Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: May 22, 2008

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Topic: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: May 22, 2008

Mike Blakesley
Film God

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

posted 09-10-2007 08:45 PM

It's got a title. Here's a clip from imdb.com:

Shia LaBeouf, who costars in the next Indiana Jones sequel, revealed the title of the movie during his appearance at Sunday night's MTV Video Awards festivities. Although telling the audience that Steven Spielberg and George Lucas had sworn him to secrecy about the title, LaBeouf remarked, "We're in Vegas, baby, so here it goes." He said that Spielberg and Lucas had decided on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull as the title. That title was one of five registered by Lucasfilm with the MPAA last month. Others included ...The Lost City of Gold, ...The City of Gods, ...The Fourth Corner of the World, and The Quest for the Covenant.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 09-10-2007 11:19 PM

And you know what's going to be spelled out on the marquee?

Indy 4

Even if there is enough space on the sign face to hold all the letters in one of those titles, there's only so many letters some high school kid is going to be willing to fart with. A good windy day and how those suction cup pole things work is going to inspire abbreviation pretty quick. Before too much longer, we'll all have to be fluent in high school kid text message/chat room code to decipher movie title shorthand on the marquees.

Does anyone know what kind of abbreviation will be used to display The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford on a marquee? TAOJJBTCRF?
[Confused]

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

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

posted 09-10-2007 11:45 PM

We'll put the full title of both films on our marquee. The high school kid who "farts with" our letters will have no say in the matter, because that's what I'll tell him to do.

A few years ago some tourist in town actually came to the movie because of the fact we had a long title completely spelled out on our marquee. He told me, "You have such attention to detail on the marquee, I had to check the rest of the place out." So even the dumb little things do pay off sometimes.

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John Wilson
Film God

Posts: 5438
From: Sydney, Australia.
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 09-11-2007 02:53 AM

'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' huh?

I guess it'll grow on me...at least it's nowhere near as 'The Phantom Menace' or 'Attack Of The Clones'.

Hey Mike, you going to change the title of the thread now? [Cool]

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Michael Schaffer
"Where is the
Boardwalk Hotel?"

Posts: 4143
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Apr 2002

posted 09-11-2007 03:39 AM

quote: Bobby Henderson
Does anyone know what kind of abbreviation will be used to display The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford on a marquee?

"Bob deletes Jesse"

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John Wilson
Film God

Posts: 5438
From: Sydney, Australia.
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 09-11-2007 06:03 AM

OK...Now I like it. [Wink]

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 09-11-2007 11:01 AM

quote: Mike Blakesley
We'll put the full title of both films on our marquee.

You must have some really long marquee, or be using really tiny letters.

Using 6" tall letters (in either Gemini Pronto or Wagner Zip Change), that new Indiana Jones title will need at least 18' of horizontal space to fit it on one line. Lots of movie theater street sign marquees use 10" tall letters. At that size you would need nearly 30' of horizontal space.

Most movie theater changeable copy marquees don't provide the option of running the title onto more than one line either.

Movie theaters with LED-based marquees may have an easier time dealing with the title, especially if they have a higher resolution board capable of showing graphics instead of just plain text.

quote: Mike Blakesley
The high school kid who "farts with" our letters will have no say in the matter, because that's what I'll tell him to do.

Unless of course you have more important tasks for him to attend to completing instead of spending a bunch of time screwing around with a title boasting 42 letters in it. If your sign has two sides to it, double the letter count -and perhaps look forward to running out of certain characters in a usually limited "font" of changeable copy letters.

And there's the factor of motorists only being able to read so much crap on a sign as they whizz by the movie theater (which is also one reason why you don't see a lot of those kinds of signs even getting built at all at a lot of new movie theaters).

I'm very certain most movie theaters are going to be spelling out that title as "Indy 4." The customers will get it.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

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

posted 09-11-2007 11:30 AM

I agree with you that most places will put up "Indy 4" or at maybe just "Indiana Jones."

Our sign was built in circa 1932. Originally it had two stiff wires running across each row, with wood letters that had metal clips on the back which attached to these wires.

Those letters are all gone now, and were replaced sometime before the 1960s with ones that were hand-cut (as far as I can tell) out of masonite, which we still use today. They don't have hooks or anything -- they just sit in the tracks behind the wires (most of which are still there). So, what font it is I couldn't tell you...but we have room for 22 letters on each of 3 rows. So we'll get the whole title on, plus we'll have room for the showtimes and the rating too. The letters are about 8 or 9 inches tall, I think. Our marquee kid will bang it out in about 25 minutes.

As for people whizzing by -- nobody "whizzes" here, we have a 25 MPH speed limit and a stop sign on the corner so that's not a problem. [Big Grin]

Here's a picture from 1980 when we were getting new doors, before the neon was restored. I wonder what font the hand-cut letters are closest to?

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 09-11-2007 12:15 PM

Having three lines of track to display one title for one movie theater screen is certainly a lot more convenient and practical. It's rare that any multiplex has that luxury.

The letters on your marquee appear to pre-date slotted Wagner plastic letters that installed on rails. As to the style of font, it looks somewhat similar to the "Modern" style Wagner and Gemini sell in their Zip Change and Pronto changeable copy letters. Commercially sold computer fonts like FF Gothic look even closer.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

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

posted 09-11-2007 01:52 PM

I used to work at the now-defunct drive-in here...their letters went on rails, but they had "spring" clips on the back, so there was no way to change them with a pole. You had to get up near the sign and pull them off, and hammer them on with your fist.

Here's another cool (but fuzzy) pic I dug up, featuring my old boss, Don Herndon. Check the terrible 1970s paint scheme on the theatre! Orange, green, white and yellow. Looked like a pile of sherbet.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 09-11-2007 02:10 PM

Yeah, those color schemes from the 1970's (and even the 50's and 60's) were sometimes pretty odd. However, a lot of those old signs had porcelainized paint jobs. Extremely durable. The finish could last for decades without noticeable fading. Hardly anyone these days is willing to pay the expense for that kind of longevity. But with the way brand schemes change (or even building occupants for that matter) there may not be much point.

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Monte L Fullmer
Film God

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

posted 09-11-2007 03:46 PM

(Yea Mike, you were playing with those large Wagner 3-D letters at that Dr-In..true, no way a pole change with those letters..)

..have to admit though..with that old pict of the ROXY with that wild color scheme, it definitely drew attention being such bright colors and showed a definite positive, movie going "magical" attitude... none of this gloomy dark stuff which you don't want in a theatre atmosphere...like this one below:

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Sam Graham
AKA: "The Evil Sam Graham". Wackiness ensues.

Posts: 1431
From: Waukee, IA
Registered: Dec 2004

posted 09-12-2007 04:33 PM

quote: Bobby Henderson
Does anyone know what kind of abbreviation will be used to display The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford on a marquee?

"ASS COWARD FORD", of course.

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John Wilson
Film God

Posts: 5438
From: Sydney, Australia.
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 09-12-2007 07:09 PM

Good one, Sam.

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Tim Reed
Better Projection Pays

Posts: 5246
From: Northampton, PA
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 09-12-2007 11:48 PM

quote: Mike Blakesley
Although telling the audience that Steven Spielberg and George Lucas had sworn him to secrecy about the title, LaBeouf remarked, "We're in Vegas, baby, so here it goes."

Traitor!

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