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Author Topic: Wet Film Richard Greco Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1180 From: Plant City, FL Registered: Nov 2003 posted 04-27-2005 08:54 AM                     Hey guys. Well, it was raining pretty bad here last night and I happen to have no glass on my windows for screens 2 and 3. Also the glass on screen 1 is broken as well. So, I ran Screen 2 fine last night till the 2nd show. It was wet. The platter system however(Potts 5 deck) seperated the layers fine. The show ran through okay. On screen 1, (Speco LP-270), the film wouldn't pull through the brain without pulling like 10 layers with it. I had to end up cancelling the 2nd show. Is the film ruined? How can I fix this problem so I can go on screen tonight? Thanks  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 04-27-2005 09:54 AM                        If the water damage is so bad as to have compromised the binder layer and caused the emulsion to start lifting (or sticking to the base of the winding underneath), then - to use a highly obscure archivists' technical term - that print is buggered. The usual treatment for an archival element which has been affected by serious water contamination is ultrasonic cleaning, rewashing and drying (and in the case of acetate elements, glass wheel polishing), but the cost of doing that for a release print isn't usually worth it. If the contamination is light, you could try winding the print between vertical heads and passing it through a lint-free (e.g. Selvyt) cloth, slowly and twice. Use a dry cloth the first time, and then use a fresh cloth with one or two squirts of Filmguard for the second.  |  IP: Logged Richard Greco Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1180 From: Plant City, FL Registered: Nov 2003 posted 04-27-2005 01:22 PM                     Post Removed [ 05-08-2005, 04:43 AM: Message edited by: Richard Greco ]  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-27-2005 01:37 PM                        BABY POWDER?!?!?!  |  IP: Logged Richard Greco Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1180 From: Plant City, FL Registered: Nov 2003 posted 04-27-2005 01:39 PM                     Post Removed [ 05-08-2005, 04:44 AM: Message edited by: Richard Greco ]  |  IP: Logged Kris Dirix Film Handler Posts: 54 From: Antwerp / Belguim Registered: Feb 2005 posted 04-27-2005 01:50 PM                     quote: Scott Norwood was the last to post baby powder Why not flour ??? Your GM has strange ideas. You better tell him to come with a set of new windows. (Real windows, not he Microsoft stuff..... ) However the edge of your copy will be dry by now and the emulsion will stick to the back of the winding underneath, so I think it is lost now  |  IP: Logged Richard Greco Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1180 From: Plant City, FL Registered: Nov 2003 posted 04-27-2005 01:51 PM                     Post removed [ 05-08-2005, 04:44 AM: Message edited by: Richard Greco ]  |  IP: Logged Dominic Espinosa Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1172 From: California, U.S.A. Registered: Jan 2004 posted 04-27-2005 02:02 PM                     I know the feeling Richard. It's hard when you work in those little theaters owned by people who don't get it. They have an idea but they don't know how to execute it and wont trust the people who can. I'd say the print's ruined and you'd better come up with something to cover that glass. That's rediculous. I'd have the hole covered with a tarp and cancel all the shows until it's fixed. Too much sh*t can get in there even when it's not raining.  |  IP: Logged Mitchell Dvoskin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1869 From: West Milford, NJ, USA Registered: Jan 2001 posted 04-27-2005 02:08 PM                     If it were me, I would take the film off the platter by winding onto 6000' reels. This way, any stuck together sections would be pulled apart without getting sucked into the brain. I would then re-load it on to the platter, lightly coating it with Film-Guard using a lint free cloth, so that it does not re-stick together. Powdering the print would be a BIG mistake. /Mitchell  |  IP: Logged Kris Dirix Film Handler Posts: 54 From: Antwerp / Belguim Registered: Feb 2005 posted 04-27-2005 02:13 PM                     Sorry Richard no offence, Leo is right, the only way to handel wet film is ultrasonic cleaning or re wash (=best). I have seen many wet reels come out of the developing machine and all my bosses and ex-bosses had problems wit that, but they found no solution. I remember me an old negative, recorded in Lier, during the bombing of the local Fortress by the Germans in the early days of WWI (1914)after the fortress was fallen, the cineast wrapped it in some kind of "waxed" cotton sheets (20 cm thick) and buried it. The reel was found in 1982 and was brought to our lab, after developing, the film was not dry enough, so my chief took two hear dryers and dryed the film on a Steinbeck table. (The job took one hour for approximately 350 feet of film) And again, no offence. Chears  |  IP: Logged Dominic Espinosa Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1172 From: California, U.S.A. Registered: Jan 2004 posted 04-27-2005 02:18 PM                     Caution: blow drying an entire feature may cause drowsiness.  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 04-27-2005 03:56 PM                        Kris: given that your 1914 film would have been nitrate, I hope those hairdryers were on the 'cool' setting!  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 04-27-2005 04:29 PM                     Do a search for water damage. If you don't unroll the film, FilmGuard can almost always save it. Once you unroll it (by projecting or breaking down to reels), all is lost. I have explained the procedure before.  |  IP: Logged Richard Fowler Film God Posts: 2392 From: Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA Registered: Jun 2001 posted 04-27-2005 05:18 PM                     Richard, the owner of your drive-in is worth mucho dinero...It is strange that a replacement was not ordered...maybe the staff is afraid of being fired? Your projector will love the talcum powder  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 04-27-2005 08:12 PM                        NEVER use baby powder (talcum)! FilmGuard has the most likelihood of saving this bad situation. I'd suggest Brad's method first, then slowing winding off the film and applying additional FilmGuard to keep the damp film from sticking together, and to provide lots of lubrication in the projector gate. Don't try to dry the wet film while it is wound in a roll or on the platter --- the wet emulsion will dry like glue, and "block" or delaminate. You can try using warm air to help dry the film as is is "free hung". Your drive-in should take responsibility for the damage, and inform the distributor of the problem and get a replacement print once you fix the leaks and dry everything out.  |  IP: Logged

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