HD projectors

Azmyth

Azmyth

Veteran
We are about a month away from premiering my feature film here at the local cinema. Unfortunately, they still have 35mm film projectors in all 3 houses.

They are willing to work with us to make this happen, but we will need to rent an HD projector. Bright enough to project on a 30 foot screen, from a distance of about 40-50 feet. The main house holds 96 people and has stadium seating. any suggestions?
 
Projectorcentral.com lists the specs for just about everything out there. You could check around in terms of what is available for rent in your area, and then look up the specs. What is often done here in smaller venues for festivals and stuff is to just set up a projector table in the middle of the house and cable back to the booth. It is not ideal as you'll lose a few seats, but will work in a pinch. The main problem is finding a portable projector with a long enough through distance. You don't really need to fill the whole screen as a print would, just big enough to get the full effect.

Most boardroom data projectors are more than bright enough for a dark theatre, but the color and contrast may not be ideal. You could try finding a telephoto lens attachment to get further back.

Have they not even installed projectors for pre-show commercials and stuff? All the big theatres here have them, even though few are true digital cinema screens. They are typically 720p and fill maybe 2/3 of the screen, to my eyes they are sharper than a print, and have often thought they would be good enough for an indie premiere.
 
yeah they have those, and I personally THINK that would be fine for our needs. My partner is stuck on the idea of showing it in all its HD glory, which I think for most people is going to be a moot point.. they won't notice anyway. I'm trying to at least get him to see if the theater will let us test those projectors to SEE how it will look instead of just assuming it won't look good. They use them to show the ads, but its never dark in there when they do and I can still see the ads pretty well.
 
I think Barco, Christie and Sony are the main HD projectors for movie houses. That may be too big for your needs, but check rental houses.
 
yeah, I checked for alot of those already. This is a 96 seat theater, and the problem is.. it seems you have to "go big" or not at all.. there's not alot of middle ground.
 
I would at least test the pre-show projector. You'll find that it is probably at least 720p and can scale 1080. You would probably find it quite an ordeal to bring in a unit to properly fill the whole screen and calibrate it and everything, not even considering what it would cost to rent.

If the theatre has curtains you could see if it is possible to matte in to the area filled by the video projector. Ultimately I don't think your audience is going to care. They know it is a hometown production, and even in HD there should be no expectation of meeting Hollywood production values.
 
Azmyth said:
yeah, I checked for alot of those already. This is a 96 seat theater, and the problem is.. it seems you have to "go big" or not at all.. there's not alot of middle ground.
Click to expand...

This is sad but true. There are the consumer models and then the super expensive. Nothing to speak of between.
 
yeah, I did find a 4000 lumen projector (its not HD) thats fairly inexpensive if you bought it. But I don't really need nor want to buy a projector just to show the movie in ONE theater.

We have a meeting with them Monday but after a phone call today, they didn't seem too concerned about any of it.. as if they already know how they plan to show it.. so we shall see.
 
Buy it then return it. Just make sure they have a good return policy and keep all the original packaging.
 
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