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60
phs by J. R. Samel, ACL
• From lop to bottom: the author's living room in its normal state and next with the miniature stage prepared for a screening; third, the curtains are opened showing the screen, square cornered and framed with black velvet; finally, the rheostat and the light switches.
How to emulate a real theatre
Bordered screen and other refinements suggested
J. R. SAMEL, ACL
MANY of us have marveled at the suave smoothness of the film presentations which we witness in the better motion picture theatres.
Perhaps we are given to thinking that it would be wonderful if we too might be able to open and close curtains, dim out house lights and, in general, create an atmosphere of the real theatre.
Well, it can be done. All that is necessary is a bit of thinking and some planning, in order to take every advantage of the possibilities in our own homes. I, for one, felt that my pictures could be substantially improved in presentation; so, I set out to do something about it.
I first visited several theatres, in order to make close observations, and, in so doing, I discovered several important ideas that I later translated into my own screenings.
In the first place, I observed that all theatre screens have square corners. This seems quite logical when you think about it; for movies are pictures in the full sense of the word, with frames around them, and I have never seen a framed rectangular picture that did not have square corners. The square corner lends symmetry to the overall design of the rectangle, whereas, in amateur films, the gate in the projector has rounded corners.
All of us are disturbed, from time to time, by the fuzzy edge of our pictures which is caused from accumulations of lint, dust and bits of emulsion that gather and tenaciously adhere to the four sides of the frame. Yet, in the theatre, one rarely ever sees these annoying particles, and I felt that there must be a reason, for 35mm. film is just as susceptible to them as is 8mm. or 16mm. film.
I found the answer. In the theatre, the screen is set into a square of the proper size for the throw from the projector, and this square is covered with black velvet on all four sides. The black velvet extends a distance of from one to several feet all around the screen, and it has two very important functions. First, by placing the screen a little closer to the projector, the picture is slightly larger than the screen area and the picture actually overlaps on the velvet. The black velvet reflects no light whatever, and, of course, the screen surface is completely filled, but lint and other particles that would ordinarily be seen all around the frame are lost to the eye because they are on the edge of the picture that spills over to the black velvet.
I discovered further that the black velvet adds a sharp contrast to the brightness of the image on the screen and that, by contrast, it actually brightens pictures that otherwise were somewhat on the underexposed side. In presenting films at home, the screens which most of us use have so little black border that, in order to make sure that we do not project an image that might strike the light walls in most homes, we frame our picture slightly inside the border of the screen, so that the particles of dust and lint are clearly visible; and, in addition, our [Continued on page 72]