Before i start, i know some of these comments may be a bit late but since i wasn’t able to attend the EPM i couldn’t air my views at the time. Also the reason i’m posting on here instead of emailing exec is that i hope other people will comment whether it be for or against what i’m saying.
Looking at the current schedule for next term on the website there seem to be a lot of old films (around 20% depending on how you work it out). I’ve heard that now is quite a slow time for films but there must be more out there worthy of showing even if they may not pull huge audiences. I understand the bond week in this context, it’s a good thing that should hopefully draw quite a lot of people and be good for the society as a whole. I’m more concerned about showing shawshank on a double and having kill bill 1/2, kill bill could work really well as a double feature on a friday and would free up a slot for another film. Also, i know the dark night did really well this term but is there really any need to show it again, if we’re going by those rules then why not show pulp fiction again, if we can get enough films that people will come see again then there’ll be no need to even make new schedules.
If we’re really worried about not having enough films then we could always pull burn before reading and tropic thunder from the allnighter (i heard they were planned) which could possibly fill doubles and then maybe have a themed allnighter again, that worked quite well previously. I also don’t see the point of showing films at midnight for the sake of it, in the case of old films like the ring then if we don’t think it will do well at midnight then don’t show it (although the ring sounds like a good choice), alternatively if we expect the film to do really well and have slots going spare then why not move it to a double.
A final thing i’ve been concerned about for a couple of terms now is that we basically seem to have a foreign film ‘quota’ which we must fill. There are lots of foreign films out there which we must be missing and should be able to pull people on their own merit, not just because they’re ‘foreign’. Also if we’re really talking about having a foreign film quota then i wouldn’t say that older mainstream films like pans labyrinth count, why not risk something a little more alternative?
Anyway, i think i’ve ranted on enough for now, there were probably more things when i started but hopefully this will be enough to stir up debate and maybe get the schedules fresh again. I really think that we’re too concerned about the money we take at the moment and since we’re in the best financial position we’ve been in for a long time then i don’t see why we can’t take some risks.
Well I think you can all guess which film I’m happiest about being on! I’m just amazed I didn’t have to do bribery to get High School Musical 3 on! It does seem a tad bizarre that it’s on the Bond Week though. Wouldn’t Pineapple Express fit better that week? But mostly YAY for HSM3!!!
I really agree with what Martin said on foreign films.
I’ve been trying to say something like that for a long time.
You know, the foreign films that got a release here can’t be that bad.
Having looked at the schedule it does seem that things could have been arranged better.
not that I am sticking my oar in but, Having Shawshank on double seems a bit odd, it could be better to have it mid week, because it will attract a specific audience rather than the more mainstream films.
Also having kill bill as a double bill rather than 2 separate showings would seem to be the more logical thing to do as it could be made into more of an event that way, possibly with discounted tickets to increase attendance. Such as at the Allnighter.
The issue of foreign films is always tough and that is something that needs to be discussed at length as this has more to do with the identity of the Cinema and the student body. This could be tackled in part by strengthening links with other societies, I remember at the start of term 2 shows which did not get an audience because it was in association with one of the other societies can’t remember which but if these events can be organised in partnership, this could be successful, if other societies ask us to show a specific film it could be more likely to be well attended.
I’m afraid it’s a bit late to making schedule changes as the reviews are already being assigned and, to be honest, we’re already running to a horribly tight publicity deadline.
To respond though to some of your points.
There really weren’t many other good new films out. I agree that there are quite a few classic films on there but it was difficult to see what was worth putting on instead.
The Dark Knight did a fair bit better than Pulp Fiction as it sold out 3 times and its almost certain that there were people who just didn’t get to see it even though they wanted to. I really can’t see why won’t do at least fairly well on a single next term.
There isn’t really a foreign film quota. All that happens is that, after putting the good foreign films on, we realise we still have barely any so try to put on the next best ones which have a hope of getting people to come to them. There is, after all, little point in showing films that get fewer than ten people. Our worst foreign films are already doing that badly so I really don’t see what else we can do. There might be better foreign films out there but we’re already trying our best to choose them…
