Guidelines For Prepping Pix And Trax For Dailies Projection by Nick Moenssens With the increasing use of computer systems for editorial dailies management, it is no surprise that skills involving 35mm film for dailies may be under used by those breaking into the editorial assistant jobs. The presentation of dailies often is done in a remote location and the assistants most likely will not be present for the dailies. The importance of standard guidelines in the preparation of the picture and track will ensure that the dailies projectionist is able to do his job screening the material in a prompt and professional manner. The projectionist should receive the dailies in trim boxes, both picture and track wound heads out. Attention should be paid to the schedule of the dailies. If they have been sent out of telecine (transfer to videotape) some production houses do not rewind the film. Most often, projectionists in busy screening rooms have no time to rewind the dailies. If the projectionist must rewind the rolls, it is possible the screening will be delayed. The trim boxes should have one side marked with the picture markings in black and the track boxes in red Sharpie®. The sides should at least have the TITLE and a prominent dailies roll number (DR#1, DR# 2, etc.) in addition to any information. Studio screening rooms may be especially busy and may have many titles of dailies in the room. Untitled or unmarked boxes create an inefficient and confusing situation for the projectionist. The dailies roll number's prominence is important, as the dailies audience may require the projectionist to skip or play rolls out of order on short notice. Occasionally, a film is in production and is untitled. It is important that the dailies editor contact the studio dailies coordinator with a temporary title for the dailies. Boxes marked "UNTITLED" will be confused with other boxes marked "UNTITLED". Since computers took over, many assistants haven't had a chance to learn how to prepare dailies. When it comes to threading up the dailies, the projectionist will need the head leader of the picture properly made up for threading and sync, aside from the make up required for editorial. The identification sticker on the head of the picture reel should, in black printing, list the TITLE, DAILIES ROLL NUMBER, the word HEADS, and the format (1.85, SCOPE, Super 35/2.35, etc.). Start marks should be made with black Sharpie® on the cell side of the picture reel, with a hole punch in the center of the frame. (Should you need a start mark on the other side, mark both sides of the reel, however, do not use paper tape on both sides of the film as it is too thick and may jam in the projector gate. (In this instance use paper on the side of the leader and Sharpie® only on the other side.) There should be approximately 9 feet of leader from the start mark to the ID sticker, and no more than 15 feet. Extra long leaders are clumsy for the projectionist to handle, and although may be needed for telecine, end up on the floor gathering dirt during thread up, getting stepped on and torn. Heads out, the film rolls should be wound emulsion side out. The focus chart should preferably be a camera chart produced by the DP on your production. The chart should contain framing information, especially if the show is being produced in Super 35 formats. The focus chart should appear between the start mark and the first picture frame, no less than three feet in length. Track reels should have an ID sticker printed in red that includes the TITLE, DAILIES ROLL NUMBER, MAG UP or MAG DOWN, and track information if the dailies are not mono. The start mark should be made on the cell (non mag) side of the track, with a hole punch in the center of the start frame. If editorial needs a mark on the mag side, use paper tape only on one side of the track, as tape on both sides makes the mag film too thick for proper set up. The tail leaders on both picture and track should be marked TITLE, the word TAILS, and the DAILIES ROLL NUMBER. The tail leaders should be approximately 10 feet long. With all the new beautiful colors of painted leaders available, including hot pink and neon green, it is still the consensus of many projectionists that the good old white painted leader is the easiest to see the markings on both the picture and track on head leaders. Projection booths are often dimly lit, and dark leaders may make the start marks difficult to see. The black and red Sharpies® on picture and track respectively will identify the rolls as being track or picture. Dailies may be run forward, reverse and in high speed. It is important, in order to avoid film damage, that the SMPTE standard of placing splice tape on both sides of the film applies for projection of dailies. Sorry, the 8 perforation, one-sided tapes don't cut it for reversing and high speed projection applications. Single-sided splices often hinge and jam in the projector. The above practices will ensure that the projectionist will have dailies mat-erials that can be worked with in a quick and effcient manner. Other requirements may be made by your editor-in -chief or first assistant for projection. Meet with them if you have any questions about film prep for dailies.   A 33-year veteran of the motion picture industry, Nick Moenssens has worked as a theatre projectionist, dailies projectionist, assistant editor and motion picture equipment design sales engineer. Besides being a member of Local 776, transferred from Local 695, he is also a member of Local 150 Theatrical Projectionists, and twenty-year member of SMPTE. After working in editorial on two feature films for Barry Levinson in Baltimore, he relocated to L. A., began working for the Academy of Motion Pictures as assistant to the chief projectionist and subsequently the Academy of Television Leonard Goldenson Theatre as chief projectionist and video engineer. Nick is currently on the projection staff of Walt Disney Studios.   Reprinted from The Motion Picture Editors Guild Newsletter Vol. 19, No. 4 - July/August 1998   Guild Home | Newsletter Home | Top of Page   Copyright © 1998, All Rights Reserved by The Motion Picture Editors Guild, IATSE Local 776