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Topic: Fisher Price Presents...My First Reels

Jeremy Spracklen
unregistered

posted 05-30-1999 01:13 AM

There is alot of discussion concerning the declining quality of film stocks and
processes in the film industry today. But I have not yet heard discussion about the
totally unacceptiable condition of shipping reels. It seems like at least once a week
I will have a technicolor reel fall completly apart while inspecting the print. Even
worse are the ELR's. Not only do they not fit on the typical 35mm spindles, they
the sides will pop off at will.

While on the subject of shipping, I was building a print of "Cookie's Fortune" this
week and had two reels with masking tape protruding from the middle of the reel,
and another reel with a lab invoice wrapped around the core of the reel and stuck
into the film. Is it really that difficult to keep these items away from the film as it is
winding. Had I not caught these things it could have caused severe dammage to
the print. I have heard some other people talk about random incidents such as
this, but maybe through this board we can document how widespread it is.

Joe Redifer
unregistered

posted 05-30-1999 01:13 AM

ELR's suck. One of my projectionists loves them more than life itself. He calls
them "flying saucer reels" and literally gets excited on his way to work if he knows
he has to deal with them. I'm serious! It's a good thing, though, because it means
that I don't have to ever touch them. But Goodbye Lover came on ELRs and they
fell apart on him! Ha!

Technicolor reels? What can I say? I have called them countless times to complain
about them and always force them to send out replacement reels. I have found
reels chipped, cracked, split down the middle, with side missing, you name it! I
have found lab tape and string that is stuck in the middle of the reel. I don't know
how they manage to get some of that stuff stuck in there. I'm tempted to put it all
back in when I break down the print, but then my whole theatre will just look bad.

Filmboy
unregistered

posted 05-30-1999 01:14 AM

Many decades ago, movies were shipped on 1000 foot reels. In the 1930s,
somebody decided to double the length. The increase to 2000 foot reels was
good at the time. But for the last sixty years we poor projectionists have had to
live with these tiny reels! It's about time they shipped movies on 6000 foot reels.
These flying saucers of fun keep the print in better condition. The average
two-hour feature is shipped on two convenient reels. There's much less cutting
and splicing during make-up, which is quicker. Therefore only once, halfway
through the movie, do you see those annoying scratches and fingerprints on
screen. This is especially nice for second run theatres or changeover houses when
the print is not in mint condition. Also, maybe the studios will eventually remove
most of those distracting changeover cues that we ALL notice. Please show your
support for ELRs and in a couple years we might get ELPs (Extended Length
Platters)!! Imagine a large plastic platter shipped right to your theatre's front doors
and all you have to do is place it where the platter disc normally belongs. Now
that's what I call space-age technology.

Scott Norwood
unregistered

posted 05-30-1999 01:14 AM

Am I the only projectionist who has never received a print mounted on ELRs?
I've seen the big blue plastic shipping cases in other theatres, but everything that
I've run has come in on standard 20-minute reels. Personally, I'm somewhat
indifferent to the whole concept. We normally run film on 6000' house reels and
have a rewind bench which will accommodate 1/2"-shaft reels, so I have no
technical problems with ELR prints. Still, properly inspecting a print will take time
regardless of whether splices are required. I can't imagine that the ELR prints
really save all that much time. For me, they would actually take _more_ time to
work with than the small shipping reels--for the very last show of a given film
before it is to be shipped out, I'll mount the last shipping reel's worth of film on a
separate projection reel, and will have the entire rest of the film broken down and
in shipping cases by the time when the credits start. When the credits end, I just
spend five minutes rewinding the last 2000' of the feature onto its shipping reel,
carry the cans down to the lobby, and leave. The ELR's would add a few more
minutes' worth of rewinding time at the end of the night. I admit to not being
courageous enough to actually use an ELR as a take-up reel on the projector, for
fear that it would self destruct during the film. That said, the Technicolor reels do
suck, especially for those of us who get late-run prints. The way that the Airborne
delivery guys handle the films doesn't help this. Even the plastic split reels that
come from 20th Cent. Fox and PolyGram and others are much better (although
I've had these fall apart, too). The best shipping reels seem to be the Hollywood
Film Company plastic ones or unbent Goldberg metal reels (not Goldberg house
reels, although they would make great shipping reels).

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