I finally started setting up the film lab!!!

[James Steven Beverly]

Thanks Jason, WAY COOL!!! You'll have to show me how to do that. Well onto today's report:

 

I went over early because I felt guilty for slacking off yesterday. I decided to finish off the general cleaning of the studio Mike Calanche' and I had started on Friday for 2 reasons. 1) it was almost done (or so I thought until I got started) and 2) because having the studio clean and organized makes the place look a lot more professional and makes me feel better plus it helps to make the lab area easier to keep clean. So I put on my Mr. Clean T shirt and gold ear ring and had at it like a White Tornado. I reorganized the wood and other building materials that have been neglected for months and swept, arranged, put away and through away my fingers to the bone. This went on hour after hour, but finally I got it to where I could live with it. It's amazing how much room you gain by putting things back where they go! The rain SEEMS like it may have finally stopped for a while so they should get back on the roof tomorrow. I again didn't do too much on the lab room proper but I did take some measurement and thought about how I plan to do somethings. Now that the other things are out of the way, I can again devote my attentions to the lab room it's self. I will have less time this coming week, as I have to spend some time on making some "keep on keeping on" money but se' la vie. I've vowed to do as much as I can over this next week. Jason posted my pics for me. The white room is going to eventually turn into the lab room, there really isn't a life pod behind that door and IF I DID have a life pod I'm pretty sur I could only afford one of them. The lab room was part of the Black Sky set but once we did some tests, we thought better of it and dicided to store set pieces in there and use the lower sections for the crew quarter's set instead although that was set up but never finished (only a few scenes were written for the crew quarter's). It's componates were dis-assymbled and stored on the cargo bay set The room with the window on the upper section behind the crane) along with the contents of the lab room. There is also 2 pics of my ride aboard camera dolly crane. It's cool and will go up to about 10ft. The grey maching is the Brey processor and the white machine next to it, partially obscured by the 2 camera pedistals, is the step printer. It's hard to see but behind the crane are the 2 KEM flatbeds and a high-speed rewinder under the silver tarps. Behind the LIFE POD 2 door in the lab room is actually costume storage. I'm trying to figure out if I should move the costumes and make that my editing room or use the spare room at my home, OR put them in with the processing machine and printer in the lab. I'm beginning to think it might be too crowded in there PLUS the editing room should probably be separate from the lab facilities for a number of reasons. I'll have to make a decision relitively soon because I need to clear out the lower sound stages to use for interiors on Blood Moon Rising. Anyway More tommorrow. B)

[Henri Titchen]

The Bray processing machine looks good. You are very fortunate to have located such a compact modern processing machine!

 

Can the Bray do ECN2 and ECP? Do you know how many feet/minute it runs at?

 

Henry.

[Robert Houllahan]

Robert,

can you tell me more about your third best friend? Is the 'drybox' a room or a cupboard/compartment or the last stage in the processing machine?

Would be very useful to know a bit more about what you advise here.

Cheers,

Richard

 

 

I advise throwing your wet film in the cupboard!! :lol: NO No thats not right! :blink:

 

Think about what is happening to film as it is being processed, it is in 100% humidity until it makes the transition from the last chemical or wash bath and goes into drying. Dust and dirt really do not have a chance to accumulate on the film in the wet stage of the process, in fact a good way of getting really stubborn dust out of the film is to "re-wash" it which warms and softens the film and emulsion and allows it to release lightly embedded particles which really get shaken out by the turbulation in the chem tanks.

 

So you have clean, wet warm film which then has to make the transition to the drybox which has a set of heaters and blowers and this is the first spot where dust can be applied to the film. Every part in this stage has to be scrupulously clean, tack-cloth every surface again and again, the blowers must be absolutely clean and the air being drawn in must have enough flow volume and be very finely filtered through at least 2 if not 3 stages of filters with the last stage being very fine hospital grade Hepa filters which are sealed to the blower intakes.

 

We also have Plexiglas boxes on hinges which cover the film on it's takeup reel and the dry film passes over a set of 3" PTR's as it exits the drybox. Once the processed film is tightwound on the flange there is no opportunity to get dust on it until you take it to the bench to prep it for transfer/print I would suggest building a dedicated room for bench handling because it does not sound as though you can control the total environment in your facility as well as you might like. Think about putting a bench in a sealed room with positive airflow and more Hepa filters, TACK CLOTH EVERYTHING! If you have a clean Drybox and a Clean handling area you will have generally clean film, oh and watch out for that static too.

 

-Rob-

[James Steven Beverly]

The Bray processing machine looks good. You are very fortunate to have located such a compact modern processing machine!

 

Can the Bray do ECN2 and ECP? Do you know how many feet/minute it runs at?

 

Henry.

 

HA, you thnk THAT'S compact, Bray even makes a tabletop model with a very similar design believe it or not! and I do very much agree with you that I got extreeeemly lucky on that one and to get a step printer in the deal as well, unbelieveilble.

 

The machine can do both ECN2 and ECP. As for the FPM, I honestly have no idea. I took a quick glance at the oparator's manual but that didn't help at all. I may have to do some research to answer that question. Is there such a thing as a normal or average FPM rate for most processors?

Edited January 30, 2007 by James Steven Beverly

[James Steven Beverly]

I advise throwing your wet film in the cupboard!! :lol: NO No thats not right! :blink:

 

Think about what is happening to film as it is being processed, it is in 100% humidity until it makes the transition from the last chemical or wash bath and goes into drying. Dust and dirt really do not have a chance to accumulate on the film in the wet stage of the process, in fact a good way of getting really stubborn dust out of the film is to "re-wash" it which warms and softens the film and emulsion and allows it to release lightly embedded particles which really get shaken out by the turbulation in the chem tanks.

 

Good to know

 

So you have clean, wet warm film

 

Stop, I'm getting a woody

 

which then has to make the transition to the drybox which has a set of heaters and blowers and this is the first spot where dust can be applied to the film. Every part in this stage has to be scrupulously clean, tack-cloth every surface again and again, the blowers must be absolutely clean and the air being drawn in must have enough flow volume and be very finely filtered through at least 2 if not 3 stages of filters with the last stage being very fine hospital grade Hepa filters which are sealed to the blower intakes.

 

We also have Plexiglas boxes on hinges which cover the film on it's takeup reel and the dry film passes over a set of 3" PTR's as it exits the drybox. Once the processed film is tightwound on the flange there is no opportunity to get dust on it until you take it to the bench to prep it for transfer/print I would suggest building a dedicated room for bench handling because it does not sound as though you can control the total environment in your facility as well as you might like. Think about putting a bench in a sealed room with positive airflow and more Hepa filters, TACK CLOTH EVERYTHING! If you have a clean Drybox and a Clean handling area you will have generally clean film, oh and watch out for that static too.

 

-Rob-

 

I appriciate the advice Rob, I'll DEFINATELY keep it in mind while setting the place up. As I said dust is going to be our most insidious enemy. I may even see if I can come up with a way to safely enclose our take-up reel in clear plexi-glass as well. Now onto my report:

 

I went back to work on the lab room today although I wasn't able to get over there until late so I could only work for 2 hours or so. I must say though, coming into a studio that was clean, neat and well organized was a little peice of Narvana! I went to work on the small rear window that will hold the A/C unit. I had planned to finish weather stripping and sheet-rocking but decided to finish off major (or at least minor) construction first and installing the A/C meant framing.

 

The upper building was an army barracks (or possibly military office space) many moons ago that the original owner bought from the government and had moved to the property back in the 60's. He poured a concrete slab and added a front section to the building which doubled it's size and gave it the 2 levels. He then covered the outside in stucco to give it an authentic Hacienda look and added some old Mexican hand made wooden doors. The building has been a barracks, a Moose lodge (the original purpose for it's current construction), a resturant, a transmission shop, a theater and finally a movie studio. The original owner wanted to create a Western, well really Southwestern, theme complex. The building 3 up from me and mine were the first (and only) parts of the Western construction. The other building was a bar. but apparently eather the guy wasn't doing well at the time and had an fortuitius case of Jewish lightening or one of the waitresses who worked there had a jealous boyfriend who set the place on fire, (I heard bioth stories) but it burn't partially down and was repaired with metal construction. It still retains some of the western elements but is much more similiar to the other building in the complex, which makes MY building completely unique amid the wash of metal garages that make up the complex. Before I got the building, it had sat empty for 10 years. I had to even have the city electrical inspector come before I could turn the power on.

The lab room is actually the old kitchen from when it was a restaurant which is why the gas line, water lines and vent pipe is in there and the 220 outlet is a leftover from when it was a transmission shop. They needed 220 to run thier parts-washer. The theater and film studio were my contributions to it's history. I had built risers for seating and special lighting and we did The Odd Couple and True West when I first got the studio. I then turned it into a film studio. But I digress...I'm not really sure WHY I told you that story athough I think the building does have a facinating history....OOOHHH YEEAAAHH, NOW I remeber why I told the story, because working on installing the window A/C was BOARINNG!!! Anyway, more tomorrow! B)

[Robert Houllahan]

I appriciate the advice Rob, I'll DEFINATELY keep it in mind while setting the place up. As I said dust is going to be our most insidious enemy. I may even see if I can come up with a way to safely enclose our take-up reel in clear plexi-glass as well.

 

 

You might even want to think about building the exit end of your film processor (That Bray looks so small! to me how many feet /min is it supposed to run?) in a "clean" room with your assembly bench. Just go in there and as the film exits grab it and straight on the bench for assembly. Just a thought.

 

-Rob-

[Henri Titchen]

The machine can do both ECN2 and ECP. As for the FPM, I honestly have no idea. I took a quick glance at the oparator's manual but that didn't help at all. I may have to do some research to answer that question. Is there such a thing as a normal or average FPM rate for most processors?

 

The rate varies a lot depending on the machine. Some commercial machines apparently do 50-200 feet / minute. Smaller machines are usually a lot less. 5-10 feet/min.

 

The temperature, film path length and speed of the film are important processing parameters.

 

Henry.

[James Steven Beverly]

You might even want to think about building the exit end of your film processor (That Bray looks so small! to me how many feet /min is it supposed to run?) in a "clean" room with your assembly bench. Just go in there and as the film exits grab it and straight on the bench for assembly. Just a thought.

 

-Rob-

 

Well the whole lab is going to be a cleanroom/darkroom or that's the plan. That way if for any reason the processor breaks down during a run, I can open it to do repairs without ruining the unprocessed footage. I thought about building a separate darkroom but sense the room is only 13 x 20 ft. it makes more sence to just seal it tighter than the Gates of Hell and make sure it can remain light and dust free. I'm also amazed at the size of the Bray. As I said before, I have no idea how many feet per minute it can process and to be quite honest sense I'm not planning to use it commercially except for as I said, select clients, it shouldn't be that much of a factor. I will try and find out though. As for my report:

 

Today was another bust day. I'm missing too many days on this project and it's starting to annoy me although the rest of the week looks good and I should get a lot done. I spent the entire day repairing my dad's computer which was a software mess. Then had to go an exchange some pants my girlfriend bought, that I TOLD her to try on before she bought them (Why don't women ever listen, can ANYONE tell me that?). I made it there just as they were closing so the day was pretty much shot. It was another drizzeling mess outside so no doubt the sound stages are again flooded anyway and it was impossible for them to do any roofing work as well. I'd be more depressed if it weren't for the alcohol I've been administering in generous quantities to myself for medicinal purposes or in self-defence, take your pick. I may have come up with a way to keep dust from coming into the lab through the vent pipe though which is another concern so it wasn't a total loss. Anyway I should have more news tomorrow so intil them ,adu! B)

 

The rate varies a lot depending on the machine. Some commercial machines apparently do 50-200 feet / minute. Smaller machines are usually a lot less. 5-10 feet/min.

 

The temperature, film path length and speed of the film are important processing parameters.

 

Henry.

 

Thanks for the info, Henry, good information to have. How does the temperature, film path length and speed of the film affect the processing and it's parameters if you don't mind me asking?

Edited January 31, 2007 by James Steven Beverly

[Henri Titchen]

Thanks for the info, Henry, good information to have. How does the temperature, film path length and speed of the film affect the processing and it's parameters if you don't mind me asking?

 

Hi James,

 

The time the film spends in the tanks and the temperature of the solutions is important to ensure succesful processing. Here is a link to a Kodak publication that has some info on ECN-2.

 

http://www.kodak.com/US/plugins/acrobat/en.../h247/h2407.pdf

 

Henry.

[Hal Smith]

As for my report, NOTHING to report today, another "help the folks" day but back on it monyana so I should have more then. I did discuss the positive pressure problem with my father, who is a heating and A/C expert and has built and installed systems like this for hospitals. He was not overly optimistic nor overly pessimistic. The one work that kept coming to his lips though was "Expensive" and that's not good but we may be able to come up with a low rent alternitive that will work, as he said we'll just have to try some things B)

Hi Capt.

 

Having seen a more than a few transmitters with years of use that were installed in sealed, central air conditioned rooms that were covered with very fine dust inside - I suggest really working hard towards installing positive pressure control. Just about every window conditioner I've seen installed in TX rooms generates even worse negative pressure in the room, after all there's absolutely no reason in their manufacturer's reasoning to control pressure. The wall mount A/C's used on communications shelters are pretty good - they're also pretty expensive.

 

I'll bet a smallish axial or centrifugal blower installed in a box drawing outside air through stacked HEPA filtering would do a pretty good job of positive pressurizing a room (and absolutely no makeup air through the A/C equipment). Your dad probably has an Alnor Velostat or equivalent to test with, if not, I've got one I'll loan you for a week or so. I use mine from time to time mainly to figure out why an otherwise healthy transmitter is overheating but I can let it out of the shop for a little while. A simple slant tube manometer measuring outside to inside differential pressure would also be helpful - test on a no wind day, otherwise it's not going to give very meaningful readings.

[Robert Houllahan]

The rate varies a lot depending on the machine. Some commercial machines apparently do 50-200 feet / minute. Smaller machines are usually a lot less. 5-10 feet/min.

 

The temperature, film path length and speed of the film are important processing parameters.

 

Henry.

 

 

Our slowest machine (an Allen Porducts we use for B+W Negative and Print) does 50fpm our Color print machine is up to 200fpm and machines for running 35mm print in large batches are 500fpm or faster I believe. The really fast print machines are sprocket drive.

 

-Rob-

[Matthew Buick]

Hi Video,

 

I was wondering, how much will it cost for you to process ECN2 in Super 8?

 

-Matt.

[Charles MacDonald]

I'll bet a smallish axial or centrifugal blower installed in a box drawing outside air through stacked HEPA filtering would do a pretty good job of positive pressurizing a room (and absolutely no makeup air through the A/C equipment).

 

Honneywell makes relativly inexpensive (~$150.00) "air cleaners" with a HEPA filter that looks like the air filter off a Chevy truck. If you were to enbed one of those in the wall, so it draws outside air and exhausts into your room, you migh get the positive presure.

 

A few of them inside might gather more dust tahn the stir up.

[James Steven Beverly]

Man thanks for all the advise and info and especially thanks Hal for the offer to let me use your equipment. I'll see what we have availible first though. If yours got damaged acidentally, I'd have to ritually kill myself or something. :D I kind was toying with the idea of using a filtered and ducted blower wheel with an external motor to keep positive pressure in the room. The problem, well there are two of them.: 1) there's a LOT of dust here and I culd see filters cloging on a regular basis and 2)drawing air in from outside would also draw in heat and when you're trying to keep a room under 80 deg. in a hundred and fifteen deg. weather, drawing in hot air doesn't help, plus with a ventalation exaust fan running to pull out the fumes from the chemicals and Ozone from the particle cleaners keeping positive pressure becomes more of a challange so the blowers have to be even more high powered which means drawing in even larger amounts of hot air, so you see my dalema. I do have tocome up with something though. I'll keep thinking about it. I did put in a full day today though, which brings us to todays report:

 

I spent 9 hours over at the studio today mainly working on the lab and making up for lost time. I decided to take on framing in the small back window and fitting the window A/C unit. The first thing I did was dissasymble the window and remove it. I then took out the stops and hardware and got down the the actual frame it's self to see what we had. It was at this point that my fears were confirmed. The weather had gotten to the wood over the years anf it was shot at the bottom. which means I had to open the wall and replace the board. Let me say that again, I had to OPEN the Freakin' wall to fix the window frame!!! But THAT'S not the bizzar part. I told you we had LOTS of dust here when I got the sheet-rock off so I could get at the rotting board I needed to replace, I found the wall was fillled with dirt about 2 to 3 inches thick INSIDE the wall. No wonder I had troble keeping dust out! I replaced the wood but in the process damages some of the stucco arund the frame and will have to patch it as well. I framed in the window in much the same way I had done with the larger window only making allowances for the A/C unit. ite framing was TIGHT and I mean Very tight. I had a Hell of a time getting it in place but wit a regiment of sledge hammer persuation I finally got ity to see things my way. I'm thing about using that technique on my crew as well, just a thought. I cut some 3/4 in ply and screwed it into the opening in the outside to close iot up so I could lock the building up and keep the rain out as well as (and prehaps more inportantly) any bad guys who happen to be looking for a criminal discount on my stuff. Now I know that doesn't sound like it should hsve taken 9 hours to do but believe me it toke every minute of 9 hours. I also got some new pics of the room with the doors up and the windows openigs sealed up as well as the clean scene shop which I'm STILL proud of (you really had to have seen what a huge mess it was to understand why it makes mr so happy every rime I walk in there now.) The rain didn't flood the studio as badly as I thought it was going to so I opened the 3 front double doors to let it air out in there and swept the exess water out with a push broom. Hopefully it'll clear up enought this week to let them get back on the roof, otherwise I'll just have to repeat this technique until it DOES clear up and the roof is repaired. I'll upload the new picks to the bucket tomorrow, (cause I'm just too freakin' tired to screw with it today) and try and post 'em. and again more on the continuing saga of the Black Sky Production's film lab tomorrow until then buenos noches y adios.-El Capitan B)

Edited February 1, 2007 by James Steven Beverly

[Hal Smith]

Can your Dad get electrostatic precipitators cheap? I've seen the inside of a 10 year old transmitter that had one on the its air inlet - the insides of the transmitter looked like it had arrived new the day before. NO dust - period.

[James Steven Beverly]

Can your Dad get electrostatic precipitators cheap? I've seen the inside of a 10 year old transmitter that had one on the its air inlet - the insides of the transmitter looked like it had arrived new the day before. NO dust - period.

That's amazing. I'll have to check, I'm sure if anyone can get it cheap it's Dad.

[James Steven Beverly]

Hi Video,

 

I was wondering, how much will it cost for you to process ECN2 in Super 8?

 

-Matt.

 

I can only process 35mm, but super 8 is relitively cheap just check the small format sites and I'm sure you'll come up with a good price.

 

Now onto my report. I continued working on sealing up the room and finally found the nice blower I've been looking for. I tested it to see if it was still working and it is quiet and puts out a LOT of air. I had originally thought about using it as the exaust fan motor but it puts out so much air I had another thought. If I cut a hole in the wall to the adjacent room (the cargo bay set I'm now using for storage) and built a box for this blower assymbly that had a slot for the medical rated filters THEN airconditioned the cargo bay/storage room as well. I would be drawing in cool, filtered air from an inside room (which should be somewhat less dusty to begin with than drawing it from the outside) into the sealed lab room. This SHOULD pressurize the lab slightly especially if I don't install an exaust fan on the ventallation pipe but use the higher air pressure on the lab to push the fumes out through it. I'd still keep the refer unit in the lab to further cool the lab. Combine that with electronic partical collectors like say an Ionic breeze or 2 and that should solve my problem wouldn't you say? I installed somore bracing under the small window and worke on the sheet-rock somemore. I still can't believe I've been working on this room 2 solid weeks and there's still so much more to go. I guess that's just the nature of the beast, anytime you start a renovation project it alway takes longer than you planned. I'll post those new pics tomorrow. I planned to do it today but it's nearly 3 AM and with dial up it takes forever to upload these things. I's coming together more and more everyday and I'll keep going until it's done and done right. Well more tomorrow. B)

Edited February 2, 2007 by James Steven Beverly

[James Steven Beverly]

Here are the new pics:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last pic is a mothballed set for The Black Sky-Flightdeck and the one above it is the lower level of the studio after the rains to show you just what I'm facing

Edited February 3, 2007 by James Steven Beverly

[Matthew Buick]

I can only process 35mm, but super 8 is relitively cheap just check the small format sites and I'm sure you'll come up with a good price.

 

Thanks! I just wanted to help the new guy, that's all.

[James Steven Beverly]

Today I worked on the sheet-rock again. I also cleaned toy lab room up. This helped emmencely. There's nothing worse than trying to work in the middle of a overbearing mess. It'sepressing. My plan is to finish the sheet-rock then move onto repairing damage (ie the roof above the lab, the stucco ect., installing the A/C, the pressurizing fan and wood trim all the way around, painting the room, weatherstipping the doors and Ac opening. After that we'll finally be able deep to cleaning and at last installing the equipment. It's a long road but there's light at the end of the tunnel. Let's just hope it's not a freght train headed my way. B)

[James Steven Beverly]

Today's report: The sheet-rock inside the lab is up and what a difference. The place is looking so much better and nicer. I've had the building for 10 years and there's never been sheet-rock over the pipes before. It's quite an inprovement. I cant wait till it's trimmed and painted. I still have to do the backside of the large window opening but it's all but done Next will be taping and texturing, then trim and a decision on the pressurization system (which means do I put a fan though the wall with a filter at one end, but pressurization system sounds so much more technical). I did notice something I found a bit disturbing, there is a gap between the vent pipe and the ceiling and a bit of the sheet rock there was hanging down, when I reached inside the opening I notice the attic side had about a quarter inch of dirt in there. Hopefully it's contained around the vent pipe area and will be easy to clean up ant to seal from further contamination because I don't relish the idea of vacuming up the tight, dark, insulation filled crawlspace of an attic that is above the labroom, but if that's what it takes, so be it! I'm starting to feel like i'm making some real progress here. This next week will have short labroom work scheduals, manybe 3 to 4 hours a day because I gots ta makes some survival monies but I still vow to put in the time needed even if it means losing a little sleep, and that's saying a lot because I need all the beauty rest I can get. Anyway I'll report again tomorrow-The Captain B)

Edited February 5, 2007 by James Steven Beverly

[Terry Mester]

Hi James. Your ambition and enthusiasm are most admirable, but you should calculate any savings in doing developing yourself by the hour. If you don't have a Motion Picture Lab where you live, call Qualex Photofinishing at 1-800-315-9901 to see what their prices would be for Developing your Type and Length of Film. Just determine how much money (if any) you're saving by developing it yourself over Qualex, and divide that by the number of hours spent on doing it yourself. If you're not saving at least $15 dollars per hour, then it's not worth it. Many a photographer who's tried developing their own Films has found that it's not worth the time and trouble, and they really didn't save any money. With Qualex you can drop your Film off at any Wal-Mart Store, and there are no Shipping Fees. The Film will be returned to your local Wal-Mart. Given that Qualex (owned by Kodak) provides top quality developing, it's worth paying a little extra to save yourself all this trouble. This time spent on Developing tasks you could spend making $10 bucks an hour at an extra part-time job, and you won't have to breathe in all those fumes.

[James Steven Beverly]

Hi James. Your ambition and enthusiasm are most admirable, but you should calculate any savings in doing developing yourself by the hour. If you don't have a Motion Picture Lab where you live, call Qualex Photofinishing at 1-800-315-9901 to see what their prices would be for Developing your Type and Length of Film. Just determine how much money (if any) you're saving by developing it yourself over Qualex, and divide that by the number of hours spent on doing it yourself. If you're not saving at least $15 dollars per hour, then it's not worth it. Many a photographer who's tried developing their own Films has found that it's not worth the time and trouble, and they really didn't save any money. With Qualex you can drop your Film off at any Wal-Mart Store, and there are no Shipping Fees. The Film will be returned to your local Wal-Mart. Given that Qualex (owned by Kodak) provides top quality developing, it's worth paying a little extra to save yourself all this trouble. This time spent on Developing tasks you could spend making $10 bucks an hour at an extra part-time job, and you won't have to breathe in all those fumes.

 

Terry, I appreciate the advice but the last time I checked, Walmart didn't take 35mm motion picture film. However there are places in LA that will process 35mm movie film if you ship it to them. At an estimated 25 cents per foot to develop 35mm film from someplace in LA (or pretty much anywhere else in the US), for 39 to 50 thousand feet, it would cost $9750 to $12,500 plus shipping to process the film for a feature length movie and that does not include printing the dailies for editing as I will be editing on a flatbed to save the cost of telecine. At $10 an hour working a fulltime job and using the money for NOTHING else but film developing and taking out taxes it would take me about 9 months to get the money to pay for developing, now that's assuming I could FIND a job in El Paso that paided $10 an hour and I could afford not to have electricity of a house or food or a studio OR gas to get to work in the first place. A more likely senerio is I save about a third of my cash for developing and it takes me 27 months or 2 and a half years to get enough money to develop a feature length film.

 

On the OTHER HAND if I finish my lab which may take me another month or two to complete si I can process the film myself, it would cost me the cost of the film to shoot on as I have enough chemicals to do at least 2 to 3 feature length films and sense I have a step printer, I can also do that for the cost of print film. Once I learn to process I can also process for other people which will actually make me some cash.

 

OH, Let me see, what to do? I don't know, what do YOU THINK. :rolleyes: Oh and BTW as for fumes, we have an exaust vent and pressurizing the room so they should be that much of a problem. You may be thinking I was planning on developing 35mm still film which I would take to Walmart UNLESS I I was a professional phtographer. I would under those circumstnaces develop my own film for atristic reasons.

 

NOW onto my report. I finished off the last of the sheet-rock today by installing the sheetrock on the sceneshop side of the large window opening or as I now call it the wall next to the main doors. I also worked on filling in gaps in the other doors where the door frames were shimmed to square them up so that It will make it more difficult for dirt and dust to get into the lab. I dug out my collection of silicon caulking tubes and caulking gun and threw away the bad ones which left me with what I believe will be enough caulk to seal any small gaps in the room. I check the price of weatherstipping as I fould I was woawfully inadiquitly supplied with that particularly nessesary material and descovered that even in my present, REALLY broke state I can still probably afford it, which is good news. I then when to the task of removing the lerrterally hundreds od staples still stuck in the walls from when we had planned the use the room as a set for the now back-burnered "The Black Sky" which was tedious but nessesary in order it paint the room. I also sealed the opening for the evaperative cooling duct that originally was meant to cool the room but would also bring in a lot of dust. It will also be caulked to seal it. I have some pics of the progress to post and will do so later tonight or tomorrow. I will begin the caulking, taping and texturing tomorrow and possibly install the A/C unit as well which also has to be sealed. So until then, this is your captain signing off. B)

[Bryan Darling]

Terry, I appreciate the advice but the last time I checked, Walmart didn't take 35mm motion picture film. However there are places in LA that will process 35mm movie film if you ship it to them. At an estimated 25 cents per foot to develop 35mm film from someplace in LA (or pretty much anywhere else in the US), for 39 to 50 thousand feet, it would cost $9750 to $12,500 plus shipping to process the film for a feature length movie and that does not include printing the dailies for editing as I will be editing on a flatbed to save the cost of telecine.

 

Wow, it should only cost you $.12 to $.16 per foot to process 35mm, especially if you are doing a feature. You quite possibly could get it even less if you're going to run 39k-50k feet of film and you work out a deal with the lab. I get $.16 in San Francisco and have been quoted as low as $.12 in L.A.

[James Steven Beverly]

Wow, it should only cost you $.12 to $.16 per foot to process 35mm, especially if you are doing a feature. You quite possibly could get it even less if you're going to run 39k-50k feet of film and you work out a deal with the lab. I get $.16 in San Francisco and have been quoted as low as $.12 in L.A.

 

Well, even at 12 to 16 cents a foot, assuming I could get it done for that, that's still about $5000 to $7000 for processing and don't forget shipping and that's just to get a negative. Double that for a workprint... as opposed to 0 (well maybe the cost of electricity) for 2 to 3 films if I process it myself. I'd still say I come out way ahead, wouldn't you? B) Now onto my report:

 

I did studio clean-up today. I hauled litterally a truckload of trash to the dump. It had to be done and I have to do more tomorrow. I also talked with the roofer and had the chance to show him some of the problems I had found in the course of cleaning and repairing the studio. He assures me they will be taken care of. Again as this was a "Will Work for Food" day, I didn't get to put in a lot of hours, but I did need to take a little brak anyway. I'll try to get more done tomorrow. I will also post new pics. B)