National Film Archive of Japan - Film Handling

[Ryan Gallagher]

Not many people making videos like this, since this is NEW thought I'd share.

Unfortunately no english language CC or subs, so maybe just some film handling ASMR for everyone. But no subs needed for most of it. ;-) They at least highlight the do and don'ts pretty clearly.

[Brad Miller]

Ummm, yeah these people need to learn a few things. The highlights:

Right off of the bat in the first minute they are winding the protection leader down past the projector before threading. Actual professional projectionists that understand the detrimental consequences to the print do not do that.

Then they proceed to get their hands all over the leader in the next scene as they claim it's "protected" by going into a trash can.

Next they show what happens when the center falls out of a core of film due to improper film handling of the core. While it's important to demonstrate the bad handling of the core for the video, their repair isn't exactly the best solution since if there is any dirt on that film it will cinch scratch using their technique. (This one I'll only dock a little bit off as an actual theater would not have a rig to center-feed it and this could be the only way that a theater could get it back together without cutting the film.)

The rewind table they are using is crap. Just an on/off switch with no ramping ability. An archive should not even possess such a thing.

They DO at least point out to never tape the end of the film to the core, so at least they got THAT right!

Pretty sloppy film handling at the splicer, and of course a dead wrong demonstration of the tape application. On that same note, the splicer blades are clearly out of alignment, which is an easy fix.

Idiots drew grease pencil "X" marks for temporary cues on the LEFT side of the picture.

They should not wrap their yellow flags around the film. They should have punched it using the splicer on one face of the film. Wrapping can cause the image to shift laterally during projection as the flag passes through the trap.

Then they apply cue tape mid-air and proceed to wrap that around the edge of the film as well. Ugh.

Just another training video with good intentions but with a lot of bad techniques and procedures.

[Randy Stankey]

Just another training video with good intentions but with a lot of bad techniques and procedures.

I think this might be another case of "Hey! I got a great idea! Let's make a video!"

While that's all well and good, it also means that there's going to be a lot of garbage videos out there and, with production technology improving every day, it's it's getting harder and harder to tell the wheat from the chaff.

[Ryan Gallagher]

Ummm, yeah these people need to learn a few things. The highlights:

Right off of the bat in the first minute they are winding the protection leader down past the projector before threading. Actual professional projectionists that understand the detrimental consequences to the print do not do that.

Then they proceed to get their hands all over the leader in the next scene as they claim it's "protected" by going into a trash can.

Next they show what happens when the center falls out of a core of film due to improper film handling of the core. While it's important to demonstrate the bad handling of the core for the video, their repair isn't exactly the best solution since if there is any dirt on that film it will cinch scratch using their technique. (This one I'll only dock a little bit off as an actual theater would not have a rig to center-feed it and this could be the only way that a theater could get it back together without cutting the film.)

The rewind table they are using is crap. Just an on/off switch with no ramping ability. An archive should not even possess such a thing.

They DO at least point out to never tape the end of the film to the core, so at least they got THAT right!

Pretty sloppy film handling at the splicer, and of course a dead wrong demonstration of the tape application. On that same note, the splicer blades are clearly out of alignment, which is an easy fix.

Idiots drew grease pencil "X" marks for temporary cues on the LEFT side of the picture.

They should not wrap their yellow flags around the film. They should have punched it using the splicer on one face of the film. Wrapping can cause the image to shift laterally during projection as the flag passes through the trap.

Then they apply cue tape mid-air and proceed to wrap that around the edge of the film as well. Ugh.

Just another training video with good intentions but with a lot of bad techniques and procedures.

I was noticing lots of things on my first watch I would not consider doing/advising too. Was wondering how many others would have critiques. ;-)

The core recovery and cinch scratching was definitely a thought I had. Especially their 2nd approach by growing the reel and then shrinking it again, not a single frame was spared.

Also the tendency to show care when handling, but only wearing one glove, and then not bothering with the one glove on the inspection hand. I know many people ignore gloves when inspecting release prints, but this is coming from an National Archive!

I didn't even catch the temp changeover mark on the screen left. Maybe that is normal for over there? Better take meticulous changeover notes, I'd definitely miss that one.

I do like those nice flush trimmer/scissors they had for cleaning up any splice overhang. Might have to look for a pair. But blade adjustment seems to be the real solution.

Then they proceed to get their hands all over the leader in the next scene as they claim it's "protected" by going into a trash can.

Partly wonder if that was them showing someone checking that the lab leader reel number matched the labels/leader/can, and was not in fact in preparation for threading. But why would you not put it on a winder to do that... so yeah. That and they did show someone handling the lab leader when threading, despite it appearing most of their prints used in the filming had TONS of additional leader.

[Leo Enticknap]

A few other things worry me:

image.png

I would not want that much weight on just a 3" core. Assuming that "archival wind" tension is used, that is a recipe for the core falling out. In this case they likely have no choice, because this reel likely wouldn't fit in a 2,000ft can on a 4" core; but for a real longer than 1,500ft or so, I would always want to use a 4" core if there is room in the can for it.

image.png

I was taught within the first couple of weeks of the film archiving masters' program I did that this is a big no-no. If the film element is nitrate or acetate, that trash can liner will do an excellent job of trapping decomposition offgases inside it, and accelerating the decomposition process until the reel goes autocatalytic. If it's polyester, the damage won't be as quick or as severe, but traces of processing chemistry left over can still soften the binder layer between the base and the emulsion, causing the latter to flake off. Reels in vented cans, and stored in a vault with HVAC with enough air circulation to get rid of decomposition off gas, is best practice (unless that has radically changed in the decade and a half since I left that world).

I'm not totally sure from what I can see in the video, but it looks to me like the projectionist is actually running the reel on the projector from a split reel. This is not something I would ever want to do. They tend to be thinner, and warp/bend more easily. And while the risk of it coming apart while rotating is not high, it is higher than the zero risk with a solid reel. OK, I've done it on very rare occasions when either I'd run out of solid reels or a print arrived so close to show time that I had no choice, but, IMHO, this should not be standard operating procedure.

[Josh Jones]

The auto translate subs worked for me. It was pretty apparent this is a guide for theaters, not archives. The single speed rewinder is pretty common in theaters around the world. They also are pretty adament that these are recommended techniques and solutions to common problems, as well as how to avoid them.

Josh

[Ryan Gallagher]

The auto translate subs worked for me. It was pretty apparent this is a guide for theaters, not archives. The single speed rewinder is pretty common in theaters around the world. They also are pretty adament that these are recommended techniques and solutions to common problems, as well as how to avoid them.

Josh

I wrongly assumed CC on would automatically select my language, after changing it they also worked for me. cheers!

[Mees Van Houten]

are those gloves still considered best practice? as to my knowledge they bring the risk of making the film dirty with very small pieces of fabric coming loose due to the fast moving print, as well as not being able to feel the print in your fingers as much. when one cleans ones hands of dirt and oils, is it not considered safer? besides, gloves might realistically not be cleaned as often and easily as hands would.

[Randy Stankey]

Gloves or not, nothing is supposed to touch film while it's moving except the reels it is spooled on or the projector it is moving through.

Further, gloves are supposed to be single use only and they are supposed to be changed frequently. There are gloves that are meant to be reused but they are supposed to be cleaned after every use. I'm guilty of reusing gloves as much as anyone but a working theater that only handles release prints versus an archive that stores valuable films are two different things.

[Ryan Gallagher]

You’d be surprised how dirty even good looking prints are when you inspect using a fresh glove. We are trying to be more consistent with that practice, pretty much any surviving print is valuable, archive or no.

We got serious with the white glove treatment when signing onto Library of Congress loan program. Before that they existed, but it was operator preference.

[Leo Enticknap]

Gloves or not, nothing is supposed to touch film while it's moving

Gentle contact between thumb on one edge and forefinger on the other of the film as it is wound at a moderate speed (and if the reel contains suspect splices with possibly jagged edges, very moderate) was how I (and, I'm guessing, Mees, above) was taught to check for edge damage. Furthermore, that can't be done wearing a glove: you won't feel minor imperfections, and major ones will dig in to the fabric of the glove, making the damage worse.

[Randy Stankey]

You're right.
I just assumed that guiding the film with your fingers on the edges isn't, technically, "touching" the film but, yes, one needs to feel the edges to check for damage.

One thing I noticed in the video is that the demonstrator is only wearing one glove. That's something that I have always done, too. One needs to have a glove when touching the face of the film but, like you say, when feeling edges for splices/damage, a glove is not called for. I don't like making tape splices with a gloved hand, either. Any FOD (Foreign Object Debris) on the glove gets transferred to the tape then gets sealed onto the film. If you don't wear a glove on your "tape hand," you won't get FOD on the film. It's better to just wash and dry one's hands, really well, before handing film then put a glove on your "film hand."