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Topic: Booth size

Bill Gabel
Film God

Posts: 3873
From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA
Registered: Jan 2002

posted 03-23-2007 07:53 PM

My booth is 23'4" x 8'4" with a ceiling of 8'. I run a change-over booth with Magna-Tech PR-135 projectors and have two large video projectors (NEC XT-5000 and Sony SRX-R105) plus a Magna-Tech dubber, rewind bench, desk and a Dolby CP-500 and amps. And I still have some room left.

And a [bs]

load of film too.

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John Hegel
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 166
From: Lake Mills, Iowa
Registered: Sep 2000

posted 03-24-2007 03:13 PM

Thank you all for your help. I will let you know what happens.

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Gordon McLeod
Film God

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

posted 03-24-2007 03:20 PM

In many locations electrical codes require 3 feet of unoccupied space in front of electrical panels and devices
Also in some locations workplace safety codes require 3 feet of clear space around "machinery"

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Caleb Johnstone-Cowan
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 593
From: London, UK
Registered: Mar 2006

posted 03-24-2007 04:50 PM

We had a couple of booths that were around 9'x12' and they were a pain in the arse to lace up and just generally crap to be in. Would get hot as well when the coolant system bust. That was just a projector, platter and sound rack.

Doubt you could fit a desk, a cupboard for trailers/tool box/cleaning material/xenons etc., shelves for storing films, a rewind table, two projectors, a sound rack with access to the back and a platter in such a small space without it being very uncomfortable. Try very hard to get a bigger booth.

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Monte L Fullmer
Film God

Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 03-24-2007 08:08 PM

quote: Caleb Johnstone-Cowan
Doubt you could fit a desk, a cupboard for trailers/tool box/cleaning material/xenons etc., shelves for storing films, a rewind table, two projectors, a sound rack with access to the back and a platter in such a small space without it being very uncomfortable. Try very hard to get a bigger booth.

...(he want's to use a single machine/platter setup...) I've seen situations like this where the misc equipment were stored in a separate room next, or by the actual booth, if space was limited - even the MUT was stored in this outside area since you don't need the MUT next to the platter all the time...

(to give you an idea on spacing, this booth is 10ft wide and the machine/platter area is sitting in a 11ft width area. With two feet on the operator side for theading, and if the platter would be a foot closer to the machine <and this is the 52 inch deck size> there would be room for such a setup in a 9x12 room area-why of the recommendation of the mini-wind 42 inch decks..)

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Caleb Johnstone-Cowan
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 593
From: London, UK
Registered: Mar 2006

posted 03-25-2007 03:28 AM

Didn't make myself clear, you will need space for another projector in future, since the industry seems to be moving to digital. OK you could put it in another room, but that is such a pain especially since the sound rack will be with the 35(70mm?) projector.

If you keep everything to do with handling film and the equipment in one room it makes it easier to control dust and dirt.

I don't have a picture but we had a booth was more cramped than that photo. We had the platter directly behind the projector in the corner and the sound rack about where your door frame starts.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

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

posted 03-25-2007 03:35 AM

How about a 3 foot wide by 6 feet deep booth housing the projector, lamphouse, power supply and sound rack? Things were so tight I had to put the water circulator in the next room and run the tubing through the wall. That's the smallest I've ever installed or worked in, but I'll bet there are even more cramped installs out there. [Razz]

There are pictures of the Rowley screening room in the picture warehouse here with 2 projectors and a rewind bench in a really cramped room too.

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Cody Martin
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 214
From: Edinburgh, IN, USA
Registered: Jun 2004

posted 03-25-2007 09:20 AM

Of course mine isn't a commercial booth, but in my 10x10 area I have the projector, lamphouse, platter, sound rack, metal shelf for trailers, make-up table, and a fountain drink machine with rack. It's cramped, but it is very doable.

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Bernard Tonks
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 619
From: Cranleigh, Surrey, England
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 03-25-2007 11:56 AM

quote: Caleb Johnstone-Cowan
We had a couple of booths that were around 9'x12' and they were a pain in the arse to lace up and just generally crap to be in. Would get hot as well when the coolant system bust. That was just a projector, platter and sound rack.

Sounds to me like the now Cineworld, Haymarket in London. I’ve seen those two dreadful cramped boxes, made small to allow a spacious licensed bar area between. This was previously the royal circle in the single screen Carlton Theatre days. The old original narrow and cramped projection room above the upper circle was bad enough with three projectors and two spot/effects machines, and nearly the whole rear wall with the duplicated Westrex magnetic and optical valve amplifiers. Now there is plenty of room in that box with just a single Kinoton projector and platter installed.

There’s an old Odeon South of the Thames, two of the boxes have the platters on floor level as you enter the room, with the projector and sound rack on a raised platform.

My old cinema in Cranleigh had a small box until incorporating the old rectifier room on the left hand side and the old non-sync room on the right hand side by having the walls removed.

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Rick Raskin
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1100
From: Manassas Virginia
Registered: Jan 2003

posted 03-25-2007 01:33 PM

The Baronet in Bethesda, MD where I spent several summers. We used to talk about the booth being so small we wore the projectors. The theatre was demolished for construction of a metro station.

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Robert E. Allen
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1078
From: Checotah, Oklahoma
Registered: Jul 2002

posted 03-25-2007 04:48 PM

quote: Joe Redifer

Audiences hate changeovers and will throw Coke at your screen if you have a changeover booth.

C'mon Joe, that's just not true. The audience cannot distinguish between the two if the changeover booth is well run. In all my years in the booth I've never met any customer who knew we changed machines about every 20 minutes. In fact, IMO, a smooth changeover is better than a splice on the screen.

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Caleb Johnstone-Cowan
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 593
From: London, UK
Registered: Mar 2006

posted 03-25-2007 05:11 PM

I was at Cineworld Wandsworth as a projectionist. Similar situation, the 'VIP' seating and bar area has prevented a single booth, instead there are five, two spacious and three cramped.

I applied for a trainee projectionist job at Haymarket a couple of years ago but didn't get it [Mad]

Haven't been in the two lower booths there, but your description further confirms my view that the stalls conversion is terrible. The upper booth is pretty spacious, remember them having a couple of spotlights in place of the projectors. The old bar was tucked away by the entrance to screen 2, think Virgin opened the current location.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

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

posted 03-25-2007 06:47 PM

Robert, this link should help you understand just what Joe meant when he said that audiences will throw Coke at a screen. Study it carefully.

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Bernard Tonks
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 619
From: Cranleigh, Surrey, England
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 03-26-2007 01:54 PM

quote: Caleb Johnstone-Cowan
I applied for a trainee projectionist job at Haymarket a couple of years ago but didn't get it Haven't been in the two lower booths there, but your description further confirms my view that the stalls conversion is terrible. The upper booth is pretty spacious, remember them having a couple of spotlights in place of the projectors. The old bar was tucked away by the entrance to screen 2, think Virgin opened the current location.

Classic Cinemas converted the Carlton Haymarket into three screens in 1972. Screen 1, had 70mm installed with a pair of Cinemeccanica Victoria 8 projectors on changeovers, 35mm was always shown on one machine with a tower. Later a platter was also installed just for 70mm use. Screens 2 & 3 combined projection box was very large with 35mm Victoria 4 projectors and towers.

Classic became Cannon Cinemas, then Virgin, UGC, and now Cineworld. During UGC ownership, the 70mm equipment was removed, and each screen was replaced with a single 35mm Kinoton projector and platter.

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Caleb Johnstone-Cowan
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 593
From: London, UK
Registered: Mar 2006

posted 03-27-2007 06:43 AM

The staff at Haymarket are very good, always polite and there are never any presentation problems. Suprised that 70mm was removed, seems pointless. Screen 1 has a Christie digital projector now (edit: it does), one of the lower booths might as well.

[ 03-30-2007, 03:28 PM: Message edited by: Caleb Johnstone-Cowan ]

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