Today I want to talk to you about lighting your outdoor movie area.
Number One: if you’re using a rear projection screen, that is the projector is behind the screen, set them in front. Then you’ll want to make sure you do not have any light sources directly behind the screen as they will come through the screen as well as the projection.
Number Two: never place a screen directly under a street light or flood lights. Any light that hits a screen will reflect back including streetlights and bulb lights as well as the projection itself.
Number Three: attention to where there is ambient light where the screen and the audience will be. Ambient light is just a bright area that’s caused by street lights or floodlights lights. Oftentimes your audience doesn’t need to be sitting in pitch black dark. That’s fine if there’s some ambient street light around or something like that. But you don’t want it directly on them, they don’t want to be sitting in a very bright area. As well as you don’t want the screen in a very bright area as it’ll wash out the screen.
Number Four: make sure you do have lights for your bathrooms. If you’re in an area that needs port-a-potties, make sure you have lights inside the port-a-potties, it can be as simple as a glow stick, or push light, or something else, but people have to see what they’re doing when it’s dark outside in a port-a-potty.
Number Five: make sure that you have lights in a concession area. Now, people can’t see that you have a concession area or that they’re at the concession area and they can’t see the products, they’re less likely to actually buy something. So make sure you have a well lit area, something that’s Always possibly an issue is that lights attract bugs so make sure that you consider that as well. Broke lights work well, sometimes you can get the yellow lights instead of the white lights that will attract bugs less. And sometimes it’s not an issue at all, but it’s at least something you should be considering.
Number six: if you have it available, make sure that you are turning lights on at the conclusion of the movie so that as people are getting up and they’re getting ready to leave that they can find their wallets, and their cellphones, and their children. And definitely, if you don’t have field lights in the area, make sure you rent or buy some floodlights that you can turn on so that people can see what they’re doing.
Number Seven: Make sure you have lights near the parking area. Normally, it’s easy if you have a parking lot where there are overhead parking lights, but if you are in a field or somewhere where there’s not lights for somebody whose parked, make sure have some general lights up in the area so that people can make their way to their car in safety.
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Southern Outdoor Cinema is the largest producer of PREMIUM outdoor movie events in the country. They are leading the industry with NEW & UNIQUE outdoor movie events. To begin planning your outdoor movie event contact Southern Outdoor Cinema at www.SouthernOutdoorCinema.com or visit their online photo gallery at www.facebook.com/SouthernOutdoorCinema for event ideas.
