my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Ground Level   » Advice for building a new theatre (Page 1)

This topic comprises 4 pages: 1  2  3  4

Author Topic: Advice for building a new theatre Celine Negrete Film Handler Posts: 70 From: Nevada City, CA Registered: Nov 2009 posted 11-27-2010 02:25 PM                        Ok, so if you had the chance to build a new theatre complex I would love to hear some ideas of things you would AND would not do. A couple of 'facts' to keep in mind for the type of project I am most interested in hearing ideas about: -the theatre would show mostly arthouse films, along with a few 'crossover' films of the type that often play at a Landmark and a Regal (ie THE TOWN) -square footage limits the theatre to 3-4 screens of ~80-100 seats each -beer/wine bar, plus tapas bar being considered -theatre would be located in a small town that is also a tourist destination year-round -theatre considering all digital houses Even though I have offered up some 'facts', I am still interested in hearing ideas that are counter to the description above. Imagine you don't have to worry about financing this project, but the costs do need to be within reason, as in make financial sense. I am really interested in hearing the booth ideas. Remember, this is starting from 'scratch' so no need to bring in old equipment. You can start with any option. Would you go all digital? Finally, I ask that this post be considered as simply looking for ideas on a theoretical project. Thanks!  |  IP: Logged Rick Raskin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1100 From: Manassas Virginia Registered: Jan 2003 posted 11-27-2010 02:33 PM                     I think all digital would be a mistake given the programming you want to run and the likelihood that digital copies may not be available. I'd install 35mm and 16mm in at least one of the screens.  |  IP: Logged Celine Negrete Film Handler Posts: 70 From: Nevada City, CA Registered: Nov 2009 posted 11-27-2010 02:38 PM                        Right now, as far as I can tell, all of Sony Pictures Classics are available digitally. There is also Emerging Pictures which carries a lot of the arthouse distributors product digitally, but requires their equipment. And, this idea would be ~12 months away...who knows what will have changed by then in terms of digital availability? It seems like it is just a matter of time before most titles will be available, yes? I know it is a debated subject.  |  IP: Logged Tony Bandiera Jr Film God Posts: 3067 From: Moreland Idaho Registered: Apr 2004 posted 11-27-2010 02:50 PM                     quote: Celine Negrete And, this idea would be ~12 months away...who knows what will have changed by then in terms of digital availability? It seems like it is just a matter of time before most titles will be available, yes? I know it is a debated subject. Celine, the timeline is totally irrelevant in the matter of media..there are thousands or tens of thousands of arthouse titles that will likely NEVER be converted to digital! Do not make the mistake of omitting 35mm or even 16mm projection or you will severely limit your programming choices. Even first run should leave some 35mm capability for limited releases or emergency use when the DLP goes down. Finally, after talking to numerous art film directors/producers over the years, many have a hatred of digital and would never produce or allow exhibition of their works on DLP. It also makes no sense to not include 35/16 capability as used in good condition equipment can be had cheap with the current digital rollout. With all that said, it would be very wise to INCLUDE digital projection, but make sure your DCI compliant machine can accept standard video sources as well.  |  IP: Logged Celine Negrete Film Handler Posts: 70 From: Nevada City, CA Registered: Nov 2009 posted 11-27-2010 03:33 PM                        Hi Tony, Thanks for the input. I guess I should have added that this theatre would not be showing 'older' arthouse fare...the kind you talk about never being converted, but just first-run. Though many (or all?) Criterion titles are available on Emerging. After over 10 years of arthouse programming at my current theatre, we have never shown 16. The two local film festivals do not show 35 or 16 for any of the titles. I know this is a 'heated' subject, and believe me after working in a booth for 8 years (previously, in San Francisco), I have a large place in my heart for 35mm, but as for directors/producers saying they will "never" produce or allow exhibition of their works on DLP...well, that just sounds like someone who is likely to retire prematurely, IMHO. I would love to be proven wrong. That being said, I agree about having some 35mm capability for limited releases or emergencies at this point.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 11-27-2010 06:37 PM                     16mm has definitely fallen on hard times. There are a few times when it was the only format or the best format available in the past few years but it is an expensive format to keep around, at the professional level. Not having 35mm would be a big mistake and not having it will definitely limit your movie choices in the foreseeable future. If you can luck into a an FP38E projector or two...then 16mm can come along for the ride...great...but I would hesitate installing it or making any big plans around having it at the expense of most anything else. Mind you...I love the 16mm format and prefer it to most SD video and much HD video for documentaries but the realities are...most 16mm prints are bad dupes and have questionable sound and image qualities. -Steve  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-27-2010 07:36 PM                        The Emerging Pictures stuff is not D-cinema quality. I don't know the details, but it looked pretty bad to me when I saw it (from a booth) a year or two ago. As for the current state of art house programming: you will need a bunch of formats. This is less of an issue if you have a multi-screen venue, as not every screen needs to be able to accommodate every format. It is a must to have 35mm (I have no doubt that the art-house circuit will be the last holdouts for 35mm). You will need at least four formats (Academy, 1.66, 1.85, and scope). You will also need SD and HD video with, at minimum, DVD and Blu-Ray capability, with guest inputs for component analog, SD-SDI, and HD-SDI. I wouldn't worry about D-cinema at this time; unlike mainstream theatres (where 3D is a notable advantage), there is no compelling reason to have it for an art house. For this sort of venue, it would be more useful to have Digi-Beta and HDCAM capability. As for sound, SRD is pretty much standard now, even in smaller venues, and you would be at a disadvantage with only optical stereo. Dolby E would be a nice-to-have for video material, but isn't a must. If you really have no plans to show older films, ever, then you can forgo this, but I would want to have changeover capability on at least one screen for special screenings of archive prints. You don't need it for a first-run-only house, however. Unless you are doing film festivals, repertory screenings, or student films, I would not bother with 16mm. At most, I would get a pair of portable xenon projectors and appropriate lenses and keep them in storage in case you ever need them, but there isn't much call to show new material in 16mm at this time, unfortunately.  |  IP: Logged Celine Negrete Film Handler Posts: 70 From: Nevada City, CA Registered: Nov 2009 posted 11-27-2010 08:20 PM                        Curious about the Academy and 1:66. I have yet to have a single print come through in either of those. Are those of you running an arthouse getting those prints? When was the last title?  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 11-27-2010 08:25 PM                        As an arthouse, we have 35mm only. We have only ever run one movie on video (The Infidel). Most prints are flat or scope, not the crazy wide potpourri of aspect ratios that many seem to indicate. Granted, we are not hardcore arthouse. We don't show a lot of the foreign stuff. Most prints have Dolby Digital, very few have we needed to run in analog due to no Dolby Digital track.  |  IP: Logged Tony L. Hernandez Expert Film Handler Posts: 158 From: Windsor, CO, USA Registered: Dec 2005 posted 11-27-2010 08:29 PM                     I agree with the others on here as far as the importance of installing film equipment in this theater. Celine, First of all, for a good while to come, there IS and WILL be plenty of films (even speaking strictly of brand-new arthouse fair) that will only be available on 35mm. As Tony B. said, there are plenty of directors and producers who will not allow their films to hit theaters in digital. And that is not going to threaten their careers. They poured their blood,sweat and tears into the movie (not to mention a small fortune of money) and that gives them the right to dictate what format their film is distributed on. This is not going to change anytime in the near future. I know from your 2nd post in this thread that you stated that you would never be screening anything from the past but please keep in mind that in this business, no plans can be set in stone. Everything changes and much as you may intend to only show current arthouse fare, occasionally business WILL dictate that you show a film that is slightly older or perhaps even a classic. Even many of the mega-plexes around that were initially built to screen only first-run, Hollywood Blockbusters are now adding arthouse and classic films to their lineup. I am involved with a few arthouses screening current films and I must say that 75% of the films are on 35mm, 15% are 16mm and only about 10% are digital. Honestly, 35mm is our first choice so needless to say, some of our 35mm films could be shown on digital if we chose. That said, a good 65-70% of our 35mm films are only available on 35mm. I know you mentioned a film festival that only screens digital but please take a moment to think about how many films they have to turn away due to their limited capabilities. They may be a wonderful and successful festival but it would be 100x better if they had film capabilities. Assuming you do get 3 screens, it may not be necessary have all screens equipped with 35mm but you must have at least one screen equipped with 2-35mm projectors for changeover (as someone else stated, a must have for archival stuff) and perhaps a set of platters for the occasions when you are running something more mainstream and cannot have an operator attending the booth at all times. As Scott said, it is also best for you to have lenses and plates on hand for 1.37,1.66,1.85 and 2.35. Although it would be OK for you to leave out 16mm, I would also strongly advise against this if at all possible. Just this past September and October, I was up to my neck with 16mm films to run in one of my arthouses, a handful of which were brand-new films not available on any other format. Be sure to get Xenon equipment... Elmos and EIKIs are wonderful! Misc. reels, splicers, supplies and exciter lamps for 16mm are always to be found on Ebay, usually for a song. Although I have not personally used it, I can tell you from the experiences of a pro-digital friend of mine who opened a single-screen arthouse, that the Emerging Pictures stuff is garbage, in both quality and content. When he opened his theater, he intended for it to be primarily digital (with the help of the Emerging Pictures box) but installed a 35mm Century projector and platters as well because he got them for almost nothing. After a few months of operation, he had to switch almost all of his programming to 35mm because of the many problems and issues he had with Emerging Pictures and because of the many films he was missing out on with his digital only mindset. Please take everyone's advice on here. Film equipment is cheap these days and installing some alongside your digital will give your new theater a better chance of becoming an important, well respected arthouse as opposed to a short-lived novelty.  |  IP: Logged Celine Negrete Film Handler Posts: 70 From: Nevada City, CA Registered: Nov 2009 posted 11-27-2010 08:34 PM                        Thanks for more great advice! Just to clarify, I already manage an arthouse and I have previously worked many film festivals from local to international, so I do understand the business to a certain extent. It is the changeover to digital that interests (concerns?) me the most in terms of design of a new theatre. I think it is inevitable and I want to be on the 'right' side of the equation. That is where the questions about digital are coming from.  |  IP: Logged Mike Olpin Chop Chop! Posts: 1852 From: Dallas, TX Registered: Jan 2002 posted 11-27-2010 08:41 PM                     Have at least one screen set up for D-Cinema in tandem with 35mm. Install a video scaler for alternate content. Cannot recommend this enough.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 11-27-2010 08:44 PM                     Emerging Pictures is 720p...for the time being. I've been less than impressed with its sound and the image also looks a bit too compressed. There is a nice convenience factor to it, though. 1.37 (Academy is required if you plan to screen films made prior to 1953). 1.66 is the easiest to drop as it is primarily used for subtitled movies in Art houses...particularly older ones. I'm now advising a 1.75/1.78 plate/lens as it will allow 16:9 material and it also gives one more headroom for subtitled films and rarely if ever gets one into trouble with hard matted frame lines. you could almost use the 1.75 plate to cover 1.85-1.66. -Steve  |  IP: Logged Jesse Skeen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1517 From: Sacramento, CA Registered: Aug 2000 posted 11-27-2010 08:45 PM                     No common-width screens!  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 11-27-2010 08:49 PM                     Digital is definitely coming/here for the art house circuit. We recently installed a DCinema system at the National Gallery of Art...they had a movie from Norway...ONLY available in DCP or HDCAM-SR. We had installed a DCinema projector a couple of years back in anticipation of this. The cost of a DCinema player was far cheaper than the cost of an HDCAM-SR deck or even to rent one for the duration of the movie...plus renting the deck would have been money flushed away. Note, the Gallery is VERY film friendly...35mm and 16mm and film remains their preferred format. However, the times of digital-only are not only coming but will be increasing. -Steve  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 4 pages: 1  2  3  4

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.