I have a few things to cover today. First I'm going to try to get back to a regular blog schedule, but I also want to reserve a section for some of my 16mm stuff. I will probably just leave some links on the sidebar for that. First, in 16mm news, my copy of "The Cat Came Back" showed up over the weekend and it is just nearly perfect. What a fantastic short to show to children and adults alike. I also received two "Paddington Bear" films, each 20 minutes long and only $5.50! I bought them to show younger children. though, I have to admit, I found it somewhat amusing myself in a whacked out sort of way. Also, it looks like I will be doing a 'movie night' at the Greentree Elementry School where my son attends. I would like to show "The Court Jester" but my wife thinks nobody will come because they don't know what it is. It will most likely be "101 Dalmations" or "Pinnochio" instead.
Yesterday I posted a message on the 16mm film forum and asked for advice on how to build an outdoor screen. Paul Ivester posted a link to his website with photographs of his outdoor setup. It looks awesome, thanks Paul! Evan Chase suggested something simple and straightforward, a large piece of painted plywood mounted on a frame of 2 by 4's. Michael Coffin made another excellent suggestion. He heard about a company that makes special drapery designed to cut out all light even in the bright sunshine; probably designed for people who work the nightshift and have to sleep during the day. He contacted the manufacturer and found out the only way to get as much material as he wanted would require he become a dealer. Last year he made a large purchase and then sold it in sections to forum members. He is currently out of stock but plans to reorder in the spring. Here's a link to his website showing the material in the home theatre he is building.
Here's what Michael had to say about the screen material:
"As you may or may not know, I've been trying to procure a supply of Rockland Industries "Blackout Drapery Lining" material in a custom 110" seamless width for about 9 months now. I FINALLY received a shipment of it and made a first cut and tested it. It works GREAT as screen material (which is what I'd heard all along). It is very reflective and allows NO light to pass through it (hence the name "Blackout"). I hung a strip of it over my existing professional movie screen and saw no difference in reflectivity whatsoever, I then confirmed this with a light meter and the Rockland Industries material was exactly as reflective as the existing screen (a DaLite I believe).
I made my first cut for the indoor screen that will be permanently mounted in my home theatre and hung it loosely to do some additional testing. Here's a picture of it (ignore the wrinkles as it has to be hemmed, ironed and stretched on the frame eventually - and ignore the MESS - my home theatre is still under construction):
What you are looking at is a 12' wide by 7' tall seamless screen made from this Rockland Industries material. I ran a scope film on it and checked it from various angles. It's highly reflective and there are no hot spots. It has a finish comparable to a matte finish, and the back (the "blackout" material) has a nice "stretchy" quality to it (PERFECT for stretching your screen on a frame!). "
Thanksgiving weekend is over but I really had a nice time. On Turkey Day we had our family down, including my mom and dad, my sister and her kids, and my nephews Charlie and Nathan. Also we borrowed a copy of "The Fellowship of the Ring", the director's cut, and watched it in widescreen format on my DLP projector. It was awesome! The complete film is just perfect. My favorite improvement is in the music. I found the music in the theatrical release to be downright obnoxious, rising up and plunging down on each sentence of spoken dialouge. This doesn't happen in the director's cut and it makes the viewing experience much more pleasant.
On Friday we rented a large moving truck and went down to my sister-in-law's house to help her clean out her garage and basement. Several years ago my brother passed away and my sister-in-law, Nancy, has not had the opportunity to clear out all of the old boxes accumulated over the course of many years. We brought a large moving truck full of stuff as well as two pickup loads and a van load to our house. It's currently all stacked up in our garage and carport. We plan to have a monster garage sale in the spring to clear it all out.
The rest of the weekend was spent doing Christmas decorations and rewiring the entertainment system. We watched several more movies, including "Eight Legged Freaks", "Reign of Fire", and "Amelie". "Amelie" was sort of ok, the other two movies sucked. Especially "Reign of Fire" which sucked extremely badly.
On Saturday night our piano tuner came by to get the piano ready for our Christmas party. His name is Tim and he is a very interesting character. He is a "professional hypnotist, song writer, and author." I'm hoping Tim and his wife can make it to the party, he is a lot of fun, plus having another piano player is always great!
Well, that's a quick summary of what's been going on. It was a relaxing Thanksgiving weekend and now it's back to work again.
Yesterday I posted a message on the 16mm film forum and asked for advice on how to build an outdoor screen. Paul Ivester posted a link to his website with photographs of his outdoor setup. It looks awesome, thanks Paul! Evan Chase suggested something simple and straightforward, a large piece of painted plywood mounted on a frame of 2 by 4's. Michael Coffin made another excellent suggestion. He heard about a company that makes special drapery designed to cut out all light even in the bright sunshine; probably designed for people who work the nightshift and have to sleep during the day. He contacted the manufacturer and found out the only way to get as much material as he wanted would require he become a dealer. Last year he made a large purchase and then sold it in sections to forum members. He is currently out of stock but plans to reorder in the spring. Here's a link to his website showing the material in the home theatre he is building.
Here's what Michael had to say about the screen material:
"As you may or may not know, I've been trying to procure a supply of Rockland Industries "Blackout Drapery Lining" material in a custom 110" seamless width for about 9 months now. I FINALLY received a shipment of it and made a first cut and tested it. It works GREAT as screen material (which is what I'd heard all along). It is very reflective and allows NO light to pass through it (hence the name "Blackout"). I hung a strip of it over my existing professional movie screen and saw no difference in reflectivity whatsoever, I then confirmed this with a light meter and the Rockland Industries material was exactly as reflective as the existing screen (a DaLite I believe).
I made my first cut for the indoor screen that will be permanently mounted in my home theatre and hung it loosely to do some additional testing. Here's a picture of it (ignore the wrinkles as it has to be hemmed, ironed and stretched on the frame eventually - and ignore the MESS - my home theatre is still under construction):
What you are looking at is a 12' wide by 7' tall seamless screen made from this Rockland Industries material. I ran a scope film on it and checked it from various angles. It's highly reflective and there are no hot spots. It has a finish comparable to a matte finish, and the back (the "blackout" material) has a nice "stretchy" quality to it (PERFECT for stretching your screen on a frame!). "
Thanksgiving weekend is over but I really had a nice time. On Turkey Day we had our family down, including my mom and dad, my sister and her kids, and my nephews Charlie and Nathan. Also we borrowed a copy of "The Fellowship of the Ring", the director's cut, and watched it in widescreen format on my DLP projector. It was awesome! The complete film is just perfect. My favorite improvement is in the music. I found the music in the theatrical release to be downright obnoxious, rising up and plunging down on each sentence of spoken dialouge. This doesn't happen in the director's cut and it makes the viewing experience much more pleasant.
On Friday we rented a large moving truck and went down to my sister-in-law's house to help her clean out her garage and basement. Several years ago my brother passed away and my sister-in-law, Nancy, has not had the opportunity to clear out all of the old boxes accumulated over the course of many years. We brought a large moving truck full of stuff as well as two pickup loads and a van load to our house. It's currently all stacked up in our garage and carport. We plan to have a monster garage sale in the spring to clear it all out.
The rest of the weekend was spent doing Christmas decorations and rewiring the entertainment system. We watched several more movies, including "Eight Legged Freaks", "Reign of Fire", and "Amelie". "Amelie" was sort of ok, the other two movies sucked. Especially "Reign of Fire" which sucked extremely badly.
On Saturday night our piano tuner came by to get the piano ready for our Christmas party. His name is Tim and he is a very interesting character. He is a "professional hypnotist, song writer, and author." I'm hoping Tim and his wife can make it to the party, he is a lot of fun, plus having another piano player is always great!
Well, that's a quick summary of what's been going on. It was a relaxing Thanksgiving weekend and now it's back to work again.
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