[AMIA-L] Reply: [AMIA-L] Cue marks

[Leo Enticknap <ldge@U.GENIE.CO.UK>]

Bob Birchard writes:

> Still, anyone who has handled an old exchange print will be familiar with 
> the home made cues many projectionists added to the tails of reels.  It 
> seems no projectionist was content to let the last guy's cues stand, he'd 
> make new ones whether they were needed or not.
This still happens with rep prints today.  The practice is exacerbated by 
the fact that French labs (e.g. LTC and Éclair) do not pre-print cue marks 
onto their release prints, which is treated as a creative opportunity by 
many projectionists.  From my projectionist days I remember tippex cue 
marks, felt-tip pen, chinagraph, holes punched out of the film, bits of 
gaffer tape stuck on the film surface and much worse besides.  When several 
sets of cue marks had been applied together with significant footage having 
been lost from the end of the reel (due to platter/tower use) I had no 
choice but to add my own, because if you go by someone else's motor cue you 
can't be sure that its corresponding over cue will be still be 
there.  Furthermore, if you're seeing 10 of them in rapid succession, it's 
difficult to 'over' on the right one unless you know exactly what you're 
looking for.

Changeover projection is still used in a lot of cinemas over here, mainly 
art/rep and preview houses.  At the last cinema I worked we had two 
projectors and a platter and so could choose the most appropriate 
option.  If a film was being shown four times a day seven days a week it 
went on the plate, but if it was a one-off screening we ran 
changeovers.  Sometimes on Thursday nights I would enable a speedy exit 
after work by pulling off the last two reels from a platter roll just 
before the final show, and then change over from the platter to the closing 
reels on a 6,000 foot spool.  This gave me about 30 minutes in which to 
pack off the remainder of the platter roll before the film ended.  Using 
this technique I could be enjoying an IPA (India pale ale this time, not 
isopropyl alcohol) within 15 minutes of the last film finishing...

Leo

Dr. Leo Enticknap
Director, Northern Region Film and Television Archive
School of Arts and Media
University of Teesside
Middlesbrough  TS1 3BA
United Kingdom
Tel. +44-(0)1642 384022
Fax. +44-(0)1642 384099
Brainfryer: +44-(0)7710 417383