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Author
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Topic: Proposal for Web Site with Technical Info on Films
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Tao Yue
Expert Film Handler
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Posts: 209
From: Princeton, NJ
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 01-27-2002 11:46 PM
I propose to create a searchable, database-driven website with technical info on films, such as:
- number of reels
- footage of reels
- type of film [ESTAR, acetate, etc.]
- condition of specific prints of the film
The way it would work would be that projectionists and others involved in the film industry would add data as they encounter specific films. If you show a film and it's missing footage in reel 2, post it. Then, if the distributor replaces the footage, they could post it here too. Some of the reasons that I propose this:
- See post entitled "Number of reels." Summary: John Pytlak says that published info usually does not include something as simple as number of reels.
- The IMDB is frequently inaccurate.
- See post entitled "Unfortunate evidence of film done wrong" where Dave Bird quotes the commentary track of My Fair Lady to the effect that: restorations are great, but prints are often butchered.
- At the same time, some prints are kept in great shape. See post: "Enter stage left ... Moulin Rouge" where John Wilson asks to get his own print back. Well, not everyone gets a movie twice, but those who care enough can share info about specific prints that are good.
- There seems to be a general consensus on this forum that "Integrity Inspection" is useless because so little of the film is actually looked at. But there's another, extremely detailed, source of inspection: all the caring projectionists who hand-check and project the film. Of course, not everyone will participate, but it's better than the spotty info that we have.
- Projection seems to be craft where some people have a tremendous amount of knowledge, but data is often circulated only via word-of-mouth. Film-Tech has helped to circulate knowledge; could there be a more efficient/effective way of circulating data?
Of course, if I do this, it'll be quite an undertaking. So I don't want to go ahead with coding something this big if it will not be useful to people. Please post comments and suggestions. Do you see any downsides to this? Am I being naive in believing that studios, depots, and exhibitors could all work together when complaining about Technicolor reels only results in even flimsier Technicolor reels?
------------------ Tao Yue MIT '04: Course VI-2, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Projectionist, MIT Lecture Series Committee
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Brad Miller
Administrator
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Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99
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posted 01-28-2002 12:04 AM
"Am I being naive in believing that studios, depots, and exhibitors could all work together when complaining about Technicolor reels only results in even flimsier Technicolor reels?"Yup! Such a website will never work because the studios will never bother to update it. Also, studios never replace "footage" anymore. If the print starts to get that bad, they either keep sending it back out, junk it, or strike a new one. Then there's also the issue of some titles being printed on various film stocks, which prints ended up getting junked and which ones did not, projectionists (who honestly would be your only real source for good information) having the time to keep updating it, and the fact that no two people will rate a print's condition the same. Even here in the "Feature Info" forum we see discrepancies between theaters on prints received. So yes, unfortunately I don't honestly see any way this idea would actually fly with any degree of accuracy.
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Evans A Criswell
Phenomenal Film Handler
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Posts: 1579
From: Huntsville, AL, USA
Registered: Mar 2000
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posted 01-28-2002 08:52 PM
I wish there were a site that would at least have the flat/scope format identified for all new movies. film-tech is a great source of information for this, but all movies don't get posted, and I'm not sure if I want to make a "Requesting print infor for X" thread for each movie that is missed that is released in my area. Film Journal International has this info, but it isn't usually available until well after the movie's opening. I do save the information about format and trailers attached in my "New movies" list. It goes back to July 2000 as it is. I wish I could always post whether each movie is scope or flat for opening weekend.Since getting this type of information is difficult, I imagine that creating a WWW site devoted to print information would be extremely difficult. To have any hope of making it work, you'd need a large network of booth staff from a lot of theatres just to capture a small subset of the data about specific prints that have problems. ------------------ Evans A Criswell Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Information Site
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Tao Yue
Expert Film Handler
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Posts: 209
From: Princeton, NJ
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 01-28-2002 09:28 PM
quote: Yup! Such a website will never work because the studios will never bother to update it.
That was what I feared. Unfortunately, I agree with your ![](http://www.film-tech.com/ubb/frown.gif) quote: The members of Film-Tec give very accurate date in the Feature Info and Trailer Attachments forum.
That's not the problem. I know it's all very accurate. However, the reasons why that may not be good enough (aside from what Evans has pointed out):
- What about older films? Posts "Requesting Info for Film X" appear on Feature Info Forum from time to time. But if everyone who ran older films did this, then that forum would get swamped.
- People don't always check that forum as often as the Film Handlers Forum, so it might take a while to get data.
Because of the need to rely on a somewhat large network of people (not to mention the fact that many projectionists are not online), it probably won't work. But that was the idea. Thanks for the comments. ------------------ Tao Yue MIT '04: Course VI-2, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Projectionist, MIT Lecture Series Committee
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