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Topic: Worst reel change locations

Scott Ribbens
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 118
From: Los Angeles
Registered: Oct 1999

posted 11-13-1999 08:32 PM

Short reels thread got me thinking. What was the film that had the wosrt reel changes for you.

I remember, right off the top of my head, the movie Sphere. I think that the changes between reels 1&2, 2&3, 3&4, were all fade to black/ fade from black. While that was not so bad for me, as I got the print new and uncut, right away I felt sorry for anyone getting this film second run from some theatre where someone was not paying attention while they were breaking the print down and grabbed the wrong reel.

Even with one or two frames of picture id left on the leaders, you still could not see if you had reels 2,3 in the right order even if you looked at the heads and tails for id.

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Scott

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 11-13-1999 08:38 PM

I'm going with "Heart and Souls" for the worst all time changeover placement.

Between R1 and R2 the picture fades to clear film...splice/changeover...and back in from clear. How stupid! Even the most perfectly made tape splice would show up on a frame like this. Also, can you imagine the typical theater's dirt accumulation at that splice? Sheez!

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Bruce McGee
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1776
From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular.
Registered: Aug 1999

posted 11-13-1999 09:56 PM

At all these fade outs, why not scrawl R1, etc on either side of the spliced frame. Print it small below the picture in the frame line area... I just got an old movie for the collection that has a fade-out--fade-in at each reel change. The previous owner cut the print for use on a platter and messed up the fades with ugly splices. If he had gone about 3 feet further towards the tail of the film, he would have found 4 frame lines in a row to cut at! All 5 reels are this way!

I own nothing that has uncut heads and tails. It must be a nice feeling.

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Scott Norwood
Film God

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

posted 11-13-1999 11:31 PM

My vote for worst reel-change location goes to "Brassed Off" (a really good film, BTW); there's one reel where you see the first cue mark, then a fade to black, then a cut to a different scene, then the second cue mark. "SLC Punk" (also a good film) comes in as a close second; the R1->R2 changeover comes right in the middle of a scene and the timing didn't match in the print that I saw.

As a followup to the "short reels" thread, I'll mention that "Holy Smoke" (a really, really good Austrailian film...not yet "officially" released in the US...scheduled for limited release in December) has a bunch of short reels; the first four reels will fit on a single 6000' reel and will run for less than an hour total. The film is six reels in all. I forget the total running time, but I bet that it could have easily been distributed on five reels.

Bruce--I have a 1960's print of the 3-reel short "White Mane"; heads and tails are intact on all three reels. I can't bring myself to cut them off and run the whole short on a 6000' reel. Still, the condition isn't that great...there are scratches in each reel...this short has obviously been run quite a bit...it's a nice print, though, with good silver content (it's B&W) and density track on two of the three reels.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 11-14-1999 01:15 AM

Goonies was similar. R1-3 would fit nicely on a 6000' reel and R4-8 would fit nicely on a second 6000' reel.

5 reels should NOT fit on a 6000' reel!

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Stephen Winner
Film Handler

Posts: 57
From: Richmond,VA
Registered: Jun 99

posted 11-14-1999 08:38 PM

It wasn't so bad finding which reels were what, but the changeovers in "The Phantom Menace" annoyed me. They were always in the middle of scenes. Normally chaneovers are at scene changes. The pod racing scene had to be the worst!

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John Wilson
Film God

Posts: 5438
From: Sydney, Australia.
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 11-15-1999 12:32 AM

How about the c/o from sp1 to sp2 in "High Society"? It occurs slap bang in the middle of a song!!..(Who wants to be a millionaire?)

BTW,a cut from Scott's post...

As a followup to the "short reels" thread, I'll mention that "Holy Smoke" (a really, really good Austrailian film...not yet "officially" released in the US...

Yes, they do come around every now and then, don't they? But it's spelt Australian. Just thought I'd point it out.

Did anyone catch another good Aussie pic, "The Castle"? It was snapped up at Cannes (I think) then the distributor realized they had no idea how to sell this thing so it died a very quick death. It is a charming story of family values versus the business Golieths of this world

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John Wilson
Film God

Posts: 5438
From: Sydney, Australia.
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 11-20-1999 05:40 AM

The one from reel three to four in Back to the Future2 was pretty bad. It went to black for about four seconds while the audio continued. The distributor put a piece of paper in the trunk saying 'Don't cut this bit off'. Of course, the guy who made it up cut it off and I had to put the stupid thing back on.

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Charles Everett
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1470
From: New Jersey
Registered: May 2001

posted 10-21-2001 04:30 PM

Hedwig and the Angry Inch takes this year's prize. You can barely make out the motor cue and projector cue at the end of R2.

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Bob Healey
Film Handler

Posts: 93
From: Milford, CT
Registered: Sep 2001

posted 10-21-2001 04:42 PM

The two films I've deal with so far that have had the worst cues are Timecode and Tomb Raider R3 - same reason for both. There is so much clutter in tomb raider, and the 4 distinct frames of time code make finding the cues extremely difficult. And if I miss a cue, everyone gets to see the tail of the reel.

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Phil Connolly
Film Handler

Posts: 80
From: Derby, England
Registered: May 2000

posted 10-21-2001 05:26 PM

Also with 'Timecode' you've got the added problem, if a change over is not perfect you defeat the object of the film, to be one single take. Because the all the reel changes occur during a shot, the action can jump and the audience thinks they are being fooled and the film wasen't shot in a single take.

Mike Figges the director was unhappy with a 35mm release for this reason.

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Chad Souder
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 962
From: Waterloo, IA, USA
Registered: Feb 2000

posted 10-21-2001 06:08 PM

I remember a bad one in "Ransom". In a scene where Mel Gibson is talking to Gary Sinese in his home (towards the end of the movie), there is a change in the middle of a scene at a camera change. The set had green walls or green light or something, and of course the two reels didn't match up well, so you get these two completely different shades of green back to back.

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"Asleep at the switch? I wasn't asleep, I was drunk!" - Homer Simpson

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Serge Bosschaerts
Film Handler

Posts: 70
From: Schoten, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 10-21-2001 07:32 PM

Good Morning, Babylon from the Brothers Taviani comes to my mind.
No difficulty with black frames or so but the film had one very, very short reel and I was playing on change over, one reel at the time.
There was barely enough time to clean the projector and recharge it before I had to change over again.
Why this reel wasn't split up between two reels is a mystery, maybe just to drive the operator in a change over box nuts ...

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