Re: X-Rayed film

From: Pip Chodorov (email suppressed)
Date: Sun Jun 15 2008 - 14:15:05 PDT


Here's some airport advice: If you tell them you are a "professional"
- that is the key word - and that you are pushing your stock to be
developed at 2000ASA - and it helps to stick some of that yellow
"Do-Not-Xray" tape on the film boxes, then chances are good that
they'll call a police officer and do a hand check. They tend to
believe what you say about the ASA regardles of what is written on
the box. As soon as I say "professional" they wrinkle their eyebrows,
consult their superiors and try and help out. Unless their superior
is cranky and couldn't care less.

I noticed the new super-8 packaging for Tri-X and Ektachrome 64 say
"Protect from heat and x-ray" on the box. Kodachrome boxes never
mentioned that, and none of the 100-ft 16mm load boxes mention that
even today for newer stocks. The security officers look for that
notice if you insist that the film should not be x-rayed. They'll
argue with you if it does not say that. Get the tape.

Another good trick is always to carry a dud cartridge you don't care
about, then say that this one is only 400 ASA but the others are 2000
and shouldn't be x-rayed. As long as you seem honest and are allowing
one or two to go through, they like to believe there is a good reason
the others should be hand-checked. (In some cases that means opening
each one and showing the first few inches of raw film.)

Don't use lead envelopes - they'll only crank up the xrays to see
what's inside.

When carrying a splicer, pack it vertically so they will be seeing
the blades from the top down.

And if it has to go through the machine, the film will probably be
OK. James Schneider made a nice film this year showing the effects of
hundreds of passes through the heavy duty machines. By the 16th or
32nd pass you begin to see the image turning white, but 2-4 passes
are still relatively OK.

-Pip Chodorov

At 18:34 +0300 14/06/08, Ekrem Serdar wrote:
>Thanks!
>
>Puts my cold heart to rest. Asking politely has never failed me in
>the U.S, and never before here either. Yet once the person says,
>despite all your protesting niceties, "Sir, we've been trained in
>this", something in me decides to stay quiet.
>
>cheers!
>

__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.