Film fallen off core

[Nigel Bryant]

There's a word for that moment when time seems to slow to a crawl as you helplessly watch that reel of film crash to the floor and spill everywhere!

ohnosecond (oʊnoʊˌsɛkənd) The fraction of time between making a mistake and realizing it.

Wikionary.org

Yep, that's about right! Thanks for the responses people, "my friend" is feeling a lot better about things now. It was a long slow process, resisting the temptation to cut the film until that decision was made for us so a few frames were lost here and there. The film is silent so it could be worse. Thankfully we have an intact copy of the same film with sound.

[Randy Stankey]

There's a word for that moment when time seems to slow to a crawl as you helplessly watch that reel of film crash to the floor and spill everywhere!

ohnosecond (oʊnoʊˌsɛkənd) The fraction of time between making a mistake and realizing it.

Wikionary.org

[Jim Cassedy]

While working as an assistant cameraman some years back, I had the core drop out of a 1000ft roll of exposed film while unloading a magazine. The take-up in the camera was sluggish I guess. At first I was trying to deal with it in the changing bag, but there wasn't much room to work.in the bag. We were on location, but fortunately, we found a darkroom which made things a bit easier - but I still had to do it 'by feel' in total darkness. In the end, to avoid unnecessary handling and potential damage to the scenes that were shot, we decided it was best just to cut the roll into two sections, and package it in two separate cans and let the film lab deal with it. Luckily, the spot where I pretty much randomly cut the film was in a 'bad take" so we didn't loose any important footage.

[Leo Enticknap]

If you're left with two rolls of film, one still attached to the core, the other not, then there is no quick trick that will both get the film back into one roll, and avoid the need to cut and splice it.

However, if the core falls out of a roll which is otherwise intact, there is ... as long as the core in question is not a 2" one. In one of the very early practical classes I attended in film archiving school, I was told that 2" cores are the work of Satan, and that if I should ever find any in any film handling workplace I find myself in, that I should throw all of them except one in the trash immediately. That one is for rescue operations.

The reason why is that if a 3" or 4" core falls out of a reel, you can, if you are careful, place the coreless reel on a motorized flatbed, place a smaller core on the spindle, and then gently run the motor such that the film winds itself around the new core, thereby mounting the reel again. But if the reel was on a 2" core to start with, you're buggered.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Just don't miss-thread it going onto the take up deck of your shiny new platter. B Ut if it does happen you can use the shop vac as I am doing in the second picture to suck it all back up.
And yes, the manager got fired for doing this.

[Randy Stankey]

If you still have a donut of film, put it on a flat board or plate of some kind and unwind it like you were unspooling it from a platter.

Get some kind of lazy Suzan device like a revolving spice rack that you might use in your kitchen cupboard to use as a pivot.

Carefully cut the film to separate it into manageable sections if you have to. This is obviously a last resort because you will be left with a splice in your film. You’ll have to decide which is the lesser of two evils…. Scratched and damaged film or a few splices.

[Tony Bandiera Jr]

Error post, deleted

[Tony Bandiera Jr]

Pfft, that's nothing. Now THIS: http://www.film-tech.com/cgi-bin/ubb/f1/t006787/p1.html is an example of a REAL film handling disaster.

[Nigel Bryant]

Thanks Paul for confirming that, a slow process indeed.

[Paul Finn]

If the film is being handed properly, the core would be in a split reel, and the reel could be handled/worked-with safely like any other reel of film. If half the film is on the floor, you are correct that recovering it to a reel(s) is a slow careful manual process to prevent any further damage. Working with film on a bare core, other than possibly a trailer, always has the possibility of becoming big mess with unnecessary film damage.

Paul Finn

[Nigel Bryant]

If half of a film falls off a core and you are left with two chunks of unspooling film, is there any easier way of getting them back together apart from having to manually untwist the film hundreds of times as you hand-wind it back on to the core? Asking for a friend, sort of...
Thanks!