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When did it become okay to not re-attach the heads to a movie when breaking it down? I just received my second print where the heads were just tossed in with the reels and the ends (meaning the last viewable frame) is just taped (with super sticky masking tape) to the film.

It really doesn't take that long to break down a movie properly and I find it incredibly rude to just skip the most basic steps in breaking down a print. I hate that I'm being put in a position where the negligence of others is affecting my movie presentation. I know that the majority of these cases it is some high school twerp who works at some megaplex who is doing this but I really don't see a way to fix this problem other then to bitch to the depot. I don't want to get a reputation with them but I have really had it about this. Any suggestions out there?

OK, tirade over.

[This message has been edited by leeler (edited October 04, 2007).]

Yeah, that is pretty rude.

As for whether it's OK or not... it seems there is no such thing anymore. As long as a print is not unplayable... and maybe even if it is, the house that first plays the film (and generates most of the print's income) seems unlikely to attract negative attention from the studio for its print handling "expertise".

The depots are no help in this regard, because they've turned their product into an "ala-carte" list of services. Mounting, storage, shipping/receiving, checking to see if all of the reels were returned, inspecting and cleaning are all individual services that must be specifically ordered and paid for by the studio. If they don't ask for it, the depot will just cycle the print on to the next theatre, regardless of its previous handling.

There are some serious offenders in our area, and the local depot, much to their credit, tends not to send us prints from those theatres. Still, we get a couple each year that I have to get replacement reels for. What's really sad is that some of those replacements are for actual print defects that should have been fixed with the first theatre. Those defective reels were played through the entire first run without anyone noticing, or caring about the substandard presentation they were providing for the public... but that's another (long) thread, eh?

And often those scratched, used prints are then sent overseas where the film is being released next!! many's a time we got a "New" print only to find scratches all over it..grrrr

Ther are very few projectionist left anymore ........

I know digital cinema opens up a host of new issues but, at least, the quailty of my presentation won't be in the hands of some nineteen year old moron hustling to go home.

I cant wait for us to get digital---#1 thing to do at SWOWEAST!!!!!

I have had simular issues and I ALWAYS report it cause they will never learn if not FORCED to learn...

sometimes with even wrong heads & tails on the wrong reels!

I'll go you one better. Had an account who was supposed to have a midnight show of "The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert" a few weeks ago. The can was labeled correctly, but, as you have noted, the leaders were either on the wrong reels or just thrown in the can, and they were the leaders for "Priscilla." Once they got past all that, they discovered the actual print was a completely different film. Talk about a fubar of epic proportions!

My Resident Evil print came today at 4:00 for my 7:00 show. None of the taped on heads and tails matched the cut off frames or soundtracks. Took me awhile to figure it all out. At first I thought I got the wrong movie, like Larry just referred to. But, upon further examination I discovered the idiot before me just cut the film on all five reals whereever he/she wanted and taped the heads and tails back on. I reported it to DFS, AND since it was a circuit, I had the name of the theatre it came from on the box. I called there and spoke to a manager at a multiplex and asked if that was their standard practice.

I am a movie-over theatre, so I know EXACTLY what you all are talking about!

The worst we have had ( and it has happened more than once ) was when we got a print where the heads and tails were attached but didn't match up.
Whoever had broken it down had literally took scissors and snipped the film whereever they felt like - the cuts were even at an angle!
I think it took up about 2 hours, but we put the film back the proper way when we broke it down.
I have reported several times the condition of prints I get and never get any reply.
But I make sure to document my reports to cover myself.

Also, I think you rated these people to high in the title of your thread by calling them "projectionists."

And why doesn't everyone remove their automation cues? Do they think everyone has the exact same type of automation and all are set up the same way?

My print of MIB II came that way, 5 reels NONE had frames that matched ANY heads or tails, I contacted WB, they emailed me the frames for each reel but was no help, finally I ended up looking for begining credits on the start of a reel to identify reel 1, found the ENDING credits and identified reel 5, then took my best guess for reel 2 3 and 4 and gave it a runthru...

what a pain! the SOB did just as you said, he FILLED each shipping reel, cut the film and moved on to the next reel...

reminds me of a print we got at the Grandview many years ago of 2000 maniacs, it was maybe 5 reels but came shipped on 4 reels OVER full and piled in the cases... no headers or tails, and to top it off THEY had the reels spliced internally out of order! I recall the 2nd day we ran it a man came in and said we were showing it in the wrong order, turns out some guy (or woman) had just got killed, dragged down main street till all there was was a leg, then 5 minutes later that person was RUNNING down the road again! by the end of the weeks run we had the story figured out and fixed...

What fun we have sometimes!

Usually, when some dumbass pulls a dtunt like that, they usually don't take the time to cut the film at a scene change. Sometimes, they don't even bother to cut on a frame line. It's a major pain, and you shouldn't have to deal with it, but in both cases you can usually match up the reels by following the scenes.

[This message has been edited by rodeojack (edited October 06, 2007).]

Since there are so few true projectionist i think the new name should be FILM TECH...