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Topic: Screening Reports Do you use them?

Bob Brown
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 146
From: Grand Rapids, MI
Registered: Apr 2002

posted 06-09-2002 03:51 PM

Hey all, just wondering if you use a report for your screeners to complete after screening new movies. Sometimes I cannot screen all the new ones and have other projectionist/managers screen. Just wondering what information should be contained in these reports and if anyone could post a sample of the ones you are using that would also help.

GO WINGS!!

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Adam Wilbert
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 590
From: Bellingham, WA, USA
Registered: Mar 2002

posted 06-09-2002 09:24 PM

I just use a blank legal pad. Its too hard to fill in a form in the dark, but i can write just fine.

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Michael Swarbrick
Film Handler

Posts: 23
From: London, England
Registered: Jan 2002

posted 06-09-2002 10:03 PM

We use a form for 'bench' and 'viewing' reports, with the back blank to write a rough version in the dark while viewing the film. I can write properly in the dark though 'cause I have a cool DTS pen that lights up at the end! Too bad the light's useless for anything else though.

The form includes space for problems in each reel, such as joins mid-reel, dirt, scratching, perforation buckling etc. Anything really that could look bad onscreen or cause projection problems.

The form also includes space for picture and sound format, volume viewed, date viewed, auditorium viewed in, copy number, general condition of the print (ie Bad to Excellent), and opening sequence (ie Censor Title, Fox logo, Feature).

I used to screen (or 'rehearse' as we call it) prints all the time at my last cinema but now my manager does most of them.

GO ENGLAND!! (Soccer thing )

------------------
Michael Swarbrick
Projectionist, Empire Leicester Square

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Randy Stankey
Film God

Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99

posted 06-09-2002 10:33 PM

When I was working in the booth we used to keep a clip board on the wall near the booth desk. It had columns for:

Title/Print #
Date Received and Who Received It
Date the Print Was Built and Who Built It.
Date the Print Was Screened and Who Screened It.
Date the Print Was Broken Down and Who Broke It Down.
Date the Print Was Shipped Out and Who Shipped It Out.

It was assumed that if you put your initials in a space that YOU certify everything was OK at that stage. If there were any problems at any stage of the game, you would note it in the booth log and then send a copy of that note to the manager's office.

It wasn't like you were signing your life away or anything. We just wanted to know who to talk to if there were any questions or problems. It worked out pretty well.

As we all know, Technicolor is famous for doing things like calling you up and accusing you of losing a print. There were several occasions where we would run over, grab the clip board and answer, "Movie X... Print number Y... was shipped out on June 6th by Joe Blow."

After a couple-three times of that they pretty much quit calling us.

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 06-10-2002 02:09 AM

Most of my projectionist days were spent working in the arthouse/rep sector, and in that context print report sheets were very useful when, as quite often happened, you showed the same print 2-3 times in 2-3 years.

I'd sometimes encounter quite unusual defects: for example, digital sound out of sync in one reel but analogue OK, a really weird hard matte which necessitated closing or opening the masking a bit from a given preset (e.g. on Goya in Bordeaux, which was a rather suspect Digibeta to 35mm kinescope), or subtitles printed in such a way that you needed to change the racking or focus position slightly, noting these points on the form gives advance warning and saves time if you get the same print back again.

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Frank Angel
Film God

Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 06-10-2002 11:08 AM

In the rep house end of the business, they are invaluable. Problem is, we rarely have the luxury of prescreening any of our prints. But the Projection Report (we designed our own) is invaluable when we play the same film later down the line. We can look up the report and use it to tells us what to tell the booker -- Yes, we want print #nn or No, we we won't play that print if you gave it to us for free. Then again, many times the studio may only have ONE print, so the report just tells us what to expect.

If nothing else, the information about when it was received and when it was shipped out is very important to have documented; we always put the tracking number and the shipping company in the Print Disposition box.

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Randy Stankey
Film God

Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99

posted 06-10-2002 10:11 PM

We kept the shipping receipts off the Technicolor cans. We stuck them to the wall near the work bench, Ala Cinema Paradiso. The title of the print, the date it was sent and who shipped it got jotted down on the back of it.

It was mostly a "character" thing but on more than one occasion we were able to snap back at the TES operator, "Tracking number 1234... June 6... J.B."

We didn't get rectipts from ETS (Kally Express) because they always came at 4:00 AM. On the other hand, they are a bonded courier and virtually never misplace a print.

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