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Topic: "exit" light

Antonio Marcheselli
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1260
From: Florence, Italy
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 10-18-2002 06:34 AM

Hi everyone.

We have the theater full of VERY annoying "exit" light next to the screen. I wonder if law says that that light should be just "visible" or if a minimum light power is needed.
At my old theater the "exit" light was just "visible", no light was projected on the screen.
What is the law in USA? Is there someone that live in UE?

Bye
Antonio

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Dick Vaughan
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1032
From: Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 10-18-2002 08:32 AM

Antonio

I am afraid there is no European standard and the level of lighting is often decided upon by individual planning officers and licensing authorities.

When we built Pictureville Cinema we had three opinions from three different council offiers in the space of two days!

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Gordon McLeod
Film God

Posts: 9532
From: Toronto Ontario Canada
Registered: Jun 99

posted 10-18-2002 11:39 AM

I end to have used a glowin the dark radioactive exit sign that is CSA/UL approved that requires no power and doesn't wash out screens
I believe a company called LumaCell distributes them now
You do have to sign a waiver to buythem and agree to return them to a nuclear disposal site when you get rid of them

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Frank Angel
Film God

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

posted 10-18-2002 11:39 AM

Here's my take on regs that are unreasonable and which ruin presentation -- ignore them. If in the course of human history someone, sometime comes from a regulatory agency to my theatre and says, hey, your exit lights don't meet our brightness standard, then I'll do something about them. Until then, I rely on inertia and incompetence on the part of the bureaucratic hump-busters to never come near my theatre. When there are REAL safety issues, these guys never show up to force management to correct them, so I take my cue from that. I'll always bet on the general inefficiency of such govenment inspection departments.

That being said, safety is always a major concern of mine and I will correct REAL problems wherever I see them and I don't need some bureaucratic civil servant to tell me about it.

As for your EXIT signs Antonio, If they are the type that have incandescant bulbs, just replace the bulbs with smaller wattage sizes. If they are the red LED types, Rosco makes a neutral filter gel. Just by a few sheets of that stuff and cut pieces to fit exactly over the face of the sign. It might take more than one piece. This will reduce the light enough so as not to compromise the screen image, yet they will still be bright enough for anyone to see.

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John Pytlak
Film God

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

posted 10-18-2002 01:13 PM

Exit signs need to be bright enough to be clearly seen in the event of smoke and fire. Don't compromise safety!

But nothing says they need to shine ON the screen. In most cases, a simple shield or baffle will keep their light off the screen, without compromising safety:
http://www.kodak.com/US/en/motion/newsletters/pytlak/dec99.shtml

------------------
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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Jesse Skeen
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1517
From: Sacramento, CA
Registered: Aug 2000

posted 10-18-2002 01:45 PM

I still get annoyed by ones that are ridiculously bright enough to be constantly noticed even if they don't shine right on the screen. I've seen a few theatres that have these which I no longer go to.

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Michael Schaffer
"Where is the
Boardwalk Hotel?"

Posts: 4143
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Apr 2002

posted 10-18-2002 02:06 PM

It seems to be a general rule that there has to be an exit light in the direction the audience is facing. In Germany, the law says there has to be 1 candela on the ground below the exit sign. You will probably be able to get information on Italian regulations somewhere on the internet or from the fire department. Is there a fire department in Florence

?
Michael

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Peter Hall
Master Film Handler

Posts: 314
From: London, UK
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 10-20-2002 10:02 AM

Do you use the white "running man" on green background signs ? If so these are European standard and are a pain for use in cinemas. Chloride and a copple of other complanies here make good solutions - http://www.chloridesys.com/cs_exits.html. The link is to the US site but they make either edge lit signs (we use black background, green man and blue LEDs) or a standard box with a black background / green man. This doesn't have European approval but is OK with most fire officers, and is a hell of a lot better than puting gel in an old sign. For gods sake don't ignore the regs - your local authority must OK the final solution, otherwise the person altering the sign could be liable if injury resulted..

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Antonio Marcheselli
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1260
From: Florence, Italy
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 10-20-2002 07:07 PM

In my theater during emergency the ceiling light are connected to an UPS so we have just the "exit" light to tell the customers where the exit are. I believe that (since in case of no power the theater is fully lighted) the exit has just to be "visible", nothing more. Our are actually projecting a large amount of light on the screen.

Yes, we have the green man lights!

Bye
Antonio

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Shaun Flichel
Film Handler

Posts: 42
From: Regina, Sask., Canada
Registered: Sep 2002

posted 10-21-2002 05:12 PM

Yup, a baffle or some sort of shroud should be ok, as long as patrons can see the sign from any part of the theatre, even if this shroud has to be 1 foot long with a little curve to it, just enough to stop it from hitting the screen and the patrons can still see it.

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Gordon McLeod
Film God

Posts: 9532
From: Toronto Ontario Canada
Registered: Jun 99

posted 10-21-2002 05:33 PM

In Canada at least a baffle is definitly not OK as that is making a modification to a ULC/CSA approved device that was approved with specific mounting instructions

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John Pytlak
Film God

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

posted 10-21-2002 08:23 PM

Even if the baffle/shield is attached to the wall rather than the fixture? The spirit of the law should be safety.

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Daryl C. W. O'Shea
Film God

Posts: 3977
From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from)
Registered: Jun 2002

posted 10-21-2002 09:07 PM

I guess they figure if you can't see it from behind the screen, the buggers stealing your speakers might not be able to get out.

Gord, do you know if we're allowed to angle the whole fixture away from the screen, or do they have to be flush with the wall (say, even if there was solid struture behind the angled sign)?

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Daniel Boisson
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 157
From: Buffalo, NY, USA
Registered: Oct 2001

posted 10-21-2002 10:49 PM

I know it doesn't look that good, but at my old theatre, I simply spray painted some cardboard and duct taped it to the side of the exit sign. Worked perfectly.

------------------
3% Body Fat. 1% Brain Activity.

...A projectionist without a theatre...

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Peter Hall
Master Film Handler

Posts: 314
From: London, UK
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 10-23-2002 01:06 PM

We've installed baffles (300mm x 300mm shelves, rotated 90 degrees) to stop the green lite hitting the screen. This works, but yes the sign is still a bloody annoying distraction. BTW, I've seem lots of theatres here where the green on white men are gelled with with green to cut down the light - this is silly. It does cut down the light but reduces the contrast (theoretically this makes then entire box green). Surely if gelling you should use a complimentary colour gel, i.e. purple - the green should become black and the white voilet..

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