Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Screen Sizes

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Topic: Screen Sizes

Andrew McCrea
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 645
From: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 12-17-2000 10:38 AM

What are the sizes of your screens?
How many seats per auditorium?

Our local theatre:
20 feet x 10 feet w/159 seats
40 feet x 20 feet w/282 seats
50 feet x 25 feet w/380 seats
60 feet x 30 feet w/451 seats

This is for SilverCity Polo Park... How do yours compare?

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Ian Price
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1714
From: Denver, CO
Registered: Jun 99

posted 12-17-2000 01:36 PM

What are you trying to invoke, screen envy?

Much like Rolls Royce, I'll just say that our screens are adequate.

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Andrew McCrea
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 645
From: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 12-17-2000 04:56 PM

I'm not trying to "promote screen envy"! I'm only 13 years old.

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Evans A Criswell
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1579
From: Huntsville, AL, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 12-17-2000 09:03 PM

I think 40 feet in width is the largest screen in any Huntsville/Decatur theatres. Since I've been noting screen widths, 40 feet is the max anywhere around here. Most screens in the Regal (old Cobb) theatres are either 40 feet at max width (with side masking) or are 25 to 27 feet (in 28 foot wide auditoriums) in width with no movable masking. In the Decatur Regal, in the 28-foot auditoriums, top masking is used, so the 25 to 27 foot width is constant.

Carmike is a different story. They use all side masking but have varying widths. Depending on the auditorium, in the Huntsville location, scope widths vary from 20 feet (in 30-foot auditoriums) to 34 feet (in the 43-foot auditorium).

Andrew, all the screen dimensions you gave were 2.00:1. I surely hope there is an adjustable masking system of some sort on those.

Evans

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Adam Martin
I'm not even gonna point out the irony.

Posts: 3686
From: Dallas, TX
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 12-17-2000 10:23 PM

60 feet high X 85 feet wide silver screen with 440 seats.

Okay, so it's an Imax theater.

But, hey, we can do 3D!

Stylin' glasses!

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 12-18-2000 12:18 AM

Is Imax still using the same glasses as 2 years ago? Those things were heavy...I had a big headache after watching "Everest" in Seattle!

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Brad Miller
Administrator

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

posted 12-18-2000 02:00 AM

Andrew, where did you get those figures from? A remarkably accurate method for measuring a screen is to count ceiling tiles. They are 2 feet by 4 feet. Just count them and multiply depending on their orientation. For the height, you would need to get in the back of the auditorium and eyeball it, but I've always been able to get it within a couple of feet in a pinch to find a suitable lens.

(Something tells me Andrew will become an "expert film handler" before his 14th birthday. )

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Gordon McLeod
Film God

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

posted 12-18-2000 08:16 AM

Everest wasn't in 3d so you shouldn't have been wearing the glasses.
The heavy headset style is more light efficien than the regular plastic polarizers as the other has lcd shutters synced to the projector. Also the have less ghosting and head position isn't as criticle. Also there is a PSE soundsystem

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John Pytlak
Film God

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

posted 12-18-2000 10:03 AM

Another little "tidbit" on aspect ratios:

United States paper money (Federal Reserve Note) is about 6.0 x 2.5 inches, which is an aspect ratio of 2.4:1, almost exactly matching the 2.39:1 aspect ratio of the "scope" format.

A typical US business card is 3.5 x 2.0 inches, which is 1.75:1, just slightly under the normal 1.85:1 "flat" aspect ratio.

So if you forgot your tape measure or calibrated template, you can simply hold up a dollar bill or a business card in front of you (in the USA) to gauge the approximate aspect ratio of the screen. Hint: it should NOT be 2.00:1 in any theatre that "Cares About Composition".

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 12-18-2000 06:17 PM

This is the one thing about my theatre that I hate, and can't really do anything about ... the 2:1 screen. It came with the place. It's 15X30 and goes wall-to-wall, so if I wanted to fix the scope picture, it would have to be about 2.24 feet shorter. Which of course would look like a "letterboxed" video. So what's the lesser of two evils? I do "care about presentation" but short of making the building wider (impossible, because it's surrounded by other buildings), I'm stuck.

On the bright side, I've been here over 22 years and have never had one single complaint about it. So I guess I won't knock down the walls just yet.

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Richard C. Wolfe
Master Film Handler

Posts: 250
From: Northampton, PA, USA
Registered: Apr 2000

posted 12-18-2000 07:08 PM

Mike:

I wonder if that could be a standard Roxy screen size (just kidding), my Roxy also has a 15x30 screen. Even though the theatre is 60 feet wide, the proscenium arch is 30.5 feet, and therefore we take up the entire opening. Our flat picture is 15x27.5 with the side masking moved in slightly, and our scope is 13x30 with the top masking moved down. When we have a cartoon or flat trailer before a scope feature we show those at 13x24 with the curtain masking the sides which then closes and reopens to total width for the scope feature.

I think our picture sizes look quite good in relation to the auditorium size.(560 seats)

And we can't tear out the proscenium as that would require removing the organ chambers, and then where would we put the pipes? And our patrons don't want anything to happen to the mighty WurliTzer. What would they listen to before the shows on Saturday nights? I know they don't want movietunes and a slide presentation with advertisements. If we wanted to sell ads, we could just lower the ad curtain, and put them there.
Are some of you younger ones lost?

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Bill Enos
Film God

Posts: 2081
From: Richmond, Virginia, USA
Registered: Apr 2000

posted 12-18-2000 11:55 PM

Our screen is 17x39 scope using all the available width, flat is 17 x 30. Top maaking is fixed, sides motorized. This is for 916 seats on the main floor & 476 in the balcony.

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Joe Smith
Film Handler

Posts: 56
From: Dale City, Va. USA
Registered: Oct 1999

posted 12-19-2000 03:46 PM

My screen size is approx. 36 x 82 with no masking.......

But then it's a drive-in.

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Roger Frazee
Film Handler

Posts: 16
From: Knoxville, TN, USA
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 12-21-2000 05:03 AM

Measuring a screen's height is easy. First get yourself a 10' length of 3/4" PVC pipe and a 3/4" 90-degree elbow. Place the elbow on one end of the pipe, hold the pipe vertically, and "hook" the elbow over the top of the screen. Let the pipe hang straight down.

Now, measure from the bottom end of the pipe to the bottom of the screen. Add 10' to this measurement and you have the screen height.

If all that seems like too much trouble, get the dimensions from the label on the back of the screen.

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John Pytlak
Film God

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

posted 12-21-2000 08:11 AM

Roger --- thanks for the tip. Maybe you could actually make a 20-foot PVC pipe adjustable "ruler" by sliding a 10-foot length of small diameter PVC pipe inside a larger diameter pipe, with distance marks marked on the pipes.

What is the current trend at circuits like Regal as to the "mix" of screen sizes in new multiplexes? Do you prefer common image height for flat and scope, with movable side masking? Does the high front wall in stadium designs drive a common image width for scope and flat, with adjustable top (and bottom?) masking?

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