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Should the Audience Be Seated?
* Whether or not to provide seats for your audience while they are looking at your motion picture is a question that depends upon just what the film is expected to accomplish, its length, its role in the rest of your exhibit, the location and amount of space available, and other factors.
A short snappy ballyhoo film intended to bring people into an exhibit rather than tell the whole story itself, certainly does not call for seating arrangements. Some of the very best uses of motion pictures, such as those developed by Union Carbide with its seven projectors or by International Harvester (with five), provided no seats for their movie audiences. So great were the crowds in front of their screens that there would have been no room for chairs in any case.
Experience at the Century of Progress proved that it was possible to hold a crowd for a 15-minute talking picture piano recital without any seating arrangements — yet it may well be argued that the results would have been still better if seats had been provided.
The survey furnished to Business Screen indicates that 34 projectors played to seated audiences, while 53 did not. A producer's questionnaire indicates that 14 of the exhibitors replied that they had provided seats, while 13 answered they had not. Of these latter 13, eleven replied to another question that the audience did not remain for the entire picture, whereas all 13 exhibitors who replied that the audience did remain for the whole picture are among the 14 who report providing seats. "Several exhibitors with small auditoriums seating from 24 to 224 persons reported that their theatres were filled to capacity during most of the Fair period", states this questionnaire survey.
When designing the original continuous attachment (150') the projector company made a survey of crowd habits at various trade shows and found that on the average a man would stand and look at a motion picture not more than 4 minutes. This determined the capacity of the projectors, 50% over this observed average, yet the users of the continuous attachments insist on longer cycles, even to four times the original film capacity.
Crowd habits have not changed — if anything, people at so variegated a spectacle as the Century of Progress are less inclined to stand for long periods at any exhibit, even a talking motion picture. If it is necessary that your audience be held to the finish of a picture longer than four minutes, possibly even longer than two minutes, it should be made as easy and as comfortable as possible for them to do so. Under such conditions seats are clearly indicated.
CON
PROJECTION
The modem designer can contribute many original ideas from which to build a suitable setting lor the useiul continuous projector. One oi the dependable continuous machines now being marketed can be easily adapted to a cabinet such as Barnes & Reinecke have sketched above. This unit can be carelully matched to the design of the complete exhibit
The location of an exhibit also has a bearing on whether or not seats should be provided. Exhibits close to entrances have less need for seating arrangements than those further away. As people tire they are drawn to those exhibits where they can rest while they look and listen. The wise exhibitor takes this into consideration, and gets much of the crowd that his less thoughtful colleague forfeits.
What Size Pictures?
■*■ The size of screen image employed is also of serious moment. The effectiveness of a large screen is generally considered to be in proportion to its area, yet this should
HOW TO USE FILMS IN EXHIBITS