Inflation station: Vision Experience Inc. sees the big picture in development and marketing of blow-up screens.

MICHAEL Vosse was the king of the DJ circuit in 2001, routinely spinning and mixing at parties for celebrities such as JLo and Snoop Dogg.

But as the disc jockey business boomed, Vosse was faced with competitors willing to work for practically nothing.

"I got tired of having clients saying to me, 'I have a cousin who just became a DJ and he's willing to do it for 50 bucks,'" said Vosse.

Humble circumstances, for sure, but out of them emerged the Vision Experience Inc.

Tapping into his DJ as well as a film school background, Vosse developed a portable, inflatable screen that can show movies and videos but also integrate live cameras and mix layers of images.

Vision Experience, a division of Vosse's still existing DJ company Dolphin Entertainment, is taking on far larger screen manufacturers with models he claims cost and weigh a fraction of models on the market.

For example, a German company named AirScreen Inc. makes one outdoor inflatable screen that weighs about 900 pounds, while other competitors make portable sound and projection systems that run as high as $60,000.

In contrast, Vision Experience screens cost at most $12,000 for the 20-foot-tall model--which can be rolled up into the size of a sleeping bag--and as little as $5,999 for the 10-foot model that can be wrapped up into a package the size of a loaf of bread.

Also included in the package are a frame, projector, 5.1 Dolby SurroundSound System, DVD players, mixer, microphone and the ropes, stakes and mallet to set it all up.

Vosse's five-year-old company has made some serious inroads into the industry. He's had his Screens used by the Sundance Film Festival, the Coachella Valley Music Festival, the William Morris Agency, Jennifer Lopez and Los Angeles Lakers, as well as numerous private citizens. He reports revenues exceeded $1 million last year and are growing.

Tom Kearney, who runs Pinch Hit Productions, bought a 20-foot screen to use for the Hermosa Beach Film Festival. Kearney inflated the screen at the Seaside Lagoon in Redondo Beach and showed a film as a precursor to the beach community's annual boat parade, when the screen also will be employed.

"We're in the boat parade and we're putting a camera on a boat and screening it on the big screen," Kearney said. "We'll have a Christmas bluegrass band, carolers, Santa on a sled, hot chocolate and popcorn. The Mayor will be out there."

Kearney said future plans will include beach screenings, including a showing of "American Graffiti" in front of Ruby's Drive-In restaurant.

Technical know-how

Of course, building the screens was no small feat for Vosse, who has no particular expertise in the field. And there was the matter of money. Over two years, Vosse put about $200,000 into the research and development.

"What I basically did was take all the money I made in the DJ business and everything I'd saved over those two years and plowed it into this company," he said.

Vosse said he analyzed more than 100 different fabrics and plastics in his search for a screen. He had certain needs, including a fabric that would be 100 percent wrinkle free, machine washable and one that can trap and project light as well as allow wind to sail through.

He settled on a fabric that he calls VersaStretch, but closely guards its composition. After assembling a full stock of VersaStretch, he took the material to a Los Angeles sewing firm called Sew What Inc. to make the screens under contract.

Within three months, he said, his start-up had earned more for him than he had ever made before, though Vosse hardly has worried industry heavyweight AirScreen, a Muenster, Germany company with a worldwide sales network.

"You can go for a Honda or you can go for a Mercedes--that's what we strive for," said Shane Sprewell, director of operations for AirScreen, which operates on an international level with buyers of film screens all over the world.

Sprewell added, though, that there is room for other players in the industry given a growing demand for outdoor screens.

"The drive-in was very popular in its day," Sprewell said. "As the drive-ins have subsided, these outdoor movie events have come back around. You have more people wanting to share that experience with their children."

Indeed, Vosse believes the development of digital high definition video will encourage more people to invest in high quality outdoor screens.

But Vosse is also counting on growth from his entire Vision Experience package, which allows users to incorporate abstract imagery, landscapes and live cameras into a new visual art form and service called Vision Mixing. Vosse's company has put on live vision mixing and video installations and projections for various art and entertainment events.

Vosse also displays his product at conventions and said he got a good response at November's International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions in Atlanta, which drew 22,000 attendees.

But his company doesn't have everyone convinced that it's necessary to shell out thousands to screen films outdoors even in a high definition world.

Filmmaker Rick Benavides screens films every Saturday night in his Pasadena backyard, using a white sheet plastered on the side of his house.

"It's the cheapest way I know how to screen these films," Benavides said. "Whatever you're playing it on doesn't really matter. If the movie sucks, it's not really worth the $6,000 screen. I put up the bed sheet."

Vision Experience Inc.

Year Founded: 2001

Core Business: Creating and manufacturing inflatable outdoor movie screens

Employees 2005: 6

Employees 2006: 6

Goal: To place the product in as many festivals and conferences as possible

Driving Force: A large demand for outdoor screens given the explosion of high-definition home theater 

BY DAN COX Staff Reporter