thank you both so very much i will be taking all this info with me tonight to our pto meeting....got approval from our techs in school for use of their equip. they are looking into a sound system and other thing in support of our family movie night. will let you know how it goes need all info we can get and thank you both for all your help........great info

pzettler has great advice - done a few movie nights, maybe? If your school does not have the proper equipment, you might be able to borrow from a local business. Think of professionals who do presentations alot like consultants or architects. There might be a contact in your own parent community. The type of projector we've used is called a datashow (I think that's the brand name).

One more tip to add...we created a huge screen out of 10 yards of inexpensive fabric, sewn together and then stapled to a 2x4. The custodian secured it to the rigging on our stage. It was inexpensive, reusable, and made the experience feel more like a movie house.

Can you darken the room enough? The streetlight outside the gym windows may not be one you can turn off.

1) Large Screen
2) Brightest projector (most lumens) you can get your hands on.(usually a school will have one, much like what businesses use in meetings). The projector is called a presenter in our school.
3) Computer or DVD player
4) Amplifier (sound system in gym may or may not work)
5) Speakers (sound system in gym may or may not work)
6) Extension cord to plug in projector into AC
7) Extension cord to plug in amplifier into AC
8) Cable to connect Computer or DVD player to projector
9) Cable(s) to connect computer or DVD player to amplifier. Adjust volume of computer down to produce clearest sound, and let amplifier make it louder.
10) Cables to connect amplifier to speakers.

I recommend staying away from counting on putting a microphone close to a small computer speaker.

Borrow the same equipment twice. Once for a trial run to make sure you can both see the picture and hear the sound, and once for the performance. Do it at the same time of day for best results.

Talk to the gym teacher about whether you’ll be securing the cords to avoid a trip hazard. You may not be allowed to tape the cords down.

Make sure sound can be made louder, because once the room fills, bodies dampen sound.

Consult with the technology teacher in your school.

we are currently in the process of planning a Family movie night in our school. we plan on holding it in our gym. trying to find out what kind of video projection system did others use that might be workable for us. we are a small community and have very minimul funds available to us. this community is in dier help of making alot of changes and we could use some help.so any help anyone can give us would be highly appreciated. thank you