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Author Topic: How Do Drive In Cinemas Work? Demetris Thoupis Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1240 From: Aradippou, Larnaca, Cyprus Registered: Apr 2001 posted 03-12-2007 02:08 AM                     I have never seen in real a Drive in Cinema. All I have seen is from the photos in hear. I was wondering what are the main differences between a closed type cinema and a drive in Cinema. Mainly it has to be with the sound right? If someone could enlighten me with the way a Drive-in cinema works? What material is it used for screen? Are speakers placed behind screen or at the side and also in the cars? Best Regards Demetris Thoupis  |  IP: Logged Christos Mitsakis Expert Film Handler Posts: 242 From: Ag.Paraskevi, ATHENS, GREECE Registered: Sep 1999 posted 03-12-2007 06:05 AM                     No Drive Ins in Cyprus? Dimitri you don't miss much. No offence to our US friends but Drive In cinemas in Greece were 99% identified with porn movies and have declined since the widespread of VHS at the end of '80s. Screens were mostly made from metal sheets and rarely of concrete, with unacceptable or passable carbon ark projection. Actually the cinema was a large parking lot with the booth close to the screen for obvious reasons. At each car position there was a post with a cheap loudspeaker enclosure hanging so that you can pull it inside the car during the show. Modern Drive Ins use stereo FM transmitters so you can tune the car's radio receiver to the cinema's freq and enjoy stereo sound. I understand in US it is a cultural phenomenon especially during the '60s (please correct me for any historical errors). C.  |  IP: Logged Stephen Furley Film God Posts: 3059 From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England Registered: May 2002 posted 03-12-2007 07:15 AM                     So what if your car doesn't have a radio; are the post-mounted speakers still available as well? Or do you have to take a portable radio? As far as I know we've never had a permanent drive-in in the UK, though I think there were a few temporary ones set up long ago. The possible reasons for this were discussed in a thread a couple of years ago. We do have a few outdoor screenings in various parks etc. each year, or at least we did, I haven't heard of any for the last couple of years, but again, these are temporary set-ups installed just for one show. Searing is on the ground, or deck chairs; there are no cars involved. I think the question I would ask about drive-ins would be 'why?' Personally, the less time I could spend sitting in a car, the better. If you want to watch the film then there must be better places to see it, and if you're going for other reasons then why not go somewhere else, where there isn't a film showing? There was a Pathé Pictorial about one that opened in Italy, Rome I think, sometime around 1960, which predicted that we would all soon be going to these places, but it never happened. I've got a slightly faded Super-8 print of this film somewhere; a rare example of Super-8 with an optical track.  |  IP: Logged Demetris Thoupis Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1240 From: Aradippou, Larnaca, Cyprus Registered: Apr 2001 posted 03-12-2007 09:12 AM                     I am more concerned on the technical part of it. I mean how do you distribute 1 single audio to like 200 pole standing speakers? Were/are these speakers 100V line system ones? From what I understand, the modern days which use FM transmiters need to have a "clean" frequency. How do you set the limit of the transmitter? Is the frequency preset by an organisation or something or do you just put one out of your head which is "clean"? How do you inform the viewers on which frequency to tune their radios in order to hear the film? Anyway these are some of my questions with plenty more to come although I dare not ask all at once in case someone answers them anyway! Best Regards Demetris  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 03-12-2007 09:24 AM                       Drive-in theatres have reverted back to a family atmosphere in this country. Many new drive-ins have been built over the last 10 years, and FT-er Justin West owns one of these new-builds. In the late 70s through much of the 80s, however, many drive-ins had to resort to running porn to stay in business - particularly for many locations that ran during the cold winter months. Radio sound raised the quality-level for drive-ins somewhat, and patrons without radios in their cars can usually rent a portable unit from the theatre. Screen illumination has always been a problem in drive-ins. Car culture is also very big in the US, so going somewhere and hanging out in your car is no problem. I may be guessing, but I think our cars are generally bigger than common European models (our imports notwithstanding), which may have a bearing on the comfort level. For more info on the technical specifics of drive-ins (including in-car speaker systems), visit my old website: Drive-In Theatre Workshop.  |  IP: Logged Barry Floyd Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1079 From: Lebanon, Tennessee, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 03-12-2007 10:24 AM                        I own one of the "new build" drive-in theatres here in Tennessee - ours opening up for the first time in August of 2003. Technically speaking, from what I've seen, other than the size of the lamp, screens and the way the audio is sent to the patrons, there's really not much different the way we do it as opposed to the local indoor multiplex. We have a twin screen drive-in. In booth No. 1, we have a Simplex XL mounted on top of a Simplex SH1020 soundhead with a Component Engineering LED reverse scan reader. A 4kw Xenex II lamphouse rides on the back, shooting the picture 350 feet from the booth to a 25 x 60 foot screen through new Schnieder lenses. The sound is processed through a SMART MOD II DIT (Drive-In Theatre) sound processor, then fed directly to a Broadcast Warehouse TX-5 FM transmitter. Screen 1 broadcasts on 87.9 FM at a little less than 0.1 watt of broadcasting power. The booth in Screen 2 is virtually identical with the exception of the projector head which is an old Brekert BX-60 on an RCA 9030 soundhead. Both booths have a 3 deck Strong AP3 platter system. I have some booth photos and screen construction photos on our website HERE Rodeo Jack is the current reigning "King of Technical Toys" as far as US drive-ins go. I'm hoping he'll post some of his booth photos - unbelievable stuff!  |  IP: Logged Dave Macaulay Film God Posts: 2321 From: Toronto, Canada Registered: Apr 2001 posted 03-12-2007 10:37 AM                     I don't know of any drive-ins with post speakers still in use. I don't think you can buy a car without a radio, in 1976 or so I had to pay extra to have the radio deleted in a Honda Civic. The speaker audio went out as 70V and each speaker had a small transformer inside the case. The current FM transmitters are very low power and operate under special low power licenses. You just need to pick a frequency with no local signal to avoid interference on the lot, the signal from your transmitter doesn't reach far enough to cause external interference. The old AM systems fed the signal to the lot and there was a wire on the post that you hung over or wrapped around your car antenna, that's about all I recall. I don't think they radiated from a central antenna like today's FM system.  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 03-12-2007 12:01 PM                        There are pictures of our booth HERE. As Barry says, it goes a lot further than most drive-ins would probably go... but we live at our place and this is what we do. I needed a playroom of my own, and this kind of became it. Generally speaking, the major difference between indoor and outdoor projection systems is the sound equipment. There's no practical way for a drive-in to use stage and surround speakers, so our audio goes into window speakers or low power radio transmitters. Drive-ins also tend to need the higher-power lamphouses, whereby many indoor houses can get by with lower-wattage versions. Otherwise, much of the equipment in a typical indoor booth can be used at a drive-in. Re Stephen's question about what to do if no radio: Portable radios work as well as installed car radios. Our customers can bring their "boom-boxes" with them, and frequently do. We keep around 10 little portables, which we rent to those few who manage to come out here without a functioning FM radio. As Dave suggests, there aren't many drive-ins left that have functioning speaker systems. Here's one that has both speakers and FM radio. Other than the removal of the post lights, the speaker system is virtually unchanged since it was installed in 1952. Prior to the current popularity of FM for transmitting drive-in sound, AM was widely used. The signal was sent out to the cars by just about every method imaginable. The first I saw was a system whereby a "leaky coax" was buried under the ramps. The signal was pretty weak... not much got outside of the drive-in. I saw one installation where a "jammer transmitter" was wired around the fence line. It did a pretty good job of messing up what little signal did get outside the theatre. Some AM systems used various free-radiating antenna schemes. Others used carrier-current, wired through the existing speaker wiring and received either directly or through a clip-on antenna wire. One of those "clip-on" methods, the "Cine-Fi" system is still used at a 6-screen drive-in in my area. As far as I know, just about everyone is gravitating to FM. There are still a few drive-ins that only have window speakers... but most have added some form of radio sound. Depending on how you choose to feed the "transmitter", FM allows you to take your sound up to the limits of your customers' radios. Maintenance is extremely low, compared to an outdoor speaker system. Drive-in operators have also connected up their transmitters just about every way you could imagine. On one side, I've seen monaural systems that were connected to existing, "low-fi" speaker systems. On the other hand, you can use good theatre processing systems with very good results. One thing is clear about FM... it's as good as what you feed it. If you have problems before the transmitter, your customers will hear it all. If your sound is clean going in, they'll hear that, too. As for your specific questions: Dave describes the speaker systems pretty well. In many ways, they're just glorified public-address systems... similar to the background music system in a grocery store or shopping center, except for the kind of speaker that's used. Except for the novelty, I wouldn't go to the expense to build a speaker system today. Your customers are able to compare your sound to what they can hear on their radio. By today's standards, no 4-inch drive-in speaker will ever sound all that great. As for the transmitter: You want the cleanest spot on the dial you can find. A frequency with nothing on it takes very little signal to cover your field. Frequencies with other stations on them can take much more. If your signal interferes with a nearby station, you risk bringing unwanted attention upon yourself! Most transmitters use circuitry that no longer depends on the use of crystals. You can usually change the frequency yourself. Some can be changed from the front panel. Others require you to take the top off to get to the switches. The operating manual will tell you how to do this. Most, but not all transmitters have power controls on them somewhere. If you buy one, that will be part of its specifications. Some models will also include stereo generators and a wideband compressor/limiter. The internal limiter may not make you sound like the local commercial station, but it will keep your levels somewhat consistent. If you don't get one with internal limiting, you'll need to add something on the outside. How to legally use low power FM varies by country. You'll have to check in your area to see what you can do. Transmitting equipment is available through Broadcast Warehouse, with outlets in several countries, Decade, out of Canada, and Ramsey Electronics. You can usually find FM transmitters on Ebay, but I don't know if they're any good. Several companies make FM modulators, generally intended for use in cable TV systems, but adaptable for drive-in use. I saw a couple of Drake models in New York recently, and they sounded pretty decent.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 03-12-2007 02:36 PM                     Oh no, no, no, no, no, no. THIS is a drive in!  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 03-12-2007 02:40 PM                        It sure was!... and I sure wish I had been able to see it when it was running. Unfortunately, it was on the other side of the state, and I think I may have been too young to be admitted! I've never been able to imagine the time and care it would take to clean the optics at that place. It doesn't look like there was any obvious effort to keep the dust out, though with the subject matter, the customers may not have noticed!  |  IP: Logged Wayne Keyser Master Film Handler Posts: 272 From: Arlington, Virginia, USA Registered: May 2004 posted 03-12-2007 09:10 PM                     "Personally, the less time I could spend sitting in a car, the better. If you want to watch the film then there must be better places to see it, and if you're going for other reasons then why not go somewhere else, where there isn't a film showing?" Then you never got together with your college buds on a "can't get a date" Saturday night, hid a six-pack (each) under a blanket, and laughed yourself half to death over a triple bill like JACKSON COUNTY JAIL, POM-POM GIRLS and HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD. And the funniest thing of all was the intermission trailer: "Enjoy movies in your car, smoke if you like!" ("Yeah, right! Pass that joint over here, man!")  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 03-12-2007 09:50 PM                       quote: the funniest thing of all was the intermission trailer: "Enjoy movies in your car, smoke if you like!" But, I digress... quote: Jack Ondracek I've never been able to imagine the time and care it would take to clean the optics at that place. The one I saw was spotless. The dome housing the mirrors was a high-priority maintenance item for them. It was also humidity controlled.  |  IP: Logged Chad M Calpito Master Film Handler Posts: 435 From: San Diego, CA Registered: Apr 2006 posted 03-12-2007 10:30 PM                        Hey, Brad, I would have to agree with you. That drive-in was cool looking. I've never seen anything like that before.  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 03-13-2007 03:14 AM                        So, the big threat was TV and DIs had the lure of the giant screen. What were these guys thinking -- so you build a DI that has what looks like small TV screens. Pretty counter-intuitive, no? Probably the idea was a great challenge, and they go caught up in just making it work (which as anyone can see was a magnificent feat in and of itself), but once you get past the gee-wiz ma, look what I built, you've gotta admit it was a lame idea. Here's a case of great execution....bad concept. But like very one, I sure would have loved to see that in operation.  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 03-13-2007 08:37 AM                       One of the ideas behind the design was that it couldn't be seen from outside the perimeter of the theatre (which, in the 70s, turned out to be perfect for porn, although that wasn't the original purpose). The field size of the image was about the same as a normal drive-in setting; the picture filled a good portion of the windshield. Because people in the backseat could easily see the picture with the screen right in front of their car, this made grading ramps unnecessary - a significant cost savings. These two points alone allowed for the inexpensive construction of a drive-in theatre in almost any location - in the country OR the city. Pretty good concepts.  |  IP: Logged

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