Kinematograph year book (1944)

Film Exhibition and Kinema Technique 179 acoustic decorative linings will be reduced to the minimum, or, as alternative, ferro-concrete skeletons and shell. A wider range of materials will be employed by the architect after the War. Cements of various kinds will replace timber, and the considerable progress made with plastics will be applied to decoration and interior furnishing. The immediate pre-war tendency away from the super-capacity kinema is unlikely to be arrested. Where suitable sites exist, theatres seating from 1,500 to 2,000 will be the general rule, and there will also be a demand in the smaller provincial towns and rural areas for capacities of from 750 to 1,000, which will be built on the single-floor on the stadium principle. Requirements of the planning authority will probably govern the facade treatment, which will have to conform generally to a general plan and in harmony with existing or projected buildings in the area. The development of new materials, however, will doubtless provide the architect with many satisfying opportunities without the adoption of some of the bizarre designs which resulted from past attempts to break away from tradition. Meanwhile, the necessity to provide recreation for the Services and public has led to the improvisation of an austerity kinema to replace destroyed theatres. Two of this type are scheduled for early erection in the North of England, but design and building details are not yet available. If wisely made, the choice of suitable building material provides exhibitors with unusually happy facilities for the display of a phase of showmanship which enlists goodwill in most towns, but where the exhibitor has any option, a happy mean should be exercised in its selection. A dull unrelieved brick belies the gay entertainment function of a kinema, and the aggressive and inartistic use of unfamiliar materials, such as glass, is frequently irritating to local taste. Materials as brick, glass, faience can all be employed to give dignity and even artistic merit when properly and soberly employed. A new material will be available within a short time — plastics, the qualities of appearance, robustness and durability of which will give the architect wide scope, provided he first learns to use them to the best advantage without blatancy or over-emphasis. The function of entertainment consists of more than aesthetically pleasing vistas ; there are the showmanship and technique aspects to be considered. One point generally overlooked — yet repeatedly emphasised by George Coles, F.R.I.B.A. in the Ideal Kinema — is the planning of facade and interior spaces for film publicity. Combined with this there is the need of a balanced artistic scheme of front of the house illumination. The stridency and garishness of ill-designed neon has frequently ruined the artistic conception of the architect, who should be consulted by the installing engineers before any scheme of this nature is undertaken. Another point of importance is the provision of abundant interior circulating spaces, so that the queue nuisance can be mitigated. The technician will ask for a projection box and ancillary apartments of adequate size ; a reasonable projection angle ; accommodation for possible installation of television ; improved acoustic treatment of auditoria ; the adoption of gaseous and fluorescent discharge illumination, either instead of or complementary to the conventional decorative lighting fitting. These are a few basic requirements which demand attention. Building Control.— The kinema, by reason of the style of construction and the difficulty of upkeep, owing to the constant wear and tear to which the fabric is subjected, has probably suffered more than most businesses as the result of the Building Control Order, although it has been found that the Ministry of Works have not interpreted their regulations in any harsh and arbitrary fashion, there has been little difficulty in obtaining the necessary licence for the carrying out of special jobs or maintenance woik. With these facilities exhibitors as a whole have continued to keep their kinemas in a far better condition than was expected. Particular co-operation is usually shown wherever it is possible at a reasonable outlay of man-power