How is Film Prepared? (Film Benching)

Ever wondered how thousands of feet of motion picture film was assembled and disassembled for 35mm/70mm projectors? Here is an in-depth tutorial and demonstration how film was taken from 20 minute shipping reels and converted into 40 minute projection, commonly called Benching/DeBenching reels using the important tools found in a projection booth such as a NeuTaper 35SS film splicer, Kelmar 8900 rewind film bench, and a lot of zebra tape. See how film is shipped to and from projection booths and studios, as well as the protective cotton archival gloves necessary for handling the fragile film. Also understand how to use all the tools such as the 35mm film splicer and the controls of the film bench.
Intro: (0:00)
Why Combine 35mm Reels?: (0:46)
Different Types of Reels: (0:58)
35mm Film Splicer Overview: (2:06)
70mm Film Splicer Overview: (2:44)
Rewind Bench Spindles: (3:15)
Mounting the Reels: (4:20)
Rewind Bench Controls: (5:55)
How to Find Splices: (8:12)
Protection/Cotton Archival Gloves: (9:06)
Feeling for Splice: (9:25)
Removing Splice: (9:53)
Attaching Head/Leader/Tail: (10:27)
Splicing Film: (11:52)
Wrap-up: (13:40)
#35mm #70mm #Projection #DP70

[@fp30e]

Great video. Thank you. 6000ft reels were great, only one c/over for a standard length movie.

[@mark2graves-movies689]

I'm so happy to have a source online to learn this artful skill

[@yorgle]

This looks like a really fun job to do. I wish I could do this for a living.

[@KyleMiko]

Same here

[@Touchgrassplz]

this is so fascinating - thank you for sharing!

[@hardeeentertainment-alsplace]

I was a projectionist for years. Been there done that.

[@coltonm.7775]

awesome

[@seanmckinnon4612]

Large spindle is 1/2” and smaller spindle is 5/16” the Norelco/Phillips AAII/DP70 came with removable spindles for swapping between 35mm (5/16”) and 70mm (1/2”)

[@Dimension150]

Great videos! Did you ever use 6,000ft reels which accommodated 3x20min reels and ran for about an hour. The theater I worked in did. That was nice, as for many features it meant only one changeover. Thanks.

[@KyleMiko]

I have not! The DP70 we have would not be able to have a 6000’ reel as a take-up due to the design as far as I am aware, but that must have been nice!

[@raheemjames447]

@@KyleMiko I like this print film movie motion picture.

[@hardeeentertainment-alsplace]

Neumade made the best splicer. I have a 35 and 16 .

[@NatVoisey]

When you take the tape off and tape on the 7 label thing, does it have some of the film on it so you know where to tape it back up again?

[@m00dawg]

Heya Kyle! That was a lot of fun to watch! Things I hadn't ever thought about just watching a movie projected from film (and took for granted). Curious, I see Apollo 13 was the example here. I assumed at one point that was for a movie showing? How does a theater go about getting older film prints for showing? Do distributors still have older prints available?

[@KyleMiko]

We ask the studios/our distributors, so yes! Not always available however, prints might be bad or not a few still exist. Thanks for watching!

[@ClarkTeddles]

Hey Kyle, great video! I have a question about where to keep cotton gloves so they dont get dirty, where would you recommend putting them? in a zip-lock bag, just hang them on a hook? Thanks, Have a great day :)

[@KyleMiko]

Great question! Hanging them on a hook should be fine! They will eventually get dirt with use however, which is why I buy packs of 10 medium thickness Archival Cotton Gloves from B&H! They might be washable, but I am unsure how well that works or if the detergent could be bad for the print. We also use FilmGuard on prints and that will get on the gloves. Hope this helps! Thanks for watchinf

[@ClarkTeddles]

@@KyleMiko Thank you so much!

[@kannanpalani5929]

👍സൂപ്പർ അണ്ണാ 👍👍

[@coltonm.7775]

this is good stiff my boy

[@daviddavidsonn3578]

thanks god we have digital now.

[@bighands69]

Digital is inferior in every way. When people go to a theater they pay money and should be getting a special experience and the cinema should not be worrying about how convenient running a projector is.

[@VariTimo]

I live in a city with 300K people and 4 1/2 theaters and only one of them has decent projection most of the time. But that one is a chain and so terribly understaffed that you need to come 30 minutes before the commercials start if you want your tickets before the movie starts, on a medium heavy day. And even they showed scope movies window boxed for some reason a couple of times. The rest is simply horrible. One has 8 screens and only one with proper brightness and no extreme magenta/blue color shift and the rest ain’t doing much better either. I’d take a screwy mass produced, 35mm print four or six generations away from the camera negative any day of the week. The small theaters don’t care about projection and the large ones don’t even have technicians anymore. There is only one per state for like 30 theaters with at least six screens. With film you’d at least had someone running the film in the booth to complain to. I could complain to the managers and they can’t do anything because it’s all controlled by headquarters. I’m honestly surprised the distributors put up with this. It’s so bad.