Thick Description, Short Essay and Critical Feedback Essay
A DESCRIPTION AND COMPARISON OF THE WATERSHED, BRISTOL, AND VUE CINEMA BRISTOL CRIBBS CAUSEWAY:
With modern day cinema audiences, there is a huge range of diverse films being released every week, most of which are released into the multiplexes such as Cineworld and Vue, and the ones that don’t make it to the ‘big screen,’ tend to be shown at art house cinemas such as the Watershed Bristol, where you find more of a select audience with different tastes to the average cinema attendee. Multiplexes are where the majority of viewers go to watch the latest Hollywood Blockbuster or teen-fiction film, but for the people who enjoy cultural films that are more critical and challenging to watch, art house cinemas such as the Watershed in Bristol is the place to go.
My chosen multiplex is the Vue Cinema, located at Bristol Cribbs Causeway, where I attend once a week on average. The reason being is that the ticket price is very cheap at £4.99 as a standard rate, whereas the price of the Watershed ranges from £5-£10, making it an expensive cinema experience for adults over the age of 24, however for students such as myself, it’s the same price as some of the multiplexes, helping with the competitive nature of cinemas. The pricing of cinemas has become a lot more competitive in recent years, with some companies offering unlimited cinema at a fixed price, such as Cineworld and Odeon, whereas some multiplexes including my chosen cinema, have kept their tickets at a lower price, to keep the audience appeal higher. Arthouse cinemas often have a higher ticket price, as they show more select films, that you don’t see in the mainstream cinemas, or they release the newest films that have been directed by acclaimed directors and auteurs, such as Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino.
Although the pricing is ideal for younger people for both the watershed and Vue Cribbs Causeway, I think the location of the multiplex cinema is better and more favourable to people between the ages of 15-24, as there is a plethora of restaurants such as TGI’S, Las Iguanas and Bella Italia, as well as fast food joints, including KFC and Burger King, meaning that a meal before or after the film can be an enjoyable but cheap experience along with the film. The entertainment complex also offers other forms of fun and activities with the likes of an arcade and bowling alley. Whilst the Watershed isn’t ideally located for younger audiences, it does cater to adults and elderly people, being that it is along the historic harbour side, where they have an array of bars, cafes and restaurants that serve quality food and drink, however at a higher cost. What the Watershed does offer is its own bar area, where the viewers can have a relaxing drink or even a meal, before or after their film, making the cinematic experience feel ‘complete’.
Vue Cribbs Causeway offers cinema goers; the latest releases of mainstream films, kid’s films, and the best of new British cinema. Additionally, it offers more to its audiences by releasing special screenings of old critically acclaimed films and also live screenings of ballet, concerts and Shakespeare plays, to reel in a wide range of audiences and offer new and intriguing cinematic experiences. The Watershed Bristol tend to show the more critical and challenging films that get released, along with lower-budget realist films that appeal to a selected audience. After having visited the Watershed as part of my fieldtrip and in my own time to watch a film, it’s clear to see that the audiences are predominately older generations, being that I was the only teenager watching the film, as the films being released by the arthouse cinema clearly aren’t as interesting to the younger audiences, unless they study or are critical of realist cinema.
It’s clear that the two cinemas have a large split and many differences in terms of the location, other entertainment facilities, restaurants and bars nearby and the age and type of people that attend the cinemas. There are two main types of cinema viewers, spectators and audiences, which is often linked with gender classes. A spectator is commonly a working class citizen and someone that watches films for reasons such as pleasure and enjoyment, whereas an audience member is someone that often critiques the film and forms an opinion of what they’ve seen. The terms, ‘fans,’ and ‘laypeople,’ are often associated with spectators of cinema, as they watch films at multiplexes for comfort and entertainment, however you do get fans of certain films or franchises where groups of audiences will go and watch the latest blockbuster featuring their favourite actor, or the newest superhero film for example, and they tend to form a more biased opinion on these sorts of films. ‘Cinephiles,’ and ‘experts,’ are terms more associated with the select audiences that watch their films at the arthouse cinemas, who tend to be higher class, and they prefer to watch films as more of a challenge and form a more critical and balanced view of what they’ve witnessed.
The Watershed by Bristol Harbour side is much smaller in comparison to most multiplex cinemas, and is far inferior in size to the Bristol Cribbs Causeway, as it only has 3 screens, whereas the Vue has over 10 including an IMAX, which offers audiences an upgrade on the normal screening, and gives them a new and indulging immersive cinematic experience. Vue is one of the largest entertainment companies, with 228 cinemas as of last year and nearly 2,000 screens, which is an overwhelming figure when comparing it to an independent stand-alone cinema. This is mostly down to popularity in tastes of cinema, and it’s clear to see that the generic Hollywood films that get released weekly by the major studios, are incredibly popular amongst fans and the average viewer, and the more critical and uncomforting films that don’t get shown on the big screens, are less accessible and intriguing to the general public.
REFERENCES:
https://www.watershed.co.uk/ – Website: Watershed Bristol.
https://www.myvue.com/cinema/bristol-cribbs-causeway/whats-on – Website: Vue Bristol Cribbs Causeway.
WORD COUNT:
989
From Trash to Cash: Exploiting the Teenage Market in ‘The Hunger Games,’ (2012):
There are certain films, franchises and sequels that really captivate audiences and grab their attention. Fans of these huge films are predominately teenagers and massively aid in the success and gross of the films, and this is most definitely the case with ‘The Hunger Games,’ (2012). The hit series is based upon a battle royale between teenagers that get selected at random to fight to the death, and the victor brings glory to their district. The film follows two main characters from district 12, the poorest of them all, and through them, the film dives into criticisms of modern culture, politics and morality, making the series favourable and popular for both critics and teenagers.
The hit franchise first hit the big screens at the start of the 10’s decade, only a few years on from the release of the famous and bestselling book series by Suzanne Collins, and the film adaptation was quick to impress both fans of the book series and people of all genders between the ages of 12 and 25. In an NME article it states, “The numbers are staggering. $20m from midnight shows alone. $155m in three days in the US. $214m worldwide. Fifth biggest opening ever. Highest-grossing non-sequel opening in history. After just one weekend, the highest-grossing movie ever for film company Lionsgate.” (Nicholls, March 26 2012) Whilst there are obviously films that have overtaken those figures and broken the records in recent years, it’s still incredibly impressive that a film with only a budget of $80 million achieved such high numbers, and that came from mostly millennials, who were the driving force in the success of the films profit.
The marketing behind the film was cleverly done and gained the film a lot of hype and recognition months before it was even released, despite only having $45,000,000 to promote the film. It didn’t just use posters and trailers to advertise the film’s release in early 2012, it dug deep to find new ways of advertising, in a New York Times article it reads, “On Dec. 15, 100 days before the movie’s release, the studio created a new poster and cut it into 100 puzzle pieces. It then gave digital versions of those pieces to 100 Web sites and asked them to post their puzzle piece on Twitter in lockstep. Fans had to search Twitter to put together the poster, either by printing out the pieces and cutting them out or using a program like Photoshop. “The Hunger Games” trended worldwide on Twitter within minutes.” (Brooks, March 18th 2012). This form of advertising was so original and inventive that it sparked such interest, and intelligently used social media to further promote the film. The film also took to the likes of Facebook and Instagram to target the audience of the film directly and gain their interest, as most social media users are younger generations, and the more traditional forms of film promotion aren’t as relevant or significant to younger audiences.
The success of the popular franchise is partly due to the characters within the film, and how they are portrayed to the viewer. The film mainly focuses on characters that are between the ages of 12 and 18, which is purposefully the same ages of the targeted audience, meaning that spectators of the film can relate to the characters in some way, whether it’s the care and sacrifice for family, the importance of friendship or the struggle of growing up in an adult-dominated society. ‘The Hunger Games,’ also has two central protagonists throughout the series, one who is a 16 year old girl called Katniss, and is played by now acclaimed actress Jennifer Lawrence who was only given $500,000 for her role despite the films success, and the other is Peeta, who’s played by popular child actor, Josh Hutcherson. Whilst Lawrence hadn’t been in a lot of films before the action-fantasy release, she drew in a lot of fans by being portrayed as a typical teenager, and someone that most fellow teenage girls can relate to in at least one way. Hutcherson’s character appeals to both the male and female audiences, as he’s perceived as a casual, cool and attractive teenager, inspiring men of his age and also being a character that the teenage girls can have a crush on.
The film also gained interest by the themes that it represented, and how the film was easy to follow and kept its entertainment value high throughout the two and a half hour film. Most of the themes of the film are simplistic and clearly identified by the characters, including the clear representations of; good vs evil, the underdog story, dutiful love and friendship. The film follows Katniss as the central protagonist, and the inspirational and rebellious teenager that causes riot and disruption among the capital, but this oddly makes her a likeable character and someone that’s seen as good. Peeta and a younger girl named Rue from district 11, are the only other contestants in the arena that are seen as purely good from their character development in the film, whereas the contestants from districts 1 and 2 are mainly focused on as the evil tributes, and appear bully-like, making them the antagonists of the film. This also links to the idea of the underdog, which is where the unlikely heroes of a story end up becoming the victor, which is of course the case in this film, as both Katniss and Peeta, the tributes representing the poor and starved district 12, win the Hunger Games. As a result of the films conclusion, the audience feel satisfied and joy with the victors as they’ve been on their side for the duration of the film. The difference in characters is something that audiences can empathise with as a lot of teenagers unfortunately are victims of bullying, whether it’s physically or through social media, and so seeing these two characters be treated in the cruel way that they are, it gives us hope that we’re not the loser despite being the victim.
Two of the more twisted themes of the film are the value of friendship and the concept of love, which are developed through the films linear narrative. The protagonist Katniss develops a special bond with district 11 contestant, Rue, who is represented as a young, sweet and caring girl who takes care of Katniss in the arena, and they establish their friendship by helping each other out, making Rue’s death a tragic plot twist to the film, and we share Katniss’ sadness when she’s unjustly murdered. This key event in the film was heart aching to watch for audiences, and brought tears to many eyes. The theme of twisted love is represented through both of the central protagonists, and as the story unfolds, audiences come to know that Peeta is in love with Katniss and has been for a long time, and for the purpose of survival Katniss goes along with feeling the same way, but ends up catching feelings for Peeta, leaving audiences in awe and joy. Whilst the themes are critical for the film in terms of audience perception and feelings of emotion, they’re also things that most viewers can relate to, in the context that we all lose people that we love and call a friend, and a lot of us will or have experienced love in a confusing and surprising form.
As previously mentioned, the film was based on a bestselling book series, which was a dominant contributing factor to the success of the film, as it had built up a fan base before it was even released. The first novel written by Suzanne Collins, was released in 2008, four years before the films introduction to the big screen, allowing the fan base for the Hunger Games to gradually build up and gain a big following and huge audience, which it succeeded in doing so. According to box office mojo it grossed $408,010,692, which then allowed more budget for the following films, although they weren’t as credited in many people’s eyes, including mine. The franchise since has become a global phenomenon and there’s sparks of interest in producing more films, both sequels and prequels, there’s been a range of merchandise that was sold globally to fans and there’s even been a theme park dedicated to the film series that was opened in Dubai a couple of years ago. The success of the films has also led to the rise of Jennifer Lawrence as a very critically acclaimed actress, with an Oscar to her name and appearing in films alongside big names such as Robert De Niro and Bradley Cooper, and was a central character in the X Men series. Her fans from where her acting career really took off in ‘The Hunger Games,’ is a large contributing factor to her success as they heavily invested into the film leading to its major success.
REFERENCES:
https://www.nme.com/blogs/the-movies-blog/why-the-hell-is-the-hunger-games-so-successful-774813 – Magazine Article, NME: ‘The Movies Blog’, written by: Owen Nicholls, 26th March 2012.
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/19/business/media/how-hunger-games-built-up-must-see-fever.html – Magazine Article, New York Times, Written by: Brooks Barnes, March 18th 2012.
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl4049110529/ – Website, BoxOfficeMojo.
WORD COUNT:
1482
CRITICAL FEEDBACK ESSAY:
For the group project assignment I collaborated with Corey Powles and Ben Riggall on creating a Blog Website on WordPress. We all met in the library on multiple occasions to discuss, create and develop ideas and thoughts we had for the blog, resulting in what you have witnessed through reading the articles. We all contributed equally to the end product of the blog, but used our different skills and strengths in order to create one final piece that we were all happy with.
Since Ben has a creative eye, we put him in charge of the blogs design, meaning that he chose the layout with the colour schemes and the placement of the titles. To make the website eye-catching and appealing, Ben chose the images representing the films that we were discussing, helping the reader to understand what we were portraying for our essays. It also strengthened the appeal of the website, taking it from a bleak and plain blog, to a colourful and vibrant piece of work.
I worked on the titles, sub titles, additional information such as the contacts and key information located on the blog, and the links to our separate thick descriptions, short essays and reflective analysis. My contributions to the blog allowed the viewer to read and understand what it is we’re representing, as well as giving brief descriptions of what the blog site features and has to offer. Without this, the blog would have been hard to follow and could therefore be misinterpreted.
Corey was in charge of all the editing of the blog, he went over the main page, and other parts of the blog to brush up on any minor errors and make it more intriguing. His offer in finalising the blog and helping of completing the task was very crucial to our work as his perspective and contribution was what we needed as a group to find a finalised website that we were all happy with.
Whilst we all enjoyed working in a small group of three, and were happy with our finalised blog site, we weren’t impressed with WordPress. Despite it being a website that’s designed to help people create blogs, websites and more, it wasn’t very functional or co-operative, limiting what we aspired for it to look like. When we tried to edit the images by adjusting their size and positioning, it wasn’t very helpful and therefore seemed useless to our desires. Nevertheless we achieved a blog site which we all equally worked hard on, and also worked well together as a group even though there were many stressful days in the library working on it. If I were to do a group project again I’d happily pick the same colleagues that I was working alongside this time around as they were both hard workers, contributed effectively and critically to the work we did, we all helped one another with technical issues or the dysfunctional website, and we all enjoyed working together.
WORD COUNT:
493
The Film Blog 