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This topic comprises 6 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6
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Author
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Topic: Hey, you, you rule! (AKA: Praising good film handlers)
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James R. Hammonds, Jr
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 931
From: Houston, TX, USA
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 11-08-2002 07:46 PM
We opened 4 prints of 8 Mile today.
When I came in at 2 yesterday, only 3 of them were here.
A call to Technicolor showed that one of them was being delivered at 11 PM from someone else.
I knew I was in for a used print from another theater somewhere and was fearing the worst: scratched, dirty, poorly wound, too many frames cut off the heads and tails, etc.Well, the print came in at around 1030 and I was realieved to find a print that was in great shape.
The tags on the back of the cans showed that it came from the Rice University Media Center here in Houston. Since this place runs changeovers, the heads and tails were uncut, the attached trailer was still attached, and all trailers that were sent in the can were still there.
No scratches and no dirt to be found anywhere on the print. Only two minor complaints with this print:
1. The reel bands were secured with a small piece of tape and one of them came loose during delivery.
2. At the end of one reel, there was a splice made with some nasty splicing tape that left a little residue behind when I peeled it off to remake it. Filmguard helped remove the residue. I thought the splice may have been made to remove a lab splice, but the next reel had a lab splice still in it, so it is not clear if the tape splice was made at Rice or not.
Either way, I was thankful to receive a used print in such good condition, especially since it was a bit of a late buildup. I know the projectionist for the Rice University Media Center has posted here before.
Are you still lurking?
Thank you for taking care of this print.
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Evans A Criswell
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1579
From: Huntsville, AL, USA
Registered: Mar 2000
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posted 11-08-2002 10:03 PM
As for praising good film handlers:Hats off to all the people responsible for handling the film and for the operation and maintenance of the projection equipment at the Regal River Oaks Cinema 8 in Decatur, AL, the theatre with the best and most consistent presentation quality in the Huntsville/Decatur area for the past 5 years! As of tonight, this theatre has 20 straight attendances with no deductions for any presentation defects (no other theatre around here comes anywhere close to that), and an incredible problem index of -0.2 (the next best is -1.4 ). -0.0 to -1.0 is the "A+" range, and -1.0 to -2.0 is the "A" range. ------------------
Evans A Criswell
Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Information Site
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 11-09-2002 01:47 AM
Dang, Evans, that formula is seemingly scientific!I certainly don't have anything like that to gauge on praising good film handlers. For those I consider deserving of the "you rule" title, I bestow that on the guys that gave me great film-going memories at the GCC Northpark #1-#2 in Dallas. And even though Jack Connor is a good friend of mine, I give that fellow "you rule" points for keeping the Carmike 8 in my town running very well. He's been running the same print of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" for I don't know how long now, but it has been long, and the print is still in very good shape (no dirt, scratches, etc.). He campaigned hard and got his theater in little-ol-Lawton equipped all-DTS. The guy cares about putting on a good show, and that's in spite of putting in some really long marathon hours.
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Steve Scott
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1300
From: Minneapolis, MN
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted 11-10-2002 07:49 PM
All of the guys in my booth, the Lakeville 18, have kept Big Fat Greek Wedding running for, god, it must be over 12 weeks. Five shows a day, still in our second largest house which has 262 seats, and not a scratch or bit of dirt on it. Even as we trained three assistant managers to run movies, we haven't had one bit of damage done to the print. It even feels new as the tail leader runs through your fingers as you begin to thread  And it still comes close to selling out every evening show on the weekends too. At the Willow Creek theater, the 2 projectionists have had their print as long as we have, and their's looks just as good and gets run just as much. It's a shame it doesn't have SRD, I'd love to check the error rate on it.
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Mark J. Marshall
Film God
Posts: 3188
From: New Castle, DE, USA
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 11-10-2002 10:04 PM
We got Greek Wedding after it had been out for about a month and a half. I was afraid we were getting someone else's crappy print, but low and behold, a VIRGIN PRINT!!! HAHA! We played it for several weeks, and for some strange reason it was pulled - it happened to be our biggest draw at the time (freakin stupid booking people!).Anyway, it was gone for about two weeks or so, and all of a sudden, we were slated to get it back this past weekend, and the first thing I thought was "Uh oh." We got a call from Technicolor telling us that the print wouldn't be delivered until 10:30am Friday morning. "Uh oh, again." No time to screen it and make sure everything was cool. I was all set to be extremely pissed because the print we sent out was in pristine shape, and there was no way we could get lucky twice, right? WRONG! The print showed up with all heads and tails attached correctly, even the paper bands were wound around the proper reels nicely, and it was extremely clean, and scratch free! What are the odds??? All I know is that it looks like it came from a theater in LA. Whoever it was, YOU RULE! Mark
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Frank Angel
Film God
Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 05-18-2003 09:06 AM
This thread is interesting in that it points out how the industry has changed. I have always worked in second run and art house format theatres. I have ALWAYS gotten "used" prints. (the only virgin prints I ever get are sneak previews). From the posts so far, I hear a subtle fear that if a print isn't virgin, then chances are it will have been abused.
Years ago that wasn't the case. Prints coming from first run houses, where typically booths were populated with well trained projectionists, mostly union guys, prints came to subrun booths in excellent condition. When there was the occasional mistreated print, it was something the projectionsist and our manager got really bent out of shape about -- it was the oddity, not the norm. And you have to remember, back in the 50s, 60s and even into the 70s, titles had a whole hierarchy of release strata that they don't today -- on big releases you first had reserved enagements which could play for months, even years, then flagship engagements in major markets, then first run wide, then second run, then subrun (underbellies as they were called) and then maybe a few years later, the re-release. Same prints going down the ladder. Yet, the theatres at the bottom of the totem pole still got prints in very good condition -- prints that had a lot more handling than the occasional print today that makes it to a second run house from one other first run engagement.
Contrast this with what is being implied in this thread -- that you are as likely to hit the lottery as you are of getting a decent print if it has played just one engagement before you. Sad commentary on what is going on in today's projection booths. What's the reason? Many, I'm sure, but I'd put my money on automation vs. trained personnel -- lots of automation, very little trained personnel.
Frank
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