This is topic DUNKIRK 70MM WITH CURTAINS in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by David J Hilsgen (Member # 2614) on 07-31-2017, 01:24 AM:
 
Just wondering how many theatres, showing Dunkirk in 70mm have curtains, we have waterfall curtains here at willow creek in plymouth ,mn.we also play the music from the movie before show start & we do not show ads, i also do a curtain call between the trailers & feature, we get a great response from our customers on our presentation.
 

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Posted by Terry Monohan (Member # 8285) on 07-31-2017, 10:15 AM:
 
Thanks David glad you still use curtains plus to close after the trailers and open on the main feature is great. Hope you project the image on the curtains not the screen when the curtains open and close. In the SF Bay Area there are a few theatres that have showed Dunkirk in 70mm film in the last few weeks. The huge 'Grand Lake' in Oakland CA even has two sets of curtains and they go up plus a organ pre show by the organist 'Jumping Jack Robert' on the weekend. In SF we have the 'Drafthouse New Mission' with nice new red drapes that look great when they open and close. The Drafthouse gang are working on getting some blue/red led lights on them for a nice color wash. Thanks again for keeping some sort of showmanship going these days. Many cinemas leased to companies like 'Landmark', once the curtains are broke they just leave them open and you look at a old white screen when you come in. Many young new candy managers I ask, why don't you close and open your curtains they tell me they run ads before the movie starts. Big deal, show the ads then close the curtains and open on main feature. Most can be programmed into the computer to do this. They would balk at doing the curtains cues after the previews. Many of these guys are lazy, don't care and think drapes are old fashioned. The Orinda Theatre in Orinda CA also has some great curtains that the union projectionist knows how to use them.
 

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Posted by Julian Antos (Member # 5497) on 07-31-2017, 04:07 PM:
 
The Music Box Theatre has beautiful red waterfall curtains, but sadly we do not use them for extended 70mm engagements because we put a larger screen up in front of our native 1.85 proscenium. I wish we could have it both ways! We do have a colored screen wash which slowly fades out as the film starts, mimicking the effect ... nothing worse than a bare white screen IMO.

I went to the Zigfield Theatre in NYC for the first time shortly before they closed and saw whatever the most recent Mission Impossible movie was. I stayed until the end *just* so I could see their curtains close over the MPAA blue band, but alas they did not.
 

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Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 07-31-2017, 06:36 PM:
 
Somerville has double curtains (a red guillotine and a gold traveler). One of the other 70mm venues in town--Coolidge Corner--has a red traveler.
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 08-06-2017, 07:54 AM:
 
We have a deep wine-red velour main rag that flies and a cream satin traveler on the screen. I've only used them together a few times, but didn't quite like the effect. Since we always start every show with a WB cartoon followed by the trailers, the deep red velour main curtain sapped up too much of the projected image. We always project the opening WB Merry Melodies logo on the curtain (as Terry mention - first frames on the opening curtain is the way to do it), but the WB logo plays too fast and with the velour curtain, you don't see it well enough and it's gone before the curtain is full opened. Using just the cream satin screen curtain (traveler splits) you see the movie footage very well. And yes, of COURSE you have a curtain cue between everything before the feature and the feature. The curtain before the feature imparts the feeling that an important event is about to start...it creates a mood.

And yes, I know it's old school, but years ago, I was handed a Manager's Handbook at Interstate Theatres in Texas...Austin, actually -- the State Theatre there;I think it was on Main Street. Anyway, they had an entire chapter on use of the curtain and the curtain warmers; the heading was CURTAIN PROTOCOL. And there was a line in that chapter that never left me: "The mortal sin of presentation is for an audience to ever see a naked screen. The screen is a window to things wonderful, not a wall that ruins that illusion." And yes, one of the many rules in that chapter was that the curtain will be used in front of the feature regardless of what plays before it.

This stuff was so sacrosanct that when the curtain motor broke, the manager assigned TWO ushers to position themselves back stage at the curtain pull and 15min before the cues. Why, I asked do we need two guys back there? He told me (then a very green, assistant manager), you assign a second one just in case the first idiot forgets, and you get them there 15min before the cue because one time or another, one or even both of them will be late. He told me that if the regional manager comes in (evidently that guy could pop in unannounced at any time) and sees the curtain not working or not working properly or, yipes, is confronted with a Naked Screen, all hell will break loose and you'll wish you weren't the AM on duty.

BTW, that WB Merry Melodies logo hitting a shimmering curtain as it opens and with that great, uplifting logo music playing...it gets applause every time. Adverts, on the other hand, easily get booed (not at my thearte...we don't run adverts, just trailers...BIG difference). At DUNKIRK the other nite, we had to sit thru four effin TV commercials. Hey, Coke...you want to make me feel good about your diabetic-causing soda, give me a large Coke free when I walk in the theatre and it will make much more of an impression on me than making me sit thru your damn TV commercial...extended length no less!
 

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Posted by Victor Liorentas (Member # 5272) on 08-06-2017, 10:56 AM:
 
I have Beautiful Gold curtains with red stage lights on a motorized dimmer! I saved and imported the curtains from a now demolished palace downtown London Ontario.
Now if I could just get a print of Dunkirk I'm all ready to go!
 

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Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 08-06-2017, 12:01 PM:
 

quote: Frank Angel

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when the curtain motor broke, the manager assigned TWO ushers to
position themselves back stage at the curtain pull and 15min before
the cues

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I too was taught the "no naked screen rule" when learning this biz.

So, once, many years ago, when the curtain motor broke down on opening
weekend of a big flick, and I wanted to maintain the 'presentation standards',
I wanted to have one of the house staff manually handle 'curtain duty',
at least for that weekend, until we could get the motor fixed.

The house manager was OK with it, but "The Union" threw a fit. Opening the
curtains, they said, was my "my job" and my responsibility. However, since,
technically, I couldn't leave the booth to open them myself, nor could I be
in two places at once, if the theater manager wanted the curtains opened/closed,
we could bring in two guys @ $37.50/hr (or whatever the union minimum wage
was at that time) to do so. Noooooo problem!

While it was frustrating, I certainly understood The Union's position.

. . . and I'm sure that had The Internet & Film-Tech been around back then,
somebody attending the show that weekend would have gotten online and
posted a comment noting that the presentation was flawless but whining
about the curtains not opening or closing.

I'm just pointing out that sometimes, things happen, or don't happen, for
a reason, & those reasons often aren't always as simple as they might seem.
 

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Posted by Jonathan M. Crist (Member # 413) on 08-06-2017, 12:12 PM:
 
The Roxy Theatre in Northampton PA uses curtains at every show.


 

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Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 08-06-2017, 01:28 PM:
 

quote: Frank Angel

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Since we always start every show with a WB cartoon followed by the trailers, the deep red velour main curtain sapped up too much of the projected image.

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quote: Frank Angel

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what is a scrib --never heard that term before.

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