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This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2
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Topic: classic film overature presentation.
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Mike Blakesley
Film God
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Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 01-15-2013 01:40 PM
I've always wondered how is the best way to present a movie with a curtain. Should you:
1. Half-dim the houselights, project the image on the curtain first and then open the curtain
2. Half-dim the houselights and start the curtain opening just before the image hits it
3. Half-dim the houselights, and have the curtain open before the image hits the screen
Seems like most projectionists favor the first option. But, it seems odd to project the image on the curtain since the "performance" (on the screen) is meant to appear behind the curtain, hence it seems to me that the image should NOT be projected on the curtain at all. It'd be like having the actors in a play come out in front of the curtain and then the curtain being opened.
On the other hand, a blank screen is bad showmanship. That's why, since we don't have a curtain, we have lights on the screen which fade out as the picture comes in.
So which is best, or does it matter? I think I would like to go with the second option above, with the houselights dimming, the curtain starting to open, and then the image appearing when the curtain is maybe three or four feet open.
(I'm asking all these questions in anticipation of actually having a curtain some day.)
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Frank Angel
Film God
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Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 01-24-2013 08:33 PM
It also makes a difference what the curtain material and color are. We have a cream-white satin curtain specifically chosen so we can keep it closed until the FFOP (for roadshow films, it's almost always the studio logo...you know, in the days when a single studio produced a movie -- nowadays there can be 4 or 5 production companies listed ). As already rightly stated, it's always been considered the mortal sin of showmanship to allow the audience to see a "naked" screen (that right out of the Interstate Theatre Circuit's Manager's Standard Operating Procedures Handbook), so we go with FFOP -- the logo --THEN, the the curtain warmer lights (already at just a glow from a slow fade two minutes before the end of the overture), then the curtain opens and the warmers simultaniously fade-out on a 5 count as the image hits the screen and curtain opens simultaniously.
Our motor speed is fairly fast, also specifically chosen so it gets the curtains out of the way pretty quickly so we don't obscure the logo; the curtain is out of the way fast enough so the logo is still fully visible without any curtain.
We can do this because, like I said, the curtain color is light, nearly white thus the film image is pretty clear, even as the curtain opens with the logo projected on it. In a theatre with a dark colored curtain, this probably isn't the best protocol.
We also have a proscenium Austrian scalloped curtain which is thick velour of a really dark wine color. Years ago that was all I had so I didn't project on it because it really did obscure the image too much -- I flew that out totally in nearly black before I hit the screen with the first frame. I really didn't like that look at all and so when I was able to choose a separate screen curtian specifically just for movies, I made sure it was one that was more image-friendly -- light weight, rich warm-white color and flowing satin to catch the light of the curtain warms beautifully.
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