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Author Topic: When do you open the curtains? Stephen Furley Film God Posts: 3059 From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England Registered: May 2002 posted 06-24-2004 03:58 PM                     Scott, that Kalee does look rather odd without it's spoolboxes, but it's in nice condition. Kalee projectors normally had 2000 foot boxes, some of them were round, some a rather odd not quiite round, not quite square shape, there's a 20 like this in the foyer of the Pictureville cinema in Bradford, where the Cinerama setup is. Bradford is very close to Leeds, where the things were built. At least six Kalee projectors were made with 6000 foot boxes. Four of them were horiizontal Viistavision machines, and the other two were a pair of 20s that were installed at the Natiional Film Theatre at one time. They later moved to NFT3, a small screening room, which later became an office, and the machines went to the Projected Picture Trust. They were unusual in that that they had couplings for a mechanical interlock, a metal bar, and that was the reason for the 6000 foot boxes, they were used for 3-D. They must have been amongst the first machines to take spools of this size, as this was about the time that the regulations started to be relaxed, under certain circumstances, to allow them. I haven't seen any other Kalee machiines so equipped, though there are some now operating with towers or platters.  |  IP: Logged Ray Kaufman Film Handler Posts: 16 From: San Pedro, CA, USA Registered: Apr 2004 posted 06-24-2004 04:22 PM                        Frank, Nope. HAD three curtains, just two now and not always both, but still a dream. But seriously, even with only one plus lights, (and that's sometimes key,) a lot can be done. Hell, I remember times back in the good old '80's when we'd play b'tween the 3 color border and foots to Glenn Miller's "In The Mood," done manually with the 70 years old resistance dimmer board on stage. (and yes Paul, it still then had the hydraulic, piston driven remotes.) Took two people on the stage, but never failed to get an applause. More like a Roar. Just hum the tune and you'll get an idea of it with up on the red, kick in the amber, pull back the red slowly and sudden on with the blue. Repeat as needed. That's what I call kick-ass. The whole idea is that coming to the theatre is the event. The film is just a part of the ENTIRE experience. Of course, it makes a difference when the theatre has a certain "wow" factor of it's own. But showmanship, deluxe like screenings can still be part of the mix and truly set one apart from the herd. Can't you see it? Don't ya think so?  |  IP: Logged David M. Dorn Film Handler Posts: 35 From: Hartford, CT USA Registered: Mar 2004 posted 06-24-2004 07:57 PM                     Ray, Please post some pictures of the GRAND!!! Next time I am on the West Coast I'll mmake sure I come to see your presentation. Do y0u have a website?  |  IP: Logged John Spooner Expert Film Handler Posts: 186 From: South Australia, Australia Registered: Jan 2003 posted 06-25-2004 01:38 PM                     Dear Bob, Stephen, Scott. The projector is a Kalee 21. Apart from the Christie arms and an electronic motor start up board it is original. The large spools were a common conversion here in Adelaide. As a matter of interest to anyone who knows Adelaide, this projector and its partner came from the now closed Metro drive-in at Marion. Secondly, I may have posted this pic before, it is of a Kalee 37, still running regularly at a Drive-in north of Adelaide, the steadiness of the image is remarkable. Note the original old Vari-morph cinemascope swing away lens. Regards. John S.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 06-25-2004 02:49 PM                     quote: Christopher Seo I have gotten into a debate with the manager over the appropriate time to open the curtain. I won't get the popular vote for this, but remember unless you own the theater, if the owner or manager wants you to run the curtain a certain way, it's fine to have a discussion with him on your reasoning vs. his, but ultimately you need to do your job to the best of your ability while staying within the confines of what is desired from management/owner. It's not worth losing your job over something so petty as curtain timing. You're working at a cool place right now with great benefits. Please remember that before you push too hard. With that being said, my personal preference has always been to open the curtains as the first frame of the first preview hits the screen. In my case it would be a green band, since I don't go chopping those off trying to make my presentation look like a big screen tv. By the time the green band plays for several seconds, the curtains are *almost* out of the way of the picture and in all but one person's opinion, it looks very nice. The reverse is true for the end of the feature. The last frame of the rating band is projected just as the curtains touch. Again, the rating band helps to prevent the last bit of the end credits from being unreadable on the rippled traveler curtains from those people who DO like to read all of the credits, but still gives that showmanship. (Another benefit of showing the MPAA bands is to show off how marvelously clean my presentations are, because I always use plenty of extra head and tail leader...unlike theaters that belong in the "you suck" thread.) Still in getting back to Chris' issue, the theater I am currently working at 2 nights a week has always ran curtains at the beginning and end of each performance. However there is one person who doesn't like them, the "money man" of the operation. I don't know if he just doesn't understand that it is good showmanship or if he really is bothered by the fact that "the customers aren't being entertained for that minute just before the feature begins" is truly the issue. Regardless, he expressed his desire for us to cease using the curtains. Well Chris, he's the man and that's what he wants. I made my pitch regarding keeping the curtains, but ultimately it's his call so I disconnected the curtain motors. Like I said, don't do something stupid like get yourself fired over something trivial like the timing on curtains. There are better things to get fired over.  |  IP: Logged Robert E. Allen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1078 From: Checotah, Oklahoma Registered: Jul 2002 posted 06-25-2004 03:24 PM                     It also used to be common practice if we ran a cartoon and the trailers before the feature to close the travel curtain at the end of the 'toon, raise the curtain (foot) lights, pause a couple of seconds and fade the curtain lights before hitting the screen with the feature logo, and then open it as I described above. All part of "showmanship" and the ambience of the theatre as it used to be. The Fox (Compton, California) also had a carbon arc effect machine that management wanted to use to splash vari-colored lighting around the screen and arch during the titles. Quite a feat considering I was also fading the houselights and stagelights with overhead levers while opening the curtain with a wall switch an starting the incoming machine. But I did it and it was quite a piece of "showmanship".  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 06-25-2004 03:36 PM                        What is it with overhead rheostat dimmers? It sounds ideal, but I've never seen that sort of installation in person. Usually, the dimmer board in older theatres would be mounted on a side or rear wall of the booth and the rheostats themselves would be in a separate room, either behind or below the dimmer board itself. Is the overhead placement a west-coast thing only? Or are the booths that I've seen just unusual?  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 06-25-2004 04:38 PM                        Don't know about overhead dimmers being a west coast thing or not, but the original Redrock Theatre here (single screen, way before it became a quad, then a six, then a 11-plex) had rheostat (or maybe autotransformer, I can't remember) dimmers installed that way. They were mounted right over the RH (#2) machine which allowed for access from either operating position. The Toho La Brea in Los Angeles had an old resistance dimmer board that took up most of the righthand wall of the booth, a leftover from the days when that house also had a working stage.  |  IP: Logged Thomas Procyk Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1842 From: Royal Palm Beach, FL, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 06-26-2004 10:57 AM                     I'm lucky enough to work at a sub-run that used to be an old GCC, so we have curtains in The Big One IMHO, and I know I will get hollered at by the "showmen" of the era, but projecting any kind of image on top of the curtain looks tacky, and makes the audience think, "The idiot forgot to open the curtain before he started the show." and yes, people have complained about this. (Guess they wanted to see a GREEN band, not a green band with a reddish tint) We used to just hit START and let it go (curtain opens automatically when the changeover opens) but almost always, people would be looking up at the booth with confused faces when the picture hit the curtain. Since we have screen lights, I go for this effect: -Flip the curtain switch -When the curtain is about 1/3 to 2/3 open, and doused in a nice red glow from the screen lights (this looks HELLA COOL), I start the automation. -House lights dim slightly faster than screen lights, so the audience is darkened while the red lights softly fade off the screen. Applause ensues. -Right when the curtain ends its travel and the screen is clear of all light, the changeover opens. It's a nice dramatic effect, and gives a taste of elegance to those who are so used to seeing the 2wenty, slides, or just a blank screen. Here's a pic of the auditorium, and I promise I won't post any more until I assemble a picture tour (Note: Yeah, I know, screen lights are out on the right side. No one wants to climb way up there and fix them!) =TMP=  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 06-26-2004 02:37 PM                    How much nicer if the curtains would go all the way to the floor.  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 06-26-2004 04:14 PM                     I noticed steve someone comment on the pattern of the curtains in your screening room I think they are cool  |  IP: Logged William T. Parr Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 823 From: Cedar Park, TX Registered: Nov 2000 posted 06-26-2004 04:33 PM                     I was lucky enough to escape the remodel with 2 out of 3 auditoriums keeping their curtains and being used. We have the first frame of the feature hit just as the curtains begin to open and are 2/3 closed when the lst frame hits. Unfortunatly this is a function of the Automation as if it were up to me I would have the curtains just touch as the last frame is projected.  |  IP: Logged Thomas Procyk Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1842 From: Royal Palm Beach, FL, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 06-26-2004 11:58 PM                     Steve -- Yeah, it would be nice. But that would mean the curtain would be closed over the exit doors. It's a little bit wider than the screen in Scope mode, and hangs a little below the masking. It's strange running Flat movies in there. The curtain opens up to reveal the flat screen, and keeps going and going and going revealing nothing but black masking =TMP=  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 06-27-2004 12:54 AM                        I've seen theaters that program an intermediate stop for the curtain to prevent that from happening. The Fox Charleston Plaza Mall theater here used to have the problem Thomas mentions. Gigantic curved red duvetyne curtain, intended for a Cinerama screen that was never installed, opening to reveal a fairly small flat screen when running in 1.85. 'Scope looked pretty good though. Top mask could be moved out to present 70mm on the full-width 'scope screen, but alas that theater never got to run a 70mm presentation. Just to mention a couple of other curtain cues I remember for no particular reason: Airport--Bonanza Hotel Theater (Walter Reade), Rancho High School Theater . When I ran it, I played the Universal logo on the curtain. There was a long black interval after the logo where I'd open the curtain. No picture, just black with walla sound of a bustling airport terminal as the curtain opened. Just as the curtain reached full open you'd hear a flight announcement get called, then the picture faded up showing the terminal. Kinda neat. Patton--Fox Charleston Plaza Mall (Fox, then GCC). Ran the entr'acte music with the curtain closed. The print had a cue mark in the lower right hand corner for dimming the house to black. They'd run this segment with the douser just cracked open enough to see that cue, then douse completely until first picture. Otherwise, the lamps put out enough light that even in film black with the house lights up, you'd see a faint 'scope rectangle on the curtain. The house faded with the end of the music. Curtain opened on first picture, a rotating shot of a forest canopy. It was a neat effect, the motion of the shot combined with the curtain opening. Jonathan Livingston Seagull--Parkway Theater (Plitt). Timed the curtain close to coincide with the last frames of picture (a sunset at sea). Again, kinda neat to watch on that big D150 screen.  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 06-28-2004 12:50 PM                        WOODSTOCK -- first 10 or 15min of the movie has a 1.37 image sitting in the middle of the scope screen, dialogue only is in mono. We play it with the masking in to 1.37, curtains set at intermediate (solving Thomas's too-much-black problem). At the point were monologue 1.37 image fades to black and the next image is 2.39, full width, on cue the mask and curtain open to reveal the full scope screen and the sound kicks in to full surround stereo with the CSN&Y "By the time we got to Woodstock" title song playing (punched up a coupla points louder than normal). It always gets applause, and on two occasions, the crowd did the lit-cigarette-lighters-up-in-the-air-swaying-back-and-forth thing. Looking down from five stories at a crowd of 2000 doing that is quite a thrill for any projectionist, to say nothing of the accountant who sees every little speck of light as eight dollars at only 35% to Warners.  |  IP: Logged

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