Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Feb 1945)

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tion which precludes proper handling of the functional problems. It may be contended that the arbitrary type of decoration that has been used in the area surrounding the screen is intended for the periods between performances, when the auditorium is illuminated and the screen curtain is drawn. But that means large expenditures for effects visible only a few minutes a day. And what of the rest of the time? The screen, for most of the projection period, is a very positive source of light, and unless the surfaces are finished in a highly diffusive or absorbing black, all decoration in the range of vision of the spectator viewing the screen is illuminated by reflected screen light, which interferes with clear vision. A creative use of light should be the keynote of the successful auditorium design. Such use of light can produce a very attractive \ I auditorium. In addition to making a good use^ of reflected screen light, secondary sources ofl light can be used for the illumination of surfaces in the rear part of the auditorium, that are not in the range of vision while viewing the screen. This secondary light source is masked to avoid the spilling of light directly on to the screen and is designed to illuminate broad masses rather than to create small islands of light in a dark field which latter create annoying instrusions of the patron's vision. DECORATIVE DIVISIONS OF THE AUDITORIUM For convenience of discussion, perhaps we may divide the auditorium into two equal i parts, one half with the screen, the other from the middle (roughly) to the rear. Let us remember to keep the screen half an intact unit; the ceiling is included with the walls. Now it is desirable in the screen half to keep distinction between the vertical and the horizontal at a m.inimum; this enables us to form the right setting for the projected image, which, being, as it were, another world, has its own lines and patterns. In the other half it becomes entirely feasible to resume conventional interior architecture. The ceilings may or may not be decoratively distinguished from the walls, whichever the decorative scheme calls for. In this rear half, however, the decoration had better be of an abstract type in order to be closely related to the neutral setting created for the screen half. Actually, of course, such division of the auditorium into a front and a rear half would not be made in dealing with the design problem. The basic form of the entire auditorium floor plan would determine any divi 8 BEHER THEATRES. JANUARY 6. fW5