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Topic: Reels Made of Flexible Non-Breaking Material

Bill Enos
Film God

Posts: 2081
From: Richmond, Virginia, USA
Registered: Apr 2000

posted 02-03-2002 09:31 AM

We received our print of Ferris Bueller's Day Off on Thursday. It was mounted on STEEL reels. As much as I cussed these wobbly, noisy, heavy monsters a few years ago, it was nice not to be concernedabout them falling apart, being already broken or just too screwed up to use. Where did all these things go? I'd much rather deal with them than these shitball plastic reels. If cheap and light is what they want, why not put film loose into plastic bags? I tried it a while back--a 2000 ft reel can be spooled loose into a 55 gallon bag. Just tape the end to the outside. A little bulky to be sure, but it would work as well or better than plastic reels and would eliminate the need for shipping cans.

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Joe Beres
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 606
From: Minneapolis, MN, USA
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 02-03-2002 10:33 AM

Bill, you are kidding about the plastic bag idea, right?

I still get a lot olf older prints on those steel reels, but there are nice plastic reels around. I have a couple dozen grey palstic reels (Can't remember who made them) that are light, flexible and really tough to break. I wish they would ship more prints on those.

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Mark Gulbrandsen
Resident Trollmaster

Posts: 16657
From: Music City
Registered: Jun 99

posted 02-03-2002 10:41 AM

That would make it very convenient for them to scrap prints!! And very convenitnt for film collectors to retrieve it from the scrap heap! Great idea!
Mark @ GTS

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Steve Kraus
Film God

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

posted 02-03-2002 11:21 AM

A vaguely related question: Where did TES get all those ancient heavyweight cases? Sandblasting and a coat of orange paint doesn't disguise the fact that they weigh nearly as much empty as contemporary Goldbergs weigh full.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

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

posted 02-03-2002 02:27 PM

Your Ferris print was shipped back in the good 'ol days of NFS. Back then there were rooms with inspectors who literally wound through the entire print. This served two purposes. First, to "inspect" the print. (Personally I never thought they did very good at this, but any big time obvious problem WOULD be caught.) Second was to mount the film from the lab cores over to the shipping reels. Basically, those reels still work, so why re-reel them onto plastic clip-together reels? For however long that Ferris print is in circulation, those reels will be with it. When it comes time to junk the print, ETS will junk the film AND the reels.

Steve, Sony has an insane amount of warehouse space up in Ohio. They even have another building where they store older films instead of all being "inside" Technicolor. They didn't want to buy new cans, so they kept their old pre-WWI cans and had TES put their orange stickers on them without even paying for painting of the cans. That being said, I have a feeling what you were describing was another studio's attempt to cut costs. Unfortunately, if one studio decided to be "cheap" and have painted old cans, those will eventualy get circulated with other distributor's prints, who may have paid for new cans all along.

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Josh Jones
Redhat

Posts: 1207
From: Plano, TX
Registered: Apr 2000

posted 02-03-2002 02:49 PM

Personally, I like the Paramount reels, all the ones I've seen are quite sturdy, and I've never seen a reel fly apart. As far as metal reels, as long as they arent bent, I like them. They dont burn your hands either like the plastic ones do.

Josh

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Gordon McLeod
Film God

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

posted 02-03-2002 05:32 PM

Lets make them out of carbon fibre like race cars

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John Pytlak
Film God

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

posted 02-04-2002 12:52 PM

Brad said: "...in the good 'ol days of NFS. Back then there were rooms with inspectors who literally wound through the entire print. This served two purposes. First, to "inspect" the print. (Personally I never thought they did very good at this, but any big time obvious problem WOULD be caught.) Second was to mount the film from the lab cores over to the shipping reels."

For a bit of nostalgia, and to meet a lady who was a legend among film inspectors, check out the story about Ola McElhinney of Benton Brothers in Atlanta in issue H-50-5 (12/77) of Kodak's "Film Notes for Reel People" in the Film-Tech "Manuals" section.

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

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Bill Enos
Film God

Posts: 2081
From: Richmond, Virginia, USA
Registered: Apr 2000

posted 02-04-2002 11:17 PM

Yes, I actually did roll a whole 2000 ft reel of trailers into a 55 gal. lawn & garden bag, it had to be pushed down a couple times but it all fit. I think it would be only very slightly worse than the typical plastic reel.
The Ferris Bueller print was one of the worst I've ever run. I stopped counting and repairing at 180 splices with 2 reels to go and just opted to run it as is and man the frame knob.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

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

posted 02-04-2002 11:34 PM

Bill, you need to call Paramount directly and tell them your print was extremely bad and they need to junk it. Otherwise they will keep sending it back out to other people. As popular titles like Ferris Bueller get rented, they DO make new prints when the old ones get worn to a certain point.

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Scott Norwood
Film God

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

posted 02-05-2002 07:59 AM

Bill--was this print number 665 from the Landover, MD ETS depot? I ran that print at Williamsburg a couple of times in 1998/99 and it was in decent shape (not great, but much better than the print you describe). If you got a different print, as for #665 next time...

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John Pytlak
Film God

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

posted 02-05-2002 08:28 AM

Brad is correct --- unless you inform the distributor that the print has major problems, it will likely stay in circulation. Document the problems BEFORE you show the print and try to get a replacement that is in better condition, If you have to show the bad print, be sure the distributor knows of your dissatisfaction, with the details of the poor condition.

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Joe Beres
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 606
From: Minneapolis, MN, USA
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 02-05-2002 08:34 AM

Bill, I understand that when you are running a print like that Ferris print you described, maintaining its condition is not a concern, but would you spool a print in good and presentable shape into a trash bag? Am I understanding you? If I am, that strikes me as a terrible idea. It sounds like a great way to ruin a print.

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Bill Enos
Film God

Posts: 2081
From: Richmond, Virginia, USA
Registered: Apr 2000

posted 02-06-2002 09:03 AM

Paramount told us that this was typical of the condition of all the remaining Ferris B. prints and that they might eventually make some more but not to hold our breath.
Joe---the bag was an experiment, a joke, some fun with junk, the trailers were headed to the dumpster anyway. If you get a print from my booth, you can count on one thing--it is better than it was when it was received. You will NOT FIND ANYBODY with a complaint about damage done here. I do however stand by my comment that the bag would be no worse than broken reels spilling film in the cans

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Joe Beres
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 606
From: Minneapolis, MN, USA
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 02-06-2002 09:42 AM

Thanks for your response, Bill. I understand and feel much better now. I've had some horrors with broken reels here, too.

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