Planning a backyard movie night or outdoor movie party is like planning any other event.  Specifically, you need to let your guests know when to arrive and give them an approximation of how longs things will last.

Considering the sun needs to go down for the projector to do its thing, it's easy to say the event will begin "after dark."  This is obvious but a bit vague and lacks detail.  So here are some steps to plan a timeline for your next backyard movie party.

Start with the earliest you can begin quality projection

Considering your viewing area needs to be dark for proper projection, use "end civil twilight" as the earliest time you can start showing quality video on your outdoor movie screen.  "Sunset" is a more common term, but is generally too bright of a time to get a good image on the screen.  "End civil twilight" is based on the sun's position below the horizon from your location.  Do a web search for "compute end civil twilight" for a list of websites that will give you the time (down to the minute) based on your city/state or geo coordinates.  You can round to the nearest quarter hour, half hour, or hour depending on your situation.  If you have a really powerful projector and/or shade from surrounding buildings or trees then you can probably start a little earlier.  As always, later is darker and darker is better, so later is better.

In this example, we'll say end civil twilight is 7:26 PM and use 7:30 PM as the time the movie will start.

Factor in arrival of guests and time form them to get situated

After you've established your start time for your backyard movie party you should subtract about an hour or more to give your guests time to arrive, socialize, set up seating, and get comfortable.  As your guests arrive they will most likely socialize and take-in the work you've put in to your viewing area.  They will also want to stock up on snacks from your refreshment stand.  Lastly, they will want to stake out a place to set up their chairs or blankets to watch the movie.  Your viewing area may or may not already have seating, and the age/personality of guests will both affect the time needed.

In this example, we'll give our guests an hour and a half to arrive and get seated so we'll say 6:00 PM is the time guests should arrive.

Outdoor movie equipment setup

It's obviously best to have all the outdoor movie equipment set up before guests arrive.  It not only looks bad setting up equipment and running cables as guests are filing in, but it can also be unsafe.  Therefore, you should allow for ample setup and configuration time to get all equipment working properly and ready to go for your designated start time.  If you are hiring an outdoor movie screen company, ask how long it takes them to set up and make sure they know the earliest/latest they can arrive.  If you are doing this all yourself with a personal system, be sure you are comfortable with the set up process.

In this example, we'll say setup takes an hour and a half so we'll be safe and start hauling in equipment about two hours before the first guests arrive which is 4:00 PM as the beginning of our setup.

Movie lengths and "the end of the party"

So our invitations say, "Arrive at 6:00 PM.  The movie will begin at 7:30 PM," and we as hosts will ensure equipment setup begins around 4:00 PM.  It is fairly common knowledge that the average movie runs about one and a half hours to two hours, and depending on your guests you may want to factor in the length of the movie so they have an idea of how long things will last.  For younger crowds, try to get a movie on the shorter side so the kiddies aren't up too late (unless you are a cool parent).  If you're running a double feature, let your guests know that things could go past midnight. It's acceptable to leave early, but guests usually want to stay until the movie is over.  Just keep playing something on the screen until all guests file out or the police arrive.

Don't be afraid to adjust and play it by ear

These times are general suggestions and may or may not work for your specific event.  In fact, by nature of most outdoor movie parties, schedules are mere suggestions so don't be afraid to pad or adjust as the event requires.  This may call for starting a movie a few minutes late if guests are still arriving or not yet ready to watch the main feature.  It may also call for killing a movie early because guests need to leave. Outdoor movie parties aren't always about optimum viewing experiences, but more the social aspect of viewing movies with friends, family, and neighbors.  Let's not forget the novelty of viewing a movie outside on a large screen.  Every setback and success makes your event unique.  Since you will most likely be your harshest critic, remember to sit back and enjoy things yourself.  You deserve it!

Other Tips

• Cartoons are a great way to control time down to half hour segments. This way the event doesn't have to run too late and you can stop things at the end of a cartoon episode before the entire collection is played.
• Do a practice run.  At least one night before hand, set up your equipment if you don't contract with an outdoor movie screen rental company. This way you can work out any bugs and minimize surprises.
• Pad your start time.  Fifteen minutes to a half hour is a good.  Brides do it for weddings.  Nothing says you can't too.
• If you combo "fun in the sun" with "movies under the stars" ask your outdoor movie screen rental company to act as DJ and play music for your guests.  If for some reason the company can't arrive as early as you want, try to arrange for a staging area where they can setup without interfering with the guests' good times.
• Don't forget to enjoy the party!