Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Minor Subject: L.E.D. Marquees

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Posted by Andrew McCrea (Member # 674) on 03-16-2001, 06:51 PM:

I think all theatres should have 1 L.E.D. Marquee above each auditorium entrances.

It would save a lot of time and money and looks really good.

What do you think about this technology and this idea?

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Andrew McCrea

"I'm Not Bad, I'm Just Drawn That Way!" - Jessica Rabbit

Posted by Steven Pickles (Member # 785) on 03-16-2001, 07:13 PM:

Andrew,

I have worked with both the normal Mylar marquees and the LED displays. I enjoy both about the same, but there's something about a Mylar that I like a bit more. First of all, it is what I am used to. It may not be the easiest way to have theatre times and auditorium information displayed but I think it is a nice feature. As for the LED display, they are handy when its Thursday night--because no one has to be bothered with changing the backlit Mylar displays. They both have good qualities... I just like the original Mylar better. Good luck!

-- Steven

Posted by Brian Potts (Member # 429) on 03-16-2001, 07:29 PM:

My theatre has picture mylars which are cool. The 12 screen across town has the LED's. In my opinion, the LED's make the theatre seem too much like an airport. Also when the 12 screen theatre was first opened, the had lots of problems with the computer that controls them.

Posted by Ian Price (Member # 14) on 03-16-2001, 07:39 PM:

In another life, I actually installed Data Display, LED signs. They are great in the box office. They update automatically when you change the computer. They are very simple to setup and run. They are also very cool when you are running a theatre with between 16 and 30 screens.

However, I prefer the look of mylars. So when it came to my own theatre, we chose mylars.

On the subject of money... LED displays are very expensive to purchase to begin with. but once purchased, they don't cost you much. Mylar light boxes are dirt cheap to buy and install. But you have to buy mylars every week for your new films. But I suspect that we will be turning them out on our color laser printer before long. So I would have to buy 500 mylars to equal the price of an LED system for my theatre. That's about 4 years worth of films.

You can pay me now, or you can pay me later!

Posted by Andrew McCrea (Member # 674) on 03-16-2001, 09:30 PM:

Anyone have pictures of mylars... I'm not sure what they are!

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Andrew McCrea

"I'm Not Bad, I'm Just Drawn That Way!" - Jessica Rabbit

Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 03-16-2001, 10:31 PM:

Andrew: You mean to say that you don't have ANY theatres that use mylars (also known as 'Title Art') A good example is the products from Movie Ad Corp http://www.moviead.com

If its anything, we stripped out a closed sixplex in San Jose CA 2 years ago, and took everything... except the Xetron Maxi-8 autos, an AW2, 2 Christie vertical consoles, and all six LED marquees.

If I HAD to use an electronic title board, i would use the ones that Schult Design carries, they look 'better' than plain LEDs IMO. And I would only use them at the boxoffice for the times. I prefer title art ( mylars) for above the auditorium doors

Aaron

Posted by Rachel Carter (Member # 693) on 03-17-2001, 02:56 AM:

IMHO, I like the mylars above the theaters, it makes the look of the theater more personal.

I do like the title LED's showing the movie times. We now use a mylar time board and people tend to have a hard time reading it because they don't know if the times are above or below the mylar....the times seem so much easier on a LED board.

Posted by Andrew McCrea (Member # 674) on 03-17-2001, 12:51 PM:

One thing, what does IMHO mean?

Also... When a small, 2 screen theatre is open on a Thursday night, they have about 3 people working, there's 2 shwos in on auditorium, 1 after the other. That small staff is not going to have time to change the regular flourescent marquee. Plus, with one line available, they're going to have to change it.

I like the look of L.E.D.'s. They look cool and they'll last a lot longer. Except, i have noticed that sometimes at the theaytres that use them, they do go wacky and flash and blink when they're just suppose to show the time.

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Andrew McCrea

"I'm Not Bad, I'm Just Drawn That Way!" - Jessica Rabbit

Posted by Ian Price (Member # 14) on 03-17-2001, 03:46 PM:

IMHO means In My Humble Opinion.

A mylar looks like this.

Posted by Rachel Carter (Member # 693) on 03-17-2001, 04:18 PM:

Andrew, on a thursday night at my 3 screen, there is me (the manager) and 2 employees on. We get all the thursday night stuff (changing the outside marquee, both sets of mylars, hanging up the posters w/ the times, movie posters, etc.) by 10:30 with the last show being at about 9:45.

It works out fine.

Posted by Dave Bird (Member # 490) on 03-17-2001, 06:04 PM:

Well I think that the marquee for what's playing on THE SCREEN should be combined with neon streetside or on the back of the screentower with Wagner letters. But seriously, having worked with both methods (albeit a different business), mylar will be better, LED's or anything electronic will choke/burn out and is more expensive anyway. Point well taken about the
"airport" feel. Last time I was at the multiplex, I felt I should be rushing to the "gate"!

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 03-17-2001, 06:34 PM:

What's the maintenance cost on the LED displays? How much do distributors charge for the mylars?

I've never been involved with either--at single-screens, we usually changed out the poster case in front of the theatre while the last show ran on (usually) Thursday night. You could change the mylars at the same time. No big deal, although you'd probably need a ladder to change the mylars.

I've worked at a 10-plex that had both a mylar-holder-thingie (what's it supposed to be called?) and a poster case next to each auditorium entrance and it worked fine. I suppose that one advantage here is that you can teach someone how to change out a poster or mylar in a minute or two, instead of having to show someone how to use a computer.

I agree with the complaints about the "airport look"--it's not apppropriate for movie theatres. The one major advantage that I've noticed of having LEDs at the boxoffice, though, is that (in a multiplex) they can be (I assume) connected to the boxoffice computer system and can quickly indicate which shows are sold out on a busy night, without the manager having to yell in the lobby. I'm sure that Jerry and others could give you the run-down on what the boxoffice computer systems are capable of doing...I'm not really familiar with them, unless "automaticket" machines count as "computers."

Posted by Edwin Graf Diemer (Member # 545) on 03-17-2001, 06:46 PM:

I've always felt the mylars look best over the doors, but the LED's are great over the Boxoffice. They are also great for outdoors-beats climbing onto a ledge to change the attraction letters! I was at a theater where another manager was changing the letters, stepped back to check the spacing, and went crashing onto the parking lot 20+ feet below. Amazingly, he wasen't hurt!

Posted by Ian Price (Member # 14) on 03-17-2001, 07:00 PM:

At least one year of LED maintenance is usually included in the initial purchase price. Yes they will fail, but they are as easy to fix as replacing a board.

Mylars coast between $15-$20 per piece and are available from 3rd party vendors, not distributors. One very large vendor is called Movie Ad Corp.

The "thingy" that holds the mylars is a light box. It is just a box with a florescent tube inside with a white plastic front and a track to hold the mylar. The same boxes can hold letters so you can spend once and use the letters each week.

If I had a single screen, I would just hang the poster in the proper place with a now showing next to it.

LED signs are hooked up to the box office computers and they don't require anything from the managers. If the times and auditorium numbers are correct in the box office computer, then the signs above the doors will be correct. Once the initial setup has been done, it is hands free. When something does go wrong, the software is easy and you can call them up and they will handhold you through it. You don't have to turn them on. You don't have to turn them off. You don't have to update them on Thursday. It's all automatic.

And yes, I think it looks like an airport. By the way, the theatres are the second largest market for LED signs. Airports are the largest market for LED signs, so the analogy is apt.

Posted by Andrew McCrea (Member # 674) on 03-17-2001, 07:21 PM:

I like the LED Marquees, but regular marquees with flourescent bulds behind them, with the sliding letters are the cheapest... considering they last forever and so do flourescent bulbs.

Both are fine but I prefer the LEDs

------------------
Andrew McCrea

"I'm Not Bad, I'm Just Drawn That Way!" - Jessica Rabbit

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 03-17-2001, 11:49 PM:

The individual letters may be the cheapest but take the longest to put up on thursday nights. I used to work for a ten screen that used the individual letters and it could take 45 minutes to change all the signs above the doors. I like mylars the best. You can get full sized mylars and you can get half sized mylars for when you have to films playing in the same auditorium. It only takes a few minutes to change these. The look of them when done right is far mor apealing. I realy do not like the L.E.D. ones because I find them hard to read.

Posted by James R. Hammonds, Jr (Member # 673) on 03-18-2001, 03:45 AM:

you know the best thing about mylar displays?
being able to snatch them when you lost the show!!!
but i havent been able to do that in quite a qhile, cause i left the theatre i worked for that used them in january 98.

you cant take the led marquee home with you as easy, and if you did, it wouldnt look as cool on your bedroom wall.
but if you do work at a theatre that doesnt have them computerized and they have to set them manually, you can do cool stuff like changing the names of movies like WHAT WOMEN WANT: THE JAMES HAMMONDS STORY.

my old theatre also had one that just said the names of the movies that were down that hallway, with others over the individual doors.
i changed the one over the hall to read the names of fake movie titles that i stole from movies and tv shows. it said CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS IN TROUBLE, CLEOPATRA SCHWARTZ, SHAKESPEARE IN HEAT, GHANDI II, MALCOLM XI, and i dont remember what else.

Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 03-19-2001, 04:42 AM:

Ha ha, I've always wanted to put up a 'joke' marquee but never had the opportunity (without getting in trouble at least!) Most signs that go right outside the auditoriums are too small to fit complete titles though so you'd get something like "GIRLS" or "SCHWARTZ" though. As for the LED signs, ever see the beginning of "Maximum Overdrive"?

I've always thought it's a bad idea to put the show-times right outside the auditoriums for one reason- if someone's leaving after one movie, they can tell right away if another movie's starting and sneak in. I think the mylars make the other movies look appealing enough to sneak into, too.

Posted by Sean Weitzel (Member # 244) on 03-19-2001, 04:54 PM:

Aaron:

What sixplex in San Jose? AMC Oakridge?

-sean

Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 03-20-2001, 01:40 AM:

>>What sixplex in San Jose? AMC Oakridge?<<

Meridian Quad 6. (If you all find it funny that a sixplex is called 'quad',it's because Blumenfeld added two more screens to the original 4-plex and decided to keep the name.) Had to be one of the uglier plexes with the HUGE numbers in the first 4 auditoria (reversed on the left side, even) I think Scott [Neff] has pics of the place somewhere.

Aaron

Posted by Tod J. Weitzel (Member # 760) on 03-20-2001, 03:48 AM:

Speaking of Fun With Marquees:

When I did my time at Hollywood Video, I somehow landed the job of updating the signage every couple of weeks.* One week I found a particular poster to be hung and knew exactly where to put it.

The marquee it went in was right underneath our large "HOLLYWOOD VIDEO" sign... the poster:

BURN HOLLYWOOD BURN

I still kick myself for not getting a picture of it in the two weeks it was up.

-Tw?

*Outside signage is fun: you're supposed to get up on a ladder and wet down the whole window with a sponge to make the vinyl stay up, but that was a bit messy. So eventually someone ran across the street to the Target and bought one of those giant Super Soakers. Outside signage went from a 30 minute task to 10 minutes.

------------------
Resident nerd.

Posted by Mike Spaeth (Member # 524) on 03-21-2001, 05:08 AM:

Definitely mylars. They give the theater personality, not the same old look as everything else.

Ian - you're paying $15-20/mylar???

I get mine for $3.25 (5x25) + shipping.

Posted by Jason Burroughs (Member # 68) on 03-22-2001, 02:22 PM:

I've always prefered the look of the mylar title arts, they are easy to maintain, and are easy to change out. In a large multiplex I can see a valid application of LED displays, as the number of title arts would get overwhelming.

As for outdoor maquees, the Wagner-Zip type letters are very common, but they are often difficult to change, sometimes dangerous as prevously stated, letters inevitably get broken, words truncated or mispelled, and they are absolutly no fun to change in bad weather. Also the flourescent tubes have to be periodiclly changed out depending on the hours that the marquee is lit. Nothing lasts forever.

With outdoor LED displays I've found that they are often neglected, and poorly maintained. 99% of theatre operators won't spend a dime unless they absolutly have to.

Posted by William Bunch (Member # 1040) on 01-12-2002, 02:51 AM:

I need some help. We need to find outdoor type LED panels that we can set up in strips to mimic a typical marquee. Chasing, flashing and animation are not required. I'm thinking 8 inch high letters, single color. The space for the marquee is about 16 feet wide by about 6 feet tall but that could be worked without much problem.

We are a military theater at a northern base in Japan. The weather here is almost never perfect and the winters are long. We are presently using the Bevelite slide-in lettering system. But they stick in the ice and snow and in the spring duststorms the silk screen markings are abraded off.

I have researched the WWW and there are many firms that provide LED signboards but they seem to all either be the very small, like in the lobby type or the overly huge type like you see in Vegas or along the highway. Nothing in between. Surely somebody makes something like this. We can get these here in Japan but we would have to pay two arms and two legs for it. Our budget is not limitless.

Can anybody out there point me towards a company that could satisfy our requirement? Sure would appreciate it.

Thanks a Bunch
Bill Bunch
Misawa, Japan

Posted by Jerry Chase (Member # 660) on 01-12-2002, 10:30 AM:

I suspect you are going to find the cost prohibitive.

Trans-Lux services a lot of the industry.
Electromedia might be another possibility. I'm sure there are others.

Have you considered making weather shields? These are clear plastic panels hinged above the line of letters that normally are about an inch in front of the marquee. When changing the marquee, the catches are released and the sections lift up. The size of the panels can't be too large or they act like sails in the wind, and there must be a positive method of securing them at the bottom.

The idea might not fit your situation, but I remember wanting to do something similar on a couple of marquees where windblown snow got into the BEV-AD tracks and froze the letters to the tracks.

Posted by William Bunch (Member # 1040) on 01-13-2002, 10:41 PM:

Thanks, Jerry. I have always found plenty of sites with these products but they all offered really huge or really tiny signs. Many never returned my emails. I contacted Trans-Lux and hope they return with some good info. Looks like they might have what we are looking for. And they do business with the military/govt on a regular basis. Got my fingers crossed on the price but it must be cheaper than the local Japanese price. This is the last block to fill on my latest theater upgrade.

Bill Bunch
Misawa, Japan