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This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2
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Author
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Topic: OOPS - I put the wrong movie on today - Free preview!
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Bill Langfield
Master Film Handler
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Posts: 280
From: Prospect, NSW, Australia
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 08-02-2003 08:05 AM
For the second time I can ever remember of (since 1978), I laced up the wrong movie near the end of my shift. It was due to start at 4.30 and I finshed at 4.15, so when Andrew came in, I went to the newsagent to put lotto in (it was a 19 mill draw -didnt win btw) when I got back the usher at C#6 said 'your in trouble, (at first I thought he was giving heaps about the girl I was checking out walking in front of me!!) what film did you "load up"?'
Sure enough, I had threaded up the wrong film, I had laced Danny Deckchair rather than Dancer Upstairs.
Andrew had to stop it, cut it, pull the already played film and ring out, pull out most of the ads/trls for the proper film (to catch time up) and get going again.
My thoughts on why I f***ed up...
1/ Getting close to end of shift. 2/ Thoughts on fixing jammed curtain. 3/ Days events I was going to discuss with Andrew at shift change. 4/ Getting that lotto ticket on. 5/ Three other screens finishing as well. 6/ Drama's with the Wurlitzer Organ. 7/ Not marking /X'ing off the days on running sheet. (I read Fri times not Sat)
Anyway those are my excuses and I'll stick to them.
The cool thing is, the place I work at, basically said, yeah you f***ed up, please try to avoid it. Problem simply noted on incident report(for GM) and noted in diary.
At the other place (where I got fired from for posting a message here, that didnt even mention them) they would have given me a formal warning, a performance discussion, I would have had to ring three people and fax four people with the incident report. (It was my little place and I miss looking after it)
The last time I put the wrong film on was about 2 1/2 years ago, I put 'The Dish' rather than erm can't remember the name, but half the patron's at the end of the show said they were going to come back to see The Dish!! (and they only got to see about two minutes of it)
So my point is, I guess, have you ever put the wrong film on, how many times have you done it and why do you think it happened??!!
BILL.
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Erik Stevens
Film Handler
Posts: 10
From: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Registered: Nov 2002
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posted 08-03-2003 12:28 AM
The previous cinema chain that I worked for, whenever a wrong feature was threaded, the following story would be remembered, or discussed!
At a certain location, during busy school holidays, "The Little Mermaid" had just been released. The projectionist who was on duty that morning, accidently threaded "Basic Instinct". Now we all know how "Basic Instinct" start's , you can imagine how many parents were complianing, and children shreeking!
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Per Hauberg
Jedi Master Film Handler
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Posts: 883
From: Malling, Denmark
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 08-03-2003 04:55 AM
There are two kinds of projectionists: Those who tried to mix reels, and those, who lie about it.
I wote for the lotto reason. Lacing up a projector, while thinking about never to do that again, because those nice millions are coming to You next week. Not even a fully automated booth could rescue us from this.
My worst go on this one is almost 30 years back: "STAR" in 70mm 7 or 8 reels c/o - print indoor about 15 mins before show - no checking, no inspection, just running "from the box". Twice during that show, I hit the wrong reel. Second time, those few people watching it, got a drink and a free ticket for some other film, and I started from reel one again, after discussing this with my audience. Never run film unchecked !
p.
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Frank Angel
Film God
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Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 08-03-2003 03:42 PM
This is not exactly putting on the wrong movie, but it is not putting on the right one, or at least not all of the right one:
I was called in to run a film at the museum and, as is many times is the case, it was a last minute deal. And it so happened that there was a new guy just hired as their A/V coordinator. He brought up one can, 3 reels. Although not usual, there are many shorter independent titles that the museum runs that are mounted on only 3 reels, so I didn't give it a second thought.
I preped the print while talking to the new guy....not wise. We continued discussing the booth operation. He was very inquisitive and the conversation continued through the start and running of the show, until the last reel. Then as we were talking, I noticed that we had about 5 minutes left on the last reel. Since this booth has a glass front wall, you can see the screen from anywhere in the booth. I glanced at the screen and then began to listen to the soundtrack a little more closely. Then it dawned on me. I asked him, "Are you sure that is the only can that was downstairs for this film?" He saw the panic in my face. "Yeah, why?" I said, "Well because we have about 3 minutes left on the last reel and the thieves are still at large and the FBI are going back to town to find them and they've only two minutes to do it; we are missing the rest of this movie." The kid turned white. There was nearly a full house. He said (as the film ran out), "What are we going to do?" He said it with a kind of terror in his voice. I said, "Who's this "we," pal? I said, "You're the new A/V coordinator, you've got to go out and tell them." He looked like he was going to faint. Then I took pity and said, "Not to worry, I would go tell the audience." I told him to just say in the booth and try not to puke.
I went out on the balcony and explained how sorry we were that the distributor didn't send the full film and the museum would reschedule it and everyone would be able to see it for free. They all seemed very understanding and almost sorry to see me having so much obvious embarrassment. I was just about to go back into the booth, thinking, "Gee, that's was fairly easy...I'm getting away scott free," when a guy in a bit of a miffed tone yelled up, "So, how come you let us sit through an hour before you figured out you only had half the movie?" "Good question....all I can say is 'oversight.' Everyone have a good day." And I made a quick dash to the booth, where I couldn't hide....like I said, all glass front wall. I don't like having anyone in the booth with me for that very reason -- distraction.
Once I ran a double feature all week long and got so used to the order that by Saturday I didn't notice the schedule had reversed them. The manager was VERY pissed when he found out I had started with the wrong title. We didn't recover from that one as we were too far into the film. We had to just bite it and run them reversed.
Frank
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