Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: who pays for tape damage?

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Topic: who pays for tape damage?

Scott Norwood
Film God

Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99

posted 11-18-2010 03:00 PM

Here's a new one for me:

A film festival delivered an HDCAM deck and tape to an exsiting venue for a screening. I was employed by the venue as the projectionist for the show. I don't know whether this was a four-wall deal or some other arrangement, but it doesn't really matter either way.

Anyway, the deck decided to give errors about tape slack and reel motors (E08 and E09 on a JH-3) and chew the tape (and break it in half) when it was first inserted. Tape was unplayable and unsalvageable, and a DVD copy had to be substituted. The rental house that provided the deck checked it out and said that it was fine and that the tape must have been defective (further investigation revealed that it had not been rewound properly from a previous engagement). The videomaker (who was paid for the screening rights) is now demanding that the festival replace the tape (~$800).

Is there a common protocol for this? Unlike a scratched print, a chewed videotape is completely unplayable. I've never seen this happen before, but I suppose that it must have happened somewhere. Is there any way to prove that a physical tape was defective when it arrived? It never did play for me...it simply refused to thread and it took several tries to eject it. Fortunately, it has not been suggested that either I or the venue has any responsibility for this (the festival provided both tape and deck) and this is more or less Not My Problem, but I'm curious.

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Todd McCracken
Master Film Handler

Posts: 263
From: Northridge, CA, USA
Registered: Mar 2008

posted 11-18-2010 03:03 PM

If they provided the deck and the tape I would say it's all on them (the festival)

Unless of course the contract says otherwise.

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Jimmy Conner
Film Handler

Posts: 2
From: Metairie, Louisiana, United States
Registered: Sep 2010

posted 11-20-2010 02:41 AM

A tape? How quaint... I thought everyone used HDDs, digital discs of one format or another, or solid state these days [Smile]

...

The videographer should have provided a simple (and relatively inexpensive) copy on Blu-Ray with a player. Tapes are always a problem waiting to happen.

HDCAM stock is expensive as these things go, but not anywhere near the quoted $800 (even including any transfer expenses).

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 11-20-2010 05:30 AM

$800 for a videotape? That's ridiculous. Seriously, tape needs to go away ASAP. Hard drives are the way to go.

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Sean McKinnon
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1712
From: Peabody Massachusetts
Registered: Sep 2000

posted 11-20-2010 06:59 AM

The festival that provded the deck should be responsible.

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Bill Gabel
Film God

Posts: 3873
From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA
Registered: Jan 2002

posted 11-20-2010 11:34 AM

Tapes are still a major format in festival, Post Production / Studio and Market Research screenings. We deal with all the formats sent to us by the studio / filmmakers.
Our screening formats:

HD-Cam-SR
HD-Cam
D-5
Digi Beta
DVcam
Beta-SP
Blu-ray
DVD
Avid
and other drives

Plus 35mm SRD , DTS and 6-Track Mag and Akai digital drives.
If we have an issue with a tape or media, we report the issue to the studio or filmmaker before anything else is done. So they are the ones to give the ok. And you transfer the go ahead to them if there is a problem. On rental decks you call the rental company and most of the time they will say nothing was reported to them or it checked out fine. All my decks are in-house used for Post-Production services.
The festival should have some form of insurance. But $800 for a tape, it sounds like the filmmaker want a new tape transfer.

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Martin McCaffery
Film God

Posts: 2481
From: Montgomery, AL
Registered: Jun 99

posted 11-20-2010 11:40 AM

A filmmaker we just had here was complaining about $1000 for an HDCAM tape. Don't know if that included transfer costs, but he found it shockingly expensive.

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Bill Gabel
Film God

Posts: 3873
From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA
Registered: Jan 2002

posted 11-20-2010 11:55 AM

You can get HD-Cam tape stock from many companies, here is a normal price from one company we have used.

HDCam large:
Sony HDCam Tape BCT-125 HDL for $89.99 for single tape.
HDCam SR large:
Sony HDCam-SR Tape BCT-124SRL HDCam SR for $229.38 for single tape.

The transfer and how many copies is the other cost for screening tapes. And what tape format you are transfering to.

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