TUPPERWARE: NOT FOR FOOD... BUT FOR FILM SPLICERS

I confess: I have a weakness for splicers. Not just for using them, but for simply looking at them. The shape, the mechanics, the quiet promise of precision… For that reason, I keep them visible wherever I work. And since my life seems to be divided into cinematic outposts, I’ve ended up with five different spaces where splicers live:

• The production office;

• The Brainstorm editing suite;

• The telecine room;

• The developing lab;

• And at home: a second editing suite and a projection booth. 

  

  2 Fujifilm splicers and two CIR splicers

Now, here’s the problem: splicers may be beautiful, but dust is relentless. Even in a room where nothing happens for weeks, dust always finds a way to settle. And the last thing I want is to wipe oxide and grit off my beloved tools every time I sit down.

So… what’s the solution?
Not a high-tech filtration system. Not custom acrylic vitrines. No: the answer was sitting quietly in the kitchen all along: Tupperware.

Yes, Tupperware — but inverted. The lid becomes the base, and the glass container itself becomes a transparent dust-free showcase for the splicer. Voilà: a museum display case for ciné-nerds on a budget.

Two Fujifilm splicers and the elusive Fujfilm sound moviola

I’ve been using this method for more than 25 years now, and honestly, I couldn’t be happier. It keeps the splicers clean, protected, and — best of all — always visible, ready to be admired even when not in use.

I shared this trick recently in the Super 8mm Facebook group, where someone called it ingenious. Ingenious? Maybe. Cheap? Absolutely.

And how, you ask, did I acquire so many Tupperware containers? Simple. I slowly “borrowed” them from my wife’s kitchen over the years. One by one. Quietly. Until my editing rooms looked like a cookware showroom turned cinematic workshop.

She still wonders where they all went.
I just smile.

Because in the end, who says Tupperware is only for leftovers?

Bauer sound editor with digital sound and LED light