My pre show usually runs about 10 to 15 minutes. I have been known to do a few that last 20 minutes, but only if some of the pre show material is personalized to fit a specific audience. All my pre shows begin right at dusk, several minutes before optimal projection time.
Not only does a pre show help to settle the audience, but it also adds a lot to the old fashion drive-in movie atmosphere.
A site called Drive-In Exchange, Ltd. received positive reviews concerning the quality of their intermission DVDs. They have many from which to pick.
• Custom Snack Bar Ads
Early into the third season, I ordered the DVD Drive-In Discs Collection from Amazon. (I brought a used set. No problems so far.) Among other things, they contain old intermission clips and concession ads. Although a number of them don't work in my specific situation (For example, our little theater doesn't serve sloppy joes.), a good number of them do. They're a real hoot to watch as well, regardless of how closely they parallel your own backyard theater. The announcer's voice, the scratches and tint of the "film" and the goofy overacting brought back a lot of memories. During the following off season, I decided to make custom ads. I tried to retain the audio from the old clips as much as possible, especially the announcer's great sounding voice overs.
For the following pre-show clips, I imported one of the old Drive-In movie ads into iMovie and REMOVED the VIDEO. Then I used my iPhone to capture the scenes I need. The iPhone video was imported into iMovie and the AUDIO was REMOVED. Finally, I put the old audio from the original ad together with the new video. The original ad is on the left. The remake is on the right.
If it's necessary to eliminate extraneous items in the background, shoot your movie in front of a black or white tablecloth or neutral colored sheet.
This was our first ad. It's pretty much a direct copy.
This ad is a spoof of the original.
This one required no actors.
And this one gave me a chance to show off my 3-month-old granddaughter.
Along with slides promoting the goodies available at the snack bar, movie theaters often screen local business ads before the movie. The following clip introduces real jobs or businesses that our friends sitting in the audience actually have (one is my husband's). These, of course, are meant to be humorous, not serious.
Encouraged by what I'd seen others do, I made a few PowerPoint movies like the ones below for a little pre-show and/or intermission entertainment. I've made a few for adults, but the majority are for children. I've either imported powerPoint slides into FotoMagico or imported a PowerPoint movie into iMovie (free with a Macintosh computer) and added sound.
The idea for the format of this Kids' Quiz came from
somewhere, but for the life of me, I can't remember where.
Everyone's encouraged to shout out the answers.
This is one for the adults in the audience.
Glow Stick Multiple Choice Quizzes
In Sept. 2011, I attended a performance at the Hollywood Bowl. Throughout the performance, there were trivia questions projected on the screen, each accompanied by three possible correct answers. Audience members were given three colored glow sticks and were asked to indicate their answers by holding up one of the colored sticks.
Of course, the effect in one's backyard isn't the same as seeing 17,000 glow sticks at the Hollywood Bowl, but the birthday party guests still had fun trying to wave their Answer Glow Sticks to the beat of the music.
There's not much going on in the video, but there's a lot of movement in the audience. Not surprisingly, the glow sticks magically turned into conducting batons and microphones.
And here's another.
I use this template to create Jeopardy games. You'll need this sound .wav saved in the same folder to make it work properly. (Sorry, I don't know how to embed sound.) ALWAYS make a copy of the template to work on.
I don't use the answer-with-a-question format. Slows things down too much.
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