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TPM movie reel stolen
A whole slew of people pointed out the news that
an entire reel of The Phantom Menace was stolen off of the projector over the weekend. Hmm...I wonder how long before it shows up on eBay?
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at least in out local (twin cities) paper, that is. then again, so is some wrestler dying in some pay-per-view wrestling stunt, so take it for what you will. anyway, the article in our local paper is a lot longer than the abc one. here's the url it basically confirms what everyone else says: that 40 lbs. isn't even close to the actual weight (more like 60 lbs.), plus it was spliced together on a 3 ft. reel at the time. it also suggests an interesting use of the film: selling frames at $20 a pop (x 190,000 frames)
I used to be a projectionist during my college days, and this story doesn't make much sense to me.
Movie theatre projectors are not like the little 16mm projectors they use in schools. They are man-sized machines that hold the film on a set of three platters that are about four feet in diameter. The film arrives in hexagonal metal cans, each containing three or four reels. The film is removed from the reels and wound onto the platters, pausing to splice each reel to the next. The film is actually shown from the platters; the reels are just used for transport.
The process is fairly time-consuming, and removing the film from the platter to put it back on the reels is no less prolonged. Unless the thief grabbed the reels while they were still in the cans, he would have had to gain access to the building after hours and be familiar with the equipment. If this isn't a publicity stunt, and the reels were really stolen, it would almost have to be an inside job.
And my memory may be failing me, but a seven-reel film loaded into cans weighs closer to sixty or seventy pounds. I remember having to lug those damn things up and down the stairs...
Proud member of the Weirdo-American community.
Hey man, i don't think that sneaking into movies is such a great thing to do. Look at all the time and effort that went into the creation of this movie. Given, it's already made a crapload of money... but that doesn't mean it's not deserved. Mr. Anonymous Coward, it's time for you to face up to responsibilities.
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"Be kind to your local milkman... you have his eyes." -Mother
According to this St Paul paper article, the did get the whole film, and are now feeling guilty. They contacted investigators via an attorney to return it for misdemeanor charges.
The films come in these big metal cases. Each case holds 4 reels of film.. Average reel length=20 minutes. Average movie length=120 minutes. These 6 reels are "Built up" on a platter (great big flat sruface that spins the movie out and in). So when a movie is in the theater and may be shown anytime in the near future, it is on this platter, all six reels in one really long piece. To take this movie out of the theater you must 1) know how to break down the movie and put it back on reels 2) Get out the door with two big heavy film cans that are probably painted neon pink 3) be able to do this in the 30 minutes between the showings. Impossible. Inside job, it HAD to be a projectionist, or someone who knows a projection booth who has the trust of theater management and janitorial staff to be allowed inside after hours.
if you're even more adventurous, you don't even need to clamp down the film. Just unscrew the platter, and carry that.
(the reason one would need to move a full platter's worth of film is to move it from one projector to another in a multiplex... On Thursday nights it is quite common to have to move an older film out of the largest theater to a smaller one, to allow a new blockbuster to get the larger theater. Also, one might show a movie in different theaters during a single showing day. (Kids' movie in large theater for the afternoon while R film in smaller theater, evening have kids' movie n small theater with R (adult) film in large theater.)
Another need to move films whole is to send it from your major first-run theater to the second-run across town...
Not necessarily a one person job, but it is a heck of a lot easier to do. If you're a weakling like me, then you'd need at least one or two people to also hold on (make sure the film doesn't fall out of the middle somewhere). Doorways just require the film to be held horizontal (doesn't fall out as easy as diagonal). *Stairs* are the worst. (as the stolen print was in a first floor booth, this wouldn't have been a problem.)
another BTW: here are pictures of a platter system and shipping reel cans (with two sets of DTS disks in their shipping cases)
-mrv
There are in fact several theaters showing it. It had been talked about for the last year or so leading up to the release, and in my understanding (which is just from industry rags I've read), its only two or three theaters showing it, and its very limited showings (ie, not around the clock)
The resolution used isn't terribly high, less than HDTV resolution, but higher than DVD. (1280x768 sticks out in my head, but that might not be right..., but its not even 1080i HDTV resolution)
The explanation was that with the sharper focus, brighter image (no shutter used), and lack of garbage on the film, viewers wouldn't know the difference. I'm not sure they're projecting it onto a very big screen though -- that resolution seems low for 500 person megatheaters and the like.
LucasFilm's intent over the last half-dozen years since I first read about some of the talk about the prequels, was Episode I would be shot on film, with test digital distributions. I *think* I remember reading that those test distributions are on custom hardware, basically on a high-rate DVD -- twenty to thirty minutes worth, much like a film reel -- although that may have changed, because I've seen gossip about the satellite stuff. I've lost the list I had of the theaters that were showing the digital Episode I, unfortunately.
Episodes II and III are supposed to be shot digitally, without using film. Aparently Lucasfilm has been spending a lot of time developing digital film cameras that can push data off the camera and onto a high-speed storage system fast enough to do film quality recording without using film. 24fps is obviously the low end, I'm not sure how much bandwidth they ended up with for running at higher frame rates.
Some of the reasons I'd read for the move was a significant drop in cost over time (a lot of arthouse films are being shot on mini-DV and other digital formats like Digital BetaMax, because $30 for a tape sure beats $100 for three minutes of film...) The most interesting feature I read about was the ability to prerender the effects and do the compositing in realtime at the camera -- so the monitors show the finished shot, and alignment issues and problems with actors not fully interacting with effects can be taken care of immediately. Also read rumors of experiments to do real time digital character rendering, so an actor in a motion-recording outfit can be in front of the camera, and the camera would end up recording the CGI character in real time.
Anyway, I digress. Episodes II and III are supposed to go out for larger digital releases, with more of a push for them to be digital on III than II. That's why there's been talk about big theater chains arranging financing so they can do low-rate financing for their member theaters to be able to spend the hundreds of thousands of dollars it will take to put digital systems in megaplexes.
It'll be interesting to see if theaters end up using a direct broadcast method of displaying movies as they shift to digital, or if they go with a multi-disc optical solution like a high bitrate DVD-based format. Personally I'd think DVD would be the way to go. They're cheap to produce, even as one-offs. There's no reason you could build military-grade decryption hardware into the playback units and key the distribution discs to that particular unit and theater. Steal the discs, its not of any use if you don't steal the reader. If the reader has to verify keys against the distributors system, then even stealing the unit won't help.
Satellite seems unlikely because of all the differing times a show can play, and the expense of the satellite time.
Having been a (and still am, though no longer practicing) state-licensed projectionist and worked in more than one theater within the last 5 years, I felt I had to comment... Sorry in advance for the long rant.
A standard 35mm print of a movie costs the studio about $3000. If you add in lab time, transportation, and lost revenue for a stolen print (usually the distributor takes 80% of the ticket sale price for the first 2 or more weeks, with reducing percentages as the run gets longer), then maybe a 35mm print would be worth $60k.
And a 70mm print these days no longer costs the $10k+, and isn't much more expensive than a 35mm film to print. The extra $6k was for the magnetic striping for the soundtrack. Most 70mm prints struck these days (minus 1996's Hamlet) are 70mm DTS prints, which has the same optical soundtrack sync to the DTS CD as a 35mm print.
As far as breaking into a projection booth, it's scarily usually quite easy. I've had to shoo away a number of kids who took a wrong turn going out the back-of-theater exit doors after a show, and ended out in the booth... (Usually we'd just forget to lock the door from the outside.) here in MA, it's actually illegal to have the door locked during showtimes (throwback to the days of nitrate (burns VERY easily) film).
If the booth consists of a large multiplex (usually one projectionist/manager for a booth), one could enter the far end of the (noisy with projectors running) booth, and the projectionist on the other end wouldn't hear you. If the booth is for a small theater, chances are that it's a manager/projectionist, who only enters the booth if there is a reported problem, or to thread or start a film, which leaves the booth unattended for quite some time.
Let me point out here that film reels, trailers (previews), and frames (sometimes called cells on eBay) are all the property of the studio (per the legal stuff at the end of the credits), not the theater or any single person, and MANY people have been successfully sued by studios to reclaim ownership.
Oh, and as for the amount of film stolen... A "reel" could be any of a number of things. If it was a shipping reel, then it could either be a 2000 ft. reel (about 17-23 min. of film), or a ELR (Extended Length Reel), which is 6000 ft. of film (approx. 1/2 the movie).
If the theater is using a dual-projection setup (not likely at a commercial chain multiplex), then the reel could be any of a 2K, 4K, or 6K ft. reels.
Chances are that the theater had the film mounted up on a platter (plays sort of like an 8-track), in one BIG reel for the entire movie. (all of the shipping reels taped together) with clamps or some form of binding wire/rope/string, the whole movie can be easily transported by 2 people, 1 if strong enough (and slung over the shoulder like a tire).
of course, knowing how journalists tend to keep things minimalized so that they don't confuse the public, they just used "reel," which could mean a lot of things.
unfortunately, I do not remember just how much film weighs, only that it is heavy... (when in shipping canisters, even heavier...)
BTW: a good site for techincal information regarding film projection is the rec.arts.movies.tech FAQ.
-mrv
Posted by kewlmann:
The State theater in Menomonie is such a hole.
There are four screens, two upstairs I think.
The upstairs screen has one speaker (or so it seems) that rattles, yes it rattles. And the projection is never very good.
The security is terrible and the management just stinks. I think there are emergency exits pretty much next to the projection room. Its been a while since I have been there, so I can't be certain.
On my way to class, I watch them deliver the film cans. Sometimes they are just inside the theatre. I read them through the glass to see what movies will be playing. Sometimes, beleive it or not, they are just sitting on the sidewalk!
Menomonie is home to University of Wisconsin - Stout (where I go). I would bet that they have the equipment on campus to make the copy. The FBI would surely be watching it though.
My 2 cents worth....
[My main point is that this isn't necessarily an inside job; I'm not trying to teach people how to steal.]
Most movie theaters figure that the average movie-goer is (1) honest, and (2) clueless about the projection of film. The Average Joe wouldn't steal film, and possibly wouldn't even recognize film or know how much of it to steal.
In every small theater I've visited more than three times, I've seen an employee carrying canisters of film from the booths to a spot near the door for pick-up. Once left by the door (or under the stairs, or whatever), the canisters are totally abandoned and ignored.
In every large theater I've visitied, there seem to be only two or three projectionists on hand in case something goes wrong on one of the dozen screens. Booths are usually abandoned between shows.
And, hey, what can you do with film and not get caught?
In general, for most movies, the stakes are too high for someone in the movie business to try to swipe a copy. A distributor wouldn't want to lose a contract with a production company, so they wouldn't start renting out an illegal copy; nor would they tolerate an illegal exhibition. A theater owner wouldn't want to lose business with a distributor, so he wouldn't run a secret after-hours show; nor would he tolerate a rogue projectionist. And so on.
If you're outside the movie business and you've stolen some film, you won't be able to get any insiders to help you project it. If you have some 35mm projectors in your basement, then you probably have some arrangement with a distributor that you'd rather not sour, and you're probably too rich to bother stealing prints.
Security is generally lax because there aren't people who'd steal film solely to keep as a trophy. When a movie like this comes along, one that makes theater managers quiver in fear, there are too many other details to worry about. A manager won't stop to think: "This is one of the few movies that someone could steal and sell frame-by-frame for cash." Security will stay low, and thefts like these could be pretty easy, either by an employee or by a savvy customer.