If 70mm film was run exclusivly through a conventional maltese cross movement projector (not a Jones rolling loop) what size lamp would the film handle?

The light (heat energy) is spread over a much larger frame. Would it handle the new 10,000 watt xenons? Is a 70mm release of major films viable if they continue to have screens 60ft plus in width? I love big screens, but if they only have 10fl or less it defeats the purpose.

The projectable image area of a 5-perf 70mm print is 1.912 x 0.870 inches (48.56 x 22.10 millimetres). The projected image area of 35mm "scope" is 0.825 x 0.690 inches (20.96 x 17.53 millimetres). So the image area of 70mm is almost three times greater than that of 35mm scope. Theoretically, with proper heat filtration and gate cooling, you could put three times the radiant energy through that 70mm frame, compared to 35mm.

In practice, the largest lamphouse available for that format today is 10,000 watts (e.g., the Kinoton Universal Lamphouse or other lamphouse designed for special venue 70mm). If the energy is spread uniformly across the 70mm frame, 10,000 watts is certainly practicable.

Making 70mm prints for huge screens is certainly viable. 65mm/70mm films are readily available from Kodak. Several labs worldwide (e.g., CFI, Technicolor, Imagica, etc.) have printing and processing capability, including "blow up" printing from 35mm originals. DTS Digital Sound has proven itself reliable with the 70mm releases of "Titanic" and "Vertigo". Distributors have been willing to make special 70mm prints for some European theatres (e.g., Spektrum, Kinopolis) and premier events.

But 70mm prints do cost considerably more than 35mm, primarily due to the cost of making the 65mm printing negative, and the more labor-intensive and slower printing and processing operations required (e.g., printing the DTS timecode now requires a second pass through the printer). Hopefully, the "Splendor of 70mm" will live again.

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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

Do the benefits of screening in 70mm at a Drive-in outweigh the costs?

Put another way what is the practical experience of drive-in theatre operators? If you make a much brighter and better picture does this translate to more $$$ through the gate and is this sufficient to defray the extra costs associated with running 70mm?

Sadly, I have a suspicion that many drive-in patrons do not worry overly about the degree of luminosity as long as the picture quality is adequate. The drive-in 'experience' is more than just what is on the screen.

Still I look forward to seeing a brighter image at my local drive in one day.

cheers Peter

If you can convince the studios to strike 70mm prints for drive-ins (since that they wouldn't do the same for a hardtop anyways),then I will be truly amazed!! The studios couldn;t give a rat's ass about a drive-in..

>>Next question, not sure we ever covered, where a 35/70 projector was set up for 16fl (let's say with a 7K bulb), how much light would be achieved with 70mm on the same screen with same bulb? (I'm assuming they wouldn't change lamps). Is there a gain or loss?<<

Depending on the lenses and screen sizes, there would be a HUGE gain in luminance with 70mm for a given wattage comapred to 35. You simply can force more light thru a bigger hole

I drove by the Coburg drive-in today and looked up to see somebody chainsawing the ends and top from Screen 1 (110 foot wide). ZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzz

Well - its one way to get a brighter picture <smile>

cheers Peter

I'd hate to think they are doing it because someone read Film-Tech and found they could't get 16 footlamberts on a 110 foot screen. With 70mm prints, they might be able to.

Frankly, if light were the issue, I'd keep the huge screen and use a longer focal length lens when I didn't need to fill the full screen for a full lot. Just encourage people to park closer to the smaller, brighter image.

OK Peter and John, I get the point. Just give us a chance to boost the light with the existing focal length and screen size. I do not want to be responsible for cutting down the size of Australia's largest operating drive-in screen!

We have a lamphouse and rectifier (power supply) upgrade on its way with 7,000 watts. Screen repaint is due this year and new lenses if necessary. We will give Theatre One at Coburg every opportunity to produce some decent light. All screens are 70mm capable if anyone ever makes a print available again for a drive-in.

Oh, and more scope prints please shot a few stops over!

Check it out at......

"OK Peter and John, I get the point. Just give us a chance to boost the light with the existing focal length and screen size. I do not want to be responsible for cutting down the size of Australia's largest operating drive-in screen!"

Just kidding David. We love your Drive-in but more light is always welcome.

"We have a lamphouse and rectifier (power supply) upgrade on its way with 7,000 watts. Screen repaint is due this year and new lenses if necessary. We will give Theatre One at Coburg every opportunity to produce some decent light. All screens are 70mm capable if anyone ever makes a print available again for a drive-in."

Actually for readers, Theatre 1 isn't all that bad now. I've been there and it looks ok. You can never have enough footlamps however.

For those wondering what all this discussion is about you can have a look at the Coburg Drive-in at the following link.
http://www.drive-insdownunder.com.au/australian/vic_coburg.htm

The establishment is well run, always clean.
and the staff are friendly (no I don't own shares in Village).

The Drive-in is easily accessible from the city centre (about 15 minutes drive) so if you are visiting Melbourne for any reason it is a must see.

cheers Peter

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It is good however to see that the drive-ins are successful and that in recent years they have been adding screens. My great hope is that someone will reopen the Wantirna Drive-in Theatre which is near to where I live. Coburg services the northern suburbs of Melbourne and Dromana largely services the southern suburbs of Melbourne however for residents of the eastern suburbs it is an hour's drive to either drive-in theatre.

The Wantirna Drive-in is thankfully largely intact and would enjoy bumper crowds from day 1. It is a real shame to see a largely intact drive-in in an populous area of young families sitting idle. Arguably it should never have been closed. It was owned by Trash and Treasure who run a sunday market there every week for a while and then was purchased by the State Government as a potential site for a public hospital. Thankfully this proposal fell through and the site now sits in limbo.

Recently I nominated the site to the National Trust as a site of significant historical interest. The snack bar has a unique architecture. It looks like a Pizza Hut with a projection room in the roof!

The site is largely complete and includes a ticket box, snack bar including inbuilt projection room and a separate brick projection room built later. The ramps are intact. All it really needs is three x 160ft screens (yes - 160ft screens - wouldn't that give a huge image!), 70/35mm projectors, some radio transmitters and some TLC.

Where are our cinema entrepreneurs? As the site is sitting idle chances are that the site could be leased for a peppercorn rent. The foundations for the screen are there - just buy a second hand drive-in screen from a country area set it up and make a fortune from all the young families in the area. Arguably the drive-in would be more profitable than some cinemas in Melbourne at present!

Perhpas a new (to Melbourne), aggressive, entrepreneurial cinema chain with loads of cash (ARE YOU LISTENING READINGS?!) might give some consideration to re-opening this Drive-in.

Won't somebody please re-open the Wantirna Drive-in Theatre?

<smile>

http://members.optushome.com.au/pberrett/drivein/theatre.html

Let's have some more luminosity at Wantirna.

cheers Peter

ps sorry to ramble on again about Wantirna but seeing this cinema open again is my holy grail.

Thanks for your great comments about Coburg drive-in. Hoyts sold out of the venue in the early 1990's and it has been 100% Village Theatres since that time.

It was built as an independent in 1965, was acquired by Hoyts in 1968 and closed by them in 1984. Village and Hoyts re-opened it in 1987. It is the last drive-in operated by Village who once had 40. It was also the last drive-in that Hoyts had any interest in.

It will feature on the nightly news next week here (Channel 7) and has had radio and news articles on it in the last week, all this when we are in mid-Winter! No, it does not snow here so drive-ins run all year round.

Peter:

You are on the right track with Wantirna, it was a beautiful site. It is very difficult however for anybody to commit to the location once it was bought by the Govt who could decide to build that hospital at any time.

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Fortunately there are less destructive ways of increasing luminosity!

David

Yes it would take a bit of cash to get Wantirna up and running but not as much as you might think. One would not have to buy the site - one could simply lease it from the Government until such time as they decide what they are going to do with it. At present it is still used on Sundays by Trash & Treasure and idle the rest of the week. The Government would probably be glad for a little extra revenue generated from the site.

I have been told that in the past there was a consortium that wanted to reopen Wantirna but Trash & Treasure wouldn't play ball. With T&T sidelined there is no impediment to a new operator making a bid to reopen the site.

The main expense as I see it is the screen. The foundations are there - maybe a country drive-in screen could be bought cheaply second hand and reconstructed on the site (Yarrawonga?). A major cinema chain probably would have a spare projector lying around somewhere. Snack bar and projection rooms exist already. The only other thing would be some repainting of the ramps and a FM transmitter for sound.

Even if Wantirna is never open full-time again I hope that somehow there could be at least one more night when movies are shown at Wantirna, perhaps with a portable screen. It would be a memorable night (particularly if the former resident prostitute turnes up!).

cheers Peter