It’s All About The Ambience!

I like to believe I am a regular cinema goer, (I even have the Cineworld membership card to prove it!) yet I always feel that there is something lacking at your average High Street Cinema.  Would I be betraying my Middle-Class routes if I said that I thought it was:  ambience. It’s no longer an event to just go and see a film, but is simply a smaller part of the entire evening’s plan. In your average High Street Cinema, the seats are hard and too close together, the floor is sticky and the audience is too loud; all this doesn’t add up to a pleasant viewing experience. This week I went all over London to investigate alternative cinemas that offer a new, and possibly better, way to watch movies on the big screen. My search took me to Angel, Soho and Deptford

First I went to ‘Screen On The Green’ (http://www.everymancinema.com/cinemas/filmlisting.asp?cn=1&ci=5&ln=1&pi=1896), which is a trendy little venue in Angel. Here they do films like I imagine they were always meant to be shown.  The cinema only has one screen that is thankfully not packed to the rafters with seats. This results in there being fewer people watching which creates a sense of exclusivity and importance. The room itself is beautifully decorated to look more like a theatre than another Cineworld or Odeon. At ‘Screen On The Green’ there are also 2 bars: my golden rule is that any cinema that has a bar is instantly a good place to go as it means fewer kids and teenagers. Also you can have something stronger than a Pepsi Colato enjoy the film with. On top of all this what really makes ‘Screen On The Green’ an exceptional place to watch a film is the chairs. They are big, soft and comfortable, more like ones you find in a living room than in a cinema. Each one can recline and comes with its own footrest and table for the drinks. There are even sofas for couples at the back.  Having seats like these allow you to truly relax and feel comfortable which makes all the difference when watching a film. The screen also has a high turnover rate with new things showing every week. It means that you will never have seen everything that ‘Screen On The Green’ has to offer, but also that you shouldn’t hang about: what you want to see may not be around for very long. All this certainly adds atmosphere to a Friday night film, but it also comes at a cost with each adult ticket costing £10 and the concession ones only slightly cheaper at £7.50. Not to mention the prices at the bar! However, for a special and memorable movie experience there is little better than this Angel venue and I thoroughly recommend everyone to go and see it.

The night after ‘Screen On The Green’ I went to a full-blown movie experience with the Jameson Cult Film Club (http://jamesoncultfilmclub.com). The company believes that atmosphere is everything when watching a movie and so they put it on themselves to show cult films in an environment that will that will fully draw in each watcher. This goes on all around the country with all sorts of films, such as ‘Carrie’ in Liverpool or  ‘Aliens’ in Manchester and on Thursday night I went to a three-storey car park in London’s Soho to watch Martin Scorsese’s ‘Taxi Driver’. The setting of the screen was perfect; there is nothing like watching a dark New York City drama surrounded on all sides by concrete walls. To increase the New York feel there was a yellow cab in the middle of the car park and surrounding it were hookers, jazz musicians and street hustlers.

All this helped make each member of the audience feel as if we were in fact in the downtown streets of the Big Apple itself. It was fantastic to watch a film surrounded by like-minded fans that didn’t talk constantly, but simply watched the film and enjoyed their free glass of Jameson’s whisky with their hot dog.  The fact all this was free was also an added bonus.  The price combined with the effort put in means each screening is very popular so queues are sadly inevitable; I was quite far back and got there 45 minutes before the doors opened.

It’s also a rather lengthy process; the doors didn’t open till 7:15, the film didn’t start until everyone was seated an hour or so later and lasted over two hours: don’t expect to be out before 10.30.. Also since the event is free it is all done on a budget and the seats are far from comfortable.  Yet regardless of these slight criticisms the ‘Jameson Cult Film Club’ was a great experience and all avid film fans should try and go at least once.

The final night of ‘research’ took me to north London and ‘The Deptford Project’ (http://www.thedeptfordproject.com). Here I found a used train carriage being used as a café, a shed dedicated to Elvis that acted as a loo, and a ‘silent’ outdoor cinema.

Upon arrival I was given a pair of headphones in true ‘silent disco’ style, which had music on one channel and the film on the other. But that was not all the audience was given; along with the headphones everyone had props and a sheet of instructions on when to use them. Like the ‘Jameson Cult Film Club’ the ‘Deptford Project’ wanted to drag audiences out of their seats and into the film. This worked extremely well and it was great to see everyone react when they needed to.

As with ‘Screen On The Green’ the tickets are slightly more than you would pay at a chain cinema, but you get a lot more for your money. The films are shown on Friday, Saturday and Sunday during the movie season, with each night having a different film and each trio having a different theme, such as 80s or cult. As with the other two screenings, I highly enjoyed myself and urge others to try ‘The Deptford Projects’ out, but be warned the show will go on in any weather so dress appropriately or bring someone to cuddle up to

Clearly there is more than one way to watch a film on the silver screen. All three venues made the films come alive to me and greatly improved my cinematic experience. I would challenge people not to assume that their local Vue is the best place to go and experience films; from new releases to cult classics, films can be experienced in a wide variety of venues.  Most of them do come with a slight mark-up, but what would the world be like if were no alternatives to the High Street in which to experience cinema?  I would encourage readers to treat themselves occasionally and shell out on a pricier experience from time to time: trust me, you won’t regret it.