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Posted by Ken McFall (Member # 845) on 07-07-2002, 02:25 PM:
 
As promised here are some pictures of the equipment van at our Drive In show on Friday 5th July.
The feature was Moulin Rouge and it looked stunning.... shame about the rain towards the end.
Its a very simple setup which is its main strength. The equipment listing is :-

Long shot of projector and tower..

This is the screen ready and waiting for it to get dark.

This is the screen with white light, we filled the width on scope. It may not look it but the picture is as good as many cinemas I've been to recently.

The portable tower loaded with Moulin Rouge...

Finally... the park starts to fill up with 180 cars.

Hope you all find this interesting...


 

Posted by Randy Loy (Member # 112) on 07-07-2002, 03:00 PM:
 
Ken,

Great photos! It sounds like attendance was good too!

Are you planning to do this on a regular basis at the same location or are you planning to move everything around to other locations?

It is my understanding that the U.K. has never had any permanently constructed drive-in theatres like we have here in the states. Am I correct? Has anybody else done what you are doing with a "portable drive-in." I know that Japan does portable drive-ins and I think it is a fascinating concept.

One more question (sorry, I know I'm asking a bunch of them) but did anybody complain about sight lines since the parking area was not ramped and the screen height was relatively low?


 

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 07-07-2002, 03:10 PM:
 
Beautiful.
 
Posted by Ken McFall (Member # 845) on 07-07-2002, 03:12 PM:
 
Hi Randy,

the company I work for, City Screen, bought the screen last year for the Cambridge Film Festival, and I have done most of the full service hires. We recently did a similar Drive-In in Livingston Scotland, so distance is not a problem for us. We can work all year round as required.

With regards to the sight lines, I was concerned about it myself, but on checking it seemed fine from most locations. I could have raised the picture another couple of feet but decided not to in the end. It has to be said the pics make it look worse than it was.

Next Friday & Saturday 12th 13th July, I'm running the Cambridge Film Festival outdoor screening once again. In this case we will be using a speaker setup for sound.

I'm aware that compared to what you are used to our setup is very basic, but I will upgrade the equipment bit by bit with time. I intend to go full 5 channel stereo in the next few months.


 

Posted by Ken McFall (Member # 845) on 07-07-2002, 03:20 PM:
 
is that weenie loaded?
 
Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 07-07-2002, 03:24 PM:
 
Ken:

Nah. It is a "no-load"


 

Posted by Randy Loy (Member # 112) on 07-07-2002, 03:30 PM:
 
Ken,

I agree with Paul, your drive-in set-up is beautiful.

I'm also glad to find out that Paul has not been pointing a loaded weenie at us for the past few months.


 

Posted by Ken McFall (Member # 845) on 07-07-2002, 03:36 PM:
 
The tought of it going off in his hand is worrying....

Weenie fall out.... would FilmGuard sort that out?
 

Posted by Mike Fitzgerald (Member # 1304) on 07-07-2002, 04:17 PM:
 
Great pictures Ken I hope to be able to post some of my own in the next few months as I get closer to my equipment coming together.

 
Posted by Ken McFall (Member # 845) on 07-07-2002, 04:26 PM:
 
Thanks for that Mike, look forward to seeing what you finally decide on. Keep it simple to start with that way its more reliable. I have to say I prefere doing the Drive-In shows as they are much easier from a tech point of view. Open air shows are more involved so open to more to go wrong.....

Mind you the only problems we've had so far are the generators that we hire locally. Three failures in Scotland and two this weekend gone. We were lucky that we could use local power for the screen fan.

Next weekend I'll take pictures of the whole setup loaded into the Luton van.... It all fits in one van if needed but for simplicity we use two vans for non Drive-In, outdoor shows as we need a home for the amplifiers behind the screen.

Watch this space.....


 

Posted by Ben Wales (Member # 92) on 07-07-2002, 05:40 PM:
 
There was for two years a semi-permanent Drive-In in Bournemouth about 3 years ago, it ran for three nights over three months.

The largest mobile cinema set-up in the UK is the Stella Screen and MJ Movies, they both hold large scale outdoor Screening events with screens up to 60ft wide.
 

Posted by Ian Price (Member # 14) on 07-07-2002, 06:12 PM:
 
I'm ready!

I want one!

I had thought a couple of years ago about an outdoor cinema along these lines. It's good to see that it is possible and relativly easy. It's great that the Drive-In works well and you don't have to provide a soundsystem. Just transmit the sound on low band FM. Cool!


 

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 07-07-2002, 06:55 PM:
 
Yesterday, I was using a weenie like the one pictured to shake at an employee while trying to make a point. The darn thing broke! I made some other comment, and most of the employees laughed their butts off.

Ian, I am still trying to figure out how you got in that car. Did they build it around you?


 

Posted by Robert Golding (Member # 746) on 07-08-2002, 03:35 AM:
 
It looks fantastic, just one question. Any particular reason why you are running it with a tower sys. I've had experience with towers and found that a platter is much friedlier to film. Good luck in the future and keep us informed about the peoples response to the wonder of watching movies under the stars.
 
Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 07-08-2002, 03:37 AM:
 
Paul, note that Ian could not fit his head into the car. Ian's got a big head. (Yet remarkably small hands!)


 

Posted by Ken McFall (Member # 845) on 07-08-2002, 04:14 AM:
 
The main reason that we use a tower is that it is the best option for the type of work. Can you imagin transporting film on a plate! You would have to spool it on prior to your show, and as we all know thats very slow.... THEN spool it off again after your show! With a tower its quick and simple. Make the print up onto 6000' spools and run on.... and back onto spools after the show. If you were travelling the print could be left made-up on tower spools provided it was stored correctly. Towers are very simple in construction and take up little room. In the back of a van a platter would be less than ideal and prone to all sorts of operational difficulties.


 

Posted by Ken McFall (Member # 845) on 07-08-2002, 09:13 AM:
 
Ben,
Stella Screen and MJ Movies may well have much bigger screens but ours is fully portable. Setup in a couple of hours, break down in an hour. Drive to the next site and repeat!! let's see the Stella Screen do that. The only things we need locally is a water supply, the local fire brigade usually oblige and generator(s). These are usually arranged in advance with no problems.

We do the rest..... biggest isn't always the best!


 

Posted by Ken McFall (Member # 845) on 07-08-2002, 09:19 AM:
 
Ian,

we do indeed use a full sound system when required, this weekend at The Cambridge Film Festival for example. At present we transmit left / right down to the screen and amplify from there. Its a bit more work than a Drive-In but sounds great. We use a simple mixer desk to provide EQ.
I will be moving to using a processor at some point this year to enable us to have full 5 channel stereo.

But if you really really want you can go and get a setup for yourself... go on knock yourself out :0)


 

Posted by Ben Wales (Member # 92) on 07-08-2002, 06:43 PM:
 
The Largest outdoor screen I found was at the Expo2000 in Hanover in Germany in 2000.

The screen was 35 meter wide and the projection equipment was a Kinoton FP30 (35mm Dolby Digital) with 10kw Xenon!, pitty they did not show 70mm
 





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