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Topic: Bloopering?

Manuel Francisco Valencia
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 151
From: Oklahoma City, OK, USA
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 12-05-2001 09:50 PM

Is anyone familiar with this term? After going through some old manuals I found a list of common booth words and terms and found this word that I never heard before. The definition went a little something like: to scribble opaque ink in the shape of a circle or triangle on a splice to prevent audio popping. Granted this technique is not needed if one makes a correct splice but I am wondering if anyone else has seen or heard about this. A picture would be most helpful in seeing how this is actually performed.

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Jerry Chase
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1068
From: Margate, FL, USA
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 12-05-2001 10:34 PM

Blooping.

It used to be done with a blob of ink or dye forming an opaque extended oval over the soundtrack. Back in the 60s I used chartpack tape cut at an angle to make bloops. The need for blooping at the theatre was often caused by the griswold splicers not having the hold down springs adjusted properly, and the dull razor blade used to scratch off the emulsion overshooting the splice area. This resulted in a clear line the width of the film that would pop the soundtrack as it passed the solar cell.

The tape bloops worked great for about a week, then the adhesive would start to loosen and they would have to be redone or removed.
Clear tape butt splices eliminated a lot of the desperate need for blooping.

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Michael Brown
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1522
From: Bradford, England
Registered: May 2001

posted 12-06-2001 03:06 AM

This is a technique we use at my venue. We use black china marker and it does help slightly to remove pops as the splice goes through the soundhead.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

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

posted 12-06-2001 04:19 AM

Just make the quick modification to your splicer like is explained here in the tips section and forget about blooping entirely.

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John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 12-06-2001 08:48 AM

Check out the "Legendary Lexicon of Projection" in issue 12 (1981) of Kodak's "Film Notes for Reel People" in the "Manuals" section of Film-Tech.

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

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Gordon McLeod
Film God

Posts: 9532
From: Toronto Ontario Canada
Registered: Jun 99

posted 12-06-2001 09:08 AM

I often use a diamond of shaped cut out of artist tape

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John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 12-06-2001 09:23 AM

For conventional analog silver or silver+dye tracks, the ink or tape used for blooping should be opaque to infrared. A dye-based marker or ink would not be effective.

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Gerard S. Cohen
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 975
From: Forest Hills, NY, USA
Registered: Sep 2001

posted 12-07-2001 05:46 PM

Blooping used to be a routine process in film production editing
rooms. Blooping ink was available in 4 oz and 8 oz bottles, and I
have a heavy-duty diamond blooping punch used in editing optical
sound films.

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