Digital Projection

Azmyth

Azmyth

Veteran
Just found out our theater here is still 35mm. They are so excited about showing our film, but we have a major issue to deal with as there is no way we will have the funds for a 35mm print. They are pretty down with working with us, because it will mean profit for both of us.. but I want to figure out what our options are? Could we went a digital projector or some type? if so, what would I be looking for?
 
You need to get the screen size and throw from projector to the screen. From there, any reputable rental house can get you a price on projector and proper lens to fill the screen with the appropriate level of lumens. Depending on size of theater and screen, it may not be cheap.

Michael
 
Make sure you consider audio as well and how you're going to get sound from your media (whatever that is) into their system. That should be pretty simple, but a consideration none the less.
 
Thanks guys. They are really into working with us on it, so I'm sure we can come up with some sort of solution. The owners of the theater say someone asks about when its going to be playing there everyday, so they are just as excited about showing it there as we are.
 
Was your film shot in HD or SD? If it's SD, you can use a cheaper projector with less resolution.
 
There's some posts near the end of the Sricken thread showing what they used for their premiere - all rented equipment.
 
Since you shot (and presumably finished) in HD, you can project from a Blu-Ray. You can buy a player on sale for $100-150, or maybe you can rent for around the same price. Most BR players have both HDMI & component outputs to connect to a projector.

You can also playback from the HDMI port of a hard drive media player like these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...458&cm_re=media_player-_-22-154-458-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...499&cm_re=media_player-_-22-148-499-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...472&cm_re=media_player-_-22-136-472-_-Product

The better ones let you create play lists, and can be used in a number of ways.

In a pinch, you might also be able to play back from a laptop. I've done it.
 
I don't think the main issue is the playback device, but the projector. But you bring up a good point about connections which will help with what device you would use for playback. The bigger issue is a projector and lens that will fill the screen with enough lumens to look good. Depending on size of theater, that can become costly. I would suggest talking to a reputable AV dealer/rental in the area and see if they want to "donate" use of a projector for the screening. If it is over multiple days, that will most likely not be possible, but always worth asking. If you offer them some kind of marketing.

But if you feel there is profit to have all around, then perhaps there is budget for a digital projector rental.

Michael
 
Does the theater not run ads before the movies? I know that locally all of the theaters do it, and they use HD projectors for that. They aren't digital cinema 2K projectors, but with the lights off they wouldn't be too shabby if all you have is HD anyway.
 
Yes, the theater has those. My associate was able to look at the projection rooms and they have those set up right next to the film projector. He didn't know if they were HD or not, but I'm thinking they'd work. They use those to play the ads and such before the movie starts. It never looks that great, but I think thats normally because the lights aren't off at that point. We are gonna meet with them again.. The thing is, they know very little about film making, all they know is how to run the theater so anything outside of that is sort of foreign to them.. so it was never brought up.. and I never knew they had seperate projectors for that.. so we are all sort of not in the know. I think that could totally work though.

The thing is, I expect it to sell out the first night for sure.. and possibly additional nights. We come from a small town where there isn't a whole heck of a lot to do.. This could be one of those deals where the entire town shows up. So there is definitely money to be had.
 
Snazzy Flapper said:
Does the theater not run ads before the movies? I know that locally all of the theaters do it, and they use HD projectors for that. They aren't digital cinema 2K projectors, but with the lights off they wouldn't be too shabby if all you have is HD anyway.
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The theater owner may not have access to the content on that projector. Those projectors are typically provided by the service that provides the ad content, and the service controls that content.
 
Hmm its all local ads. What we might have to do is rent a projector and set it up outside the booth in the aisles. The auditoriums have pretty big aisles.
 
If it's only local ads, who owns the projector? Does the theater subscribe to an ad service that provides it? Are they local? Maybe you can arrange something with them?

If it's national ads & content, I'd be surprised if you could even find the right person to ask.
 
Azmyth said:
What we might have to do is rent a projector and set it up outside the booth in the aisles.
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I've been down this road. We set up the PJ on the back 2 rows directly inder the projection booth. The AV company brought in a small scaffolding to build a deck. We also provided our own PA system. The audio for the theature was permanently wired with no accomodation for bringing in an outside source. The theatre's projectionist/technician couldn't figure out how to bring audio into the house sound system. We gave the AV company a sponsor credit for the screening so they gave us a discounted rate on the gear and set up.
 
arniepix said:
If it's only local ads, who owns the projector? Does the theater subscribe to an ad service that provides it? Are they local? Maybe you can arrange something with them?

If it's national ads & content, I'd be surprised if you could even find the right person to ask.
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Its all local.

Chamber of Commerce, pest control.. etc. there are some movie trivia and such slides that are sponsored by coke... but all the ads are local.
 
We just used a digital projector to project our own indie-film from a ps3 It worked unbelievably well. Connect the ps3 to the projector using hdmi -> dvi. Then adjust the settings and routings so the projector will know what output to playback. 4000 watts!

Nowadays we can almost forget about printing to film as these digital projectors are becoming more common and common. :cheesy:
 
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