Building A Booth

[gafftaper]

MJW you may be able to structurally design and draw it up but you really need to the help of someone familiar with the local codes and permit process. Any advice you get here is going to have a high degree of speculation because we don't live there. I suggest you get in touch with a contractor who does remodel work on large public buildings. You should be able to find one who knows all the local code and is willing to help you design it properly and give you a price quote for the job in the process.

As for your original question. Do the legwork to find out how it can be done and how much it will cost. Put together a nice looking proposal explaining why it is important along with the How and How Much information. Try to get the music teacher's support and if you can't get it go directly to the principal or whatever board is really in charge.

I have to agree that it's not a good idea to move sound in there. My new theater has sound in a great looking but fully enclosed space with only a 4'x5' window. If I can just barely hear the audio it's perfect inside the theater. If it sounds loud enough to me at the console, it's blasting the audience out. Running sound inside an enclosed booth is like running lights with a paper bag over your head.

[mjw56]

im not gonna move sound in to the booth. it was just something i was thinking about a while ago when i was still a student there and didnt know much about anything. i still don't know much about sound frankly...but don't really want too. there are so many issues i have to deal with already.

seeking the help of a local contractor is a good idea and i think i know a few who might help out.
we got approval to build the booth as an eagle scout project. they will want all sorts of references as to who is being consulted for what and their qualifications so the BSA will have their butts covered.
i guess i should be able to talk to the architect for the diocese about all this. but of course the boyscout will have to do all the talking and setting up meetings and stuff.

[gafftaper]

Sounds like you are well on your way. Be sure to stay on top of the permits and the Fire Marshall's approval. You can be in a world of pain if the Fire Marshall decides he doesn't like your work and wants to shut down the theater until he is happy.

[CBR372]

Talking about projection booths turned into lightboard booths... the college im going to has this large theatre (about 900 seats or so) and its booth used to be a projection booth... so it is lined with steel... and it has a bathroom!!! and the old reel tables are still in there... nice storage for my backpack and laptop when i'm programming cues!

[museav]

That probably goes back to the days of nitrate or nitrocellulose film. Used up until the early 1950's, nitrate film base was very inflammable and difficult to extinguish, thus areas where it was stored and worked with had to be highly fire resistant. Today, a cinema has to be certified to show nitrate films, primarily archival films, including many special precautions involving the projection booth and the projectors themselves.

This is also why I often see issues with asbestos in projections rooms, many older 'fireproofing' methods, even into the '60's, utilized asbestos so it is not unusual to find asbestos containing materials in the wall, floor or ceiling surfaces in older projection booths.

I believe that the bathroom was from the days when you had Union projectionists and manual changeovers, it was provided so the projectionist could answer nature's call without missing a changeover or any other manual operation. Of course, the risk of fire with nitrate film stock, which can spontaneously combust, also made for a good reason to have someone in the booth at all times.

[mjw56]

the school has an asbestos inspection every year and the only place it exists in on the exhaust from the backup generator way in the back of the boiler room. but because i like my lungs cancer free. i put on a mask and knocked out one of the small windows to look down the wall. found nothing but pieces of mortar.
myself and the LD (also not a student) have begun to put together a loose spec for the job so the boyscout has something to work with in building his for the job. were not assembling a book. just a mental list of material and hardware. as for the window i was thinking of getting something like this.

http://www.crlaurence.com/crlapps/sh...8&ModelID=9469

but with a full bottom rail.

we want to be able to button up the window cause the kids sometimes get a little loud. but i like that it can be opened up for tech week so the ops can hear.

any opinions on windows. whats worked, what hasnt??

[mjw56]

Well just in case anyone was wondering. The Eagle Scout Project to build a booth has been approved by the school and the students troop committee. He goes before the BSA council for final approval tomorrow.

[mstaylor]

Sounds like an excellent Eagle project. My son and nephew are both Eagle scouts.

[mjw56]

Myself and the LD are both Eagles and one of the seniors just earned his a few months ago. its nice to have a few scouts around working on things, even if they cant tie a bowline behind their backs.

[mstaylor]

My son earned his Eagle rank and his black belt at fifteen.