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Author Topic: Poorly planned exit doors etc Mike Croaro Master Film Handler Posts: 394 From: Millbrae, CA Registered: Apr 2005 posted 10-06-2009 08:05 PM                     Greetings: Is it only me that find this bothersome: Modern movie theatres in which the screen is off certer to accomodate poorly planned exit doors? We are all used to this in the older single screen theatres that were chopped up. In some cases it was unavoidable; In other cases theatre owners took shortcuts. But whats the excuse in modern day construction? In these same autitoriums, the screens typically come within 6 inches of the oposite wall. This causes stray light to illuminate the wall. This is how new theatres in the San Francisco area are typically built. I appreciate newer facilities being built but would like it if more went into the auditorium design. Mike  |  IP: Logged Alex Edwards Expert Film Handler Posts: 114 From: Iowa Registered: Aug 2009 posted 10-06-2009 08:42 PM                  From what I've seen, many theaters are built with minimal space between screen and wall because they like to pack in as many screens as possible in a certain space which then creates tiny shoeboxes that they call auditoriums. Lunatics... By the way, this should probably be in the Ground Level Forum  |  IP: Logged Sam Graham AKA: "The Evil Sam Graham". Wackiness ensues. Posts: 1431 From: Waukee, IA Registered: Dec 2004 posted 10-07-2009 08:21 AM                        Regarding specifically San Francisco, I assume you're talking about Century. I don't have that much of a problem with Century's design. The entry is parallel down the same side and the seating is still centered to the screen and front channel speakers. The surrounds on the entry/exit side can be balanced to compensate. The exit itself becomes nearly invisible when the lights are down since the "EXIT" sign is usually by the door and not glowing at you during the presentation. There are lots of others who don't do this as well, and I have lots of issues with Century builds as far as too many small auditoriums and small screens, but if they were going to insist on this particular design characteristic, I think they did it as well as one could. In any case, it's not a problem for Century anymore...  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 10-07-2009 11:16 AM                     I am in the camp of there is no excuse for such a design. My preferred solution is to use a curved masking track and fixed scope masking, such that the movable masking ends up on the side walls of the auditorium when in scope (letting the fixed masking do the job), or for flat the curtains move in. Shrink the damn screen if you have to by a foot on each side, but don't put it off center of the room. I also have few nice things to say for people who put colored curtains ANYWHERE on the screen wall. For that matter, nothing but black curtains should ever be used for the first 15 feet of the room...barring actual screen curtains, which must become hidden behind black strips once opened.  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 10-10-2009 10:49 PM                        Brad: you have it exactly right. Have done this since 1974. Louis  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 10-10-2009 11:10 PM                     quote: Brad Miller Shrink the damn screen if you have to by a foot on each side, but don't put it off center of the room. (Should show you picts of some houses over here that have off-centered screens as mentioned above .. just plain horrible..) Yea, the black emphasizes the screen more readilly...especially with the usage of dubatene - that flat black, light absorbing material.. -Monte  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 10-11-2009 09:46 AM                        Monte: Yes, the real advantage is that the screen swims in a sea of blackness. It is not possible to reference anything against the room; corners and wall-to-ceiling angles disappear in blackness. Louis  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-11-2009 09:59 AM                     I've had several customers over the years do completely black theaters. I like it and there is absolutely nothing distracting one from the screen in these locations. There IS nothing in general in a multiplex you need to show off anyway... If you do somethng glitzy in a room then it tends to be distracting. I tend to find watching films in old movie palaces distracting. I tend to let me eyes wander around during the film looking at how the light from the screen illuminates the different objects in the room and so on. Mark  |  IP: Logged Bill Enos Film God Posts: 2081 From: Richmond, Virginia, USA Registered: Apr 2000 posted 10-11-2009 01:01 PM                     Movie palaces were built in a time when the movies were so bad they had to build theatres to look at. Marcus Loew once said he sold tickets to theatres not to movies.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-11-2009 02:22 PM                     I've heard that to Bill but I don't agree that movies were bad back then. Better for sure!  |  IP: Logged Mike Croaro Master Film Handler Posts: 394 From: Millbrae, CA Registered: Apr 2005 posted 10-11-2009 03:42 PM                     Hi Everyone: Thanks for your thoughts. Black auditoriums......UA painted the interior of their San Francisco Vogue Theatre this way. Wainscoating is black, upper walls and ceiling are charcoal. Subtle blue molding down the sides. Looks great and works well. Mike  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-11-2009 04:03 PM                        quote: I've heard that to Bill but I don't agree that movies were bad back then. Better for sure! Mark: Sturgeon's Law: 90% of everything is crap. Applies to movies back then, too. It is just there were so damn many of them being cranked out in the Golden Age we only remember the good ones. Look at a Boxoffice Magazine release chart for any year in the 1940's. Really, how many Ma & Pa Kettle (and knockoff) movies did the world need? On the other hand, yes movie palaces can be distracting, but at least they give you something to look at during a boring movie. It's like stained glass windows at church;>  |  IP: Logged Mike Croaro Master Film Handler Posts: 394 From: Millbrae, CA Registered: Apr 2005 posted 10-11-2009 08:09 PM                     Brad Wrote: "I also have few nice things to say for people who put colored curtains ANYWHERE on the screen wall......." _______________________________________________________________ What makes the above even worse, is when they overcut the aperature plate so the "spill over" goes beyond the black masking and lights up the colored drapes. Mike  |  IP: Logged Mitchell Dvoskin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1869 From: West Milford, NJ, USA Registered: Jan 2001 posted 10-13-2009 01:47 PM                     Really, how many Ma & Pa Kettle (and knockoff) movies did the world need? These movies may look quaint and dated now, but they were very successful in their day. Remember that in the 1940's, much of America was still rural and the issues the Kettles humorously faced were very real to many people. Every generation has had their good and bad movies. Sometimes due to changing tastes over the years, movies that were popular become not so, or the opposite. For example, The Wizard Of Oz was a financial failure in it's initial theatrical runs. The film did not turn a profit until it was sold to television some 20 years later.  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-13-2009 01:52 PM                        quote: Mitchell Dvoskin These movies may look quaint and dated now, but they were very successful in their day. I didn't say they weren't successful -- quality has nothing to do with attendance  |  IP: Logged

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