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Author Topic: Too many scratched prints Alain LeTourneau Film Handler Posts: 37 From: Portland, OR Registered: Jan 2004 posted 09-24-2004 08:59 PM                        What's happened at the movies? Well, I think I know the answer to that question - minimum wage labor happens in the projection booth. Went to see Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind the other night and the entire print had scratches through it, multiple scraches on each side of the frame and down the middle on occasion. The print has been in circulation for a while here in Portland (several months) and is typical of what I've seen at this 6 screen independent theater before....Laurelhurst Theater...and another they own...St Johns Theater. (At the St Johns I watched a print of Mystic River that had spocket holes through the center of the frame throughout the entire film.) This afternoon I went to see Garden State at a Regal Entertainment chain Cinema. This film has only been in Portland for 3-4 weeks and already has scratches through the print. What's happening in the booth to cause all of these scratches? I'm not familiar with 35mm platter systems, regardless I don't why the theaters are allowing these prints to screen with so much damage. Alain LeTourneau Portland, Oregon  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 09-24-2004 09:14 PM                        quote: Alain LeTourneau What's happening in the booth to cause all of these scratches? I'm not familiar with 35mm platter systems, regardless I don't why the theaters are allowing these prints to screen with so much damage. It's called "Film Done Wrong". If they ask for replacement reels for scratches they caused by carelessness or neglect, they would be charged.  |  IP: Logged Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 09-24-2004 11:11 PM                    I transfered out of a theater that's notorious for scratching prints to a theater that has booth personnel that actually take pride in their work, and hardly ever scratch a print. I recently ran into someone else who used to work at the crappy theater and when she asked me why I left, I explained to her the concept of "film done right" and told her to walk around and look for a scratched print. Her response was "They don't get scratched here? Hmm. I thought that was something that just happens."  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 09-25-2004 02:01 AM                        Lay it right at the feet of the distributor. Studios are only interested in the major, first run stint of their product; the pittance they get after the umteen million dollar opening and run off is not where the big money is. Way down the line where an independent here or there picks up a title for $300 against 35% means very little to them. As John says, if the distributor gave two hoots about subsequent runs, they would penalize theatres who return damaged prints to them. If they did that often enough and consistently enough, exhibitors would finally get the message -- it cost less to hire competent, trained booth personnel at a salary concomitant with the skill the job requires, than it is to constantly have to pay for the damaged prints that minimum wagers cause. It's all economics. It's all crap anyway. All you have to do to prove that the distributor wants nothing to do with all but the first run stint is to look at the window of play they give a title. How soon after that first run stretch is the film released on video? Many times it is WHILE the independent or the small circuit is playing those scratched prints. I guess the studio's figure, "Hey, you wanna see the film without scratches after we close it at the godzilla-plexes? Go rent it on video -- there's never any scratches on the DVD."  |  IP: Logged Emma Tomiak Expert Film Handler Posts: 238 From: Carrollton, TX, USA Registered: Aug 2003 posted 09-25-2004 03:18 AM                        Hey, just because I only make minimum wage working in booth doesn't mean I don't care about presentation quality and film done right.  |  IP: Logged Dominic Espinosa Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1172 From: Boulder Creek, CA. Registered: Jan 2004 posted 09-25-2004 03:31 AM                     Taking pride and not damaging your film is a personality thing in my oppinion. I wont bust my balls for minimum wage but I sure as hell wont screw up the show I'm putting on, makes me look like an idiot. For example. I've work in a booth that used to trash prints and neglect equipment and I'm pretty sure they made what I did at that same job. However after a 6 week run of Collateral the print looks absolutely beautiful. My $0.02 is that wage is virtually irrelivant to print damage, it's how the employee is treated and how much pride that employee takes in what they do that counts.  |  IP: Logged Scott T Hill Film Handler Posts: 2 From: Sarasota / FL USA Registered: Sep 2004 posted 09-25-2004 03:39 AM                     Hi all I am new here but I wanted to chime in on the "print" phenominon, (please pardon my spelling it sucks). I work in Bradenton Florida, I have been here and Sarasota over 10 years and I have seen some pretty interesting things. My latest "job" is working at a second run theater in Bradenton. We are just getting ready to open Oct 1 and we have 6 screens. The worst film handling story I can offer is from last april when a mgr who "talked a good game" was breaking down lost in translation, while watching 21 grams. I was busy building butterfly effect and was amazed to see him paying attention to the film not the print he was working on. later when i returned i found about 200 feet of film on the floor and all 5 reels used but with 1 reel left on the platter. he was nowhere to be found, it took me over an hour to get the print straightened out and he of couse acted as if he had done nothing wrong. He didnt last another week. this same guy "no i will not name names" dropped a print of love accually before I started working at that cinema, i understand he threw the dropped reels down the stairs to get them reeled back up....his discussion on white gloves for film handling just went in one ear and out the other, as obviously this guy is a nut bag.  |  IP: Logged Mike Olpin Chop Chop! Posts: 1852 From: Dallas, TX Registered: Jan 2002 posted 09-25-2004 03:55 AM                     Scratches should not happen, and so at the theatre I work at: Scratched Print = Written up. Continue to scratch prints = No more booth for you!  |  IP: Logged Thomas Procyk Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1842 From: Royal Palm Beach, FL, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 09-25-2004 08:58 AM                     What's the most irritating is booking a repartory print from someone like Warner Craft who send multiple warnings through mail, fax, and in the cans that "CHARGES WILL BE INCURED (sic) FOR ANY DAMAGE TO PRINTS!!!" and when you go to inspect it, the print is trashed anyway. This means either: 1. They don't actually check the prints and don't actually charge theaters that damage them. Empty threats. 2. They DO check the prints and charge theaters, but then ship the trashed prints out again and again, making even more money from a product they already recovered a loss from. 3. They DO check the prints and charge theaters, then ship out the damaged prints to other theaters and charge THEM when they get the trashed print back, thus securing a second source of profit from the damaged print. Frank makes an interesting point, but it just doesn't make sense. If the distributors realize there's no money to be made from booking prints into indie or sub-run houses, just THINK of all the revenue that could be made charging for damaged prints!! Regardless of whether they will be used again or not, I would assume a distributor would be thrilled to collect $5,000 for a damaged print of "Harold & Kumar have Sex in a Castle" instead of collecting $300 v 35% for booking it into a sub-run. Spiderman could make another $300M if they charged theaters for all the damaged prints of a release that big. Distribution done wrong =TMP=  |  IP: Logged Floyd Justin Newton Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 559 From: Phoenix, Arizona, USA Registered: Jun 2002 posted 09-25-2004 09:13 AM                     Thomas-- Well said and to the point! FJN Local 294 Ret.  |  IP: Logged Jason M Miller Master Film Handler Posts: 284 From: Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA Registered: Jul 2004 posted 09-25-2004 10:14 AM                     I think taking the time to not scratch a print is better then the time you have to deal w/ customers complaints(I am both projectionist and managers) plus where I work scratch print = no job  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 09-25-2004 10:19 AM                     Presentation quality and prints being scratched don't JUST relate back to the minimum wage employees that run todays boths but also back to the booth engineer and technicians that designed, sold and installed that booth equipment in the first place. Well spec'd out, layed out, decent equipment will be much more fool proof and less likely to cause print damage than would a thrown together booth full of cheap, crappy equipment. I can think of things like platter rollers without keepers, projector film guidance arms that twist out of position when the platter slams to a stop, endless loop platter systems that constantly scratch film when they run and which in reality are one of mans stupidist ideas and film done at it worst, and poorly maintained, filthy, projectors with worn pad rollers and intermittent sprocket shoes as another BIG player in todays film damage department. In many cases you can't totally blame the low paid employees... alot of the blame has to go right back to the top management of the chain for allowing poor quality equipment to be installed in the first place. Mark @ CLACO  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 09-25-2004 12:27 PM                        quote: Thomas Procyk If the distributors realize there's no money to be made from booking prints into indie or sub-run houses But there IS money made there. It might not be a huge percentage, but it IS money. The smaller places are the ones who put the coffee in the pots, the plants in the offices and the stripes on the parking lots, among other things. It all spends the same. Besides, they must like our money, the way they panic if we owe them $20 and have a print scheduled in a week or two.  |  IP: Logged Tommie Evans Expert Film Handler Posts: 116 From: Birmingham, West Midlands, UK Registered: Sep 2004 posted 09-25-2004 01:44 PM                     quote: Goes back to the technicians that designed, sold and installed that booth equipment in the first place. Well spec'd out, layed out, decent equipment will be much more fool proof and less likely to cause print damage Can anyone name the equipment that they feel will most likely scratch a 35mm release print - obviously firstly through human error but secondly through lay-out, design etc. Here are mine..... Century JJ projector running 35mm (it eats film) Christie make-up tables. Cinemeccanica Vic 5's IMO are the best and very 'forgiving'  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 09-25-2004 01:51 PM                     The Century JJ is one of the more gentle machines around on 35mm film. The problem with them is all operator-error. If you have a problem with the dual format (dual sprockets) design, then you would have equally the same kind of problems with a Simplex 35/70 or a Cinemecannica V10, etc. Also the Christie MUT is the simplest of MUTs out there. It's just down and then up. No bs. No stupid cluster of rollers to go through. It's straightforward and works perfectly. No machine is idiot proof. Besides, people are constantly churning out better idiots every day.  |  IP: Logged

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