The Living Cinema event at Tallis on 17th March was an exciting evening of VJing, food, live music and discussion that aimed to explore new methods and business models for film based entertainment. The artists have just published their initial evaluation report of the project, based on research to date and the feedback from the Tallis event. It includes some fascinating observations which can be summarised as follows:
- The majority of the audience enjoyed the combination of film, food and music in a sociable atmosphere
- The audience were keen to see the work of the Vusicians and were interested in the technical aspects of the show
- The event proved to be an unusual and exciting way of engaging an audience of stakeholders in discussion about change and creativity
- The practitioner team experienced several technical challenges which require further investigation
- Young people collaborated very successfully with the practitioner team. One Year 11 student was drafted in at the last minute to perform vocals that generated live visuals and a team of staff and students belonging to the Creativity Action Research Group helped serve food, act as ushers and provide technical support.
- The teamwork generated on the night has helped to further bind this group of people together and provided them with the impetus to attempt a similarly ambitious project in the summer term
- There is huge potential to further develop work directly with young people in community settings based on this model
"GREAT EVENING"
"Really enjoyable evening"
"really interesting event - want to know more about technical side of the live vj stuff -> would've been nice to be surrounded by the project[ions] horseshoe style ->would've liked to have been able to see what artist / technical creatives were doing whilst performance was happening - either movie screen showing them at work below main screen - or them orchestra
style in front of visuals"
"PUT THE ARTISTS UP FRONT, MAYBE BEHIND A GAUZE (TRANSLUCENT) SCREEN WITH PROJECTIONS"
"The music and videos were great! The band and food were amazing! Thanks for the wonderful event!"
"Really enjoyed tonight, thank you. Found the films inspiring, music uplifting & food very tasty indeed. Your waiting staff were lovely. Thank you for a great evening. Xx"
"WOULD BE NICE TO SEE THE MULTIMEDIA ORCHESTRA AT WORK"
"more guidance/explanation half-way through of how it was/is made/why?"
"On the whole, a great event"
"Very interesting - never been to anything like this before - it was good. Film at beginning was a bit 'self indulgent' definitely let audience participate in film a bit more, eg controlling birds etc - people like this kind of thing!"
"fascinating event combining visual and sounds with the human voice"
"Great event, very nice students, lovely food, wonderful entertainment"
"Thank you for having me, I had a great night, I've never been invited to a night like this before and it was a pleasant surprise."
"It was wonderful, I loved it!"
"more youth representation"
In research about cinema going habits prior to the event, the team discovered that, despite the majority of respondents almost never having seen or rented an independent film, people were excited by the notion of attending an independent cinema event if other entertainment elements were included such as food, music and dancing. Also, 90% of those asked claimed to download most of their film entertainment illegally from the world wide web. The majority of these people were students.
We are fascinated by the range of skills and aptitudes that students develop when they are engaged in the creation of media products. We are excited by the social benefits of such activities, not only in the sharing of final products, but in the team work and communication skills required throughout the process. We are actively exploring ways in which new technologies, especially tools associated with Web 2.0, can assist young people in collaborating more effectively and in finding an audience for their creative products.
The Living Cinema event has provided us with a new model for community consultation, a way of transforming learning spaces into media rich environments and inspiration for our own project in the summer.