Thick Description 1:

My experience of the arthouse cinema in Bristol known as ‘Watershed’ was filled with delight over the alternative screenings of many independent films and the added luxury that comes with it. The location of the Watershed is placed by the harbour which is centered around Bristol’s creative hub for entertainment, including the hippodrome that attracts a varied audience, ranging from students to middle aged people. As well, its location is perfect for an afternoon outing because of the amount of restaurants available in the near-by area. The entrance of the Watershed has large windows that offer a great amount of natural light, whilst the ceiling just above the entrance has fairy lights. Inside the Watershed, the bright lights and bold colours create a vibrant and positive atmosphere that welcomes any customers into taking a look around the venue. It also has a board with a selection of the chosen films that are being screened that day which any cinema-goers can look into by reading the brochures available that informs you about the film and how it was produced. 

Heading upstairs there’s a social area with loads of tables and chairs that create an opportunity for people to sit down, relax and talk about the film they have just watched, thus making it more of an experience than ‘just going to the cinema’. Furthermore, there’s a cafe that encourages people to rewind and enjoy the scenic view of Bristol’s harbour. As well as a cafe, there’s a bar where you can buy alcoholic drinks which you can take with you to the screening, therefore providing a different experience of watching a film at the cinema, as opposed to a traditional cinema where they only serve soft/hot drinks. This type of environment created in the Watershed works hand in hand for the business as customers feel more obliged to spend a longer time in the venue and either get a little something to eat or have coffee. Furthermore, the brick layout and plant designs placed around the cafe give Watershed an artistic and creative edge that you don’t get in most cinema venues. In the screening rooms there are a good amount of seats available to gather a large audience for the film. The seats are placed a lot more closer to the screen than normal, creating more of an intimate screening of the film as the audience are completely absorbed in the spectacle they are witnessing. 

This type of viewing experience differs vastly from my local cinema in Merry hill called the ‘Odeon’ which has a traditional approach to cinema viewing. The location is part of a shopping centre in the West Midlands that attracts its audience because of the amount of restaurants that surround it and with Odeon being the only cinema in a square mile it can sometimes get very busy during peak hours. The multiplex has a very large car parking area which means it can withhold a substantial amount of people inside. In addition, there are multiple entry points to the odeon, including a ramp so it doesn’t exclude anyone not being able to watch the film because of a disability. As soon as you walk Inside the Odeon there’s a large amount of open space that encourages you to take a look around the venue and see what it has to offer. One of the first things you will see inside is the costa coffee section which like the Watershed encourages its customers to momentarily relax and reflect on the film you have just watched. As well as a coffee stand, there’s also an arcade centre, free of charge where children go to play whilst waiting for the screening of a film. There is also multiple stands placed around the venue which allows you to buy tickets immediately if you’re running late for a particular movie, this also helps reduce queuing time for the popcorn stand. Similar to the Watershed, the Odeon has several chairs and tables for people to converse about the film after or before the screening. Furthermore, there’s the main popcorn stand where people either go to get their tickets or food and within recent years they have expanded the type of food they now serve, which ranges from hotdogs to popcorn. 

In the multiplex there’s ten separate screening rooms available which means people have got plenty of choice over what film they want to go and watch, whereas in the Watershed they are limited to the variety of films they can watch as there are only two screening rooms. Whilst walking to the screening rooms, there are several posters displayed along the wall of upcoming and soon to be released films that persuade customers into coming back to Odeon to watch that particular film. Inside the screening rooms, there are roughly about 200 to 250 seats, some of which are V.I.P seats that have extra leg space, comfier seats and the option to lift up the leg rest, thus making it a much more comfortable viewing. However, this added luxury comes at an extra cost of two pound per ticket, but is definitely worth the money if you are looking to relax in style while watching the movie. While leaving the screening you are greeted by staff who offer you leaflets containing information of new films coming out and exclusive deals on the Odeon premiere club – a membership that allows you to visit any odeon in the U.K and see any film, free of charge, all for the price of £20 a month. This sort of membership encourages audiences to come back to Odeon and see more of the latest films. 

To conclude, my trip to the watershed taught myself a lot about the alternative ways of going to the cinema and the different cultures that surround it. I’ve learnt that there are certain elements in the business that attract their audiences through the added luxuries that come with going to the cinema. 

Alex Nicklin  – 19007412

Short essay 1:

After the events of world war two, the term ‘teenager’ was born and used to establish adolescence within society as teenage culture emerged in America due to the ‘increasing leisure opportunities afforded by changing social attitudes’ (Maltby, 149). And up until the mid 1950’s, teenagers had been disregarded when it came to the cinema, as the majority of films targeted an older audience in order to guarantee ticket sales. However, because of the drastic changes in pop culture, music, fashion and movies, the teenage audience were now considered an integral part of cinema, as well as society itself. Recent studies on movie attendance stated that age was the most significant factor for the decline in watching films at the cinema, which made Hollywood recognize the importance of American youth. These findings emphasised the importance of the teenage market for films and they addressed this market by ‘reflecting, as well as shaping, the cutting edge of the emergent teen culture of the mid 1950’s’ (Miller, 2), which is embodied in Richard Brook’s film: ‘Blackboard Jungle’. In this film, a navy vetran must learn to combat the rebellious and delinquent youth of America by taking on the role of an English teacher in a troubled New York high school, it aims to bring justice to society, whilst also giving a social message to the audience – the message being that the youth are capable of change, which remains just as relevant then as it does today. For instance, this social message is represented through the tough and likeable Gregory Miller who is the most transformative character in the film. Although our first impressions of Miller suggest he is rebellious and resilient, in time we learn that he is sensitive and has a good heart, as he is part of a singing group and works as a mechanic in his spare time to help out his family. However, there is also the troubled Artie who must be confronted physically by Richard Dadier to get through to him, signalling that the youth of America is still in a state of turmoil. The iconic ending to the film provides well deserved justice for Artie’s actions, as the audience acknowledge the binary opposition of: Good Vs. Bad that is represented through both Miller and Artie. 

The development and popularity of rock and roll played an important role in the production of Blackboard Jungle, as it was seen as the cause of the youth behaving the way they did. Rock and roll in the 1950’s was more than just music, it was a movement that was engrossed globally and because of this phenomenon, film producers thought it would be ideal to make movies surrounding the lifestyle of rock and roll. It’s evident that the violent youth within blackboard jungle were inspired by rock and roll, which ‘symbolises the teens carefree lifestyle’ (Miller, 7). This is most noticeable in the scene where Richard and his colleague get beaten up in the alleway, as the thieves are wearing black leather jackets and have hair that is slicked back, all of which are typical associations of rock and roll. Furthermore, the belief that the youth were inspired by rock and roll is depicted when the class destroy the teachers selection of vinyl records which suggests that rock and roll is here to stay, along with everything else that it brings. As Miller rightly points out the conflict in blackboard jungle ‘addressed what was happening in the world around them, and the recognition that teens were a social and cultural force to be reckoned with loomed large’ (5). Although the film was centered around Richard’s struggle to stabilise his disruptive classroom, its marketing campaign reeled in a substantial teen audience that paved the way and ‘inspired a flood of independently produced “juvenile delinquent” films’ (Miller, 3) in the 1950’s and 60’s. During this era, the term ‘teensploitation’ had originated most likely because of how teenage actors were in high demand to fulfill the role of rebellious youth in major pictures. These teenpics were ‘designed to speak to teenagers – not to adults’, (Miller, 3) which gave the youth a voice in what was a very turbulent time in American history. 

After the release of Blackboard Jungle, the United States was in an increasingly chaotic world. The Vietnam war had escalated, Malcolm X had been assassinated, riots broke out among several major cities and the rock and roll lifestyle saw no sign in slowing down. The release of Blackboard Jungle could be considered a product of their environment because it reflected the world they surrounded themselves in – a world that was filled with chaos and uproar. This type of society is most evidently mirrored in the final scene of the film where Richard battles with Artie’s masculinity, in which we see a surprising turn of events where the majority of the class defend Richard’s honour and help bring justice back to the school. The teachers heroic actions offers a social message to the audience, the message being that there is still hope for the younger generation and that they are not a lost cause for society. Miller has also stated that the teenpics of this era ‘typically resolved conflicts in ways that reinforce established social norms’ (1) which is very true when it comes to blackboard jungle. For instance, just when we think Gregory Miller isn’t willing to co-operate with Richard we see him playing the piano with a group of singers which implies there’s a more rational side to him. And from that point, Richard realises that there’s hope for the future of America and after being tempted with a move away from the school, Richard makes it his mission to change the destiny of his students. Furthermore, prior to the release of Blackboard Jungle it had become very controversial over what subjects were presented in films and multiple laws had been passed to prevent anything that was considered ‘taboo’ to be shown on the big screen. However, the production code had been rewritten during the 1950’s which allowed subjects such as drug addiction and prostitution to be presented when ‘treated within the careful limits of good taste’ (Miller, 9). Along with other teenpics of this era, blackboard jungle helped eradicate the effectiveness of the production code by pushing the boundaries of filmmaking, this eventually led to the code being diminished in the 1960’s.  

To conclude, Richard Brooks’s Blackboard Jungle expertly depicted what life was like for a teacher in 1950’s New York during what was a very unsettled time in America. The brutal storyline and its memorable characters is what has kept the film alive for so many years, as well its capability to deliver a message about society that still remains just as relevant then as it does today. Not to mention that the rock and roll lifestyle had an influential impact on the film, as it encouraged teenagers of that culture to come and watch the film, thus essentially creating a domino effect where many film producers saw the growing market of the teen audience and produced films orientated around the youth of America. Therefore, it goes without saying that Blackboard Jungle perfectly executed and embodied 1950’s culture, as well as all the chaos that came with it. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

• Blackboard Jungle (1955) [film]. Directed by Richard Brooks. USA: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
• Maltby, R (1989) Popular Culture in the Twentieth century. 1st ed. United Kingdom: Harrap
• Miller, C.J. (2015) Marketing, Monsters and Music: Teensploitation Horror Film. 1st ed. United Kingdom: A. Bowdoin Van Riper.

Alex Nicklin – 19007412

Reflection 1:

I thought the trip to Watershed was particularly helpful in regards to our film blog, in the sense that it got us thinking about ideas on how we can formulate our blog and create a specific aesthetic style. The watershed experience was a good foundation to begin working on the blog, as there was time to sit down with our group and communicate on the different possible routes we could go down. In our time together, we bounced ideas off each other and sought to seek out what sort of blog style we could go for. As a team, we thought it was necessary to create a vibrant and energetic blog, something that would stand out to most people when they would come across it and catch the attention of blog readers. So we insisted on bright colours and pictures that helped reflect the positive atmosphere of the watershed, as well as certain choices when it came to the layout of the blog. I believe as a team we worked significantly well together, as we shared similar interests on how the blog would look visually, and we were also very constructive when it came down to ideas we wouldn’t particularly agree on. For instance, we initially didn’t agree on the design of the blog, but we both learnt to compromise and get what we both wanted when it came to how the blog would look. Furthermore, when it came to communicating with each other we were very good, as we depended on texting each other while working on the blog together. In addition, as a team we also thought it would be a good idea to read through each others film assignment and watershed experience trips, as we believed peer assessed work would make the overall blog much better. And when it came down to receiving feedback, we were all very open minded and really listened to what they had to say. The constructive criticism of our work made us all realise where we went wrong, what we did well and what we need to do to improve, this process in the end made us all much better writers than before. Although we didn’t specifically set tasks for each other to do, we mutually decided to all review the blog once someone had either added to the blog or made a change concerning the design. 

Alex Nicklin – 19007412

Thick Description 2 – 19040273

Watershed – Bristol

The Watershed is located by Bristol’s canals, on Canon’s Street, next to the city centre and surrounded by various bars, shops and restaurants. Upon arriving at the cinema, you are greeted with a lobby which acts as a room for both cinema, listing and ticket information. The lobby features a wooden information desk with 4 screens above displaying the current days listings which also includes sign language information. 5 bright lights are featured above the screens and desk which light up the room and compliment the cream walls. Several pillars are placed around the room, seemingly from the original warehouse building before it became the cinema. Placed on two of the beams are information leaflets on screenings, educational programmes offered, director talks and venue hire.

The stairs next to the lobby lead upwards to the cinemas screening rooms and café/bar. On the stairs is an interactive corkboard where customers are encouraged to read and write short reviews of screenings currently on at the cinema. The café/bar is quite visually striking yet simplistic. Wooden floors, trees and plants scattered around the room, large black beams which run across the ceiling and rustic brick walls all come together to make a relaxed and homely feeling. Almost all snacks and drinks sold at the café are local and independent brands, including locally brewed craft beers. There is a diverse mix of people occupying the space, both young and old and for business or leisure.

The screening rooms themselves are smaller and more compact than a traditional multiplex cinema. With less comfortable chairs and less room for legs and snacks, the rooms naturally encourage more attention to the screening itself with fewer distractions. The films screened at the cinema tend to be arthouse films and world cinema, steering away from Hollywood blockbusters.

The overall layout of The Watershed, screenings shown, educational and corporate services offered and relaxed dining space all come together to cater to an audience that is different to a multiplex. The arthouse screenings cater towards people that may consider themselves cinephiles; combined with additional screening information and director talks, the movie experience goes past just the screening itself and requires a higher cultural capital to fully partake in. The eating and drinking space provide customers with an opportunity to converse about films they have just watched or are about to watch, which can turn the experience into more of a day or night out. 

The Watershed extends itself further than just it’s screenings; educational programmes, conference rooms and venue hire for parties and weddings are advertised throughout the building. Combined with the café/bar, where smaller conferences and meetings also take place; this turns The Watershed into a multipurpose venue; providing a relaxed environment for cinephiles, meetings, conversation about film, socialising, educating and celebrating.

Odeon – Bristol

The Odeon Cinema in Bristol is located on Union Street, close to the city centre, it is situated around many retail shops. Upon entering the cinema, you are first greeted with stairs which lead up to the ticket office and snack bar. A ticket machine is located at the bottom of the stairs to allow customers to pick up pre-booked tickets. With red carpets and cream walls throughout the building, it gives off a traditional theatre aesthetic. The snack bar is modern with large and bright screens above displaying menu items and meal combos. Much of the items sold at the Odeon are large brands such as Pepsi and Butterkist. The cinema also offers many ‘American style’ hot snacks such as hot dogs and nachos.

Aside from the cinema’s vintage theatre look, the interior lacks personality in it’s aesthetic. With little to no decoration on the walls, the main thing noticeable throughout the Odeon is the large posters advertising predominately Hollywood blockbuster movies being screened at the cinema.

The screening rooms at the cinema are very large, seating around 150 people. They have large amounts of leg room, comfortable chairs and adequate space to place food and drink. The rooms are also very technologically advanced, with state-of-the-art sound systems, 3D screenings and large, high quality projections.The comfortable and technologically advanced screening rooms, combined with the Hollywood blockbuster movies shown, lack of interior space for relaxing and conversing and large selection of American style branded food and drink all come together to offer an environment that caters to a more casual movie-goer when compared to The Watershed. As the majority of movies shown are Hollywood blockbusters which usually follow continuity editing, they provide the casual movie goers with an immersive experience which requires less cultural capital to enjoy than arthouse films screened at The Watershed.

Samuel Bennett – 19040273

Short Essay 2 – 19040273

Is Casino Royale a ‘high concept’ or ‘event’ movie?

To answer this question, we must first establish what is meant by a ‘high concept’ movie. A high concept movie is “a style of film making that is modelled by economical and institutional forces” (Wyatt, 1994: 8). What Wyatt means by this is the overall decisions made in the film making process are motivated by attempting to make a profit as large as possible. This also includes aspects of the pre-production such as pitching and other decisions, such as advertisement. An ‘event movie’ is also a similar type of movie, we can think of an event movie as something that becomes important because of its audience and a high concept movie as something designed by its producers to be important and economically successful. Casino Royale is a movie that I believe can classify as both of these terms.

One aspect of an event movie is that the film becomes important because of its pre-existing audience. Casino Royale was already a highly anticipated movie prior to release due to the Ian Fleming novels which the franchise is based on, and the previous movies in the franchise featuring different well-known actors starring as the 007 agent James Bond. The James Bond franchise has been running for a very long time, since the first release of Dr. No in 1962. Continuing to this present day, with a new actor starring as James Bond intermittently, Casino Royale was anticipated and watched by fans of both the novel and the previous films. The choice to cast Daniel Craig as James Bond was another successful part of the film’s anticipation. Well known stars such as Judi Dench and Mads Mikkelsen who also starred in the film may have drawn in more viewers who were fans of their previous work.

Advertisement is important for both event and high concept movies in terms of their economic success and memorability, especially TV advertisement pre-first weekend of release (Gill, 48). Casino Royale had a large amount of advertisement in the weeks before its release, including TV spots which featured a variation of the classic Bond theme and the iconic Bond ‘shooting at the screen’ shot; this makes Casino Royale an event movie as it is showcasing classic Bond movie conventions which appeals to fans of the franchise. It is important for a high concept movie to heavily advertise via TV before the first weekend as it creates a ‘buzz’ around the film’s release, a large amount of people attending the opening week’s screenings will make the movie appear desirable to watch simply due to the large numbers.

One key aspect of a high concept movie is how successful its pre-production pitch is. A successful pitch can be achieved by multiple aspects including striking visual images, well known stars and genres. However, arguably the most important part of the pitch is the ability to summarize the film in order to make it easy to understand and grasp for a mass audience. Casino Royale achieves this, as quoted from the IMDB website, the plot states “After earning 00 status and a licence to kill, Secret Agent James Bond sets out on his first mission as 007. Bond must defeat a private banker funding terrorists in a high stakes game of poker at Casino Royale, Montenegro”. Not only is the plotline easy to understand, it also gives the audience a good indication of the genre of the film with the language and tone it uses. It is important for high concept movies to have an easy to follow plot line in order to appeal to a mass audience of different taste, age and gender. Whilst much of the audience for Casino Royale would have been fans of the novel and franchise, it is important from an economical factor to bring in more casual movie-goers, which is something achieved by this simple plotline.

Age rating is also an important part for a high concept movie. In order to maximise profits, the movie must be able to be viewed at cinemas by a larger audience, which means keeping the age rating as low as possible whilst not sacrificing the films entertainment value. A quick look at the highest grossing movies of all time will reinforce this point, with almost all movies having a lower age rating and many being children or family films with the lowest age rating possible. Casino Royale was rated as a 12A in the UK, had the rating been a 15 or 18 the production team would have risked a considerable chunk of potential viewers from seeing the movie. Of-course the rating of a film is not something that happens by accident, various decisions in the filmmaking process are thought about so that the overall product is suitable for a particular age group. This is particularly difficult for a film such as Casino Royale, in a franchise where violence and sexual content is a regular convention, the production team will have worked hard to provide its audience with the content they are expecting from a Bond movie whilst still making it suitable for a younger demographic.

Casino Royale also merges genres, although predominately an action movie, the film also has aspects of the thriller and romance genres involved. As a common theme in the Bond films, James Bond often has a female partner and accomplice in his missions. A romantic interest will develop between the two whilst they seek to aid each other in the mission in question. This is no exception in Casino Royale with Bond’s relationship with Vesper Lynd, played by Eva Green. Thriller conventions are also very noticeable in the film, with many scenes of high tension, gore and intense excitement. By mixing in conventions of multiple genres, the movie can then aim to appeal to an audience with an interest in either one or all of the genres that are involved, thus generating as much interest as possible. The main genre of the film, action, is a very common genre for high concept or event movies. It provides both visual and audio spectacle which keeps the casual movie-goers entertained and immersed in the film.

Another common theme for high concept movies is to use popular bands or artists within their soundtrack, which can often be an original song made for the movie itself. This is an extremely common trait in the Bond franchise. In recent years, huge international artists such as Adele and Sam Smith have performed the title songs for Skyfall and Spectre. In some of the older Bond films, artists such as Shirley Bassey and Tina Turner also performed the title songs for Diamonds Are Forever and Goldeneye. For Casino Royale, the title song was ‘You Know My Name’, performed by Chris Cornell, another well-known international musician. Similar to casting popular movie stars for high concept movies, having a well-known artist sing the theme or title song will interest fans of said artist and may encourage them to watch the movie. It also acts as a form of advertisement, with the songs often becoming popular and entering the charts, with a movie themed music video often accompanying the song. Casino Royale’s title song peaked at number 7 in the UK charts and number 79 in the US. This was most noticeable in the Bond franchise with Adele’s ‘Skyfall’ becoming a huge hit at number 2 in the UK charts and number 8 in the US.

To conclude, Casino Royale can be seen as both a high concept and event movie. It works as an event movie due to the already existing audience. This consisted of both fans of the Ian Fleming novels and previous Bond movies in the franchise. This movie from the franchise was particularly important for fans as it saw the emergence of a new actor starring as Bond, Daniel Craig. As a high concept movie, it works in multiple aspects. The pre-production pitch has a simple to follow storyline and plot, including well known stars and a ‘striking, unambiguous visual image’ (Gill, 48). Advertisement was also another key aspect of Casino Royale as a high concept movie. We can see that the film was economically successful as it was the fourth highest grossing film of 2006, the year of release, with a box office of 599 million USD.

Bibliography

Arnett, R.P. 2009, “Casino Royale and Franchise Remix: James Bond as Superhero”, Film Criticism, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 1-16,80.

Bbfc.co.uk. (2019). CASINO ROYALE | British Board of Film Classification. [online] Available at: https://bbfc.co.uk/releases/casino-royale-video-0 [Accessed 10 Dec. 2019].

Branston, Gill. 2000, ‘High-concept and multi-marketed rollercoasters’, in Cinema and Cultural Modernity, Buckingham and Philidelphia: OUP, pp. 46-52.

Casino Royale. (2006). [DVD] Barrandov Studios (Prague), Pinewood Studios: Martin Campbell.

Samuel Bennett – 19040273

Group Reflection 2 – 19040273

Our groupwork started with a class trip to the Watershed cinema. This was an important trip as it allowed for group discussion and conversation about the thick description element of our film blog, which took up a considerable amount of space at 1000 words. As most of us were used to visiting cinemas without thinking in depth about the building and overall environment, it was particularly useful to offer different observations and opinions to each other, which ultimately helped with the writing. Working in our groups in class, we would practice writing thick descriptions and apply that to other areas or buildings that we were already familiar with, such as the classroom we were all in. I found this particularly useful, as almost all of us had never written a thick description before, we were all able to learn from each other and discuss in class and problems we may have had.

After visiting the Watershed cinema, it was then time to set our attention in class to developing and learning our skills with WordPress, which is the website used to write and publish our film blog. Many people in the workshop, including myself, had used WordPress before. At this point it was useful to share previous knowledge of the website with other classmates. As Alex had not used the website before, I shared some of my experience with him and showed him how to perform simple tasks such as creating an account and adding pages.

Although both me and Alex were given the same tasks of producing a thick description, short essay and group feedback, it was useful to discuss all of these in class to establish how we would layout these pieces of work and decide on design options. We both decided on a simple theme for our WordPress blog, we wanted to keep the design minimal to allow it to be easier for the viewer to read and view our content. As-well as going through this with the class, me and Alex decided to view the PowerPoint guide on WordPress together to ensure that we both had a similar understanding on how to use the website in order to make it easier to manage towards the submission date. It was important to the overall development of the blog for me and Alex to meet in class and discuss our ideas for the website and our essay writing. As-well as talking in class, we decided it was a good idea to keep in touch via e-mail, to discuss any ideas or questions we had for the blog. This enabled us to keep in touch outside of class, in-case one of us was absent, in order to keep on top of the workload.

Once we had freshened up our WordPress skills together, Alex and I focused on our content for the blog. This was a good thing to go through in class and at the library as we could peer assess each other’s work. Although we both had different ideas on what our short essay would be about, it was useful to think about the different readings and screenings shown to us so far, as many of the ideas we discussed could be applied to many concepts and questions.In terms of my own participation to the blog, I found that I was useful in giving Alex advice on WordPress and various other tips on essay writing. Once I had refreshed my mind on using WordPress and had completed my writing, things fell neatly into place in terms of the blog website.

Samuel Bennett – 19040273

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