NPP Projection Blog CLOSE 12/30, Karen

Presentation Issues:
-In the last round in TH1 and TH2 the new scope masking cue didn't fire at the beginning of the playlist. Even though I had made the changes to the playlists AND tested them last night before I left and they worked. I am assuming this is because I didn't change the playlist in the TMS last night only in the IMS (because doing so would've broken the links in TH 3,5,7). And when the new day started, it got confused? Although, I would think we would have had problems in TH 4 & 6 as well...
Curious. Either way, all new cues are built in every house and renamed everywhere. Macros work everywhere as well. I went from house to house at the end of the night and tested everything.
- While I was doing this, and finished in TH3, I went to shut off the projector and accidentally shut off TH7 instead. Gil radioed me that the theater lost image (I think there was like 12 minutes left in Jumanji). I got it back up and stepped it back 5 min to restart the show. There were 6 people in the theater, no one seemed upset and Gil handed out passes. My apologies for the error.
-See notes on the 35mm presentation of Little Women below.

Preshow Clips/Playlist:

Trailer Updates:

Special Events/ AV set up:

Ordering/Receiving (posters & trailers):
-We do not have Oscar Shorts trailer on our current trailmix. We are due for a new drive on Wednesday, will check for it on that. We have all other trailers ingested onto TMS that were called for in this week's film schedule.

Ordering/Receiving (content):
-Key are not yet pending for ET. Will keep an eye on it.
-ET is ingested on TMS. Playlist is not built since it was not included in last week's trailer assignment.

Outgoing/Shipping (content):

Print/video Inspection:

Asset tracking doc updated/checked?:
-Updated Citizen Kane with tracking info.
-Added 1917

Maintenance/cleaning:
-Thoroughly cleaned P1and the platter in TH1with Erin and had her thread up the print.
-Finished renaming all masking cues in TH 3,5,7. Changed the playlists that are locally ingested on those servers. Went into TMS and changed the playlists there as well. I will delete redundant/ non-working cues tomorrow evening before I leave.

Cue sheets updated/checked (every shift):
Tomorrow's cue sheet looks good.

Marquee updated?:

Posters updated?:

Cleaning lights on for the night?:
Yes

Projectors off for the night?:
Yes

Projection cart by TH5?:
Yes

Nest:

Additional Notes:
-I consulted a few different well-seasoned projectionists (including Joe Muto) about what I was seeing on the Little Women print. After sending pictures of the print, describing what I noticed while splicing and what I was seeing on screen the general consensus is that we are seeing the digital time stamp code on Reels 1 and 7 because they were printed incorrectly. Reel 1 is more noticeable than 7 and it is the worst right at the beginning (the first 10 minutes) and it slowly gets better as the reel advances. The reason why I would see it more or less pronounced (or not at all) from screening to screening is because we are now taking out the aperture plate before every show to clean it, sliding it in even just a hair differently makes a difference.

Of all the solutions that I thought of as available 1) making a new curtain masking just for this show and storing in the 178 slot, then taping the spillage or 2) taping up the port window more aggressively, or "overmasking" the edge - here is the solution I settled upon and personally think gives the best presentation overall:
Start the movie with the aperture plate slid all the way out, as far as it will go. Once reel 1 starts playing, gently tease the plate in just a little, it will be hard to know if you have over masked since the Sony logo and Regency logo are all black. Go conservatively and be ready to adjust at the first scene. It will create a very slight over masking shadow but not as much as it would if you taped the window in more. I think the time code is distracting enough to warrant this compromise on the masking.
At around 19 minutes, when Laurie and Amy are at the ball, is when the first changeover happens, when you go into reel 2 pull the plate all the way back out again since the timecode will no longer be visible and you can get rid of the slight shadow and be more perfectly masked for most of the movie.
I do NOT do this again for Reel 7 as I think it isn't as noticeable as Reel 1 and the compromised masking isn't worth it.
Always use a microfiber when grasping the aperture plate, that sucker gets very hot, very fast.