Watching films Outdoors / in the Garden

monkey butler

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Hi

Had an amazing idea about 3 years ago to watch films in our garden, but never had the money to sort the project out.

Now i have a friend who's interested in the idea, and is willing to bring along his projector.

I have all the kit i need (projector, audio and media player) but what i don't have is anyhting particularly good to project onto. The side of my house is big enough, but with all the vents, windows and drainpipes i don't think it will be good enough. Anybody got any suggestions / ideas as to what material / setup i could have? At the moment i'm thining something along the lines a tarpaulin that's very pale in colour, but not highly reflective. However, i've no idea where to source such a material. At worst i'm thinking of buying white bedsheets and sewing them together.

Any help would be appreciated...

:lease:
 
For Guy Fawkes 2007 we set up an outside screen in a friend's back garden made of four 8x4 plywood sheets painted white, so it was 16' x 8'

We had 2KW per channel on the front left/right (Peavey Amp and Mackie Speakers), 1.2KW on the center (Peavey and Mackie again), 2KW through two subs (Peavey Amp on Technics Subs would you believe!), and two 650W JBL Eon powered speakers on the rear.

All this spread over about half an acre - and we played The Day After Tomorrow - I've never heard surround sound like that since!

We set up during the day with Alan Parsons Sound Check CD, got delays and levels and EQ pretty spot on. Awesome!!

Mark
 
You can buy and/or hire all sorts of different size inflatable screens, have a google. I have seen this done on a camp site, worked really well....

Cheers
 
Thanks Alpha, but I don't want something to use as a one-off, I want something that i can get out of my garden shed and erect. The wood is a good idea, but too large and cumbersome for my liking.

My latest idea is to use 2 poles, and stretch some kind of screen between them. A friend has suggested that i get 2 x parasol bases, which means i could have complete flexibility in my garden about where i place the screen. The only thing i'm now not sure is where to get some kind a large fabric / sheeting that is pale and would be sufficiently large enough. I'm thinking about something that would be 12-15 feet wide.....

We're hoping to have an outdoor film season in my back garden, each Saturday / Sunday night, weather permitting. Also looking to get my Xbox in the back garden and do some outdoor Guitar Hero World Tour and Lips. Cannot wait to get this up and running, before the rain returns.
 
im doing the exact same thing this summer, my plan is to build a 90" screen (simple wood frame with canvas or some other material stretched and stapled over) and have it attached to two large wooden poles cemented/sanded in buckets, so quite similar to your idea.

no idea how much its going to work out, but im hoping to do it really cheap. the frame will be fairly cheap, and im hoping i can find some cheapish material.
 
Yeah, although not having a projector myself (a friend will be bringing that along) i've no idea what the screen size could actually be for what i'm considering. The projector should be at least 18 feet away from the screen (potentially about 40 foot), so I've no idea what size we could get this up to.

My immediate plan is to build a screen that's about 9 foot wide.
Still no ideas about what material to use between poles....
 
blackout cloth appears to be a popular cheap material, thats what im planning on using. seems to be quite inexpensive.

if you know the projector model there might be a calculator somewhere on the internet that'll allow you to work out what sort of sizes you're going to get at various distances.
 
blackout cloth appears to be a popular cheap material, thats what im planning on using. seems to be quite inexpensive.

if you know the projector model there might be a calculator somewhere on the internet that'll allow you to work out what sort of sizes you're going to get at various distances.

Thanks Jamie

But what exactly is blackout cloth, and where can i get it?

There's technical info on my friends projector here, but it's completely over my head!
 
Black out cloth is extremely inexpensive and can be found at any fabric store. One side is usually better than the other for projecting onto. It's what I plan to use whenever I get around to it.
 
i made my screen yesterday, took about 3 hours in total, most of that being stretching the material (where i had help - the missus is an artist and has plenty of experience stretching canvas). looks fantastic. 92" diagonal. i was very pleased i managed to get the frame perfectly equal, diy and sawing wood arent my strong points.

total cost me around £15. about £9 for blackout cloth and £4 for the wood, plus a pound or so for nails and staples.

very very pleased.
 
i made my screen yesterday, took about 3 hours in total, most of that being stretching the material (where i had help - the missus is an artist and has plenty of experience stretching canvas). looks fantastic. 92" diagonal. i was very pleased i managed to get the frame perfectly equal, diy and sawing wood arent my strong points.

total cost me around £15. about £9 for blackout cloth and £4 for the wood, plus a pound or so for nails and staples.

very very pleased.

Did you get the BOC from ebay? Is your structure permanent, or are you able to disassemble it each time?
 
hi
made a screen for the garden to plug a spare PJ into my media centre with a 10m VGA, the screen is simply a £20 blackout roller blind from Argos, its 2m wide and is screwed onto a spare piece of architrave i had in the garrage, then a couple of plastic brackets let me hang it on 2 screws tha are left screwed in the side of the house, then i just roll it down over the outside of the house and project away.... lovely..
 
Did you get the BOC from ebay? Is your structure permanent, or are you able to disassemble it each time?

i got it from john lewis, was the only place local to me that had any in (the independent material shops had all sold out). iirc the width they sell it in was 137cm which was plenty wide enough for my 92" diagonal 16:9 screen.

i made a wooden frame with legs and stretched the material over so its a permanent structure, however we take it down and store it in a shed at normal times (wrapped in a sheet and tarp). i was thinking of hinging the frame so that it could fold in half for easier storage but im not sure whether this would affect the screen too much.

i have to say the image looks excellent, colours look pretty good with the boc and i cant see me wanting to use anything else should i make one again in the future.

ill be taking some pics of it in use this weekend so ill post them up if i remember
 
i got it from john lewis, was the only place local to me that had any in (the independent material shops had all sold out). iirc the width they sell it in was 137cm which was plenty wide enough for my 92" diagonal 16:9 screen.

i made a wooden frame with legs and stretched the material over so its a permanent structure, however we take it down and store it in a shed at normal times (wrapped in a sheet and tarp). i was thinking of hinging the frame so that it could fold in half for easier storage but im not sure whether this would affect the screen too much.

i have to say the image looks excellent, colours look pretty good with the boc and i cant see me wanting to use anything else should i make one again in the future.

ill be taking some pics of it in use this weekend so ill post them up if i remember

Any pictures Jamie???
 

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