drive-in cinema or drive-in cinema is a cinema structure composed of large outdoor movie screen, projection booth, concession stand, and large parking area. for cars. Inside this enclosed area, customers can view movies from the privacy and comfort of their cars. Some drive-ins have a small playground for children and some picnic tables or benches.
The screen can be as simple as a white painted wall, or it can be a steel frame structure with a complicated solution. Initially, the sound of the film is provided by the speakers on the screen and then by each speaker hanged from the window of each car, which is attached by the wire. These systems are replaced by a more economical and easy method to maintain soundtrack broadcasts at low output power on AM or FM radio to be picked up by car radios. It also allows the soundtrack to be taken in stereo by audiences on in-car stereo systems that typically have higher quality and loyalty than the simple speakers used in the old system.
Video Drive-in theater
History
Partial drive-in theater - Theater de Guadalupe - opened in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on April 23, 1915:
Seven hundred people can sit comfortably in the auditorium. The car entrance and venue for 40 cars or more inside the theater grounds and in-line positions to view the pictures and watch all the performances on stage is a feature of the place that will please the car owner.
The first film shown by Theater de Guadalupe was Bags of Gold , produced by Siegmund Lubin. Theater de Guadalupe soon changed its name to De Lux Theater before closing in July 1916.
In 1921, a drive-in was opened by Claude V. Caver in Comanche, Texas. Caver gets permission from the city for a movie project downtown. With bumper-to-bumper cars, customers watch silent movie screenings from their vehicles. In the 1920s, "outer films" became popular summer entertainment, but relatively few "drive-in" experiments were made due to logistical difficulties.
The drive-in theater is patented in Camden, New Jersey by the king of the chemical company Richard M. Hollingshead, Jr., whose family owns and operates R.M. Hollingshead Corporation chemical plant in Camden. In 1932, Hollingshead performed an outdoor theater test at the entrance at 212 Thomas Avenue in Riverton. After nailing the screen to the trees in his backyard, he installed a 1928 Kodak projector on the hood of his car and installed the radio behind the screen, testing different sound levels with his car windows down and up. The block below the vehicle in the driveway allows him to determine the size and distance of the ramps so that all cars can have a clear view of the screen. Hollingshead filed for his invention patent on August 6, 1932, and he was given US. Patent 1,909,537 on May 16, 1933.
Drive-in Hollingshead opened in New Jersey June 6, 1933, at Admiral Wilson Boulevard in Pennsauken Township, not far from Cooper River Park. Rosemont Avenue now runs through its previous location. It offers 400 slots and 40 by 50Ã, ft (12 by 15 m) screen. He advertises his drive-in theater with the slogan, "The whole family is accepted, regardless of how noisy the children are." The first film featured was the Adolphe Menjou Wife Beware . Failing to make a profit, Hollingshead sold the theater after three years to Union, the owner of a New Jersey theater that moved infrastructure to the city, but the concept was caught all over the country.
April 15, 1934, the opening of Shankweiler's Auto Park in Orefield, Pennsylvania, followed by Galveston's Drive-In Short Reel Theater (July 5, 1934), Pico Drive-In Theater at Pico and Westwood boulevards in Los Angeles (9 September). , 1934) and Weymouth Drive-In Theater in Weymouth, Massachusetts (May 6, 1936). In 1937, three more opened in Ohio, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, with 12 others during 1938 and 1939 in California, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Texas and Virginia.
Initial drive-in theater had to deal with sound issues. The original Hollingshead drive-in has a loudspeaker mounted on the tower itself that causes a sound delay affecting the customer in the back of the drive-in field. In 1935, Pico Drive-in Theater tried to solve this problem by installing a row of loudspeakers in front of the car. In 1941, RCA introduced in-car speakers with individual volume controls that solved noise pollution problems and provided satisfactory voice to drive-in customers. Just before World War II, nine of the 15 drive-in movie theaters opened in the United States were operated by Philip Smith, who promoted a family-friendly environment by allowing children to enter a free and built playground.
Maps Drive-in theater
Peak
The popularity of the drive-in peak came in the late 1950s and early 1960s, especially in rural areas, with about 4,000 drive-ins spread throughout the United States. Among the advantages is the fact that older adults with children can care for their babies while watching movies, while teenagers find the ideal drive-in for a first date. Revenue is more limited than ordinary theater because the show can only start at dusk. There have been unsuccessful attempts to create conditions suitable for daytime views such as large tent structures, but none are worth developing.
During the 1950s, greater privacy given to customers provided an unscrupulous reputation, and they were labeled "passionate holes" in the media. Beginning in the 1970s, many movers shifted from family tariffs to film exploits, as a way to offset the decline in protection and income. Also, during the 1970s, some pullers began showing pornographic films in less family-centered time slots to bring in additional income. These censored materials are allowed to be seen by a wide audience, some of which are seen to be still illegal in many states, and it depends on the wishes of local ordinances that control the material. It also requires a relatively remote location of the population areas such as cities and towns.
During its peak, some drive-in use gimmicks that attract attention to increase attendance. They range from images to gifts and free admission, small plane runways, unusual attractions such as a small zoo or a monkey cage, personal performances by actors to open their movies, or music groups to play before the show. Some movers hold Sunday services, or charge the average price per car on a slow night like Wednesday or Sunday. On the night "money" during the 1950s and 1960s, the admission price was one dollar per car.
One of the largest drive-in theaters is Johnny All-Weather Drive-In in Copiague, New York. Covering over 29 hectares, it can park 2,500 vehicles. It has a full service restaurant with seating on the roof, and a trolley system to bring kids and adults to the playground and indoor theater is great for bad weather or for those who want to watch in air-conditioned comfort.
Decline
The drive-ins content shift is less of a problem than competition from home entertainment, from color television to VCRs and video rentals. In addition, the energy crisis of the 1970s, led to a sharp decline in attendance, which combined with the adoption of daylight hours (which made the event begin an hour later). This change makes it difficult for the drive-in to operate successfully. The rise in real estate interest rates in the eighties made tracts of large land increasingly expensive, and so far too valuable for businesses like drive-ins, which are often only open in the summer. Drive-in is also subject to the will of nature because bad weather often causes bad attendance or cancellation. Less than two hundred drive-ins were operating in the US and Canada in the late eighties. Since the nineties they have entered a new quasi-status with the rest of the remaining caterers for a generally nostalgic audience, with many drive-ins continuing to successfully operate in several areas, especially on the West Coast. By 2013, drive-ins covers only 1.5 percent of movie screens in the United States, with 389 theaters in operation. At industry heights, about 25 percent of national film screens are found on a drive-in.
Many drive-in movie sites remain, but are reproduced as storage or flea markets, often after housing or other higher-value uses come to areas with little or no population where the drive-in is located. The world's largest drive-in theater, the Fort Lauderdale Swap Shop, doubles as the largest daily flea market in the world. The former drive-in properties in Michigan have become industrial parks, shopping centers, indoor theaters, and even churches (as with Woodland Drive-In in Grand Rapids, MI). In Philadelphia, South City Drive In became the site of the original Spectrum in the late 1960s, with a small portion of its old property line extending into what would become a Veteran Stadium complex (now destroyed). (Today the little part, combined with the original Spectrum location, is part of Xfinity Live! Philadelphia.) Another example of a drive in the market turning into a flea is Spotlight 88 in North Sewickley Township, Beaver County, Pennsylvania, which ends business as a drive -in after the F3 tornado destroyed many properties on May 31, 1985. As a joke after a tornado hit, the owner put up a "now-show" Gone with the Wind sign. It was most likely copied from Taylor, Michigan Drive called Ecorse Drive-In. On July 16, 1980, a strange derecho storm with an average wind speed of 150 mph wiped Drive-In away and left only a "now-shows" with the letter "Now Playing Gone with the Wind". They rebuild the screen, but never recover; in 1989, it was sold and now is Kroger grocery store.
Revival
The industrial revival of the late 1990s led to the birth of a do-it-yourself "drive-in" in early 2001, which used contemporary tools such as LCD projectors and micro-radio transmitters. The first is Drive-In Liberation in Oakland, California, which seeks to reclaim under-utilized urban spaces such as empty parking lots in downtown areas. The following years have witnessed the emergence of a "guerrilla guerrilla movement", in which dedicated individual groups manage similar outdoor movie and video screenings. Performances are often held online, and participants meet at certain locations to watch a movie projected on a pillar or bridge warehouse. Content displayed on this play is often an independent or experimental film, cult film, or alternative programming. The most famous guerrilla drives include Santa Cruz Guerilla Drive-In in Santa Cruz, California, North Bay Mobile Drive-In in Novato, California, MobMov in San Francisco, California and Hollywood, and the latest Guerilla Drive-In Victoria in Victoria, British Columbia.
Faced with the closure of Hull's Drive In in Lexington, Virginia, in 1999, the nonprofit Hull's Angels was formed to raise funds, buy property and operate the theater as a non-profit business specializing in family friendly movies. Hull continues to be the only national non-profit drive-in.
As of March 2014, the number 348 drive-in has been published for the United States. In the fall of 2014, the burger network Johnny Rockets announced that it will work with USA Drive-Ins to open 200 drive-ins by 2018 serving Johnny Rocket food in the concession.
Digital conversion
The ongoing conversion of the movie distribution network into exclusive digital distribution also puts additional pressure on drive-in theaters. Most of the small movers have no finances (starting at $ 70,000 per screen) required to convert to digital projection. The lack of multiple screens with many daily impressions means that low ticket sales will make it hard for many drives to justify the cost of installing digital projection.
Converting projection boosters to digital is more complex for drive-in theaters. Projectors require a more powerful bulb due to increased screen size and light pollution. In addition, digital projection equipment may require an Internet connection, and booths should be fitted with special glass, more ventilation and more powerful air conditioning and heat in the northern climate.
With the installation of Jumbotrons or similar digital display equipment in the drive-in cinema, the limitation of the projector booth can be avoided; that is, no projector is required.
See also
- List of drive-in movies
- Outdoor cinema
References
Further reading
- "Drive-in" (2001). The Film Encyclopedia , 4th ed., Ephraim Katz (ed). HarperCollins, New York.
- Don Sanders, Susan Sanders, (October 2003) American Drive-In Movie Theater . Motorbooks International. ISBNÃ, 0-7603-1707-0
- Elizabeth McKeon, Linda Everett, Liz McKeon (December 1998). Cinema Under the Stars: American Love Affair With Drive-In Movie Theater . Cumberland House. ISBNÃ, 1-58182-002-X.
- Sanders, Don, and Susan. Memories of Drive-in Movies. Middleton: Carriage House, 2000.
- Segrave, Kerry. Drive-in Theater: History from Their Beginning in 1933 . Jefferson: McFarland and Company, Inc., 1992.
- "Drive-in Theater History page". Drive in Theater. April 20, 2007.
External links
- Honda Launches Drive-In Project for Storing Drive-In All Countries
- The BBC: "Drive-in theater refuses to fade"
- Time Magazine: "Movies starring in stars"
- San Francisco Chronicle: "Reviving the driving culture"
- "For Drive-In Cinema, Unexpected Awakening", Nancy Mullane, All Things to Consider , April 21, 2008.
- Free downloadable collection of drive-in interrupt ads
- "Starlit Screen: Preserving Places and Public at Drive-In Cinema," Robin Conner and Paul Johnson, Southern Spaces, October 10, 2008. http://southernspaces.org/2008/starlit - wood-conserve-place-and-public-drive-cinema
- Are American drives threatened with extinction will fade to black? - CNN
- The United States Drive Theater Owners Association
- Richard Kuipers' article on Australia's Drive-In theater, and his portrayal in Australian films, on the Australian screen
- Archives accessible to Drive-ins.com are more than 5000 drive-in movie theaters used to be and now
- Garden State Drive In Chronology
- DriveInMovie.com lists all drive-in movie theaters currently open in the US, Canada and Australia. This site is constantly updated with openings and closures.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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