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Topic: What kind of automation?

Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 10-05-2000 12:47 PM

I get prints that have automation cues left on them quite frequently. Was just wondering... what kind of automation requires those cues that are made from reflective (not foil) tape? They are placed right in the middle of the film, usually four or five bits of tape in a row (one per frame). It sucks, because those things are hard to peel off.

Another type involves a 1/2" x 3/4" sticker that has a bar code on it. Again placed in the middle of the film. I see this type less frequently.

Anyone got these types of automation? What kind are they?

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Mark Gulbrandsen
Resident Trollmaster

Posts: 16657
From: Music City
Registered: Jun 99

posted 10-05-2000 01:47 PM

These could be Neumade Maxi 12PC's. They can read number of cues in a row and then advance to a preset line. Personally, I would never want to make up a bunch of films with that many cues. The Strong automation, and others only require 3 cues to acomplish the same thing.
Mark

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Ian Price
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1714
From: Denver, CO
Registered: Jun 99

posted 10-05-2000 02:36 PM

The Barcode cues are from United Artists who utilized that kind of cue for ten years. It was cool because you had a barcode that could do anything and you could do anything in any sequence.

The barcodes were as reliable as tape cues when set up properly, but they were useless if the person didn't set up the scanner correctly.

They were bad because once placed on the film, they are very hard to remove. I used to place them on a piece of clear splicing tape.

They were also bad because if they were placed in a light colored scene they showed up on the screen very well.

Brad figured out how to cut them down in size and place them on the edge of the film in order to reduce their intrusion into the picture.

I like procimity cue detectors with the foil dots now.

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Jon Bartow
Master Film Handler

Posts: 287
From: Massachusetts
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 10-05-2000 02:39 PM

Big Sky Cue Readers utilize an infared cue detector that is tripped by 1/4" by 1/2" piece of reflective tape placed in the middle of the film. There can be anywhere from 1 to 8 cues in a row (on consecutive frames)

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Tom Kroening
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 214
From: Janesville, WI USA
Registered: Oct 1999

posted 10-06-2000 04:26 AM

Ahh yes, those are the Nuemade optical cues. If you think they are hard to get off, just try putting them on! (and getting them straight and in the right place!). I would love to set the automation to sequencial cues, but the readers don't always work and i don't want a missread cue to showstop at the credits, or the machine to alarm all the time. The good part is i am almost positive that those cues are non conductive... which means you can just go ahead and leave them on and they won't affect your cue (they are in the black credits anyway!)

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John Walsh
Film God

Posts: 2490
From: Connecticut, USA, Earth, Milky Way
Registered: Oct 1999

posted 10-06-2000 11:48 AM

Yes, they probably are Nuemade/Xetron cues. We have quite a few of them (but they are supposed to remove them before a print goes out!)

The standard reader looks at the emulsion side and counts cues. How many in a row determine which relay gets thrown. You can have 1 through 8.

What an cue does depends on what you have hooked the relay contacts to.

The cues should be one frame apart, on the frameline- but in actual practise, they can be two frames apart. But, they can't be closer, or the reader won't see them all, and mis-count.

Other models will read cues from both sides of the film.

Just a note; The model "Maxi-12" is the model of the automation system only, which is independent of the cue reader. I think the cue reader is an "Opti-8." For example, someone could buy a Maxi-12 with a regular foil type reader.

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