Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Building a screen

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Topic: Building a screen

John Westlund
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 204
From: Burney, CA, USA
Registered: Jun 2001

posted 10-08-2002 09:29 PM

I am in need of some advice on building a screen for a film class that I am taking at my high school. I have a few ideas but am curious how you all would tackle this without spending a lot of money because that is definatly an issue. Thanks. John

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Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"

Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 10-09-2002 12:17 AM

Is this a permanent screen or will you have to take it down frequently (or from time to time)?

By the way...you're taking the film class and YOU have to build the screen, too? What's the story, morning glory?

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John Westlund
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 204
From: Burney, CA, USA
Registered: Jun 2001

posted 10-09-2002 12:23 AM

The screen will be permanently mounted to the wall. We just got a video projector and are going to use it for watching DVD movies and probably some 16mm film.

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Paul G. Thompson
The Weenie Man

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

posted 10-09-2002 02:24 AM

Paint one on the wall with the same type of paint they used on drive-in screens.

Beats the 'ole bedsheet routine...

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John Anastasio
Master Film Handler

Posts: 325
From: Trenton, NJ, USA
Registered: Sep 2000

posted 10-09-2002 06:24 AM

Two things you need to consider: what's the viewing angle going to be? and how bright is your projector? Video projection screens are normally glass beaded, because you need the gain to keep the picture bright enough, but glass-beaded scerens have a narrower viewing angle before the light intensity falls off. A matte white painted surface will do the trick and have a wider viewing angle, but not reflect as much light. However, if the screen isn't too large and the projector puts out enough lumens, then Paul's idea would work just fine. The newer models put out 2,000 lumens from a small xenon lamp and can cost under $3k.

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Thomas Procyk
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1842
From: Royal Palm Beach, FL, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 10-09-2002 12:35 PM

I built a screen before to show movies with a video projector in my friend's back yard. We built the frame out of 1x4's and covered it with this fabric I found at a fabric store that had an almost "rubber-like" matte white coating on it. (Forgot the name/type of the fabric, but I will check on it for you)

We had to sew two strips of the fabric together to get the size we wanted (5' x 8' for roughly a 1.66:1 image) but the seam was practically unnoticable. It was rather difficult to feed it through the sewing machine because of the thickness and the coating on the fabric, but it worked. (Mamma knows how to sew real good! )

The image on screen was very good, given it was being shown outside with some ambient light around. I imagine it would be even better indoors. It took us a total of about 6 hours to complete it (including sewing) and the cost was rougly $65. I have pictures somewhere, and if I can find them I will post them.

If you are up to buying a screen, I would reccomend the DA-Lite VideoSpectra 1.5 which has a reflective surface similar to glass beaded screens, but has a protective coating which can be washed with soap and water, unlike glass beaded screens which would cause the glass beads to flake off. I recently bought a 60x80" for about $200.

=TMP=

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Peter Berrett
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 602
From: Victoria, Australia
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 10-09-2002 07:33 PM

For my Drive-in screen I used a 2.4m x 1.2m White Melamine sheet which you could obtain from a large hardware store. It cost me about $US20
Link

I have found the surface to be highly reflective and it works well with 16mm. You could put some sheets together if you wanted a larger screen.

cheers Peter

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Joe Beres
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 606
From: Minneapolis, MN, USA
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 10-09-2002 09:46 PM

I would check to see if your town or a local University has a Surplus shop of a sort. You might be able to get a nice pull down screen really cheap. I got one in perfect shape at a University of WI surplus shop for $1. I also bought a nice pulldown screen on a stand at a Goodwill for $2 or so.

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Gerard S. Cohen
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 975
From: Forest Hills, NY, USA
Registered: Sep 2001

posted 10-09-2002 10:26 PM

Joe's right--lots of fine, even seldom-used roll-up screens are thrown out as people switch to video and clean out their basements and garages. While most have tripod stands, they can be easily removed from the stands and wall mounted, with a wall hook to hold them open. I found a beautiful, huge screen on a sidewalk waiting for the trash truck and mounted it on my classroom wall. Used it for years, and I'll bet it's still in use today. Try the Salvation Army, Goodwill, Society of Vincent dePaul, or whatever thrift shops are in your locality--or put a notice in your school paper or local "Penny Saver" type free publications. If you get a really good one, give the donor a letter for a tax write-off.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 10-10-2002 05:28 AM

Go to your local Home Depot type of store and purchase a 5 x 12 sheet of the whitest "formica" kitchen counter top that they have. Screw/glue it to the wall and then mask it with 2 inch Permacel black matte gaffer's tape. The whole thing will cost you under $100 and will yield a perfect 2.39 aspect ratio once masked.

You will NOT be disappointed. There's something marvelous about that stuff. You will get an extremely wide angle of viewing, yet an incredible amount of light will be reflected back to the audience. Colors are excellent too. No joke.

Of course if Peter wants to use it outdoors, he can watch a movie in the rain and not worry about his screen getting damaged. Use it for Rocky Horror and let the audience throw things at the screen, it really doesn't matter. Nothing will stain that screen.

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John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 10-16-2002 08:36 PM

For a fairly small screen, you probably don't need to put the speakers behind the screen. But for a larger screen viewed closer than about 3 screen heights, you really need to consider having a perforated screen and speakers mounted behind it.

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: +1 585 477 5325 Cell: +1 585 781 4036 Fax: +1 585 722 7243
e-mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

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Barry Floyd
Phenomenal Film Handler

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

posted 10-17-2002 10:35 AM

Joe's right about finding surplus screens. The local Nashville / Davidson County Metropolitan School system has a warehouse here in Nashville that they take all of their surplus and so-called "out-of-date" equipment to. Earlier this year, I bought 6 - Bell & Howell 16mm projectors & 3 tripod mounted pull-down screens, all for $10.00.

If someone was really into wood-working, that would be the place to go! As the school system is phasing out it's "shop classes", and replacing them with other curriculums, all of the shop equipment now sits in the warehouse, ready to be sold at auction.

All of the projectors I bought worked, and only one of the screens had a stain on it that was easily removed with a little elbow grease.

One of our fellow Film-Tech'ers bought a Gold Medal popper (complete with oil pump and base) from the same warehouse for $10.00 for use in his Kentucky drive-in. I've seen the popper, and it did clean up real well.

------------------
Barry Floyd
Floyd Entertainment Group
Lebanon, Tennessee

Stardust Drive-In Theatre
Watertown, Tennessee

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