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Author Topic: Broken equipment -- a question of sabotage. Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 07-04-2005 03:49 PM                        I need some additional brains to evaluate this because I am too close to it. There was a film festival in one of the venue's where I work free-lance. Before the festival and for the full year between the last time the festival was in this venue, the two Simplex 35s were running without incident. Routine maintenance was done during the year. The festival has its own projectionist, so whereas I am the sole operator in this booth at all other times, their projectionist comes in with the festival and works the entire week. We had our first non-festival screening last night, a week after the festival moved out. I came in to run the show, which was a double bill of A HARD DAYS NIGHT and BLOWUP (which interestingly enough was originally titled THE BLOWUP -- as written in the negative). As always, there is only enough time to visually prep the film on the rewind bench for physical defects, repair the leader splices, cues etc. We do not do a test run in this venue unless it is a preview, which we do get from time to time. With prints that have been around for a few years, the assumption is that if you've got all the reels, image and sound will be presentable, besides which, no matter what the condition, it's the print you are stuck with -- with us, we don't get the luxury of be able to "order a replacement reel." As for the projectors, there is no reason to do any kind of a check; clean the film path, strike the lamp, thread up. A week's worth of film festival prints were run only 7 days prior and there was no report of any problems. The assumption is the projectors are working properly. Until, that is, the venue's A/V tech who runs the sound and lights for the lives shows comes to me as I am preping the prints and tells me to look at Projector #2 soundhead. He said the projectionist had some trouble with it. He pointed out that the lateral guide roller assembly was "f--ked up." Indeed, the thumb latch had deep gouges in the metal and the set-screw had been sheered off. I was able to get the latch to hold the guide against the drum by forcing the L pin in back to engage. As bizarre as this was (it takes an awful lot of force to break off that set-screw), I see that I can engage the latch so this won't stop me from running on that projector. I start the show. It's immediately apparent that sound from this almost mint restoration Dolby SRD print was totally muffled without any high end at all. Momentarily I questioned if more damage to the guide assembly had been done than met my eye. I looked at the light slit as the film was running and it seemed to be hitting the track squarely in the center. The muddled sound was even across all three front channels. Then I thought maybe it was a bad print (debunking my theory that second-run prints coming from other theatres were going to be playable). But I dismissed that as so unlikely that I needed to look elsewhere. Slit focus was next. This kind of distortion could be from an out-of-focus slit lens. Naturally there is that underlying edge of PANIC when you've got a FULL EFFIN HOUSE and a major screening is seemingly going down the toilet. I tried to turn the slit-lens focusing knob, but of course it wouldn't turn because it is locked in position so that it shouldn't be ACCIDENTLY thrown out of focus. I loosened the lock-down screw and was able to turn the focusing knob. It took about 3 turns to bring the focus in. By ear only, I was able to get the sound nice and crisp, restoring the upper frequency range. Interestingly, the phase seemed not to be out because the surround had almost no dialog and it kicked in every time the songs started. Here's the dilemma. I try to imagine what chain of events could have caused this. Could it be accidental? I can't see any scenario that would support this. Mind you, I left this booth the week before the festival moved in and there was absolutely NOTHING wrong with the guide roller thumb latch or the slit-lens focus. I can see that someone who doesn't know his ass from his foot could conceivably try to tighten the thumb latch lever, even though I can't see how he could have inflicted the scratches in the metal, and even more bizarre is what was he doing to break off the latch setscrew? OK, so that's COULD be just stupidity, and his foot should now be UP his ass. But, in my mind, there is only ONE explanation for the defocused slit-lens. As I said, you can't accidentally defocus it. You HAVE to loosen the locking screw. But the screw was tightened back down. Which means the lock screw was loosened, the focus knob was turned 3 times and then the lock screw was tightened. And this HAD to happen AFTER the last film of the festival; it could not have happened during the festival because the sound would have been so horrendous that the festival producer, who is meticulously to the edge of crazy, would have gone ballistic if the sound was that awful. That leaves the big question -- if the festival was OVER, why would anyone be mucking around in the soundhead? I can come to only one conclusion -- this was done purposely, as in sabotage. In my mind there is no other plausible explanation. This conclusion is reinforced by the fact, albiet circumstantial, that EVERY single time the festival has been in this venue for the last three years, when they leave, there has been something "wrong" with the projectors -- projectors that run for a full year without so much as a hiccup, in comes the festival with their projectionist and I get a call that there is too much airflow from the vents and it has caused the xenon to start to flicker. Or the rectifier has blown a fuse and needs to be taken apart (replacing the fuse, without doing ANYthing else allowed the unit to run ever since without blowing another fuse). Point is, even before this soundhead incident, questionable things have "gone wrong" with equipment only during the one week they are running. All the above theorizing is purely from the condition of the equipment and reasonable scenarios. There is also another element and I hesitate to throw it into the mix, but I don't think is can be totally dismissed: this booth is non-union. However, the festival uses union projectionists. It is widely known by most union members that I have always been a thorn in the side of the union because of my history of rejecting their offers to join. Although I never would have thought this could be a factor and in fact, I don't WANT to believe it, and I add that it may have nothing to do with this incident, but knowing that the animosity exists, I have difficulty overlooking it. So far I have only informally suggested to my colleague there that the damage to the projector could possibly be deliberate, but should management question me further, I think I have no choice but to tell them that it is my studied opinion that the most likely scenario, short of having a video of the guy hacking away at the soundhead with a chisel, is that this damage was done purposely and with malice. Sooooo.....what do you think?  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 07-04-2005 03:56 PM                     You need to stop thinking and get ahold of someone (possibly the festival director) who was in the audience during the last show (and not just someone who stepped in from time to time, but someone who watched at least 25 minutes of it straight). Ask them if there were any sound problems. If the answer is yes, it was accidental to some degree. If the answer was no problems, sabotage. Find the answer to that first.  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-04-2005 03:57 PM                     Do you know anything about the operator who was brought in? I would bring it up with senior management of the facility and then they have to decide if the financial cost of repairs is outweighed by the loss of revenue of a rental and is prospective damage a cost of doing business deal It maybe necessary to build into the rental fee the cost of a service call after they leave  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 07-04-2005 04:05 PM                     Sorta looks like that - sabotage. Yet, without actual proof, it's hard to make a conclusion. (question, when you open the lateral guide pressure roller assembly, do you do the push the levers down and then "squeeze the two levers to get the weight off of the "L" tab from the pin, lift and release, so the "L" tab doesn't wear down on the pin and want to groove that shaft that the little squarehead locknut pinches down on, or just press up on the lower lever and let the unit 'pop' open?) I've see that sort of wear quite often with 4 and 5 star heads. The optical slit lens thingey can almost point to a deliberate action as you mentioned. I've had some sort of sabotage with amplifiers with the gain controls on the front being turned down all the way, speaker cabinets with stolen LF assemblies, then managers call in for a sound check of sorts. Wonder if their is some IA members over there putting the "stink" on you for not joining.... Good luck on this one.. -Monte  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 07-04-2005 04:13 PM                        Good points. Brad, I will do that. Although, I can't imagine that there could be any situation where someone could "fix" the sound by defocusing the slit and then leaving it that way. But knowing if there were any sound problems at all will be very helpful and fairly easy to find out because the festival director, as I said, is very demanding; he stays for every screening and he certainly would have noticed and complained about even a hint of bad sound. And Gordon, no, I don't know who they called in other than it was a union guy. I can see a no-nothing shlub messing things up, but the assumption is that a union projectionist is more knowledgeable, which unfortunately, works against the accidental scenario. You are right; the economics should be addressed. The soundhead hardware will have to be replaced (it's not going to be a picnic trying to get that sheared off screw loose) and the A-chain will have to be realigned. It will cost them and they should be reembursed by the festival.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-04-2005 05:04 PM                     I've had lots of cases of sabatoge on film dailies... and it was always amusing to say the least. I was non union of course and someone always messed up the dubber eq or something else obvious, but never the dubbers or projectors themselves. B chain EQ was stored in memory or in two seperate cat 64's so they couldn't dick with that part. I always arrived a tad bit early anyway and double checked everything before we rolled. So those that did the sabatoge never really accomplished a bloomin thing. Mark  |  IP: Logged John Hegel Expert Film Handler Posts: 166 From: Lake Mills, Iowa Registered: Sep 2000 posted 07-04-2005 08:50 PM                        This is only a shot in the dark... What if the latch failed while the film was running and they found a way to hold the roller closed. If you closed the roller while it was running there is a chance the film might ride a little funny causing it to be out of focus, so in turn they "fixed" the film riding wrong by refocusing the slit lens. The gouges could have also been from whatever they may have used to prop the guide roller shut. Applying enough force to gouge the thumb latch may have also applied enough force to the roller to push it out of focus thus also requiring the operator to refocus on the fly.  |  IP: Logged Kenneth Wuepper Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1026 From: Saginaw, MI, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 07-04-2005 10:17 PM                     Frank, This scenerio is not new or unique. The fact that there was not a full report to the theatre manager of the incident and possible equipment failure or damage is inexcusable. It appears that the house AV tech received the report but did not forward it to the manager. Both the festival operator and the AV tech are delinquent in reporting an equipment problem which compromised the operation of the booth. If equipment is in danger from poor operation, it is the theatre manager who must insist on having a competent person present to operate or oversee the operation of the theatre equipment. As with all such damage, no one knows how it happened. Another deed of "not me". It is not nearly as important to find the responsibile person for this damage but rather make certain it cannot happen again. KEN  |  IP: Logged Ken Layton Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1452 From: Olympia, Wash. USA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 07-04-2005 11:52 PM                     Is there a "booth log" book which would detail/report any problems and/or corrective action taken?  |  IP: Logged William Hooper Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1879 From: Mobile, AL USA Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-05-2005 06:32 AM                        I'd be less inclined to think of it as something done intentionally to screw you up personally. My observation is that when folks sabotage stuff out of sheer maliciousness toward a particular person who'll next be using it is that it's done in some way that is not visually apparent, & takes a while to find out. Like maybe nail polish on the optical pickup, breaking the back element of a lens, etc. This sounds like doofusness, booth tourists, incompetent operator, someone *outside* the profession busting stuff up, etc. All this is guessing; Brad's suggestion of asking if the sound was screwy before you came back is the best place to start, & Ken's point about following up how the other tech knew where to look is also essential.  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 07-06-2005 01:23 AM                        So far I haven't heard back from the A/V tech or the higher-ups at the venue. Waiting on them to contact the festival people directly or to request that I talk to them. Monte...these machines were new out of the box in 1996 and they get nothing like commercial wear. In the heyday they were running a film a week, two shows. After the first four years it was down to once a month with an occasional "special" during the month. In other words you could let that pin "pop" as hard as you wanted and it wouldn't be even hinting at showing any wear. But that said, I am particularly very gently because I know that particular arrangement is a bad design to begin with --you are always exerting force against that setscrew which is holding on, as you said to a piss thin shaft. But even if he couldn't get it to latch, a rubber band would hold it done in a pinch. And John, yes, obviously there was mucking around in the soundhead, but the question is WHY? Remember the week before this projector was running with no sign of any of these soundhead components malfunctioning. Whatever happened couldn't have been caused by film running through the projector or even film mistreated. Or could it? How's this scenario. He doesn't know which way to push the thumb latch and forces it in the opposite direction. Now it won't engage the L bracket and pin in the back. He tries to loosen it and can't (he doesn't know "Lefty Lucie, Righty Tighty"?) but he is in a panic and he breaks the little square head off. The film is running without being held against the drum. He refocuses the slit to better hit this floppy loop? They would have been up there in 15 seconds to kill him. This certainly would have gotten back to the theatre management, even though it was their guy. Kenneth, you're absolutely right; this should have been reported, but I am not privy to what went on during the week. And Ken, no, we don't have a "formal" log; I write down oil changes (the TWO -- which were probably over-kill), the time we did an A and B chain alignment, the xenon replacement that THEY did. Just notes in a folder and all the packing slips for any parts like the one drive belt that went. And to follow with a question -- do you guys have a formal log book with some kind of a form that you use, or is it simply just a ledger sort of thing? quote: William Hooper it's done in some way that is not visually apparent, & takes a while to find out. Like maybe nail polish on the optical pickup, breaking the back element of a lens, etc. Geez, Bill, that is scary stuff. And Mark too, it's hard to believe people can be that evil. Oh well, at the very least, it's turning out to be a good mystery. I'll let you guys know what the outcome will be. And thanks for the pointers.  |  IP: Logged Thomas Dieter Expert Film Handler Posts: 234 From: Yakima, WA Registered: Jun 2004 posted 07-06-2005 03:24 AM                     At our theatre, we have a log book that we are working on getting everyone to use. All we use is Loose Leaf Notebook Paper and a 1/2" binder. We put the date, the entry (detailed or breif), and name of person on duty. Simple. Effective.  |  IP: Logged Dave Callaghan Film Handler Posts: 60 From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Registered: Jan 2003 posted 07-06-2005 03:45 AM                     Can there be a legitimate reason to refocus the soundhead optics? I experienced exactly this "solution" to a sound mix problem maybe a decade ago. The film was a concert film that was being run for a charity fund raiser. The screening was being run while the film was practically still in production, so when people with the production felt the high end wasn't acceptable, the head service technician refocussed the optics to keep the production crew happy. Perhaps there wasn't much choice about the proper solution - correcting the print - since it had been flown in to Toronto from LA and time to screening was running out. Having seen it once, I wouldn't rule out someone thinking a poor high end might be corrected by ear this way at a festival, given how exacting directors and the rest of the production crew often in attendance at a festival usually are. If it doesn't sound the way it sounded in the mixing theatre, maybe they leaned on the projectionist until they were satisfied. Another possibility I can suggest is if this projectionist was not familiar with that 4 Star sound head, he or she might have had too much slack between the holdback and the constant speed sprockets. I've seen too much film cause the film to wander sideways and become "bent" against the outboard flange of the lateral guide roller. The sound is so obviously wrong when this happens that something must be done to try to fix it. Perhaps what you saw was someone's frantic attempt to try to get the film to track properly on the scanning drum to correct a bad threadup while the reel was running. Once on screen, test films aren't an option. This is the kind of carelessness that could easily happen at the end of a very long festival week. 3 questions: 1) Why, if this is a 2 projector booth, presumably with manual changeovers, would only 1 of the machines be messed up? 2) If the print of Hard Day's Night was SRD, why was it being run in analog which would have revealed this problem instead of digital which would have concealed the analog problem? 3) Do the sound heads have visible light LED readers? Maybe the projectionist had to run a cyan track. When it didn't sound right he or she may have come up with some song and dance about the sound head not being upgraded so it needed to be adjusted.  |  IP: Logged Dominic Espinosa Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1172 From: California, U.S.A. Registered: Jan 2004 posted 07-06-2005 04:02 AM                     Regardless of whether or not it was sabotage the director of the festival should make an arrangement to pay for the damage. That's rediculous. We keep a composition book. It serves the purpose, most of the time. However, a log book in this scenario wouldn't help if the dimwit had broken it by accident and written down something else entirely.  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 07-06-2005 05:21 AM                        Any chance the owners of the equipment could put conditions on its use... like requiring any outsiders to pay for approved operators? Seems risky to purchase new gear and turn it over to someone you don't know.  |  IP: Logged

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