Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Outdoor Screen Placement

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Topic: Outdoor Screen Placement

Dave Bird
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 777
From: Perth, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Jun 2000

posted 05-31-2002 09:32 PM

May have finally located a piece of land for that outdoor I've been working on. Sadly, in these days of red-tape regulation, one must choose by where zoning can be had, not necessarily for where a screen should be placed. But it's very good in many ways. The technical dilemma is this: Where to place the screen? We have a square lot with N-S-E-W borders. North and West are first two choices. BUT West would face the road and a very public-accessible area, plus some distant street lighting. North and South could be somewhat shielded to freeloaders, but light issues are the same. This leaves me with East. No ambient light or freeloaders, but a "suncatcher". Of course many drive-ins have done this, but would any of you? For those that have these "suncatchers", do you start the movie later? By how much? Suggestions?

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Jerry Chase
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1068
From: Margate, FL, USA
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 05-31-2002 11:15 PM

1. Don't do it.
2. If you do it plant tall fast growing trees as a partial barrier.

(Edit)- Rethinking this, it is one of my dumber statements. Trees probably won't make any difference. The days when there are light clouds in the west, there will be a glow from them after the sun goes down. I've seen days when the clouds are in the east and the glow was brighter than the sunset. I guess siting a screen is a YMMV issue depending on local conditions.

How many have started a show in dark heavy rain, only to have to shut it down as the clouds thinned out and the light overpowered the image on the screen? (Raises hand)

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Timothy Eiler
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 126
From: Litchfield , Minnesota, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 06-02-2002 10:37 AM

I Have Screens facing N,S,E,W I dont have a problem with light. I just walk around and start them aprox the same time. I do have a ten minute intermission reel at the begining and I also have plenty of light on the sceen

Tim
Starlite Drive-in
Litchfield Mn

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Dave Bird
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 777
From: Perth, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Jun 2000

posted 06-02-2002 12:54 PM

I was thinking about the "glow". That was precisely why I figure a west screen can't really start much before an east anyway. There is a pretty good-sized hill to the west which makes takes the sun out a little earlier. Thanks.

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Frank Angel
Film God

Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 06-03-2002 01:10 AM

Forget about the freeloaders. You will not loose that much in the way of adminssions. Most people don't want to think of themselves as cheap freeloaders and will come in an pay the admission. The advantage you will get by orienting the screen where you will get the LEAST amount ambient light is the place to put it. If freeloading along the side of the road becomes a real problem, then fensing, water spray and even a burried antenna that transmits a jamming signal to obliterate the soundtrack can be used to discourage them.

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Barry Floyd
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1079
From: Lebanon, Tennessee, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 06-03-2002 01:05 PM

Dave... you sound like me. I've finally settled on a location a little further away (9 miles)from where I had originally intended, but have NO zoning issues to deal with whatsoever. They told me the other night in the meeting... "Heck you could build it next to the courthouse if you wanted... if the land was available."

Our new site alows us to place the screens facing -15 degrees East & + 15 degrees West with parking capacities of 260 on each field, and still enough room on the site for a North facing tower with a capacity of 175 +/-.

Several weeks ago we went to a local drive-in to catch Spiderman and the owner started the show way too early for my taste... or so I thought. When the first image hit the screen, it was so faint you could barely even see it. He started off with the Filmack "Radioactive" trailer, a Pepsi commercial, then several (3-4) upcoming feature trailers. By the time Spidey hit the screen ... the lighting was perfect. It's obvious he'd done this a time or two.

Good luck... We still have the bet on who's the first to open - you or me.

------------------
Barry Floyd
Floyd Entertainment Group
Nashville, Tennessee
(Drive-In Theatre - Start-Up)

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Dave Bird
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 777
From: Perth, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Jun 2000

posted 06-03-2002 02:16 PM

Well, you've got NO zoning at all, so I say you're ahead! You're right, I find that even where a screen faces west, 5-10 minutes of trailers is usually what's done. To answer Frank, there's a greater chance of "all-night-long ambient light" if I face the road (and freeloaders) than if I take the sun. It wouldn't happen all weekends, but once or twice a month. And they're off!

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Geoff Bradley
Film Handler

Posts: 12
From: Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 06-03-2002 11:37 PM

Hey Dave. Maybe it's been awhile, but doesn't the direction of predominant winds play a factor anymore?

I just remember seeing the screen fly towards North Dakota one night during Twister.

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Paul G. Thompson
The Weenie Man

Posts: 4718
From: Mount Vernon WA USA
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 06-03-2002 11:40 PM

Sunset could be an issue.

Good thing you are not adjacent to an oil refinery. One drive-in I ran was, and when they hit the flares, it washed me off the screen.

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Dave Bird
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 777
From: Perth, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Jun 2000

posted 06-04-2002 06:44 AM

Movies by candlelight Paul! Refineries can be worse, the last drive-in in Calgary Alberta was the Corral. Very busy, as you'd expect for the last 4 screens and a city of one million. The oil facility next door exploded, bathing the drive-in in pollution (so Cineplex Odeon says anyway). It sits abandoned. I suspect it was a way for Cineplex to take a huge insurance claim and sell the land. Thanks for all answers, I'm getting responses from, "Hell no, don't do it!" to "It's okay to do it."

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