Show/Tell us about your Movie Get-togethers!

[FREYMAX 3D]

OK, I wanted to start something a little different in the Blu-ray.com forum, and what better place than right here in the Home Theater section... lets see how it goes...

So we've all seen photos of lots of nice home theaters in the Community pages, and also in member's Home Theater Galleries in this section of the forum; There are many super-nice dedicated projection theaters with 6, 8 10, 12 seats and huge screens, and then there are also many very conservative living room theaters with small flat-panel displays and perhaps just a sofa and loveseat group for seating... And there are all kinds and sizes of home theater setups in-between. Yes, all these gallery photos posted up in the forum are all well and good, but there seems to be one thing glaringly omitted in pretty much every one of these photos - MOVIEGOERS!

I thought it would be a great idea to start a thread where members could post up some photos of their actual movie parties, with either just a couple or a crowd of guests in attendance. Oh come on now, you do fill all those seats in your theater or living room every once in a while, don't you?? You can't possibly sit in a big empty HT room and watch private showings all by your lonesome every single time you put in a movie, can you?? That's certainly not for me - I love to host large movie parties in my theater, inviting small crowds of friends and relatives and co-workers and the occasional hobo into my theater to gawk, absorb, and enjoy all the fruits of my labor...

OK, so some of you say you already do host movie showings, TV sports parties, audio listening sessions, or the like in your home theater now and then - but did you ever think to take any photos of all the fun you are having, while you're having it? Well, if you haven't - doesn't it seem like a good idea, being able to embarrass your friends a little by posting photos of them somewhere else on the web other than on Facebook or Youtube??!

What I'd like to see in this thread is for members to post up and tell everyone about the HT get-together they are planning to host, what you will be watching, how many guests you're inviting, and any other pertinent details, along with perhaps one or two pics of what your theater room looks like pre-devastation... and then when its all over, come back and post up a nice little recap of the proceedings, along with some photos of your event - so we can all get a feel for the fun and excitement you and your guests experienced, and make comments on your endeavors! Let's see a few photos with some activity happening in your theater for a change, instead of us always looking at photos of row upon row of empty theater chairs!

Perhaps this thread will tweak some interest with other members to open up their home theaters to more frequent gatherings of friends and family than they now have, and get some real use out of their investments...

SO... just a couple of rules or guidelines:

No spoilers on the photos - I want to see them posted openly here in all their glory for everyone to see!

Try to keep photos a manageable size, 800x600 or smaller, preferably.

Nothing wild, rowdy or overly embarrassing - don't want this thread to become full of circus or zoo pictures, if you know what I mean...

Anything else I think of, I will update in this first thread.

Now, with all those formalities out of the way, I'll start off the first posting with the latest goings on in the FREYMAX 3D theater...

[FREYMAX 3D]

My dedicated projection theater room is located in the basement of my home, and encompasses pretty much the entire finished area. The room is L-shaped, and is about 25 feet deep on the theater side of the room, and about 32 feet deep on the snack bar side. I just recently finished reconstruction of the entire theater room, after it flooded during Tropical Storm Lee back in September 2011. It is not at all a luxury theater room like some of those I see in the Community pages; I designed and constructed the room and most of its furnishings myself, over the last 5 years - so it definitely has a do-it-yourself feel to the room. But, at least it is a large enough room so I can have permanent seating for 7 guests - and there is enough space to seat up to 10 people with a few extra, strategically placed chairs...



Last night I hosted one of my regularly-scheduled Monthly Movie Nights, which are always held on the first Thursday and Saturday of each month. In the week preceding each Movie Nights, friends and family will check the Frey Theater website at http://freytheater.com to see what upcoming movie will be playing. I try to update the movie information each month, at least a week or two out, but I will admit it doesn't always get done in a timely fashion, lol...

So last night's Monthly Movie showing was 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Adventure' in 3D, and there was 7 of us in attendance. I had reservations for 11 people, but two were no-shows due to illness, and another two change their night to Saturday at the last minute. So now I have 10 people scheduled for Saturday nights showing - a full house! I only own 9 pair of shutter glasses for my Epson 5010 3D projector, but a friend of mine who lives just a few blocks away and attended last night's showing owns the same projector, so I had him bring a few extra pairs of glasses along with him, just in case...

So I only took a few photos last night during the intermission between discs 1 & 2... Here's two pics I took in the snack bar area, in the rear part of the theater room...






And here is an older photo of some of my guests enjoying John Carter 3D, during the movie itself!



OK - So lets see what photos some of the rest of you have - entertain us!!

[Johnny Vinyl]

Well, I think it's a wonderful idea and I hope it takes off. If people don't want their pic taken or posted publicly they won't and shouldn't be posted, but I think you know that anyway, so this is a non-issue.

As you know, there are 4 of us from here who have Audio GTG's several times a year and we usually post pics, because we want to and because we've been asked to do so by other members. People love seeing those types of pics and read about the events of that day. In fact, we're having another GTG at my place in a few weeks.

Good luck with your thread FREYMAX3D and folks....lets get them pictures up!

[FREYMAX 3D]

Thanks, JV!

Anyway, tonight I'll be hosting my 2nd of two Monthly Movie Night showings of 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Adventure' in 3D, and I am expecting 10 people tonight - so I'll definitely have to take a few pics with the large crowd wearin' shutter glasses, lol...

Any one else have even some past photos of one of your get-togethers, post them up and tell us about it!

[lpnaz480]

i have no pics to show but thats because i dont invite people over

[bigshot]

I do monthly screenings for a non-profit arts group I am on the Board of Directors of. The group is called Animation Creative League. You can find us on Facebook. We usually have around 15 people, but we've had as many as 30 packed in on folding chairs. Sometimes we have guest speakers... the Disney animator Eric Goldberg came and gave us a lecture and screening on Warner Bros cartoons and George Clayton Johnson one of the writers on Star Trek and Twilight Zone gave us a talk on screenwriting. This month we're screening the silent feature, Wings.





You can see pictures of my screening room in my gallery...
https://www.blu-ray.com/community/ga...member=bigshot

[FREYMAX 3D]

Originally Posted by bigshot

I do monthly screenings for a non-profit arts group I am on the Board of Directors of. The group is called Animation Creative League. You can find us on Facebook. We usually have around 15 people, but we've had as many as 30 packed in on folding chairs. Sometimes we have guest speakers... the Disney animator Eric Goldberg came and gave us a lecture and screening on Warner Bros cartoons and George Clayton Johnson one of the writers on Star Trek and Twilight Zone gave us a talk on screenwriting. This month we're screening the silent feature, Wings.

You can see pictures of my screening room in my gallery...
https://www.blu-ray.com/community/ga...member=bigshot

Very nice room, Bigshot - and quite the crowd of peoples! Now we're getting somewhere! Keep the photos coming!

[bigshot]

thanks! We have a lot of fun in it.

[i007spectre]

Great idea Frey. Of course my theater only has one seat so I Have nothing to contribute.

[ChuckT43]

I like the idea of us sharing our enjoyment of the hobby we love.

[romac]

I love threads like this and look forward to seeing more, gets me excited for the day I can have a true ht setup!

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2

[FREYMAX 3D]

Originally Posted by i007spectre

Great idea Frey. Of course my theater only has one seat so I Have nothing to contribute.

You need to work on that.

Originally Posted by ChuckT43

I like the idea of us sharing our enjoyment of the hobby we love.

This is really the only reason I decided to setup a theater room in my house - it is strictly for entertaining guests, and not for myself. I never really was much of a movie fan at all - even long before there ever were such things as a Home Theater, I would seldom go see more than one, maybe two movies a year in a commercial theater - and usually then only the biggest blockbuster movies ever interested me.

Even now, with this entire theater room setup I have, I almost never sit down and watch a movie by myself - I need to be showing the movie to at least one guest, or else my theater room just sits there unused. I have no interest in watching a movie by myself; I get much less enjoyment from it than when guests are watching with me. This is the main reason why more than half of the 600 Blu-rays in my collection are still wrapped in plastic and have never been opened or viewed - someone has to tell me they want to watch a certain movie in order for me to unwrap it...

I guess this hobby for me is more the actual work constructing and updating the theater room and equipment, and then collecting and showing Blu-ray movies - but not necessarily watching them myself... is that weird?

Originally Posted by romac

I love threads like this and look forward to seeing more, gets me excited for the day I can have a true ht setup!

And THIS is exactly the reason I thought a thread like this would be interesting to others here on the forum! Enjoy the thread as it develops, Romac!

[roar]

Originally Posted by FREYMAX 3D

...
I guess this hobby for me is more the actual work constructing and updating the theater room and equipment, and then collecting and showing Blu-ray movies - but not necessarily watching them myself... is that weird? ...

I don't find it weird... I'd guess you're in the minority, but I don't think it is weird.

My theatre was/is more about the journey than the end product but I certainly watch a lot of movies in it by myself or just with my wife. Next would be viewings with the kids and after that a distant 3rd would be movies with extended family/friends.

I imagine I wouldn't need two hands to count the number of times I've watched a movie with someone other than my wife and kids over the last 5+ years of having a dedicated room. My room doesn't comfortably accomodate much more than 4, sure I've packed a dozen in before to watch a sporting event but not everyone was comfortable.

I like the idea of this thread, but I'm afraid I won't have much to contribute either.

[bigshot]

If you have seats that don't have butts in them, you're probably showing the wrong movie. Either that or you don't have any friends.

[FREYMAX 3D]

Originally Posted by bigshot

If you have seats that don't have butts in them, you're showing the wrong movie.

My seats have butt-shakers in them - does that count?

One of my guests last night was visiting the Frey Theater for the first time, and I made sure she got a seat on the front row sofa where the shakers are installed... I asked her about the extra sensory stimulation after the movie was over, and she said "oh my god! It made it feel like I was really there in the movie, that was so awesome!"

Mission accomplished.

[bigshot]

was the movie "Bottoms Up" starring Paris Hilton?

[FREYMAX 3D]

Originally Posted by bigshot

was the movie "Bottoms Up" starring Paris Hilton?

Lol, no - it was The Hobbit: An Unexpected Sensation...

[bigshot]

I don't think I'd want a hobbit to shake my seat

[i007spectre]

Originally Posted by FREYMAX 3D

You need to work on that.

Actually I prefer watching movies at home all by myself. No distractions.