We tried to get the marks off, but most of them wouldn't budge.

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 585-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 585-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

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I am going to defend opaque tape on film.

I am very aware of your feelings on this matter.

Surely you must agree that in this case if the person responsible for the tipex marks had used a piece of white tape, wrote on the tape with a marker pen or chinagraph pencil. Although the showing of this film would have been poor, the next man in the chain would have no problem removing the tape.

I have made comments about marking film with tape.

Hope this clears it up.

One little thing they do I don't approve of: They take yellow tape, cut it into thin strips, 5 or 6 frames long, and wrap it around the side of the film at the start of the new reel. I think that's one of the things shown in Jonathan's illustration. I remove these. Why? Because that tape going through is going to cause the image to shift sideways briefly. So off it comes, along with anything else that shouldn't be there. I also wonder how much time they take making the little strips and applying them vs. time saved during breakdown.

John: Surely you're not suggesting the makers of Yi Yi (or any other film) should base their editing decisions on how much film will fit on a tower! Perhaps, conversely, you should based your equipment decisions on the need to run films of longer lengths! Long movies without a planned intermission are not that uncommon.

Lazy people!

Eeeegads....that means those idiots are roaming the streets looking for other booths to corrupt....other prints to ruin!

White-out....I thought so. They should have a law like they have for the sale of magic markers -- no magic markers to anyone under 21 -- NO WHITE-OUT TO ANYONE WORKING IN A MOVIE THEATRE!

Didn't I hear somewhere on this forum some negative comments about using grease pencil on film? I always thought that of the various and sundry markers that projectionists have devised to mark prints, the lowly grease pencil was the least distructive. The marks that are made with it wipe off immediately and cleanly with any film solvent such as ECCO 1500, FilmGuard, FilmRenew, even 111-Trichlorathane (for those of us who were smart enough to by gallons of it years ago -- like pork bellies -- now I have guys trying to break into my booth to steal it). I have used white grease pencil myself on 16mm which we do run on single long play reels. I edge mark the joints with it. At breakdown a soft cloth and a little film cleaner and no one could ever tell it was ever there. Occasionally I see some white deposits in the projector path, but there too, it is a simple matter of a cloth and a little cleaner and it is totally gone.

I certainly give a sigh of relief when I see a print where the cue marks have been "enhanced," not with some razor slashes, but with grease pencil diagonals across the frame. I know it will clean easily in a few seconds.

I also am fanatical about Print ID at the heads and tales of each 2000ft reel. When the reels are stored in the film cabinet or in the case of the safety-film-only booth, lined up under the rewind bench, I want the reel number, the title, the image and sound formats clearly visible at the end of the leader. I apply this information via a 3/4in x 14in label from a laser printer/computer label program. There is a large, virtical reel number printed on the very end of the leader and the word HEAD, followed by horizontal text of the film title, then the reel number again with an H [Hn] and the image & sound format information. This could be followed by specific information such as [Take Intermission at end of Reel] or [4 min Credit Crawl & Rating]. This is applied to the very beginning of the leader so that each reel is clearly, unmistakenly marked and easily seen by the projectionist. However, when a print arrives the same morning as the show, or I cannot get to making the labels, then I resort to a handwritten ID leader section. I used to do this with magic marker, but found that only works with clear or nearly clear film stock. With film that has black emulsion right out to the end of the leader, magic marker is useless. But I did find that white grease pencil will work beautifully. Surprisingly enough, it is just as visible on clear leader as it is on black. The grease pencil applies easily and the information, white text on black (the clear leader looks black as soon as it is wound againt the film on the reel), is visible from across the booth. I apply a strip of clear mylar tape over the grease pencil, and for all practical purposes, that makes it permanent. Bottom line, the grease pencil seems to work in multiple ways for me. Any reason I shouldn't use it on film?

Frank

If there is any reason why grease pencil shouldn't be used, I am all ears.