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Author Topic: White line flashing on screen Thomas Pitt Master Film Handler Posts: 266 From: Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK Registered: May 2007 posted 01-16-2008 06:13 PM                     In most movies I've seen in theaters, a white line flashes up on the screen for one frame in the middle of the movie. Sometimes it occurs a few times during the movie, other times only once. It's as if the middle of the frame has the emulsion scraped off and is just transmitting white light. Most of the time there's little or no missing footage at these points, though the Dolby/SDDS might drop out to analogue for a couple of seconds. Do you have any idea what these could be? Are these relics of when the film has snapped and had to be spliced back together? Are they cinch marks caused by brain wraps? Are the film handlers cutting frames out of the movie for souvenirs?  |  IP: Logged Bill Gabel Film God Posts: 3873 From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 01-16-2008 06:25 PM                     Are you talking about Lab splices?  |  IP: Logged Robert E. Allen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1078 From: Checotah, Oklahoma Registered: Jul 2002 posted 01-17-2008 12:03 AM                     Sounds like lab splices to me Bill. A smaller aperture plate or moving the masking down should correct the problem.  |  IP: Logged Mike Schulz Expert Film Handler Posts: 122 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: May 2007 posted 01-17-2008 12:11 AM                     Sounds like a lab splice to me as well. You should remove all of them from the print while you are inspecting during build-up  |  IP: Logged Thomas Pitt Master Film Handler Posts: 266 From: Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK Registered: May 2007 posted 01-17-2008 12:13 AM                     I don't know what lab splices usually look line, but from reading older topics on Film-tech, it could be lab splices I'm seeing. Does anyone have a picture of what a lab splice looks like? I doubt a smaller aperture plate or masking adjustment would help; the white lines are right in the middle of the picture area!  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 01-17-2008 03:46 AM                     when you pull the reels (or cores) of film out of the shipping box, look for any slight discolouration texture in the winds themselves. Then hand wind the film on a reel to this section and I bet there is a splice - which is a heat joined splice where the labs join rolls of raw film together before the emulsion is layered on prior to development of the positive stock. To eliminate this 'flash' is to cut out these splices to make anew.  |  IP: Logged Bernard Tonks Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 619 From: Cranleigh, Surrey, England Registered: Apr 2001 posted 01-17-2008 04:06 AM                     As Monte said.  |  IP: Logged Tim Asten Film Handler Posts: 98 From: Brighton, United Kingdom Registered: Nov 2006 posted 01-17-2008 05:57 AM                     Hey Bernard, Is the caption on that frame of film a subliminal message to Thomas?  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 01-17-2008 10:32 AM                     This is where an ultrasonic splicer is really needed in the booth. Cutting out a frame with a tape splicer, no matter how perfect that tape splice is, it will still have "tape edge lines" horizontally across the image and if there is any movement to the image a jump in continuity too.  |  IP: Logged Richard P. May Expert Film Handler Posts: 243 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: Jan 2006 posted 01-17-2008 01:08 PM                     I would think a properly made tape splice would cover two frames, with the edges on the frame line. Done this way you shouldn't see the tape line on the screen. Doing either this or with a sonic splicer will lose one frame. RPM  |  IP: Logged Richard May Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1057 From: Floral Park, NY USA Registered: Aug 2004 posted 01-17-2008 01:32 PM                     The ultrasonic splicer is great. You're going to lose the frame either way you cut it and splice it. With the ultrasonic splicer, you don't notice it going through.  |  IP: Logged Ken Lackner Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1907 From: Atlanta, GA, USA Registered: Sep 2001 posted 01-17-2008 02:14 PM                     To the first Richard: You would think they would make splicing tape 8 perfs wide to completely cover two frames, and splicers that use this tape. Unfortunately, they don't. Most tape is about for or five perfs wide, so the edges of the tape will be visible in two frames. Still much less objectionable to a lab splice.  |  IP: Logged Eric Robinson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 538 From: Santa Rosa, CA Registered: Jan 2005 posted 01-17-2008 02:45 PM                     I always use a sharpie to fix my lab splices.  |  IP: Logged James Westbrook Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1133 From: Lubbock, Texas, Usa Registered: Mar 2006 posted 01-17-2008 03:21 PM                     Seems like I remember a movie with that subtitle in it...  |  IP: Logged Brian Guckian Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 594 From: Dublin, Ireland Registered: Apr 2003 posted 01-17-2008 03:45 PM                     quote: Ken Lackner To the first Richard: You would think they would make splicing tape 8 perfs wide to completely cover two frames, and splicers that use this tape. Unfortunately, they don't. Fear not - they do! CIR make 8-perforation 35mm splicers, and suitable tape is made by several manufacturers. (FWIW is the Neumade splicer also available in 8-perforation format?)  |  IP: Logged

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