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Author Topic: The Soloist - what happened?? Matt Skilton Film Handler Posts: 43 From: Bromley, Kent, UK Registered: May 2009 posted 09-26-2009 08:44 AM                        The Soloist has just been released here in the UK and consequently we were given a used US print. It's one of the worse prints I've come across. There's emulsion scratching through-out all the reels, base scratching through-out two reels and a series of some red blobs/stains in one reel. We requested some replacement reels for the worse offenders but we were told that everyone has had similar problems and so more are having to be ordered and shipped from the US, which means we wont get them until next week if we're lucky. I'm certain no one here is responsible, but it's always 'heart-in-mouth' moments when films like this have long release delays in the UK because it usually means it's ganna be a used US print. Nightmare.  |  IP: Logged Karl Borowski Expert Film Handler Posts: 161 From: Sulking in GameFAQ Forum Registered: Sep 2009 posted 09-26-2009 09:19 AM                     The United States is the greatest country in the world. Expect nothing but the perfection and high quality from us  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 09-26-2009 01:02 PM                        The Blu-ray was released ages ago. Just run that.  |  IP: Logged Mark Hajducki Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 500 From: Edinburgh, UK Registered: May 2003 posted 09-26-2009 02:18 PM                     At least they went to the effort to put new wrappers on each of the reels before sending them out, just to increase the sense of disappointment.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 09-26-2009 03:13 PM                        Anyway, as I was saying (or not), it just goes to show how little importance most exhibitors in the US place on quality presentations. They just do not care, especially at the sub-run level. We hired a projectionist from the sub-run theater across the street from where I was working once and I started to re-train him. He walked out and quit after only threading 7 projectors, telling the manager that he "just couldn't do it" in reference to putting up with my method of training, saying that I was too much of a hard-ass or some such thing (those whom I train from scratch never have issues like that). I had told him that he'd have to step up his game if he wanted to work with me, but apparently he couldn't. It kind of made me proud that he quit like that. What's even more interesting is that after I left that theater, they immediately hired THAT SAME GUY as my replacement. I guess he had 4 out of frame splices that week, two of which wouldn't even make it through the projector. Oh, all of this was on the same print. I also heard that he stopped movies during the show to change cues. They fired him after a week or two. Anyway this guy is probably a good representation of the average US projectionist, maybe a touch worse. If you had gotten one of my prints of The Soloist, it would have been in perfect shape. Too bad.  |  IP: Logged Karl Borowski Expert Film Handler Posts: 161 From: Sulking in GameFAQ Forum Registered: Sep 2009 posted 09-26-2009 05:42 PM                     Joe: That is hardly my experience with second run theatres. There's only one 2nd-run multiplex around here, but I have seen prints, literally last showing, last night on the 2ND RUN, without any scratches, or very minimal scratching. So there are some real top-notch theatres, even chains out there. At the same time, I have seen abysmal, abysmal, abysmal looking prints the first week in a big multiplex. I've seen films with five scratches running down the entirety. I'd have to TRY to accomplish a feat like that. There is no reason or rhyme to it. Quality on the whole is terrible, but it ultimately comes down to individuals and how much they care. Even with the best training, many multiplexes just have one person upstairs running things, and it is ultimately up to that person how much training they want to ignore or follow.  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 09-26-2009 06:19 PM                     No, it's not about caring. Most operators in this day and age don't even understand the job, let alone care about it. People care about their jobs only insofar as they can understand it. Most people in projection booths understand so little about their jobs that they can barely function. They operate at such a low level that they can't even fathom running the booth without damaging the film. Film "just gets scratched". If they understood their jobs they would know that they can run a movie without grinding the film to pieces. If they knew that they would CARE about doing it right. I see things like this so often that I'm starting to get blind to it. You read my rants about how people don't even know how to click a computer mouse. I see people like that on an almost daily basis. Yes, we still have some good operators in projection booths in this day and age but we also have some REELY STOOPIT ones! Unfortunately, the stoopit ones seem to be in the majority.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 09-26-2009 06:27 PM                        It's about not caring, otherwise the exhibitors would be sure to make sure the "projectionists" got better training in the first place. As it is, they can't be bothered to do so and would rather the "projectionist" also have shifts and duties downstairs as well.  |  IP: Logged John Walsh Film God Posts: 2490 From: Connecticut, USA, Earth, Milky Way Registered: Oct 1999 posted 09-26-2009 06:28 PM                     Yes, but on the other side, being a projectionist is no longer treated like a real career (benefits, etc.) In many places, it really isn't that great of a part time job.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 09-26-2009 06:43 PM                        Again, that all comes down to not caring enough about the onscreen presentation to have long-time skilled people up there when you can just train the managers to press a button. So the print gets dirty or scratched. The theater loses it after a couple of weeks. $$$ over all else.  |  IP: Logged Cameron Glendinning Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 845 From: West Ryde, Sydney, NSW Australia Registered: Dec 2005 posted 09-26-2009 08:15 PM                     Well they ARE paying for it big time now with the D.Cinema conversion. Probably too little to late for the overall health and profitability of the exibition industry. P.S I probably have Joe's print here in Australia!  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 09-26-2009 08:32 PM                        quote: Quality on the whole is terrible, No it's not. you sound like every print you get is trashed. We play about 40 to 50 used prints a year, and I would say over 95% of them are in perfect shape. The other 5% might have the occasional minor defect here and there, but for us to get an "unwatchable" print is rare, and I'm pretty picky.  |  IP: Logged Karl Borowski Expert Film Handler Posts: 161 From: Sulking in GameFAQ Forum Registered: Sep 2009 posted 09-26-2009 08:42 PM                     Right, 95% of the second-run prints you get (not first run foreign, which is a much bigger audience) are in perfect shape. Do you think that it is anywhere near that percentage though, of all first run prints that are in perfect shape? I'd say probably at LEAST 50% of 35mm prints get damaged in some significant way, worldwide, on their first run. And as for the D-Cinema conversion, the theatres aren't the only ones paying for it; we all are. Let's not pretend for a second that D-Cinema 2K projectors are better than proper 35mm contact prints (before the DI process and the optical printing process got combined in probably the worst possible way, giving the worst elements of both).  |  IP: Logged Marco Giustini Film God Posts: 2713 From: Reading, UK Registered: Nov 2007 posted 09-27-2009 05:16 AM                     quote: Joe Redifer saying that I was too much of a hard-ass or some such thing (those whom I train from scratch never have issues like that) That's why I've always trained people from scratch. I trained a couple of "experienced" guys and it was just wasted time. They have been working that way for years, and usually they don't have enough mental flexibility to change their working method.  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 09-27-2009 09:59 AM                        "Labor" problems are always, by definition, a management failure. If management wanted the situation to improve, then a plan would be enforced. "Fish stinks at the head!" Louis  |  IP: Logged

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