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I have two large wall areas in my theatre that aren't being used and I'm thinking about doing something with them. I thought of getting a painter friend to do a couple of murals; then I thought of wallpaper, something bright. Then I went back to just re-painting it the color that it is and going with that and leaving it blank. Each wall is about 18 feet long and almost 20 feet high. Any suggestions, pros and cons?

Do you have enough poster cases? After removing the video games (9) we now have a nice long wall in which to advertise upcoming attractions and get feedback on which ones people are most interested in seeing. We have started moving the cases in the back hallways which were used to display old posters (I don't care for horror posters in my small back hallway) and are now using them for current posters in the main lobby. I also have some more nice cases coming up from the other theater.

I always have a shortage of wall space because we try to work in plenty of places to sit in the lobby and then I need a visible safe storage area for Booster B Saurus kid seats. I also like to work in some real and artificial plants so that the lobby looks pleasant to people.
We need to repaint the lobby also and are trying to figure out what color to paint it but I am not very good at choosing paint colors that would warm it up. It is mostly gray with fat stripes of teal, dark blue and burgundy about 2/3rd up. There is just too much gray here. But now I am really off the subject. Sorry!

Contact the local high school(s) or college art department(s) and have the students create murals depicting the local area. This will draw attention to your theatre (along with free news coverage) and make the students feel like it is "their" theatre plus it will go a long way toward giving your theatre the reputation for being a "community" theatre. (I'm assuming the walls can be seen by your patrons.)

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Bob Allen
The Old Showman

We also have a long hallway with nothing on it. It isn't wide enough to put games in, it's not watched enough to put poster cases in (theft) or banners. We've tried to spruce it up with some vinyl stars, film reels, time marker board etc.. type stickers. But they only lasted about a month until people started picking at them. They were stuck on their good but soon they looked like crap. We've gone back to just painting it white unfortunately.

We have thought about a mural too, and contacted the high school and college, but when it comes down to it, people are going to pick at it and destroy it within a month or two and then it will look trashy. Or cost both money (that can be spent somewhere else) and time (that I have even less of)

The plain white paint washes OK and makes touch ups really easy. I almost feel like I've surrendered to the destructive people.

It's too bad.

The mural idea can still fly, in spite of potential vandalism. Just put the mural high enough so it can't easily be defaced.

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services
Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Eastman Kodak Company
Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Telephone: 585-477-5325 Cell: 585-781-4036 Fax: 585-722-7243
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Website: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

We have a long hallway and two very lovely murals at hand height and in 5 years have never been vandaled!

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Michael Hurley
Impresario

Well after reading all the posts I got on this subject I have come up with this plan. I will get together with the local high school and canvas the art students to find those who's talents I can use to draw a mural on our wall. I'm thinking of running a contest and haveing the top three entries do the job. Give them free passes while they work.

Well, papajoe, did the student murals work out? Was vandalism too much of a threat or reality? I too believe that a theatre/cinema shouldn't look like a warehouse, but should be decidedly ornamental. But how to afford something more than a whitewashed surface? It occured to me that it shouldn't cost too much more to first paint the wall a desireable color such as leaf green, and then mount pre-made lattices over the wall; they are sold at many home improvement centers, both colored or 'natural' (but 'natural' turns a dirty grey with time). The lattice not only is decorative and adds depth, but it protrudes slightly from the wall and thereby discourages anyone from writing upon the wall, and if the lattice is plastic, it will be easy to wipe off any maks found on it. If you selected a dark green you would have a nice contrast and a nice pattern that would be resistant to vandalism if you anchored the lattice well. You could even stencil-spray darker color 'leaves' upon the lighter wall by cutting leaf shapes out of sheet metal or stencil (oil) paper and using them as stencils to create a leaf pattern of smaller and larger shapes.

Up near the top of the wall you might mount some half round flower pots filled with foliage of various 'silk' greens. Buy larger pots of plastic from a garden center, saw them in half and mount them to a board, arrange the greens as you like and pour plaster of paris (from any hardware or artists' store) into the half-rounds to secure the bent metal stems of the greens. If you mount this well and high enough, it should prove vandal-resistant (vandals don't like to work hard to vandalize). All of this will give you a nice wall that is better than just paint (which is tempting for vandals to draw upon) and should not cost too much nor provide any hazard to patrons. If you want a richer backing for the lattice, consider having the wall flocked by a local painter who has the special sprayers. You may have to get a certified "fire retardant" flock to meet local codes, but if you contact the makers of Cellusuede flock (Cellusuede Products Inc., Rockford, Ill.) you should be able to locate suitable material in any of their dozens of colors. Flock lends a velvety look that will add depth to the wall, and if you choose to add rope lights or the like behind the lattice, the look will be very decorative.

If you like the idea of little lights, consider the new LEDs on strings since these never burn out (since there is nothing 'burning' in the manner of light bulbs) and can be left on for years continuously with no great power consumption. See: www.foreverbright.com (Light Emitting Diodes emit no heat, only light and have a life span measured in decades; they are solid state devices cast in tough epoxy = nothing fragile about them.)

[This message has been edited by jimor (edited June 04, 2003).]

[This message has been edited by jimor (edited June 04, 2003).]

We have an 85' hallway and we lined it with old posters that interested us and lit them with mini spot lights.



Also movie companies always send out banners, and sometimes a large wall is a good place to feature them.