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

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Film Handlers' Forum   » 70mm shipping cases and reels in poor condition causing print damage

Author Topic: 70mm shipping cases and reels in poor condition causing print damage Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 05-23-2014 11:51 AM                        I ran my first 70mm show since 2007 last night (Baraka), and was worried by the poor condition of the shipping cases and reels in which it arrived, which had clearly inflicted significant edge damage on the print itself. I ran 70 on and off throughout the '90s and early '00s, and cannot remember any cases and reels being this bad. The cases were full of dents and dings, the latches had either failed or were about to (one was held sealed with duct tape) and several handles were missing. I suspect that these cases have literally been tossed about in the course of transit. The reels were all seriously bent. I got the print off onto house reels by winding slowly and cautiously, holding the edges of the stock at an angle to prevent them from catching. I then went to work on the shipping reels with a wooden block and a hammer, which hopefully has straightened them out to the point at which the edges won't catch, even if the print later encounters an idiot who tries to project it straight off the shipping reels. The film had significant edge "swirling" already, from where the stock had caught the bent edges of the reels. Sorry - didn't manage to get pictures, because my cellphone battery was dead and I forgot to bring a charger or USB wire. If the print is still there on Sunday, when I'm next at that theater, I'll take some then. I'm guessing that the chances are close to zero that any new 5/70 prints will be made again, now, even of the usual corny favorites. Surely it would be safer to ship the remaining ones around the few remaining theaters that still play them on cores and in cans now - ideally with paper cladding and "fragile - handle with care" labels on the outer boxes?  |  IP: Logged Terry Lynn-Stevens Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1081 From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Registered: Dec 2012 posted 05-23-2014 12:17 PM                     How did the picture look?  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 05-23-2014 12:52 PM                        Photographically, lovely. There was, sadly, a nasty vertical base scratch (tramline) throughout reels 3 and 4 (reel 2 in the doubled-up configuration), that varied in intensity, but was present throughout. Unless you're looking for it you can only really see it against a bright background (e.g. sky), but it was still disappointing to see that the print had picked up a serious scratch. The starts and ends were also a bit dirty, though I've seen a helluva lot worse. It hadn't been plattered though - there were no splices on the heads and tails, and the reel-doubling splices were ultrasonic: yet more proof of the point that many of us here have made many times, namely that banning the plattering of valuable prints is not in itself an insurance policy against accidental damage. There were also properly scribed cue marks, which should prevent any amateur ones from appearing in future. The DTS six-track played fine throughout - no timecode dropouts.  |  IP: Logged Paul Gordon Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 580 From: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Registered: Aug 2005 posted 05-23-2014 02:27 PM                        Leo there are also 6-track mag prints of Baraka still around. We played one in 2010. Some light intermittent base scratches but a super sharp great looking print. A couple new DTS prints were made in 2011-12.  |  IP: Logged Bill Gabel Film God Posts: 3873 From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 05-23-2014 04:29 PM                     The only new 70MM prints are what Fox did. When NFS closed they had hundreds of 70MM reels and cases that they junked in their Los Angeles area depot. What ever prints that the studios did not want back they junked. And the LA depot still had hundreds of prints sitting in the depot.  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 05-31-2014 10:16 PM                        There's a postscript to this. I mentioned the knackered cases and reels, plus the scratch down the middle of reel 2, to our programmer, who passed that on to the distributor. The distributor replied that the print is looked after by a facility (I don't feel comfortable naming it here, just in case anything I've been told was garbled in transmission) which charges a $300 examination fee every time it comes back from a booking. She (the distributor) was surprised to hear that we'd found damaged cases and a scratched reel, because her storage people had just told her that they had just examined the print and found it to be in perfect condition! If this is true, it is yet another reason why the dwindling number of 70mm prints in circulation are deteriorating as fast as they are. If the distributors, and/or the companies to whom they subcontract the storage, maintenance and circulation of these prints, simply aren't catching damage as it takes place, then the theatres that are doing this will simply carry on with no-one alerting them to the fact that they're causing a problem.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 06-01-2014 01:21 AM                     quote: Leo Enticknap If the distributors, and/or the companies to whom they subcontract the storage, maintenance and circulation of these prints, simply aren't catching damage as it takes place, then the theatres that are doing this will simply carry on with no-one alerting them to the fact that they're causing a problem. This has always been the case. An excellent example was the DFS depots. They hired people COMPLETELY unqualified to inspect their prints and those reports are what the studios went by.  |  IP: Logged Bill Gabel Film God Posts: 3873 From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 06-01-2014 11:20 AM                     The DFS depot in Los Angeles was a dump. When they closed they sent back only prints the studios wanted back. Whatever 70MM prints went back to the studios for them to send to a new depot to service. But what was left in that depot were hundreds & hundreds of 35mm prints waiting to become landfill. All the inspection equipment was so wore and dirty. The only way to keep a print clean in that place was not open the can.  |  IP: Logged Jason Metcalfe Expert Film Handler Posts: 134 From: Austin, TX, U.S. Registered: May 2010 posted 07-27-2014 11:13 PM                     We had a similar incident with a 70mm print of Vertigo  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 07-28-2014 01:35 AM                     Jason, the rules are clear. No off-site linking to pictures. Upload them to this thread. That's not the first time I've seen a 70mm reel bent like that though.  |  IP: Logged Sean Weitzel Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 619 From: Vacaville, CA (1790 miles west of Rockwall) Registered: Dec 1999 posted 07-28-2014 11:46 PM                     At least there were no magnetic tracks to destroy  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

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.