A customer came in yesterday, and started complaining that we were "blocking" the picture. After talking to him for awhile, I got what he meant: When we run 'scope, we do indeed have a screen that goes 42ft, wall to wall (except for 22 inches of masking material bunched up at sides.)

However, when we run flat, it's not wall to wall, as we have adjustable side masking.

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No!
The screen stays the same just the picture on it changes.
You always have "wall to wall screens"

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And yes, your screen itself is nearly "wall-to-wall", so your ads are truthful.

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

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A "wall-to-wall" screen in a 20 foot wide room isn't so large as compared to a typical front-end in a 70 foot wide room.

Personally, I HATE wall-to-wall screens. The only way to truely claim wall-to-wall is to have wrap-around screens that just fit inside the walls...anything less is not, in fact, "wall-to-wall". I can't think of many (if any) theatres that really fit that description.

Most exhibitors have loss any sense of presentation class. Side maskings needn't seem so intrusive. A well designed front-end has curtains (first of all, and stacking room for them will preclude w-t-w screens). The side maskings should only have a foot or two of velour for "masking" (about the same width as the top and bottom. Then there should be a colored fabric (preferably sonically transmissive) that will accent the theatre decour but in a darker shade than the side walls predominate (in-case you have a multi-tone side wall). The curtain should be yet darker and more rich. This way, when the front-end is opened to FLAT...there is a tierd out approach...screen, black, color side masking, stacked-curtain. This avoids the little white rectangle in the sea of BLACK masking everywhere. Naturally, the skirt, valance and legs should all be properly colored.

For all you whining slide advertisement showers out there...slides don't preclude curtains nor curtain warmer lights. Install electric roll-down screens formated for your slides...Show the slides like they were ment to be there not something just thrown out to occupy dead screen time. Most of the theatres I go into have their slides so piss-poorly displayed that advertisers should demand a discount. On the "proper" screens, they can be bright and sharp and be added to the show rather than detracting from it.

Steve

I don't understand what you're getting at. If the screen goes from wall to the other so that it is the entire width of the room, rather than having masking or an exit door or something else between the edge of the screen and the wall, isn't it a "wall-to-wall" screen?

I agree with Bob. It's not the size that counts, it's how you use it! Give me the proper aspect ratio.

You get it...but most claimed "wall-to-wall" screens do have some sort of border around them, including the masking stacked up (when showing scope).

I haven't been to a theatre that shows slides BRIGHT and crips on the movie's screen...they are normally just thrown up there. Since the slide's aspect ratio is not that of either of the popular formats, it is never dressed out properly. That is the problem I have with it. It is very poor showmanship. If you are going to advertise, HIGHLITE it and make it look good. Have a proper screen for it. The curtains should remain closed for the slide show.

Steve

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Saying "Widescreen" does not automatically convey the idea that your theater has the largest screen possible. You can't have a long-winded explanation about aspect ratios and screen sizes in your advertising. Telling the customer that the screen stays the same size- just the picture changes, while true, ... I think it would just sound like an excuse to a customer.

Regarding showing slides at theaters with curtains and footlights; We had a similar problem, we wanted to have slide advertising look nice at these theaters. So we made boxes with a microcontroller in them to automatcally close the curtain and bring up the stage lights, wait a bit, then start the projector. We have since closed most of those theaters, but still have the control boxes. If anyone would like to have them, let me know- we aren't using them anymore. They were meant to hook into a MAXI 10 automation, but could be made to work with anything.