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I like to think I offer a professional presentation. But, I have made a few blunders since I started in this business eleven years ago. Fairly recently, I committed the granddaddy of all blunders. I dropped a complete print. Film was snarled into a huge mound of black celluloid spaghetti. I thought my print and I were both doomed. Well, it took about three and a half hours with three people working, but the entire mess was rearranged and rewound--all without any alterations. No new splices were made and not one splice was removed. I screened the movie before its next scheduled showing and was very surprised there were no scratches or any other obvious sign of damage or dirt, despite the fact it was dropped in the friggin' parking lot! What a relief. (I did not have the print on my trusty Goldberg shipper reel--if I had, there would not have been a problem, nor will this particular problem reoccur.)

So, I told my embarrassing horror story, what are some of yours?

(raises hand)... guilty!

Back in '03, I attempted to move a print from one platter to another, without the use of ANY of the gadgets and gizmoes I should have used. This picture is the result.

We also managed to get the print back together, but it was a Looooong night!

Mine looked quite similar. I do have a picture I will try to post. I had some very patient helpers doing most of the work, while I mostly was freaking out. It was like a jigsaw puzzle--and I never had the patience for them either.

I'm guilty on this one too! Just like rodeojack, I didn't use everything i should have. I was actually just tryin to move the print between platters (no board, no clamp. oops ) Took more than 5 hours to recover all the damage. However, that wasn't the worst of it............. I dropped it on a sold out show of 280 people. I think the only reason my boss didn't fire me is because he had dropped the same print earlier that week!

I will admit, this was back when I first became a projectionist/manager. I have never, ever made this mistake again. I'm actually incredibly paranoid and careful moving prints now. And I will NEVER move a print, even between platters, without a board again.

Last Thursday night... moving Harry Potter from booth 1 to booth 2. Dropped it at 11:30 p.m. on Thursday night, got it all put back together by Friday morning at 7:30 a.m.

Gotta move it again tonight... this time on 6000 foot reels!

Nope. But I did run about two reels onto the floor once. For some stupid reason the fail-safe didn't work and apparently neither did my projectionist as they are supposed to check each machine at least every 10-15 minutes.

No..I'm not a projectionist..however i have helped put one back together after it was dropped!!. What do you all use to carry films around?? here they slide a board underneath the film and carry it..Id have thought there should be something better..Ive tried to get the projectionists to at least strap the film to the board, but they rarely ever do..just a disaster waiting to happen as far as im concerned! If you have a carry device, can you show me a picture??

Hi Pieman:

There are brackets made for the purpose of moving prints and they are available at most theatre supply houses.

We were in a rush to see Gladiator and the print arrived at 9:00PM on a Thurs. so we rushed making it up and at the last second we goosed the platter, the brain popped out and the entire huge movie flew into the corner doing its best Alien's guts imitation! The private show of friends was sad to say the least. It took us 3 days, lots of splice, and a new print from Dreamworks. URG.