The motion picture projectionist (Nov 1931-Jan 1933)

December, 1932 Motion Picture Projectionist 15 The Floor and the Screen By BEN SCHLANGER THE motion picture as a form of entertainment has made notable strides in recent years. It is the dominant instrument which brings to the masses, in remote as well as in centralized locations, an effective theatre art, heretofore out of reach. It is only in the past few years that the motion picture has, due to many technical developments, proved itself a form of the theatre arts that is worthy of a home or structure specially designed for its needs. A survey of the policies of theatres now in use would probably show that most of them are devoted to the exhibition of motion pictures exclusively. Many of them at one time housed a combined entertainment of legitimate stage performance and the motion picture. The feeling that the motion picture was merely an added attraction may explain why theatre structures today are unsuited for proper motion picture exhibition. ' Although the requirements of vision, of acoustics, and of the comfort of the patron are important in the planning of the legitimate theatre, it will be found that these requirements are subject to a more precise adjustment in the case of the motion picture theatre. The sounds and dialogue, now part of the motion picture, have a broader range of frequencies and volume than can ever emanate from a legitimate stage performance. This makes the problem of acoustics in the cinema a relatively more complex one and requires a more delicate adjustment of the form and treatment of the theatre interior. Basically, however, the acoustical requirements of the cinema and of the legitimate theatre are similar, differing only in degree. It is the requirements of proper vision of the screen in the cinema which differ entirely from the requirements of vision of the legitimate performance. If necessary, Mr. Schlanger an architect and a member of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, has done much individual research on the design of motion picture theatres, the reversed floor described in this article being his own development. It is Mr. Schlanger's contention that the motion picture auditorium of today owes its inadequacy to the design inherited from the legitimate theatre. In this article the writer analyzes the difference in viewing a scene on the stage and one in a moving picture. That such difference exists and that it presents a problem that heretofore has been given little capable attention, is suggested forcibly to the patron who occupies one of the only remaining seats during a popular picture. acoustics in the legitimate theatre could be improved to accommodate the audible screen performance, but in the matter of proper vision the very form of the legitimate theatre structure is basically unsuited for, and difficult to adapt to motion picture presentation. Restriction of Two Dimensional View Viewing a stage performance is similar to observing images, background, etc., in real life. The performance, or that which is being viewed, holds a particular position and the spectator may be in any arbitrary position in relation to that which is being viewed. In any one of a variety of locations, the spectator receives his own particular perspective view of the performance. One view may be different from or better than another, but each still has its interest and value for the viewer. In the cinema, the camera becomes the many eyes of the spectator; it commands not only one perspective view of the performance, but many more impossible for the spectators of a stage, and transposes them on to a two-dimensional surface, the motion picture screen. The spectator's position for viewing the screen performance is not an arbitrary one, as it may be in the legitimate theatre. He must be seated within a confined area suitable for viewing the two-dimensional screen surface. The view obtained by each spectator of the screen is a similar one, for the perspective effects that would be seen from different vantage points in real life or on the legitimate stage have already been achieved by the moving eye of the camera. This means that the spectator's view of the screen images already thrown into perspective must not be additionally foreshortened or converged. A distorted view of the two dimensional picture surface with images and background already thrown into perspective is very disturbing to ocular and physical comfort. The author has developed two charts indicating the areas in the motion picture theatre which are usable for proper vision of the motion picture screen. Chart No. 1 determines the usable areas in the horizontal sense (plan view). Chart No. 2 determines the usable areas in the vertical sense, representing a longitudinal section taken through a motion picture auditorium. The shaded portions in both charts indicate areas which are commonly used in many, theatres but afford only very poor seating positions from which spectators obtain a distorted view of the screen image. Figure No. 1 shows how a distorted view of a human figure results from the poor position of the spectator in relation to the screen. Dimension A is the full width of the human figure ILLUIt L- = -": = : : - ^v ' 4tt------~r J By C ' 0 / t 1 iUi%='----'-'' These two charts illustrate graphically the usable areas for proper vision in a motion picture theatre. Chart No. 1, at the left, determines the usable areas in a horizontal sense (plan view). The shaded portion indicates areas commonly used by affording poor seating positions. Chart No. 2, above, determines the usable areas in the vertical sense. By permission of The Architectural Forum.