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Author Topic: Freaky Friday- short reel John T. Hendrickson, Jr Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 889 From: Freehold, NJ, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 08-05-2003 04:58 PM                     Joseph Pandolfi wrote in Feature Info and Trailer Attachments: "Reel 5 is a very short one, about 4 minutes." And how! Just for fun, I ran it through my old Neumade Film Measuring Machine, and it clocked through at 414 feet. Reel to reel projectionists will find room on reel #4 if they want to avoid the quick changeover. On the other hand, folks who want to use up their carbon shorts have a great opportunity. However, upon inspection I found that the last cue is a real bear to see. This about the shortest reel on a feature that I've seen. Does anyone recall a shorter reel?  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-05-2003 06:00 PM                        Why in the heck would they do that when there is room on an adjacent reel? This might confuse some harried projectionist somewhere who sees that short reel and thinks it's the end of the movie.  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 08-05-2003 06:07 PM                    Very short reels that are not the final (or sometimes first) reel usually means some major editing was done after the other reels were locked and it was too late to rebalance the reel changes without difficulty. I had one today that was 93 minutes spread over 7 reels. This might get rearranged before release (there's more than a month to go) but then again maybe not.  |  IP: Logged Darryl Spicer Film God Posts: 3250 From: Lexington, KY, USA Registered: Dec 2000 posted 08-05-2003 06:49 PM                    I may be mistaken but doesn't the film get initially edited down from a 1000 foot rolls then after editing is finished the negatives are cut and assembled into 2000 or less rolls for making release prints.  |  IP: Logged Matt Hale Expert Film Handler Posts: 123 From: Vancouver, Canada Registered: Dec 2002 posted 08-05-2003 07:06 PM                        With all of the features I have been involved with, the 2000 foot reel breaks were set as early as possible. Sometimes a scene moves to keep things even as the cut changes, but by and large its fixed early. Certainly the reels are locked well before it gets to the neg cutter. One show that I am working on now is a 6 reeler, with two being almost full, and the other four all being between 12 and 15 minutes. It certainly would have fit in 5 reels, but they decided early on in the cut it was going to be 6 so that's the way it is. A 4 minute reel in the middle certainly sounds suspicious.  |  IP: Logged Thomas Procyk Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1842 From: Royal Palm Beach, FL, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 08-06-2003 01:50 AM                     Just the opposite, I remember building "The Wall" which was 5 reels filled to the brim. One of the reels had the film actually flush with the edges of the flanges!! It wasn't a "fill-n-hack" job, either because the cue dots were where they should be. You'd think they'd spread it out a little more to protect the film. =TMP=  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 08-06-2003 07:32 AM                        I agree. (Over)filling a shipping reel to the point that the film winds beyond the flanges is almost certain to cause shipping damage. Even when secured with proper stiff cardboard bands, the film should not be wound beyond about 1/2-inch below the reel diameter.  |  IP: Logged Jonathan Ralston Film Handler Posts: 13 From: Cincinnati, OH, USA Registered: Jul 2003 posted 08-09-2003 01:01 AM                     Sony did a great job with Bad Boys II. Eight reels almost perfectly filled to 1/2 inch below the flange. Makes tearing down pretty easy  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 08-09-2003 03:58 AM                        Just ran GUYS AND DOLLS -- 10 reels, all short. Musicals tend to have short reels because savvy editors don't want to make a reel change in the middle of a song. MY FAIR LADY, if I recall, is 14 reels. But as newer generations mostly familiar with platters take over from the guys & dolls who only knew change-over operation, they may not see the necessity for finding "clean" change-over points as they will be thinking platters -- always a perfect change-over....except of course after a bunch of frames get hacked away by sloppy buildups and breakdowns. And mind you, this is not a slam at platters, but the doofuses who can't break a splice except by chopping off two frames. Therefore change-over guys using long-play reels are not excused by any means. Frank  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 08-09-2003 07:37 AM                     Frank, Actually, you have to consider for older musicals (pre 1980s mostly) that they balanced the reels based on only acetate stock but 4-track magnetic striping. So, even if you have an acetate print, if it isn't striped, it won't fill the reel. Steve  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 08-11-2003 04:50 AM                        Right, Steve, and add to that, this print (G&D) was poly which is thinner and so the reels are even less full (by volume, not length)! Frank  |  IP: Logged Kenneth Wuepper Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1026 From: Saginaw, MI, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 08-11-2003 06:53 AM                     Clean areas for changeover? Both prints in 70mm of "Oklahoma" we have screened over the years contained a changeover in the middle of a dance number. The dancers move upstage, BAM, they come back downstage to the front and all of this at 30fps. There is a "REEL" challenge for you. KEN  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-11-2003 10:22 AM                     Try Sound of Music has a changeover mid note in the trouble with maria  |  IP: Logged Kenneth Wuepper Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1026 From: Saginaw, MI, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 08-11-2003 03:33 PM                     Right on! "The Sound of Music" in 70mm How about the middle of "If I Were A Rich Man" in Fiddler on the Roof? Also in 70mm I believe there is a change in the middle of "Dirty" in "Paint Your Wagon" also 70mm. KEN  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 08-12-2003 01:55 PM                        How bout CAMELOT -- end of R1 -- Richard Harris is talk-singing to Vanessa Redgrave and explains that in autumn "the leaves are whisked away at night....of course." Change-Over R2 - Regrave " Of course." A fie on the guys who run down to low countdown numbers...they loose Vanessa's "Of course." Frank  |  IP: Logged

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