Airscreen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An Airscreen is a movie screen that is connected to an inflatable frame. Airscreens come in many different sizes from 9x5 feet to over 100 feet wide. The purpose of the airscreen is to allow quick and easy set up of an open air cinema without the weight, manpower and permits related to using rigid outdoor movie screen structures.

Captured Air vs Constant Air Airscreens have two main types; Captured air and Constant air. Captured airscreens inflate like a water toy or an Air mattress. Once they are inflated the air is contained within the frame. Most captured airscreens can hold their air for several hours, though some companies claim they can stay inflated for much longer.

Constant air airscreens have a blower that inflates the frame, and continues to push air pressure into it. The blower stays on at all times. Constant air airscreens are similar to tough inflatable kid jumpers and are generally faster to setup, break down and are made of lighter weight material than captured airscreens.

PVC construction: Captured airscreens generally are made of a heavier PVC material due to the need to "weld" the seams together by melting the heavy PVC's thick coating of plastic. Constant airscreens can be made of a lighter PVC material which allows for easier transport, smaller storage, and faster inflation.

Inflation: Captured air screens usually have a small air intake valve and use a high rpm blower to inflate the screen. It is a hands on experience which takes a couple minutes to inflate. Deflation lasts equally as long or longer, due to the small intake valve. Constant airscreens use higher CFM (cubic feet of air per minute) fans which allows for faster inflation. Complete deflation of a constant airscreen is done in a matter of seconds, using wide zipperd hatches.

Projection Surfaces The projection surface of an airscreen comes in a variety of materials. Some airscreens use traditional movie screen vinyl. Others have fabric screens like spandex or even cheaper plastic surfaces. Projection surfaces are attached by bungees, Velcor straps or zippers.

History The airscreen was developed by moviescreens GmbH in Germany. It was soon brought to the USA and has continued to evolve and improve.

Uses Airscreens are used at large open air cinema events like film festivals, city movie nights, and backdrops to concerts. They are also used at smaller events at swimming pools, beaches and backyards.

   * Outdoor-Movies
   * The AIRSCREEN Company - The Original 
   * moviescreens
   * Harkness Hall Ltd.
   * Biggair
   * Open Air Cinema Brand Screens