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

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Film Handlers' Forum   » The stupid are spreading their stupidness (Page 1)

This topic comprises 7 pages: 1  2  3  4  5  6  7

Author Topic: The stupid are spreading their stupidness Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 06-13-2008 04:05 PM                     Stupid people. You know what I am talking about. The kind of people who are so embedded into their ways that they simply cannot handle any form of change whatsoever, regardless of the validity of the argument presented to them. These are often the same sort of people sometimes referred to as "old coots" (not you Phil), that say things like "I've been doing it this way for 50 years" and won't even consider a superior method or procedure. Maybe it's because they are incapable of change, perhaps it is just stubbornness, an overall lack of not caring, or just being flat out stupid in general. Some of these people qualify as "stupid" just because they read something and fixated on it, taking it to ridiculous proportions. Regardless, the stupid are spreading their stupidness through their training of others. Post your stupid people stories here so we can all be entertained by the sheer stupidity of some people out there. (Trainers beware, we are going to be talking about you!!!) I'll start. I recently came across a theater that took threading patterns to a whole new level. The trainer is so fixated with "never let the emulsion side of the film touch any of the rollers", that these poor guys are being forced to thread the base side of the film on EVERY ROLLER, regardless of what sort of ridiculous twisting or film damage occurs. Folks, film was designed to curl, as in being wound onto a reel or through loops in a projector. It was NOT meant to make unnecessary tight twists! Here are two example pictures of how these poor stupid people are being forced to thread. And for those of you wondering just how this process works on a Strong platter... Pretty ridiculous, eh? Particularly because (this is where the stupid people need to pay extra close attention)...THE BASE SIDE OF THE FILM IS WHAT CARRIES THE DIRT!!! This has been proven many times before. Simply put, running the emulsion side of the film over the rollers will keep the film CLEANER than a film that runs over rollers on its base side. ALSO, the entire design of a roller is such that IF a roller should seize and stop spinning, the middle part where the picture resides is beveled inward, such that the film wouldn't get scratched anyway! Durp! Somebody's got 'um sum real smarts there. So at this point somebody is bound to be saying to themself "hey, I've worked with a Christie platter like you have pictured there. How do you deal with the 3 roller cluster in the brain? Even best case senario this stupid moron trainer would HAVE to have the emulsion side of the film run over at least ONE of the rollers, right?" WRONG! The Christie brain is easily modified to prevent such foolishness... The sheer stupidity is mind boggling!  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 06-13-2008 04:14 PM                     Now fortunately I haven't actually seen the following in action, but for the sake of outing this stupid "base side on the rollers only" threading ritual, I figured I would see just what it would take to thread a projector with the "base side only" touching the rollers... Aaaaaaaaaaaaah yes, that's MUCH better! Care for some closeups? I hope all of you are taking notes. After all if everyone doesn't switch to this threading procedure ALL OF YOUR FILMS WILL GET SCRATCHED BY RUNNING THE EMULSION OVER THESE ROLLERS! OH NO!!! I wouldn't want to leave Simplex guys out, so here is the proper way to thread a Simplex projector. I had to ask Joe to take these pictures since I don't work with Simplex machines, and he dutifully took it one step farther by avoiding the sprockets in the projector too! WHOOOOOOOPS!!! Shame on you Joe! YOU CLOSED THE PINCH ROLLER ON THE SOUND DRUM! That simply CAN NOT HAPPEN or the film will be scratched because not only is that running ON the emulsion side of the film, but it is also not beveled and is directly TOUCHING the emulsion!!!!!!!!!!! (By the way, note the proper threading of the FP-350 failsafe.) Seriously, just how widespread is this fear of the emulsion side stupidness?  |  IP: Logged Mike Olpin Chop Chop! Posts: 1852 From: Dallas, TX Registered: Jan 2002 posted 06-13-2008 04:56 PM                     That's twisted.  |  IP: Logged Ben Wales Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 602 From: Southampton. England Registered: Jul 99 posted 06-13-2008 04:57 PM                     Yep, I got a good few to share..... 1) Was asked by the Chief Projectionist while working at a special 70mm venue to test the 35mm Opicital sound head on a Cinemaccancia Victoria 8 with a 70mm film! . 2) Same venue where Blooping Ink was ordered for 70mm DTS prints - and I have the pictures!. 3) worked at a Regional Film Theatre and was informed by a BFI rep while on a site visit we could not run their archive prints - as ALL Platters/Cakestands scratch films . So I informed them about the countless prints I have seen from them oiled and scrached and several sets of Cue Dots, poor joins, leaders missing. Oh yes, this was a BFI funded venue when built.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 06-13-2008 05:09 PM                        Those platter pics are real, folks. Brad didn't make those up. Is there ANYONE here that threads like this? I doubt it seriously. But what would you do if you worked at a place/chain that demanded you thread like this? What if you were threatened with disciplinary action if you didn't? That's the position these corporate trainers put a lot of otherwise decent projectionists in... projectionists who could otherwise have a lot of potential but instead learn crap like this. There are so many twists that I keep thinking the platters were threaded by M. Night Shyamalan.... OK... that was bad. Really bad!  |  IP: Logged Sean McKinnon Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1712 From: Peabody Massachusetts Registered: Sep 2000 posted 06-13-2008 05:56 PM                        Oh man... Where could I even start here... I dunno, I got so many let me get my thoughts in order here and I will be back.  |  IP: Logged Ron Lacheur Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 650 From: British Columbia, Canada Registered: Feb 2002 posted 06-13-2008 07:52 PM                     How many scratched/damaged prints come out of there on a regular basis?  |  IP: Logged Rene Ferron Film Handler Posts: 52 From: New Brunswick, Canada Registered: Feb 2008 posted 06-13-2008 07:56 PM                     OMG... That person need a little slap............. With a 2 X 4 No really, I mean who thought those people how to thread film. I have only 4 months experience and i already show 1 person (part time projectionist) how to thread, make up and tear down.  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 퍼항시, 경상푹도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 06-13-2008 08:45 PM                     At my old theater someone transferred to that location and had been dead set against using timers but eventually relented and used them herself. Then when she scratched a print she commented that "Timers scratch prints." Yep, timers scratch prints; electrical circuits are so advanced today that they can grow arms to add their own etching on a print. And an old manager had been transferred to another theater. One day he got a complaint about the picture in an auditorium and he noticed that you could see the soundtrack on the right side of the screen (obviously it was threaded incorrectly). When he told his operator that, the guy said "I threaded it right! They put the soundtrack on the wrong side!" Then lo and behold, he went upstairs to find a twist in the film right before it entered the projector.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 06-13-2008 10:10 PM                     The one that totally cracks me up is the threading concept of 'soundtrack towards the wall, or screen' for the same basis...and how that film looks so twisted heading into the machine if the platter is positioned 'gear side' or left side of the machine. These must be KISS booths for sure.  |  IP: Logged Chad M Calpito Master Film Handler Posts: 435 From: San Diego, CA Registered: Apr 2006 posted 06-13-2008 10:13 PM                        After I looked at those pictures, I was shocked. That is purely F***ed-up. If I ever saw a projectionist of mine do that, I would do more than be pissed at him, I'd kick his ass out of my booth immediately. In answer to your question(s) Joe, I'd tell the company and corporate people to simply goto hell and I'd quit right away.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 06-13-2008 11:16 PM                        Just do it the "wrong" way they tell you to, and then when they leave you alone, start doing it correctly. How often do these trainers come back and check on their trainees after training is done?  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 06-13-2008 11:43 PM                        quote: Chris Slycord "Timers scratch prints." That's hilarious! I bet she truly, honestly believed that, too. I am amazed at the things some people are able to think. I am also amazed that these people are able to brush their teeth without dropping the toothbrush, putting the paste on the wrong side (or wrong end) of the brush and things like that. I guess common sense gets thrown out the window when one goes to work for an industry they know nothing about (but think they do). Actually, not knowing about your business but thinking you do can lead to the ultimate embarrassment. quote: Mike Blakesley How often do these trainers come back and check on their trainees after training is done? That's a good question, but I imagine that they delegate the responsibility of checking to local managers and techs, etc.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 06-14-2008 12:16 AM                     Back in the early 90s Cinemark hired a guy to do training that shouldn't have even been allowed near film. He is no longer with them, but he would stand there and argue with anyone who dared to try and use any sort of logic to his crazy rules. After awhile everyone realized just to open the theater doing things his way, tell him how wonderful he was...and then after the first few days Cinemark would pull him out of there and they could start doing things the proper way (or at least MORE proper). It was pretty pathetic, oh and did I mention STUPID? Of course Cinemark's chief technician (no longer with them) would freak out if the upper projector roller was not swung forward to within 1 inch of the auditorium wall, because according to him "the film won't run if the upper roller is in any other position". Ummmm, yeah right. So for a week at every new location opening we would stand there and watched as our leaders would get MANGLED because of the film getting dragged across that roller sideways, and then we re-oriented them upward once he left to save our leaders. Odd how we never had any problems or scratches after he left! Same thing goes for a UA tech. No shit, he actually stood there and declared "the projector cannot run without a douser. We are going to have to cancel all shows until we can get a new douser!" He was of course speaking of Christie's old electric douser that would commonly get warped and would jam. Rather than to literally lose shows, many theaters would just pull it out and use the manual lamphouse douser or whatever to keep the shows on the screen. But according to him it was IMPOSSIBLE to run a movie without that stupid douser and he stormed into the manager's office to demand they cancel all future shows. (Fortunately the GM was not stupid, unlike the tech.) So to answer your question Joe, I'm pretty sure this sort of thing happens at any big chain like that, whether it is Cinemark, Regal, AMC, whatever. Of course if *insert chain name here* would hire people who truly were good at their job to do the training that didn't come up with moronic practices that are actually NOT in the best interest of the equipment, film or presentation, then that wouldn't be an issue. It's all a matter of the stupid teaching the ignorant.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 06-14-2008 12:26 AM                        I remember when we first got our tape splicer. It was around 1978 or so. The owner got it into his head that it was only necessary to put tape on one side and would chew us out for wasting tape if he saw us doing a two-sided splice (mid-reel -- this was before the platter days).  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 7 pages: 1  2  3  4  5  6  7

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.