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This topic comprises 4 pages: 1 2 3 4
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Author
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Topic: Justifying a curtain purchase
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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 06-16-2015 02:13 AM
Long-time readers will know that my theater (a single-screen in eastern Montana) has no stage curtain. It used to have one, but we took it down in about 1984 because it was old and dirty and had stopped working reliably, and besides, the ancient traveler mechanism wouldn't interface with modern automation.
Ever since then I've used colored lights that shine across the screen at angles, so the audience is never looking at a blank screen.
Over the years I've expressed on here many times how much I would love to restore a curtain to the theater, and now I have saved up the cash to do it and have gotten a quote which I think is reasonable.
My wife, Lynn, has never questioned most of the major decisions I've made for the theater, but (even though she hasn't said it) I know she thinks the curtain is going to be too costly to make sense. And, it IS very costly. But this is something I've wanted to do ever since we took the old curtain down in 1984.
So I need to convince her that this is a good idea, and this is where my fellow Film-Techers come in. I'm hoping some of you can help me come up with ways to express to her the importance of a stage curtain in a classic movie theater.
I've told her all the expected arguments (it will protect the screen, it will make the presentation classier, the audience will appreciate the added showmanship it will bring, etc.), but I have a slight feeling she thinks I'm a bit crazy for wanting to spend this kind of money on something that doesn't really add anything to the presentation of the movie itself and most likely, won't add to the appraised value of the theater either.
In other words, I know she thinks it's an awful lot of money to spend just to make our presentation look like it's really supposed to look.
If she was dead set against it I would back down; but she knows it's something I've really wanted to do for a long time and therefore she'll go along with it. Bottom line, I just don't want her to think that it's a waste of money. Your comments, please?
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Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!
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Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 06-16-2015 06:32 AM
One could come up with similar analogies for most everything else. You could replace your kitchen table with a folding table or even an old wire spool (e.g. the college solution) and it will still function as a place to hold the food while you eat it.
When you have company over (particularly company you want to come back) do you tend to pick things up and make the place more tidy and impressive looking that how you normally live?
A curtain is sort of like that. They do bring in extra revenue but probably not enough to easily track their amount. There are people (and I''m one of them) that seek out curtained theatres over naked ones. What you are selling is an entertainment experience and it all adds into that, including the curtain. How much each piece affects the show is difficult to measure on a spreadsheet. A thing like a curtain will affect different people in different ways (even in your own household, it would seem). Young people that never grew up with such things will not "get" the difference (as a collection of that age group) yet older people will be more impressed for the refinement in your presentation. Remember when televisions came in cabinets are were furniture? Now they are like pictures one hangs on a wall. A youngster wouldn't get the cabinet thing.
There are the facts about a curtain reducing screen aging...they really do slow it down quite a bit. Over half of the theatre's life, a show isn't running so leaving the screen naked is exposing it to HVAC unnecessarily.
But on the other side...don't kid yourself, the cost of a curtain doesn't stop at its installation. Don't cheap out on ANYTHING relating to the curtain...not the machine, track, carriers, installation or the fabric itself. It ages and does need to be kept up. If the carriers start to bind up and that machine has to work harder, the cord is going to stretch, putting slack in the system...and it just goes downhill from there. You need to periodically check in on it and make sure it is tension right. Have the curtain cut short in height and, if possible, think light weight fabrics. Over time, it will stretch under its own weight and once it touches the stage/floor or whatever is under it, your system is a gonner...you then have the weight of the curtain PLUS the cumulative friction of the drape dragging the floor, which if it is carpeting is just going to kill the system fast. For grand drapes, I'm VERY partial to drum based machines (with a large drum), not chains...which I prefer for masking. Before you sign on the line...if possible, go see a system your perspective installer put in and check out their work and see how pleased that owner is and what the service life has been after a few years of use. You've saved up a long time for this, get it done right.
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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 06-16-2015 02:29 PM
What the all these guys said. To that I will only add, curtains in a cinema are like table cloths and candles in a restaurant...they add some style and class and distinguishes them from fast food joints. And people feel and appreciate that difference; you know it has to add to the overall experience of the establishment or restaurateurs wouldn't spend the money or the effort to do it.
Curtains on your screen will distinguish you from the character-less, cookie-cutter, assembly-line rooms of the thousands of soul-less multiplex screens which have about as much class as a toilet seat.
And here's the thing: installing a curtain assembly on your screen does not have to be the super-expensive deal you many think it is. Sure, if you go the, contracted theatrical house route, it can cost a fortune, but I can tell you, there are ways around that and I know this 1st hand because in two non-profits where I was making the decisions and would be dammed if I had to live with naked screens staring back at my audiences day in and day out. I was determined to get me screen curtains, and I did. I was able to install curtains for much less than the first numbers that we got from theatrical supply houses. MUCH less with just a little finessing.
How? First, by not doing almost all the work myself. Me and JoAnne went out and hunted through a dozen bulk material stores on Canal Street in Manhattan and found just the material we wanted -- a light-weight cream nylon/satin. Don't go with the standard heavy velour curtain material that is usually used. In once install, I got a local seamstress pleat and sew it -- she was happy to get the work; in the second, I had our wardrobe department sew the material -- they gave it as a project to their theatre students. In both cases, I got a beautiful, finished curtain for a fraction of the cost of custom-made curtains at a theatrical house like Rosebrand. Trick is to use LIGHTWEIGHT material. And anyone who tells you you need heavy velour because it will last doesn't know what they are talking about -- screen curtains are rarely ever handled by humans -- they just open and close. Ours went in in 1983 and only needed sewing repair once when a truss tore a small hole. Other than that, it still looks stunning -- folds shimmer as it moves and it catches the side lighting when it's still.
You use lightweight nylon material (be sure it is opaque enough not to reveal the black screen masking behind it); light material will allow you to use a lightweight track and that's the key to a less expensive install. I used ADC's Specifine 113 lightweight aluminum track in both theatres -- clicky here: ADC Specifine Curtain Track The track is attached to the screen frame with L brackets. In both cases the track was over 40 width and it holds the curtain material just as good as a track 4 times the weight (and 5 times the cost). The only trick is to use more support brackets on the far ends where the material gathers and where the weight gets concentrated when the curtain is fully opened. The use of the light-weight material also significantly helps as it takes a lot less room for it to gather when opened so you don't need a lot of space beyond the screen for the material to live when fully opened.
The next trick is simply not to buy a curtain motor new -- ADC motors are incredibly expensive for nothing but a motor and some control relays and a gear box. You just need to hunt around for used curtain motors that you can pick up for a fraction of what you would have to spend new. With the thousands of single screens closed over the years -- and you KNOW every one of them had curtain motors back then -- there are plenty used motors hanging around just waiting to pull a curtain across a movie screen again as the feature begins.
Bottom line is, we were able to get beautiful results without breaking the bank. All it takes is some ingenuity, a little creativity and thinking outside the lines, but, Mike, knowing you, you have these in abundance. Not to mention a sense of real showmanship -- it takes someone with a unique passion to have been able to make a single screen work successfully for all these years as you have, willing to create a unique movie-going experience for his audiences. Put in a curtain, and I tell you, you will be rewarded a hundredfold by the very positive reaction you will get from your patrons.
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