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Topic: Strange Damage to Sleepy Hollow

Jim Ziegler
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 753
From: West Hollywood, CA
Registered: Jul 99

posted 12-06-1999 12:35 AM

I have had some strange damage appear on a print and I was wondering if anyone had any idea what happened. Basically, at the start of reel 3 (by start, I mean right at the splice) blistering appeared in the lower right corner of the screen. The damage was moderate, only appearing on extremely dark parts of the image. The damage got more severe at the start of reel 4 (again, right on the splice), but was still isolated to the lower right corner. Once the splice for reel 5 went through, the damage stopped (again, right at the splice).

A new bulb (a Chrisitie CXL-40)was installed one week ago. Light output is uniform across the screen, and the bulb is not overly focused.

Any idea what happened? My best guess is that the film was either defective or not printed correctly, and the increased light from the new lamp pushed it over the edge...

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John Wilson
Film God

Posts: 5438
From: Sydney, Australia.
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 12-06-1999 01:14 AM

Someone posted a similar problem here recently, but they had it with some dts tags I think. John Pytlak tracked it to the stock if memory serves (But don't go trusting my memory)

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Brad Miller
Administrator

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

posted 12-06-1999 01:24 AM

Is your print on Kodak 2383 stock? Is it a green burn or white burn? I just checked with a couple other theaters playing that title and none of them have reported the problem, but I've seen it happen a few times on trailers...never (thus far) on a feature. It's always with the 2383 stock, but it could be something the lab is doing and not a fault of the film stock itself.

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Scott Norwood
Film God

Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99

posted 12-06-1999 06:36 AM

What other print stocks does Eastman sell now besides 2383 (Vision) and 23?? (Vision Premier)? A phone call to a lab recently confirmed that 2386 (EXR) is no longer available and that Eastman no longer produces any acetate-base print stock for standard release prints. Oddly enough, the low-contrast print stock intended for video transfer work is currently available _only_ on acetate base, which causes no end of problems for labs that have removed their backing-removing equipment that was necessary for the old 5386 and 7386 acetate-base print stocks...

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Jim Ziegler
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 753
From: West Hollywood, CA
Registered: Jul 99

posted 12-06-1999 09:42 AM

I will check the stock when I get to the theatre. Pretty much the exact same thing (unexplained blistering in the lower right corner) happened to the print of Sleepy Hollow playing at our sister theatre too, about 2 weeks ago, also a few days after relamping.

The burns arer white, and have the typical "champagne bubbles" appearance on the screen.

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John Walsh
Film God

Posts: 2490
From: Connecticut, USA, Earth, Milky Way
Registered: Oct 1999

posted 12-06-1999 10:09 AM

Could it be a loose 'something' in the gate/trap? Seems unlikly, I know, but I was just wondering.

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Jim Ziegler
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 753
From: West Hollywood, CA
Registered: Jul 99

posted 12-06-1999 11:08 AM

It is on Kodak 2383 stock. Printed by Deluxe (though I don't know which one, probably CA though).

Everything in the gate/trap area is ok.

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Gordon McLeod
Film God

Posts: 9532
From: Toronto Ontario Canada
Registered: Jun 99

posted 12-06-1999 11:59 AM

Havent seen the film but there are what is called High Silver prints that have metalic silver left in the image for contrast control and they blister just as bad as black and white does

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Brad Miller
Administrator

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

posted 12-06-1999 12:58 PM

Then if it's a typical white burn, it's from too much heat from the lamphouse. I'd forgotten until Gordon mentioned it, but he is right, those Sleepy Hollow prints are high silver and will burn with less heat.

Do you have curved screens? Commonly the lamp is adjusted to "appear" centered and properly focused when in fact the way the light reflects off of the curve, the light is off center.

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Jim Ziegler
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 753
From: West Hollywood, CA
Registered: Jul 99

posted 12-06-1999 01:56 PM

It is a curved screen. The thing that makes me wonder is that it starts on the splice at the head of reel 3, gets worse on the splice of the head to reel 4, and goes away at the splice on the head of reel 5. Reels 1, 2, 5 and 6 are undamaged.

The light is completely uniform over the entire screen.

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John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 12-06-1999 04:10 PM

Definitely sounds like damage from excessive radiant energy. I'll check to see if some reels were deliberately processed with silver retention to add contrast, which would make them absorb more infrared energy. The damage usually occurs in the area of any "hot spot" and in the darkest scenes with the highest density. You need to back off on bulb focus to spread out the hot spot.

Can you send me a clip of the damaged film, so we can analyze it microscopically?

------------------
John Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Professional Motion Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Eastman Kodak Company
Rochester, NY 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Fax: 716-722-7243

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Brad Miller
Administrator

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

posted 12-06-1999 04:49 PM

Jim,

Take yourself a stretch of black leader, make a loop out of it and after aligning the lamp as perfectly as you can "with a slight hot spot in the center of the screen" (to maximize the effect), run it for 20 minutes or so. Then take that loop out of the projector and you'll see where the heat really is.

At Galaxy, what appears centered is actually on the top (projected bottom) of the frame! Try it for yourself, you'll be surprised as this is common with curved screens and especially stadium seating.

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Jim Ziegler
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 753
From: West Hollywood, CA
Registered: Jul 99

posted 12-06-1999 10:30 PM

I'll try that when I get in tomorrow. We backed off the focus after it happened, just in case (don't want to cook any more of the print).

John, I'll send you samples when I swap out the reels with the new ones, which arrive tomorrow.

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John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 12-07-1999 04:26 PM

Just got confirmation that prints of "Sleepy Hollow" did use a "silver retention" process to achieve the desired "look". Don't know if all reels had the same level of silver retention. When a silver image is left in the print, it will absorb more infrared energy than a dye-only image. Special care (similar to B&W prints) is needed not to "hot spot" these prints. Efficient heat filters ("cold mirrors") should be used, especially with larger xenon lamps.

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Robb Johnston
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 147
From: St. Louis Suburbs
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 12-18-1999 11:14 AM

we didn't have a problem with the picture, but we did have a cupped first reel of Sleepy Hollow. The cuppping is so bad that the film presence reflection is skewed off the sensor and shuts down the film. There is no problem in the other 7 houses in that building which have kelmar drop arm failsafes. I thik this is a problem with whomever strikes the prints for Paramount as we had the same problem with a Bringing out the dead trailer.

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