" of film wrapped around the brain. Then the film spewed out all over the floor, from both the inside and outside of the movie.

Myself and another projectionist spent forever trying to rebuild the print. We took it off the platter, and wound it onto 36" reels using the makeup table. We lost a good 10-15 minutes of the movie, out of two or three different scenes, and of course the print was liberally covered in dirt from the floor.

Now here's the real mystery: we were winding film onto the reel out of the middle of what used to be on the platter. Then there was a break in the film. We went looking for the other end of the break, and found it coming off the outside of the film. I don't understand how that's even possible. I think we broke the laws of physics that night.

The sad thing is that we ran that print for another few weeks, given that we're a 3rd run house, and nobody was willing to sign off on the expense of getting us a new copy. And did I mention that our booth is carpeted (causing our chronic static problems) and nobody will pay to get it ripped out?

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You pointed something out that I have thought about for a while. My booth is also carpeted, and we do get static problems every so often. What winds up happening is the film wrapping around the brain in either spiral fashion (have to cut and resplice the film while winding it back onto the platter) or the film just circles around the brian really tight (I free-wheel the platter, spin the platter backwards, make sure everything is working in good order, turn the projector on, and keep on spinning backwards until the film is back in good order. I put the platter back to its original state and put it on takeout) Now, I visited a few theaters in Florida with tile floored booths, and they told me that ever since they opened, they never had a brain wrap. My question to all is, are tile floored booths better than carpeted booth due to static problems?

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It was on my antique Holmes. I threaded correctly, but the take-up clutch was frozen. Anyway, I had just gotten the monster running, and I did not notice the "singing sprocket" until over half of the reel had run. I went through it later and repaired the worst rips. It will run OK, but I got lucky and found R5 on the 'net and it was almost brand new.

What probably happened is the same thing described in the last post, namely, the ring of film got twisted inside out. This can happen on film drops and strange wrap situations. As for my worst treating of film, it would have to be "Braveheart".

I am diabetic and when I haven't eaten in a while I can get very spacey. At closing one evening I, for some unknown reason, decided that the print had to be moved. I then attempted to do it by myself with clamps. For those of you who remember this print, you know this is impossible!

Anyway, the whole thing came apart into about 25 rings of film, some twisted inside out. After grabbing a quick meal, I reassembled the entire print by cutting it into sequential sections and numbering them. By spinning a 2000 reel in the center of each loop, I was able to take up each section, reverse it on the rewind table and then load it back onto the platter piece by piece. It actually didn't look all that bad when next run, amazingly enough. I'm just glad this happened at closing as it took until 5AM to finish!!

The final pad roller in the sound head (SH-1000) didn't close firmly onto the sproket. I was newly thrown into the Academy Drive-In in Mason, Ohio and had the typical crash course you've all described ("thread it and turn everything off at the end of the night").

I digress. It was a manager-operator DI and I was at the box-office doing check out. I returned to the booth to discover the film on the platter but oddly uneven looking and a huge pile of film on the floor by the projector - but only the sproket hole side.

When a splice went through, it jumped off the sprockets and they perforated the film between the sprocket holes.

Then, it tore away on the roller after the failsafe arms, so they didn't fall.

It was nearly two reels destroyed.

A tech was at the theatre the next day, he gave it all a once-over and spent the rest of the day showing me things to do and look for.

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Beleive it or not, I wasn't even a projectionist at the time. I was working as a supervisor downstairs, and for some reason the booth guys went home early one Thursday night, and I had to move prints with another supervisor who claimed that she knew what she was doing. I had never moved a print before, and she assured me that all I had to do was hold the outside edge of the film (as opposed to holding your arms under the print and curling your fingers around the ring). This worked fine for a couple prints that we moved, but the first loose print that we attempted - Dennis the Menace - dribbled onto the floor. I was pretty freaked out. A manager helped us put it back together, but it took a few hours. Hard to believe I had the guts to ever work in a booth after that experience.