Video: I always assumed that inspecting film would be a thankless job done out of sight in a back room. And, well, it kind of is, but Michael Rousselet makes it look way more fun than it should be.
K. William McMillan showed Rousselet doing his inspection thing on film reels at the Norris Cinema Theatre at USC. Film nerds already know all about what’s going on but for the rest of plebeians, it’s neat to see the wild patterns that show up when film spirals around a reel. It’s cool to learn about film prints having their heads cut out and spliced back in (for reels that are set on platters). It’s fun to find out what he’s actually looking for when he’s inspecting the film (splices, imperfections, snags and so on).