Watershed Thick Description
The watershed is an arthouse cinema located in the centre of Bristol city’s harbour which is the location of 3 Cinema screens, Conference rooms and also a Café. It occupies the former E and W sheds located in the harbour side and has slowly been renovated throughout the years to stay in good condition. The cost of maintaining the building is however very expensive as it is so old, and they want to keep as much of the history of the building there without replacing it. The watershed is what is known as an art-house cinema: a cinema which shows fewer mainstream movies and more art film. They have a distinct audience in mind which includes; schools, colleges and University’s for educational purposes as well as politically engaged and anti-establishment left-wing film fans. These films draw more on art than entertainment and are rarely narrative driven but more focused on emotion and aesthetics. When you visit the watershed, you are greeted by a large blue sign with the name of the establishment ‘Watershed’ displayed on it. This instantly grabs your attention, so you know you’re in the right place. As you walk through up the stairs in the foyer you are welcomed with multiple comments from people who have previously seen films at the watershed and feedback about the watershed itself. This is a nice idea because it gives a sense of the watershed listening to its customers and that they value their opinions and will work with constructive criticism to give a better experience to their customers.
The comment cards about the films also are useful for cinema goers who haven’t done much research into films they are going to watch and get to read others opinions on it which will help them decide if they want to go to said film or not. Tickets at the watershed are considerably cheaper than large cinema complexes as they know their target audience is students who like to have everything cheap and spending £5 on a ticket at watershed sounds better to them than £10 at any other cinema. Unlike multiplexes the same film may only be shown on average 2 times a day whereas in multiplexes they can be shown up to 10 times a day. the watershed also has certain shows that cater to all sorts of people. Examples of this is they have shows with audio descriptions, subtitles and even child friendly screenings. This widens the audience for the watershed and makes them more diverse and cooperative for people who may have trouble going to a regular cinema. Located on the top floor of the watershed is a café which is always bustling with people who are there for multiple reasons ranging from friends reuniting for a catch up, writers finding a place to not get distracted and even students just looking for a calm environment in order to work on their assignments. With free internet available to everyone it is rare to see people there without a laptop or on their phones making the most of it.
Posted around the watershed you will always see posters for new films that are going to be shown there soon from all corners of the world. You will always be able to find a timetable of all the films that will be shown with times and dates.
The last multiplex cinema I visited was Vue cinemas in Cardiff city centre. This multiplex cinema belongs to a franchise with thousands of cinemas located across the world. it is known more for showing mainstream films than art film. It is different to art house cinemas as it is part of a franchise there is a lot more money available to invest into it making it more appealing to members of the public. Unlike the watershed Vue doesn’t have a small café with free internet for people to relax in and socialise it is a cinema and a cinema only. As you step off the escalator at vue’s floor you are greeted by the admissions desk and a lot confectionary and posters of other films but nothing else unlike the watershed which has things such as customer comments, viewers experiences and opinions on films and an all out more friendlier vibe. When going to the watershed you may have a meal before or after the film whereas in a place like vue they have hot snacks which you can have during the film such as hot dogs, nachos and burgers. These snacks end up being expensive for what they are but because of how convenient it is to have buy them while you are there instead of going somewhere else which is cheaper people are willing to pay more for them which is a great way for multiplexes to gain more money from customers. The same goes for drinks and confectionary, because they are there and convenient to have Vue will bump up the price of them.
The multiplex cinema doesn’t really have the cinema goer’s experience in mind as much as they do making money. For example, the watershed cinema is very much about giving customers a good experience and that they enjoy their film where as Vue wants to get as much money from the consumer as they possibly can. Watershed. When you are in Vue everything is on screens instead of poster such as upcoming movies, times for films and also promotions for snacks and confectionary and everything you need to know about Vue can be found on the website such as times and which films will be on in which screens. You can also have things such as 3-d screens and IMAX screens in big multiplex cinemas, but you are much less likely to find screens like that in an art house cinema like the watershed
Short Essay
A film franchise is a collection of films which involve, the same characters, story and concept, for example Star Wars is a film franchise which started in 1977. With its huge success the creators decided to carry on the story and continued making films with the same characters building upon the universe that had been established in the first film. Franchise films usually start off with a singular film which becomes immensely successful and popular which them prompts the creators to make more for fans. Some of the most popular film franchises include; Star Wars, Terminator, James Bond, Marvel and Alien with all these film franchises being a household name known by both cinephiles and casual movie goers alike. The easiest way to recognise a film franchise is simple, through the titles of the film. For example, all of the Star Wars films have the words Star Wars in them. However, this isn’t always the case with examples like James Bond never having his name in the title however the films will always have the character of James Bond in them linking them all together. There are many things inside franchise films that links them such as in James Bond films there will always be the main ‘Bond Theme’ by Monty Norman and most people when they hear the song they instantly think “Bond”. Stories also carry through film franchises such as Harry Potter, it is one large over-all story linked through multiple smaller stories in each film with an outcome to the story in the last film. Franchise films which are set up across multiple years will usually try to appeal to other generations of people as the franchise evolves, for example, James Bond used to be a bachelor who only used women for sex and saw them only as objects whereas in more recent films he is less like this to appeal to a wider audience including females and people who would find this behaviour inappropriate. This doesn’t mean they have completely changed his character as that part of the character still exists just a lot more toned down to fit with modern politics.
During the early 1970’s the first satellite delivered national cable TV network was released which was a large problem for film makers as it meant instead of having to go out to the cinemas and have a full day out like they used to during that time they could just buy a TV and have access to shows from the comfort of their own home. This had a large impact on film during the 70s with a large decline in cinema goers. Audience’s were becoming older and less interested and weren’t being replaced with younger audiences who were interested because of the easy access to TV. Cinemas were also not ‘modern’ anymore and not as exciting to people because they had been around for the 3 decades. During this time cities were considered a lot more dangerous and concern about people’s safety rose, so less people wanted to venture out to the pictures. This led to a complete decline in the film industry with places like picture palaces becoming run down and destroyed without any care about keeping them looking good and clean which would lead to even less people wanting to come to them because of the state they were being kept in. The decline in the film industry forced Hollywood to look into new technologies and marketing strategies in order to prevent further decline in the industry. High concept films such as Jaws (1975) and Star Wars (1977) were released and sparked an explosion in the film industry with huge success behind them. Audiences has been promised Shock, Horror, action and amazement from the new films and compared them to like ‘being on a rollercoaster’ which was a large influence on why people began returning to cinemas to watch this ‘new wave’ of films. The films were released during holidays which lead to huge success because of word of mouth from people who had seen them being spread quickly and people lacking things to do during their holidays led to them visiting the cinemas.
During the 1960s Multiplex cinemas were developed as a way to counter the decline of cinema. They were designed with high concept films in mind. These multiplex cinemas housed films such as Jaws and Star Wars and they included much better and updated technologies from previous cinemas and picture palaces. They were made to adhere to the new ‘epic scale’ and special effects that were found in the new high concept films that were being released. The first multiplex in the USA was built during the 60s during the height of the decline of cinema by the American Multi-Cinema (AMC) chain. These new multiplex cinemas were found mostly in suburbs and predominantly white middle-class spaces away from cities which at the time were still seen as dangerous and a safety concern for the middle-class. The rise of the multiplex was cinema modernising and in the UK multiplexes over doubled the number of annual ticket sales which was enormous for the film industry. These new multiplex cinemas were offering better sound and visuals that weren’t available in domestic environments and only in places such as the multiplex cinemas. With multiple screens open on each multiplex audience were given a much larger choice of which films they would want to see with a large variety available. During the 80s cinema once again rose up from the depression it was in bringing back cinema of attractions and becoming successful once more. This brought back a ‘multi-generation mass audience’ which was incredible for the film industry.
In 1979 the film Alien was released during the time mass audience was being reformed and it found critical success. It proved to everyone the idea that people were going to the cinema again for the thrills and enjoying it all. This spawned the Alien franchise which is still going to this day with the newest film of the franchise (Alien Covenant 2017). The special effects in the film and mixing of genres was a huge success and lead to Alien becoming a classic film with an entire franchise behind it because of its popularity thanks to the multiplex cinemas. Alien fits within the style and conventions of a franchise film because of the different elements it has included in it. First of these being the fact it is a high concept film with an easy concept of ‘Aliens horror’ which made it easy to pitch to companies. Alien fits in with the idea of a high concept film because it is a film full of thrill and spectacle. The use of visual and sound effects in the film also single it out from older films. Only new technology fitted in the new multiplexes would be able to screen Alien the way it was made to be and promised audiences shock and horror. The mixing of the 2 genres Sci-Fi and Horror broadened Aliens audiences as it attracted fans of both genres.
The first film in the Alien franchise was created in 1979 with the first film in the franchise was released Alien which found incredible success in the wake of the mass audience. The film was produced by 20th Century Fox who had originally planned Alien to just be a solo film but after its success a director named James Cameron wanted to work on a sequel. After James Cameron’s film The Terminator become a box office success and did amazing in the box office 20th Century Fox allowed him to Direct a sequel to Alien called Aliens which was then released in 1986, 7 years after the original release of the first film. There was a TV show based off Alien planned to be made however it was abandoned for the release of the sequel instead. Aliens like its predecessor did amazing at the box office which then lead to the franchise blowing up. Comics were being made, a 3rd film was in the works to be made and fans were loving it all. The Alien franchise has become so popular over the years there is even an entire database online to find out information about anything in the franchise called ‘Xenopedia’. The final film in the original series was Alien resurrection which didn’t do as well as the previous films did leading to them to not create any more films at the time but still going ahead with comics. In 2012 the films were revived with a prequel film called Prometheus. This reignited the series and did well at the box office, so a sequel was made for the prequel name Alien: Covenant in 2017. It is unknown if the there is going to be another film in the franchise or not. 20th Century Fox also own multiple other Movie franchises such as X-Men and Predator. The Alien and Predator franchises were given cross over movies in which the Aliens would battle the Predators answering the fan question ‘Who would win, Alien or Predator?’.
Franchise films are usually reliable as they have a set audience for the films who want to find out more about the story and the world that the films are set in. For example, Potterheads are fans of the Harry potter franchise and are always excited when another instalment to the series is added. They make fan fictions for Harry Potter because they feel like they are missing story, and this helps keep the franchise alive even when nothing new is coming out. Other Franchise films like James Bond are reliable globally because of how popular the franchise has become throughout the years and they have been releasing new Bond films for over 50 years which has carried over multiple generations. Brand association in franchise films is always important as some franchises are marketed through different brands such as James Bond which is usually promoted through things like suits and different male scents. ‘The movie cost a lot of money to make and nearly as much again to promote. The Star Wars Star Wars franchise is nearly always reliable because even if fans aren’t excited about the new film and think they will be disappointed people are almost certainly going to watch it anyway because of the fact its apart of the franchise. An example of this is The last Jedi. Despite the fans felt like this film looked to be a let-down and is now considered one of the worst in the entire franchise, it was still able to make over $1.3 billion at the box office on just a $200 million budget. This shows the power of franchise better than anything. After the success of the 2nd Alien film the company got cocky and felt the need to continue the story because of how successful they were doing so far and how much popularity the franchise was picking up. However, this slowly slipped away as with the more films that they made the worse they were getting which led them to stop making films because they weren’t making as big a profit anymore. Despite the Alien films not making a film in over 15 years Prometheus still quadrupled its budget because there was already, and audience and it also appealed to another generation of audience.
Evaluation
Working as a group has multiple strong points but it also has its fair share of weaknesses. The strong points of working together in a group is if someone isn’t as proficient in something as WordPress someone in the group was able to help the other accomplish their task. We were able to design a blog with a simple layout because we didn’t want to make it overly complicated or anything, so we went with a plain black and white design with our own area on the blog to upload our work to. As a group we all communicated well and used things like Email and social media if we had any questions or needed any help. While using Word Press originally, we really struggled as none of us had ever used it before so there was a bit of a learning curve for us when creating the blog and uploading our work to it. I think we worked well as a group but also well individually as well. Instead of leaving each person in charge of one thing each we all worked collaboratively by deciding things together as a group. We would share drafts with each other looking for feedback to improve on. Collectively as a group our time management was good as we were able to finish before the deadline for the blog to be handed in. Our time management as a group overall was good as we were able to get our individual pieces done before the deadline and we all set aside time to work on it. However, we did experience problems with one of the members of failing to upload his work to the blog and the other remembers of the group failing in contacting him despite multiple attempts.
I think if we were to work in a group again a good idea would be for us all to practice using WordPress more as it is one of the main things this group struggles with. To do this we aim to this we are planning on looking at different tutorials online about WordPress. The group helped each other improve their work by proof reading, giving advice and also just giving each other feedback on what we thought made sense and also things that didn’t really seem to fit as much as we ha originally thought. Having someone read through your work is always a good idea as it helps us find mistakes in our work that we may have been oblivious too before such as using the same word twice or even spelling mistakes or sentences that don’t read as well as you had originally thought. Overall, I think as a group we were able to work well until the end when we were unable to contact one of the group members and he was unable to upload his work to the blog on time.
Bibliography
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https://www.watershed.co.uk/about-us/mission-history
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The Movie experience: Audiences, Culture & Taste 