Welcome to the first, first Cinepedia Film Club meet!
As detailed here, Cinepedia and friends had decided to do the honorable thing and start a Film Club; well here it is! Via email, phone & pigeon we had agreed the monumental task of ‘Where’ and ‘What’ (where we were going to meet up and what we were going to watch). This is often the biggest failing of film clubs and social gatherings et all; getting a large number of people all together in the same place with a common interest…almost impossible! Fear not however, for i have witnessed this impossible! On <insert date here> the Cinepedia Film Club met up and watched The Dark Knight!
Who’s in Film Club?
Emma
Helen
Joanne T
Kiddo (Cinepedia)
Kirsteen
Matt ‘Woot’
Moonwatcher (Cinepedia)
Onion (Cinepedia)
Phil
Steve ‘Wilson’
As ‘Producer’ & ‘Head of Costumes’ (?) of Film Club, Moonwatcher & Kiddo (respectively) offered up their house as the first Venue. This was mainly chosen for the use of a Blu-Ray Player (PlayStation 3) to be honest, if you are thinking of starting your own film club, any venue big enough with a TV and media player (DVD, PC etc) is fine.
The aim of the first, first meet-up was really to get the format in place, see how the venue and timings worked and see if everyone was still interested. The future of film club would then be a ‘Russian Roulette’ of Cinema, each person would throw into the proverbial hat a film they connect with, for whatever reason (these reasons could be because of a particular memory, the way it made you feel or because of the technical brilliance, as long as the film had meaning the that person that all that was required!). In preparation Moonwatcher had asked everyone to think of 2 films (a main and a ‘backup’) they would be required to submit. As the process of film selection would be hidden until the night of the event, the backup was put in place in-case any 2 of the 10 people happened to pick the same film, this way they would then automatically default to their second choice when their name is picked out of the hat.
The last thing to throw into the pre-event mix was food – as part of film club and an addition to the ‘mystery film’ concept each film is to be acompanied by a suitible food/beverage idea. To get the ball rolling This first, first Film Club, viewing ‘The Dark Knight‘ was to be held at ‘Bruce Wayne’s Billionaires Banquet’. The main idea here is to get people involved bringing a little bit of food (so the burden is not all on one person) while giving a little playful speculation amongst the club as to what the movie might be (obviously the film wasn’t hidden for this event, hence why we called it ‘Bruce Wayne’s Billionaires Banquet’ and not just ‘Billionaires Banquet’).
With all of the pre-event plans in place, the first, first meeting of the Cinepedia Film Club was free to begin!
As people arrived and presented their food to the Banquet table (Moon & Kiddo’s Dining room table…) there was much talk and bustle about who had picked what films and what genres they had gone for. As none of the film titles were given away these were obviously conversations drenched in frustration and curiosity, a perfect start to the evening! While people were eating Moon went round with pen, paper and envelopes to all members and asked them to commit to ink their chosen 2 films (apart from Kirsteen, who had already come prepared with hers in a self addressed envelope?!). These were then collated and the foundations for Film Club were set.
When everyone had took their fill from the Banquet, and acquired new beverages from the fridge/cupboard/kettle, the Chief Usher called the guests to their seats ready to view to view the film – The Dark Knight. This obviously took far longer than it should, so while waiting Moon threw some popcorn in the microwave and passed it round (interestingly Cinepedia Film Club is 50/50 split on Salted/Sweet ratio..how about you?).
The lights dimmed, and the opening titles rolled, the main feature was underway! You can catch the review of The Dark Knight Here.
When the Film was over it was great to get peoples reactions; this is the part of the night where Film Club really comes into its own, when it comes to opinions, you cannot be wrong, all opinions are valid and each opinion while different might make you look upon the film or a situation slightly differently.
After some light conversation and initial after thoughts of the film Moon went round and asked for a ‘out of 5′ rating from each person as well as a very short comment, if that person wanted to make one. This was designed to get the instant reactions of everyone before they could be too contaminated by other peoples opinions.
The average Cinepedia Film Club Rating was 4/5.
It was then important to hit on some of the ideas in the film that people liked and didn’t like, highlighting and discussing them to see how they stood up to criticism (this wasn’t Newsnight style grilling but just general question/answer/debate). Much of the discussion is mirrored in the Review (linked above).
Once the discussions had died down everyone was given the opportunity to change their review on reflection, but few did, leaving the average at a pretty safe 4.
Its worth noting that people’s rating methods differ greatly, having access to 10 different peoples rating on the same film really give you a solid overall feeling for the film judged from all aspects, a great success! The Lowest rating we had was from our very own ‘hard to please’ Onion with a 3/5. If you don’t already know by now, Onion will allways remain faithful to his rating system – was the film entertaining and enjoyable? (how do you give ratings on films? What method do you hold yourself to?).
Memorable incident of the night
Phil, who had already seen the film before, quite literally made a mess of himself (all be it with Beer) when a dead guy swings into screen shocking the audience. (I am only sad I don’t have a photo to show you!)
As the night was drawing to a close it was time to draw & announce the Official Film Bearer! 1 envelope would be picked out of the hat (by a random person this time but in future the previous Film Bearer) and announced, however their film would be kept secret! A date and venue would then be agreed upon for the next meet-up, to which the Film Bearer would be responsible to bring along their chosen (first choice) film.
Cinepedia Film Club Official Act1 Scene1 (First event)
Kirsteen picked Joanne T from the hat, and held on to the envelope for ’security reasons’ (what these are are yet to be discovered).
Date: <insert date here>
Venue: Kiddo & Moon’s House
Film Bearer: Joanne T
Food/Beverage Theme: BBQ!
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