Cinema Descriptions
The Watershed
Unlike the majority of multiplex cinemas, the Watershed is located directly adjacent to the city centre. The cinema is not surrounded by shops and doesn’t have parking in the near vicinity, suggesting that perhaps commercialisation is not its primary focus. The scale of the building is modest, particularly when compared to multiplexes and other more mainstream cinemas. The building was once a dockside warehouse, its conversion to a cinema perhaps indicating limited funding that could be linked to an organisation not solely run for profit. It is situated along the waterfront in a row of restaurants, pubs and other such facilities, which could be an indication of the type of experience that the Watershed intends to give those who come to see films, opting to aim to present a meal and a film as one package and attempting to turn a visit to the cinema into an event.
The atmosphere inside the Watershed is noticeably different from that of a multiplex from the moment that you walk through the door; the bottom floor is filled with pamphlets and is modestly furnished. The upper floor is filled with chairs, a distinct difference from a multiplex cinema, implying that it is an area that is designed for people to wait around and spend time in rather than simply to pass through. Many of the pamphlets are written about subjects such as retirement homes, giving an indication that the target audience of such a cinema may be retirees, since they have more time on their hands to enjoy the cinema as a lengthened experience. Upcoming movies are displayed on posters more than video advertisements and are generally low-budget, indie films or documentaries, demonstrating a respect for artistic values over commercialisation. There is also a film review board open to the public, indicating an audience of film lovers looking to get involved with whatever they can. The upper floor also contains a café indicating an environment that is just as much designed to facilitate film discussion as film watching. The theatres themselves are smaller than conventional multiplex theatres.
AMC Pacific Place
AMC Pacific Place is located in the centre of a shopping centre. It is surrounded by retailers and has a large multi-storey carpark adjacent which exposes the multiplex cinema to large numbers of the general public. The building itself is very large and has the cinema’s name printed in large letters to make it immediately obvious to shoppers and the public what it is. The building also bears a logo, unlike the Watershed, demonstrating the greater focus on commercialisation. The building is also both purpose built and constructed within the last ten years, indicating a greater budget. The atmosphere inside is also more commercialised, with ticket machines lining the walls and big screens displaying which theatres are displaying what films. There is no seating anywhere, indicating that the owners of the multiplex have no desire for people to spend more time than necessary in the complex. There are over ten theatres available and each one has a rotation schedule so as to allow for the maximum number of screenings and therefore for the most people possible to come through daily. There is one theatre reserved specifically for VIPs and those who pay extra for tickets; there is a display of snacks available with a stack of paper bags adjacent for those who have paid for a screening. Inside the VIP theatre there are eight rows of extra large and comfortable seats available with adjustable headrests, backs and footrests. These seats also have folding extendable tables and a menu slotted into a side pocket; customers can order food or drinks to be delivered by a waiter during the movie screening. The VIP theatre also has an extra high-definition screen and high quality surround sound audio. All these is a testament to the commercial nature of this cinema. AMC Pacific Place also has a number of carboard displays out in the lobby area advertising upcoming movies. These displays can be large and quite elaborate, sometimes involving plastic models of characters from the various films advertised. Sometimes the displays are interactive in order to appeal to fans of franchises or children, with some having holes cut out for people to put their faces through and others having plastic models pose so pictures can be taken with them. In addition to this, the cinema screens a number of the latest trailers on screens near the reception in order to build hype for upcoming releases. The movies being screened in the multiplex are a selection of the highest budget blockbusters Hollywood has available, often franchise movies in addition to this, with a few screenings per day being reserved for options that are less appealing to a mass audience such as a foreign language production, a documentary or an indie film; the multiplex aims to appeal to as wide an audience as physically possible. There is also a snack bar serving a number of different items including bottled water and three different types of popcorn. All the items in the bar are double their retail price should they be sold outside the cinema in order to maximise commercialisation. There is also a pick ‘n’ mix which is particularly popular with young children. The cinema also has a large selection of permanent staff including ticket collectors, cleaners and receptionists who work shifts to keep the operation running and whom are likely paid close to minimum wage in order to keep the profit margin as high as possible.
The Definition and Evolution of the Blockbuster; Alien (1979), Casino Royale (2006) & The Hunger Games (2012)
‘The first and original blockbuster’ is a title that has been awarded to many films down through the years by innumerable actors, directors and film aficionados, seemingly remaining a subject with little general consensus; Jon Solomon, in his book Ben-Hur: The Original Blockbuster, bases his titular claim on commercialisation, writing that “the 1925 MGM Ben-Hur cost more to produce and earned more internationally than any film in the silent era”[1]. Contrastingly, in his book Cinema and Cultural Modernity, Gill Branston highlights the composition of a film as key to its definition as a blockbuster, referring both to the opinion of film scholar Linda Williams, writing that she “argued that it is Psycho in 1960 which pioneered the ‘rollercoaster sensibility of repeated tension and release, assault and escape’”[2] and writes in regards to the blockbuster “Jaws (US 1975) is usually cited as a watershed movie here, variously referred to as the first ‘rollercoaster’ or ‘event’ or ‘summer blockbuster’ movie’”2. It is within these opinions that the criteria which a movie must meet for it to be defined as a blockbuster are established, with three points in particular being most prevalent; firstly, a blockbuster must be mass-marketed on a large scale, with commercialisation being a primary objective of both the filmmakers and studio. Secondly, the movie, whilst still remaining able to fit within a genre, must be targeted at a mass audience. Finally, the blockbuster must, at least in part, adhere to the “roller coaster” or “assault and escape” structure of composition established by Psycho (1960). By highlighting individual examples, in this case Alien (1979), Casino Royale (2006) and The Hunger Games (2012), we can examine how these movies both adhere to the fundamental criteria of a blockbuster and yet also differ in many subtle ways.
Alien is a film that is often held up as an example of one of the first true blockbusters. Ridley Scott’s movie draws much of its influence from a film that came out just four years earlier, Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975), with Gill Branston even stating that “Alien is Jaws in a spaceship”[3], and Alien’s marketing campaign is structured off of the precedent the film provided. Alien’s tagline, “in space, no one can hear you scream”, was promoted heavily and became almost as iconic as the movie itself. The success of mass marketing campaigns is made evident in the statistics; Sheldon Hall writes that “Alien cost $11 million and eventually earned $40.3 million”[4].
Casino Royale represents the moment that the James Bond movies fully transitioned into being a fully-fledged series of modern box office blockbusters. The series famously had sponsorship deals with companies such as Aston Martin that lead to iconic moments in the movies but Casino Royale represented the moment that James Bond not only became a marketing machine but also a global brand. Multi-million dollar deals with Omega, Aston Martin, Land Rover, Heineken and more made EON productions huge profits and turned the Bond franchise into an extravagant billboard, while Bond merchandise itself only continues to add to revenue.
The Hunger Games is an example of how the modern blockbuster has begun to adapt into a world of growing fandom and digital media. The film’s marketing was helped significantly through the already published bestselling novel, a concept shown repeatedly to generate huge success, particularly through the examples of Jurassic Park (1993) and the Harry Potter franchise.
Alien audience was determined by the success of two prior successful films; Star Wars (1977) and, once again, Jaws (1975). The huge success of the science-fiction genre in the former and the horror/thriller genre in the latter had highlighted an obvious space in the market for a combination of the two that would virtually guarantee mainstream appeal and box office success.
Casino Royale needed to revolutionize the James Bond franchise in order both to appeal to a new generation of potential Bond fans and keep old fans tired of the outdated Bond formula interested. EON opted to go for a more gritty and grounded reboot in order to create an action blockbuster with more intensity and drama to grab the attention of the general public, and as Douglas Howard writes, moments such as this “not only play against the stereotype of the character, but they reinvigorate and re-energise the series by thwarting our expectations”[5].
The Hunger Games was fortunate in that it had a significant base to build its audience from in fans of the original bestselling novel, and this is half the reason why the movie is aimed at teenagers and young adults, since that was the primary makeup of fans of the book. The movie however, also recognizes the fact so many modern cinemagoers are indeed teenagers, due to them having more free time than adults with full-time work. Such audiences have been hugely successful for modern blockbusters such as the marvel series of movies.
Alien’s composition strongly adheres to the “assault and escape” principle throughout. The movie is effectively constructed out of a number of ‘set piece’ sequences that follow this rule, held together by intermittent scenes of plot development. Typically, one of these ‘set pieces’ will result in the payoff of the death of another member of the crew. The plot is, in a sense, once more a mirror of that of Jaws; there is a mysterious creature, not revealed till part of the way through the film, that hunts and kills members of the cast in tense set pieces, finally culminating in a confrontation where the protagonist finally overcomes the creature. Alien in some ways can be seen to be a streamlining of this already-established structure; the movie slims the cast down to a handful of individuals, resulting in more character development and thus a greater emotional investment in their eventual deaths. The movie borrows the ‘fear of the unknown’ factor demonstrated by the shark in Jaws and increases it by having the antagonist be a literal alien creature, possessing unknown abilities, strength or weaknesses. Through this streamlining, Alien is able to make even more effective use of the “assault and escape” principle than its predecessor.
Casino Royale’s reinvention of Bond feeds strongly into the “assault and escape” principle; previous movies, whilst implementing scenes where Bond is under threat such as the infamous laser scene from Goldfinger, almost entirely failed to create tension or suspense. The two core reasons for this were the tone of the films and the character of James Bond. The movies prior to the 2006 reimagining had a significantly more light-hearted atmosphere, with jokes and suave seduction creating an elegant and silky tone. Bond himself mirrored this, the character never missing a beat, always one step ahead of the competition and armed with a smooth one-liner to cap off a scene. Villains could never appear truly threatening to the audience as Bond himself was infallible, and had proven so repeatedly over the course of the franchise. Casino Royale altered the nature of the movies by creating a new Bond who was vulnerable, both physically and psychologically. As a result of this the nature of the films fundamentally shifted; it no longer seemed appropriate for James to crack jokes when the suddenly very real threat of a pistol was held to his head. In this manner, Casino Royale allowed Bond to finally modernize into a modern blockbuster by heightening tension and release throughout the movie’s plot.
The Hunger Games draws a lot of its influence from films such as Alien in that its use of the “assault and escape” principle revolves around a cast of characters that are slowly killed off. In many ways in fact, The Hunger Games does with Alien what Alien did with Jaws, further expanding and exploring the concept of ‘fear of the unknown’. The movie’s primary setting, the arena, is left as mysterious to the audience as possible. The film effectively creates suspense by allowing the audience to discover the nature of the arena simultaneously with its protagonist Katniss and empathise with her situation. The movie also heavily expands on the themes of human conflict and opposition which are somewhat touched on in Alien through the conflict between Ripley and Ash. In The Hunger Games however, conflict is made a complete inevitability by the nature of the games themselves and this allows the film’s director to illustrate the extremes of human behaviour and effectively demonstrating the evolution of the blockbuster movie.
Project Review
We began our group work by photographing various sections of the Watershed cinema for later use. We then created a group chat through which we could communicate and share ideas quickly and effectively. Through this we were able to support each other’s projects and provide ideas for one another, allowing the project to be cohesive rather than segmented. I personally found this project to be quite challenging in a number of different ways; firstly, I struggled to find a concept on which to base my primary essay. This was predominantly due to the open-ended nature of the task, with the only significant parameters being the films and readings that had been set in seminars. I settled on the subject of the modern blockbuster partially because of its relevance to a number of the films in the syllabus and partially because I thought it would reduce the difficulty of finding relevant and useful sources for my bibliography. I noticed many similarities between Alien, Casino Royale and The Hunger Games and thought running through them chronologically and setting them out as an evolution of the blockbuster might be a method of examining the topic. This is decision I am happy I made, as the blockbuster ended up being a topic I had little trouble writing about and so actually writing the essay ended up being less time consuming than I expected. Another way I found the project to be challenging was finding varied and applicable sources. Despite my decision to write on a subject which I believed would have a variety of sources available on which to utilise, I struggled to use the sources I gathered to effectively illustrate my point. Many of the sources I found made very similar points and many more illustrated the point I was attempting to make but in a long and convoluted manner over many pages making it hard to fit them into my essay. This was a very frustrating part of the project and resulted in me doing a lot of unnecessary reading that consumed a lot of my time and left me feeling unmotivated. This caused my project to stall a number of times throughout its progress. If I was to do this again I would definitely look to more narrowly focus my selection of sources using key words to prevent this from happening again. On the positive side, it did cause me to do some useful reading around my subject areas. I also struggled to find a variety of different types of sources to use in my essay, predominantly relying on online books and articles due to their ease of access and the fact that they were by far the most numerous types of source. My biggest regret in this project is not gathering a list of books and going to the library to create photocopies as I came across several that would have been of significant use to me.
Bibliography:
- Branston, G. ‘High-concept and multi-marketed rollercoasters’. Cinema and Cultural Modernity. Buckingham and Philadelphia: OUP. 2000. P46-52
- Howard, D. ‘Do I look like I give a damn?’. What’s right about getting it wrong in Casino Royale. Lindner, C (ed.) Revisioning 007: James Bond and Casino Royale. London and Ney York: Wallflower Press. 2009. P33-48
- Solomon, J. ‘Ben-Hur: the original blockbuster’. Edinburgh University Press. 2016. P1
- Hall, S. ‘Epics, spectacles and blockbusters: a Hollywood history’. Wayne State University Press. 2010
[1] Solomon, J. ‘Ben-Hur: the original blockbuster’. Edinburgh University Press. 2016. P1
[2] Branston, G. ‘High-concept and multi-marketed rollercoasters’. Cinema and Cultural Modernity. Buckingham and Philadelphia: OUP. 2000. P46-52
[3] Branston, G. ‘High-concept and multi-marketed rollercoasters’. Cinema and Cultural Modernity. Buckingham and Philadelphia: OUP. 2000. P46-52
[4] Hall, S. ‘Epics, spectacles and blockbusters: a Hollywood history’. Wayne State University Press. 2010
[5] Howard, D. ‘Do I look like I give a damn?’. What’s right about getting it wrong in Casino Royale. Lindner, C (ed.) Revisioning 007: James Bond and Casino Royale. London and Ney York: Wallflower Press. 2009. P33-48
The Movie experience: Audiences, Culture & Taste 