my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Film Handlers' Forum   » REHAB OF OLD '57 35MM TRAILER

Author Topic: REHAB OF OLD '57 35MM TRAILER Gary Davidson Expert Film Handler Posts: 101 From: Santa Monica, CA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 04-12-2004 07:35 PM                     I obtained a 35MM trailer for a film I am presenting in front of an audience for a special screening. The trailer is a 1957, faded Eastman print. I want to show it for historical reasons. Is there anyone in the LA area I could take the trailer to to make sure it's suitable for screening, new leader, etc? Also, if anyone can give me a ballpark as far as how much this should cost , it would be much appreciated. Thanks!  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 04-13-2004 03:44 PM                        Gary, it sound like this is something that you can do on your own if you have access to a decently equipped booth. There is nothing you could do to restore the color. Period. Forget the green filters and other things you might be told, you are running it because of content and historical reasons, history says it is going to look faded. As far as the physical print itself, more than likely it will need to be cleaned and this can be done by hand quite effectively using a number of film cleaning products, one of which, hopefully, the booth will have on hand. Next will be the actual physical structure. Sprocket damage and bad splices will have to be repaired, but this also can be done by you or a competent projectionist of your choosing. Any other physical damage to the print like burns or cracks will also have to be either spliced out, or left in, the decision being made based on content. Sometimes to preserve important soundtrack content, a burn, for example, will not be spliced out but covered with a black opaque patch instead. Depending on your familiarity with film handling, you can correct almost any damage to a print and it can be made projectable, either by you or by a competent projectionist who ultimately you are going to have run the trailer for you.  |  IP: Logged Jeff Joseph Expert Film Handler Posts: 131 From: Palmdale, CA, USA Registered: Jun 2000 posted 04-15-2004 07:37 PM                        If you want to post the title of the trailer.... it's possible there may be an unfaded print of the trailer available....who knows? Jeff  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 04-16-2004 03:32 AM                        quote: Depending on your familiarity with film handling, you can correct almost any damage to a print and it can be made projectable, either by you or by a competent projectionist who ultimately you are going to have run the trailer for you. The only exception to this is if the triacetate base has decomposed so far that it has become too brittle and/or physically deformed to withstand the mechanical stresses of projection. If you hold a length of about 4-5 frames in a 'U' shape and a perf splits at the apex, it probably fails the brittleness test. If a 2,000 foot roll appears in the can or on to form to have a slight 'pentagon'-type shape (i.e. it refuses to sit in a circular shaped roll), it is possibly too buckled. In this scenario you'll certainly get focus drift.  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-16-2004 11:05 AM                     I might also suggest you think about what you want to do with the trailer after you have shown it. If it's something that you want to keep in good condition (or at least no worse than it is now) you'll be willing to spend more time and money than you would if it's simply going to be shown and stored away again. Your options range from applying liquid cleaners/lubricants yourself to sending it out and having it professionally cleaned and preserved. By the sound of things, however, sending it for professional treatment would be like putting a stained glass window in a shit house. If it was my call, I'd FilmGuard the heck out of it. (figuratively speaking) Then I'd excercise it by carefully winding it back and forth a few times and make sure I rolled it both ways... emulsion in and emulsion out. After that, I'd roll it up and let it sit for a while. If It was originally wound "tail out" I'd wind it "tail in" and vice versa. All the while, I'd be checking it to make sure it's not too brittle or damaged to run through a projector. If this is an especially important piece of film I wouldn't do that. I'd figure out something else.  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 04-16-2004 12:19 PM                        Cool and dry storage will greatly extend the life of any film. If you must use a sealed container, consider the use of Molecular Sieves: http://www.kodak.com/US/en/motion/support/technical/storage1.shtml http://www.kodak.com/US/en/motion/support/technical/molecular.shtml http://www.fpchollywood.com/supplies-film-preservation-molecular-sieves.html http://www.fpchollywood.com/support-molecular-sieves.html  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 04-17-2004 03:12 AM                        The vented can vs. 'seal and sieve' issue is probably best determined on the basis of an acid detection strip reading (which only hard core collectors are likely to have) - i.e. has the element become, or is it close to becoming, autocatalytic? A less scientific method, but one which will do in the absence of any other, is to take the line that if the element stinks like hell, the answer to that question is probably yes. As John says, as cool and as dry as possible is the storage environment to aim for, in either scenario.  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.