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

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Film Handlers' Forum   » Changeover on Inglourious Basterds (Page 1)

This topic comprises 5 pages: 1  2  3  4  5

Author Topic: Changeover on Inglourious Basterds Paer Hoegberg Film Handler Posts: 81 From: Borlänge, Sweden Registered: Apr 2005 posted 09-15-2009 11:46 PM                     Right before the end of a real (before changeover) there is a signal from a bell. Can anyone explain how this works? /Pär  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 09-16-2009 12:26 AM                        I believe it has something to do with the weight of the reel feeding out. When it gets low, it rings to wake the projectionist up from his nap so that he doesn't miss the changeover.  |  IP: Logged Jack Theakston Master Film Handler Posts: 411 From: New York, USA Registered: Sep 2007 posted 09-16-2009 02:02 AM                     It's a lazy, noisy piece of technology as far as I'm concerned. It's a distraction to the audience, who can almost always hear it-- and if it's one of those particularly noisy ones, boy do they hear it over and over and over again. If you've done changeovers for any length of time, you start to "know" how long 15-20 minutes has been (just like you "know" how long to hold an exposure when printing up photos). You don't need no stinkin' bell.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 09-16-2009 02:13 AM                     Old Motiograph upper magazines had, what was called, a "drop ding." There was an arm that was inside the magazine with a roller on the end of it which rode on the outer surface of the film while the reel was rotating. On the other end of the arm's shaft was another shaft with a small hammer attached and a small bell was mounted on the magazine. When the film on the reel reached a certain diameter (which was maybe a minute worth of film on the reel) the arm would drop and the other arm's hammer would ding the bell - to let the operator know of a changeover was approaching. Prob in the case of "IB" (which was rather incorrect for that time frame of 1944 due to the exposed reel concept in the movie and using nitrate film..That Ernemann VIIb would have had enclosed upper and lower magazines and could have had the same "drop ding" as with the Motiograph projectors..) there was a flywheel on the end of the upper reel shaft that had some sort of centrifical forced device when the shaft's hit a certan RPM, it would swing out and hit a bell to do the same reel change announcement...but a wild guess here..  |  IP: Logged Hillary Charles Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 748 From: York, PA, USA Registered: Feb 2001 posted 09-16-2009 05:38 AM                     In my old booth the bells on the upper magazines of the Simplex E-7s attached to cams on each feed spindle. When the feed reel was turning slowly, the "bounce" from the cam wasn't enough for the clapper to ring the bell, but as the reel neared the end and began to turn faster, it created just enough force and the bell rang. And it would ring faster and faster until the reel change. That was our version anyway. A bit different than the system in IB.  |  IP: Logged Bernard Tonks Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 619 From: Cranleigh, Surrey, England Registered: Apr 2001 posted 09-16-2009 05:44 AM                     Interesting Reel End Alarm.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 09-16-2009 05:54 AM                        This one is based upon the rotational speed of the feed reel:  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 09-16-2009 07:53 AM                       The Hatke alarms were LOUD! "DING! DING! DING!" They always rang three times. That is, unless they were old, and the little rubber labyrinth the ball bearing lived in got dry and shrank... then you never knew if it would work or not. If it did, then the ball might keep ringing until the reel ended! My favorites were the ones with the pendulum weight on the outside of the assembly (don't remember the manufacturer). As the shaft speed increased, the pendulum would swing back and forth enough to start gently hitting the inside of the bell housing. They rang for about 30 seconds, and were just loud enough to be heard in the booth. Monte, Motiograph didn't make those. Reel end alarms were aftermarket.  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 09-16-2009 08:45 AM                        I remember a reel alarm in an old theatre in downtown LA. It was a footage counter. The projectionist had to set the footage for each reel every time he loaded the reel. Obviously, when the film came in and was inspected, the footage was measured and marked on the head of each reel. A little complicated, but it worked.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 09-16-2009 08:55 AM                     Where I grew up as a kid all the theaters had them... seems like all Union projectionists had to rely on them as they were busy doing other things in the booth instead of the work they were contracted to do... I know other cities were not so bad... Mark  |  IP: Logged Paul Gordon Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 580 From: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Registered: Aug 2005 posted 09-16-2009 09:11 AM                        For 2000ft change over booths the bells are pretty important... You can get caught up making up or breaking down films, fixing stuff in the booth, reading etc... all you have to do is as soon as the bell starts is to dampen it with a metal clip, so that it stops ringing after you know the change over is soon.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 09-16-2009 09:27 AM                     If I could, I'd ban changeover alarms in all theatres, including 2K reel booths...PAY ATTENTION!  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 09-16-2009 09:34 AM                        Interesting, the negative comments about these alarms. Up until reel-to-reel disappeared, for the most part, I never heard much talk about them. They were simply a way of life back then. Certainly, nobody in the Seattle local made a point to make an issue about them. The end alarms that relied on the arm touching the film, I thought, were kind of interesting. I didn't care for the constant contact with the film, but I never saw any damage that could be attributed to them. The little wheel at the end of the arm seemed to do the job well enough. Those arms also forced you to move your film to house reels, if you expected the arms to be accurate. Shipping reels had a smaller hub diameter, drastically extending the alarm time. Other than the arms (there were very few in our area), there didn't seem to be much preference over which type to use. We had plenty of pendulums, the Hatke that Scott posted about, and a verson that had a flat plate on the spindle end. The alarm mounted above the plate and had a small wheel that rode against it. I saw the name a million times, but don't remember what it was.  |  IP: Logged Richard P. May Expert Film Handler Posts: 243 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: Jan 2006 posted 09-16-2009 09:56 AM                     In my early days of projecting the "drop-down" alarms were pretty common. Also common were prints run with these where the little roller was stuck or came off, and the arm scratched the full reel in a nice wobbly pattern. Jack's instinct of how long a reel runs is logical, but I've been caught missing a changeover when a print had a short reel somewhere in the middle. Unless one constantly keeps an eye on the feed reel, the bells are very useful. DM  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 09-16-2009 10:14 AM                        Thank you, Steve! I agree completely. quote: Paul Gordon For 2000ft change over booths the bells are pretty important... You can get caught up making up or breaking down films I don't think you'd be too busy making up or breaking down films in a 2K changeover booth.  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 5 pages: 1  2  3  4  5

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.