Screens in the Air

Barklc


Bubba


bubsdaddy (deck)


bubsdaddy (woods)


cafemom


CarlofET


cheftom


CherryHills


Cinema BBQ


Cleveland Wasp


comshark


Danoplex II


DigiMark


don


Emperor PalpaTim


evil-fraggle


gdmanry


hiredpower


Jack_Daniels


jenkins123


kelemvor


LivinInMichigan


morps


movtarget


Orthofunk


p_og


Paul16mm


Pass_The_Off


rfisk


ThatDJTroy


tlogan6797


victor-eyd


victor-eyd (garage)


ward95636

Advanced search

[JonesCinema]

I love all the set ups you guys have made.  I am surprised I haven't seen more of what I have done.  Outdoor Cinema should be up in the air parallel to the ground!

I live in Utah and there are a good number of outdoor movie events that companies put on in parks.   People show up with blankets and just lay on the grass while they watch the movie.   I hated this because I could never get comfortable.  I would either lay down with my head on a wadded up blanket, which would really screw up my neck; or I would support myself by leaning back on my elbows.  I can only take the elbow position for about 15 minutes.

Now I know I may just be a baby, and getting a simple chair would solve my problem, but be that as it may, I used my discomfort to revolutionize (if only in my mind) outdoor cinema.

I live in an apartment complex with buildings 3 stories high.  My first attempt at this new idea started by sewing two king size sheets together.  Then I sewed loops to each corner and bought some rope.  Then I used four windows, two on the third floor of one building and two on the third floor of another building.  I tied the four ropes to the four corners of the screen, and pulled the ropes through the four windows.  When they were all pulled tight I closed the windows on the ropes and my screen was up.

It was super ghetto, but it was a start. That first night we watched Top Gun, and we even saw a shooting star in the sky during the movie.

[JonesCinema]

The problems I ran into were getting my ropes back from the windows I used.  On the third or fourth weekend I tried this, the kind tenants had gone to sleep.  I had to leave the screen hanging from one of the buildings.  When I came to get it in the morning, it was gone.  I later found that the maintenance guy had thrown my screen and rope in the dumpster.  So yes, this poor college student went dumpster diving.

With my screen recovered I knew I needed to make some changes.  I purchased some eye hole screws and went to the roof.  After four small installations (shhh don't tell) I was back in business.

So back yard cinema world, what do you think?  Have you seen this done anywhere else before?  My first experiment was back in June of 2005, and I haven't done it lately because setting up sound was such a hassle.

[aleuni]

Now that is thinking out of the box

So how do you "fly" your speakers?

[JonesCinema]

I have not actually "flown" the speakers yet.  They have just been on speaker stands at the feet of the audience.  Surprisingly it has not been strange.  I thought I would have to place them inside apartment windows, but it works great on the ground.  Of course I am not doing surround sound, and I am always looking for ways to improve and change the idea.

[rrg]

I think this is over my head!

That's a great idea. Now put together some slides of the constellations and point out to everyone, already looking up  where everything is in the sky, instant planetarium. Remember no more pluto.

[kelemvor]

I can honestly say I'd have never thought of this.. Sounds pretty cool.

[mdrsteve]

Great original idea!!!! I'm impressed!

[evil-fraggle]

Great idea. I'd get too comfy all snuggled under the blankets and fall asleep. My husband would probably be tempted to leave me out on the lawn all night 

Marye

[rfisk]

This is awesome.  I love it!!  Welcome aboard JonesCinema.

I’d likely fall asleep too, Marye.  That all looks way too comfortable.

I once suggested to my wife, that I could mount a flat screen TV on garage door track in our master bedroom.  Then it could move on the track from the wall to the ceiling position at the flip of a switch.  She wasn’t too hip on having garage door tracks in the bedroom.  Maybe the idea will grow on her after a couple years. 

Very cool.

Randy

[Jack_Daniels]

It looks like a breeze or sudden wind would be a big time hassle but I like the idea.
And to Randy....and I quote from my wife...."That garage door thingy would be alright in our bedroom"..."can we get it in polished chrome and would it interfere with our mirrored ceiling"...............................geez.
Cheers,
Charlie

[rfisk]

Ha!

OK Charlie, you can send those tracks to Brown Plating in Padukah, KY and they will come back shining like a mirror.  They used to do my bike parts. 

Just trying to help a brutha out...

Not sure about what to do about the mirrored ceiling, though.  I guess you just hit the garage door remote and retract the monitor back to the wall.

As always, post plenty of pictures.   

Randy

 

[Cherry Hills]

That is freakin fantastic. What a great solution, and certainly the most novel outdoor theater in the group. I love the idea of catching meteorites while you're watching the film. Double bonus!

Re: mirrored ceiling: how to you get your whole ceiling down to Kentucky?

[JonesCinema]

I just did another outdoor movie night and made a few improvements.  First I got a 12 foot by 7 foot movie screen made of real movie screen vinyl material.  I got it from http://www.openaircinema.us/info/accessories 

The two bed sheets I had sewn together just didn't cut it because I would pull on the ropes so tight that they would begin to tear.  Then I got some good speakers, speaker stands and a simple audio mixer.  It was really pretty simple this time around.  Check out these new pics.

As far as gusts of wind, I had a calm night so the screen didn't budge.  Last year with my sheets sometimes a wind gust would cause a pretty weird ripple or bulge on the screen.  Luckily wind from almost any direction doesn't really "hit" the screen.  I tie it real tight and the new screen surface is heavy enough to stay pretty still.

I love the flat screen attached to the garage door track idea!  Now who has the guts to do it?

[JonesCinema]

Oh, and as far as being too comfortable; last summer we watched the Manchurian Candidate.  It was a good movie, but not a good movie for the floating screen.  I think most of us fell asleep.  (It was extra late too.  That was the night my screen got stuck in someone's window over night and thrown away the next morning)

However, falling asleep has never been a problem since then.  The movie selection does matter.  Every other movie has been much more exciting.  The last one we watched was the comedy “I Spy” with Eddie Murphy.  As long as it’s a comedy or an action flick, no one will be falling asleep.  YOU CAN HAVE COMFORT and ENTERTAINMENT!

[hiredpower]

What a great idea! I have seen this used indoors for gaming, but I never thought about taking it outside.

Thanks for sharing.

I have the same screen you just purchased that I use for wedding receptions indoors. You made a great choice there.