NEWS
EVENTS
Extreme Makeover: Cinema Edition
Other | Monday 12th August 2013 | Ayse
Taking the phrase ‘movie magic’ to a whole new level, it is becoming increasingly popular, both in London and around the world, for cinemas to bring fans novel ways to enjoy watching a film. It is now the mission of many to reinvent the weathered and lacklustre image of the cinema and instead rekindle the atmosphere and excitement that was always rooted in the heart of the motion picture.
No longer will the cinema be considered the parched savannah around which gather awkward couples with roaming hands on first dates, reluctant families ‘bonding’ because no- one will play monopoly after what happened last time, and desperate friends attempting to abolish crippling boredom. Far gone, it would seem, are the days when a cup holder and a short person in the row in front of you were the greatest cinema luxuries you could expect because now, a new generation of cinemas is emerging that make a night out watching a film the ultimate social and artistic experience.
Listed below is a collection of unique and thrilling ways that the cinematic experience is being enriched, the results of which are undeniably making people fall in love with the cinema all over again and making us remember just what it is that’s so irresistible about the big screen:
1) Stationed in London itself after resounding success in 2011, The Floating Cinema is the name of a canal boat that will sail along the river Thames this year as a mobile cinema for local residents and those who purchase tickets.
The cinema will feature a new “Extra-Ordinary” programme of outdoor screenings, canal tours, workshops and events along the waterways of East London and beyond.
“We wanted this year's programme to say that it's London's ordinary people that make its culture so ext rdinary, and to spotlight some of those people and what they do in life, as well as to make sure they are at the heart of the programme as an active audience. The Extra-Ordinary theme offers a celebration of the overlooked and 'ordinary' in life, and brings to the fore the brilliance to be found on our doorstep” Somewhere 2013
For more information and to purchase tickets, check out: http://www.floatingcinema.info/
2) ‘Hot tub cinema’ started in 2012 is the ultimate social cinema experience. Rather than sitting shoulder to shoulder in silence and darkness for two hours, attendees can watch films in a fun and engaging way. Groups or individuals can rent hot tubs for a film screening and as well as having the unique experience of watching a film from a hot tub, the screenings are hosted on rooftops affording the audience stunning views of the London skyline. Due to the success of this cinema however, more are opening across the UK!
For info and to book tickets, visit: http://www.hottubcinema.com/
3) On Saturday March 23rd 2013, Bramley Swimming Baths was transformed into a screening room, where swimmers were able to enjoy films from the pool itself or from the upper tier balconies. The first film that was put on was Pixar’s Finding Nemo much to the delight of the young children in the pool. Later, a viewing of Jaws was scheduled which I suspect was viewed by considerably fewer people from the water.
4) To celebrate the release of Ang Lee’s Life of Pi, which tells the tale of a boy lost at sea in a rowboat with a Bengal tiger, a Parisian swimming pool hosted a screening of the film and placed white rowboats in the water from within which spectators watched the film. In this way, the audience were taken on Pi’s shipwrecked adventure with him as their hearts beat and their boats swayed in time with his.
5) The first rule of cinema club is that you do NOT talk about cinema club. Parisians have also proved their dedication to film as a secret underground cinema club and restaurant was discovered in 2004 in Les Catacombes, part of the miles of tunnels underlying Paris. After entering the network through a drain next to the Trocadero, the officers uncovered a tarpaulin marked: Building site, No access. Behind that, a desk was stationed, and a CCTV camera set to capture images of anyone passing. The mechanism also triggered a tape of dogs barking, "clearly designed to frighten people off," said a spokesman from the police after the initial discovery. The main feature of this underground community was a 400 sq metre cave some 18m underground, "like an underground amphitheatre, with terraces cut into the rock and chairs". Within this chamber French police found a full-sized cinema screen, projection equipment, and 1950s film noir classics and more recent thrillers. Three days later, when the police returned accompanied by electrical experts to determine the source of the power, the phone and electricity lines had been cut and a note was lying in the middle of the floor saying: “Do not try to find us”. It is therefore believed that since then, the club is still operational and its reticent members have found a new headquarters.
6) In Malaysia, whilst it may not be the most technologically advanced or peculiar, there is a cinema that boasts being the most comfortable in the world. Instead of hardback chairs that violently spring up like Venus flytraps, the cinema instead has rows of beds installed- ideal for lounging, snuggling BUT NOTHING ELSE! Minds out of the gutter people, it’s not that sort of place! The Beanie Plex, from TGV Cinemas, is located in the Sunway Pyramid mall.
This is just a sample of the ways in which the cinema is being reinvented. It’s only a matter of time before we’ll have cinemas in space, or theatres in which we watch the films suspended from the ceiling. But whatever innovative suggestion they devise next, we can be sure that the cinema will no longer allow the viewer to be passive in film appreciation. Viewings are becoming more interactive and more engaging and this is undoubtedly for the better.
By Ayse Huseyin
