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Topic: The Proper Way To Split A Theatre

Andrew McCrea
Jedi Master Film Handler

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

posted 02-24-2001 07:19 PM

Can anyone provide me with the proper ways on splitting one huge auditorium into 2 smaller auditoriums?

Thanx!

------------------
Andrew McCrea

"I'm Not Bad, I'm Just Drawn That Way!" - Jessica Rabbit

Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 02-24-2001 07:56 PM

Yes. Follow these simple steps in order:

1. Pull up all the seats in the middle of each row to make room for the new wall.

2. Cut screen in half to make room for new wall.

3. Erect new wall down the middle of the auditorium using the cheapest lumber from Home Depot.

4. Put up drywall (also available at Home Depot). Painting and wall carpet is optional.

5. Aim the two projectors that were in the booth (presumably for changeover operation) so that they each point at a separate screen. Accuracy is optional. Audiences actually prefer keystoning pictures.

6. Buy some cheap platters to place the film on.

7. Advertise yourself as a brand new multiplex!

Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!

Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 02-24-2001 08:25 PM

Joe,

What do you mean platterS...Just one beat up 4 or 5 deck used platter will do!

Steve

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"Old projectionists never die, they just changeover!"

Gordon McLeod
Film God

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

posted 02-24-2001 08:27 PM

Actually why cut the screen just bring the wall up to it and start it again on the other side

John Pytlak
Film God

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

posted 02-24-2001 10:08 PM

Andrew: IMHO, too many really good theatres were RUINED by splitting them.

Adding insult to injury, the modifications were often poorly done, with poor acoustic isolation between the rooms, off-center projectors causing severe keystone distortion, old seats pointing toward what was the center of a large screen and is now the edge of a small screen, etc. A DUMB IDEA by all accounts!

------------------
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
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

Darryl Spicer
Film God

Posts: 3250
From: Lexington, KY, USA
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 02-25-2001 12:13 AM

Hell, you don't even need to buy a screen just paint the wall white and mount a speaker on each side. I have seen this done. I fully agree with what Mr. Pytlak has stated. I too have seen nice sized auditoriums with big screens split and ruined. The term Tunnel vision was always associated with this type of splitting.

Dave Bird
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 777
From: Perth, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Jun 2000

posted 02-25-2001 09:20 AM

So it was YOU who multi-ed Trenton Gordon???!!!

Bob Maar
(Maar stands for Maartini)

Posts: 28608
From: New York City & Newport, RI
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 02-25-2001 09:34 AM

Andrew, it is extremely important for you to pay attention to what John is saying above. You will have tho hire an architect to draw new plans to file for a building permit. Is the auditorium longer than the width or wider than the length. Check to see how the HVAC ducting is laid out in the present auditorium. If you are dong a center wall make sure the wall does not stop at the acoustical ceiling but continues up to the deck. Make sure you install a sound proof wall down the center. Make sure you do a sight line study before you commit to the design. This is not a simple job, to do it right. it takes careful planning and execution. Try to get the projector as close to center screen to avoid the picture becoming a trapazoid by the time it hits the screen. Go into www.Schneider.com and download their lens calculator which can give you an idea where you can place the projectors.

Gordon McLeod
Film God

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

posted 02-25-2001 11:44 AM

David I service Trenton but had nothing to do with trippling of it

Andrew McCrea
Jedi Master Film Handler

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

posted 02-25-2001 04:58 PM

Would a big giant white wall look okay? Could the wall be silver? If it does look good, what a way to save money! Even in a new theatre!

------------------
Andrew McCrea

"I'm Not Bad, I'm Just Drawn That Way!" - Jessica Rabbit

Darryl Spicer
Film God

Posts: 3250
From: Lexington, KY, USA
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 02-25-2001 05:17 PM

NO! Bad idea. I was joking earlier. However I have seen screens done this way and later on they were corrected and screens were hung and speakers placed behind them. The sound is really effected by the placement on the sides The sound seems to lose directivity in comparison to the action on the screen. Partly because of the fact you do not have a center channel unless you hang it above or below the screen. That is just not practical.

Ian Price
Phenomenal Film Handler

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

posted 02-25-2001 05:55 PM

There are no shortcuts to building a theatre. Do it right or don't do it at all.

But you can have fun putting on shows in unusual places. Ky did Jaws in the swimming pool at our collage. I showed a gitty film noir in an ally in downtown Denver a few years ago. We are trying to organize a park series in Santa Rosa this summer. Perhaps we should show Dr. Zivago on the ice at our local ice arena some night, or Ice Station Zebra?

Mike Blakesley
Film God

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

posted 02-26-2001 11:59 AM

I've seen two theatres where a large auditorium was shortened up (the screen moved closer to the booth) and a second screen installed behind the first one. Of course the problem with this is, you need two complete projection booths, and a hallway running down to the new auditorium. But it's sure better than side-by-side bowling alleys.

John Pytlak
Film God

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

posted 02-26-2001 12:44 PM

Some small Kodak screening rooms use a specially finished plaster wall as a screen, since a perforated screen would interfere with very close nose-to-the-screen image evaluations we need to do. The speakers are located just below or just above these small screens. But for good sound "placement" in a real theatre, the speakers should always be located behind a perforated screen.

Dave Bird
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 777
From: Perth, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Jun 2000

posted 02-26-2001 05:31 PM

Gordon, I knew you wouldn't have done it that way. But am I right? Trenton uses about 2/3 of original screen in one aud, 1/3 in the other, with some curtain at the side?
You generally exit beside the screens to the municipal parking and I swear that's what it looks like, the wall built "up to" the old screen, as you joked about.....

Always had a good picture though, and I always loved those "spring rocker" chairs!
Real butter on the corn, too!

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

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