[ Home - Latest News - Films - Join - Suggestions - Links - ]

So, what can I expect from the theatre...

About our theatre

We have a large 8.5m wide screen, full-sized 35mm (and 16mm) projection equipment, a top-class Dolby Digital sound system, all of which come together to providing our members with a professional presentation all around. Also, our theatre is fairly large (for a movie theatre) with a capacity of 377 people.

Atmosphere

Many members agree that the movie-going experience at the Film Group is unlike any at a conventional theatre. Film Group audiences aren't afraid to jump at the scary bits, laugh at the funny bits, sigh at the corny bits, and really enjoy the film. This only adds to the enjoyment of the film. Films seen at commercial cinemas and then again at the Film Group gain so much from the experience.

Seating

The seats at the theatre are primarily designed for lectures so they aren't the tall back, cushy seats that you will find at your local big chain cinema. That said, they are still fine to sit on while watching a movie or two, and if you would like to bring your own pillows etc. then feel free to do so. Of course, hammocks may not be permitted!

Heating

The temperature in the theatre is controlled through an automated system operating throughout the University. We have the facilities to turn the air conditioning or heating on and off, but as you can imagine, it does take a bit of time to heat or cool a large theatre. If the temperature isn't right then let us know and we will see what we can do. And remember, when you come out of the films it is usually pretty late at night so you should always bring a jacket anyway - particular in winter time!

Picture

Our screen is 8.5m wide, which is comparable with most professional cinema screens in Canberra.

There are two film gauges screened at the Coombs Theatre: 35mm and 16mm. We endeavour to screen all film titles in 35mm, because this provides the vastly superior presentation, but sometimes a film is only available in 16mm. We can show all 35mm picture formats at Coombs, and these are Academy Standard (the shape of a television screen and not very common these days (ratio 1.33:1)), Widescreen (ratio 1.85:1), and CinemaScope, which is the long rectangular shape that fills our screen completely (ratio 2.35:1). It is up to the producers of a film to decide which format they shoot it in.

The theatre also has a large video projector, DVD player, and a Hi-Fi stereo VCR which is connected to the cinema sound system. This allows us to screen DVDs and videos, however, the Film Group does not screen from these mediums as we don't consider the quality to be sufficient for our members.

Dolby Digital Sound

Most feature film prints these days include one or more digital sound tracks. One of these systems is Dolby Digital, which has 6 discrete audio tracks right there on the film, adjacent to the picture. These 6 channels are left, centre and right (the corresponding speakers are located behind the screen), left surround, right surround (on the walls of the theatre), and a sub-woofer channel (which provides the low bass rumbling). There are no matrixing or other techniques used to "fake"; the surrounds or other channels. All channels (including the sub-woofer) are completely independent and not derived from any other channels.

Apart from having the 6 channels that give the sound direction in the theatre, the other huge advantage of digital sound is the crisp, clear audio it provides, and with a big dynamic range.

Canteen

Just like any good cinema we have a canteen that operates at each of our screenings - except our canteen is a lot cheaper than you'll find at commercial cinemas! The canteen is run by Rotary Woden Daybreak, with the assistance of Rotaract with the money raised going towards charitable causes.

The canteen offers a range of chips, chocolates, healthy alternatives, and hot and cold drinks. And if you are a bit hungrier than that, they also serve hotdogs (double screenings only), pies and pasties for a makeshift dinner. As the canteen is not run by the Film Group if you have any thing you would like to raise then we encourage you to go directly to the canteen operators.

But where there are food and drinks there's usually rubbish, so please put your rubbish in the bins provided both inside and outside the theatre. Committee members take on the responsibility to clean the theatre after each screening and it makes life so much easier if you throw your own rubbish away!

[ Home - Latest News - Films - Join - Suggestions - Links - ]