Audiences

1. 1 Audiences �Movies move audiences� Gill Branston 2000 �Spoilt for choice? Multiplexes in the 90s� Stuart Hanson 2000

2. 2 Introduction How are we to understand the �effects� (dodgy term) of cinema? Do we need to look beyond the films (texts) themselves?

3. 3 Audiences Branston �Textiness� Pleasures in Spectatorship The look Identification Pleasures in Cinemagoing

4. 4 Audiences 4 Hanson: Multiplexes 5 Exhibition, Edinburgh & Film Culture

5. 5 1 Textiness Paradox of textual study: Need authoritative interpretation of the text (eg film) But It�s impossible.

6. 6 1 Textiness Textual study was often centred on questions of meaning: How do films create meanings? How do these meanings relate to wider cultural meanings? Require close analysis of the text

7. 7 1 Textiness Claims made about a film, beyond simple explanation of it, require interpretation, and so require assumptions about how audiences consume texts.

8. 8 1 Textiness Film studies used �semiotic� and �structuralist� approaches. Asked: What codes are being used? How is meaning being generated? Not: what is the inherent truth of the film

9. 9 1 Textiness Tended to suggest �correct� interpretations based on �decoding� the films But Focus on meaning neglects pleasures and feelings

10. 10 1 Textiness Decoding model neglects variety of ways audiences make sense of a film This makes it hard to predict the �meanings� it will have or the �influences� it may have.

11. 11 2.1 The Look Laura Mulvey and �Looks� �Visual pleasure and narrative cinema� 1975/1981

12. 12 2.1 The Look Hollywood films usually active male characters and passive females. Females often there to be looked at. (changed since 1975?)

13. 13 2.1 The Look Film involves 3 different �looks� Looks between characters The look of the camera at the action The look of the spectator at the screen

14. 14 2.1 The Look On-screen looking, between characters: Audience is positioned with the male, looking at the female Not positioned with the female, looking at the male

15. 15 2.1 The Look So all spectators are �positioned� as male

16. 16 2.1 The Look 2 The look of the camera at the action The camera looks at the female differently from how it looks at the male: shots are positioned as male.

17. 17 2.1 The Look 3 The look of the spectator at the screen when the spectator looks at the screen they are moved by unconscious states and fantasies, explained by psychoanalysis. Eg voyeurism, fetishism, scopophilia

18. 18 2.1 The Look These are male, since the other �looks� make them so: We look at the female body, voyeuristically, as a male. Sexualised looking

19. 19 2.2 Identification Another way of analysing our engagement with the film. Suggests we �identify� with a film or character, and our �identity� is involved.

20. 20 2.2 Identification Some problems with �identification� Suggests total absorption Suggests we�re compelled by the film to identify

21. 21 2.2 Identification Other terms may be more flexible Eg Involvement Engagement Investment

22. 22 2.2 Identification Capture the various movements of the looks of the film, the emotions and the mind of the spectator

23. 23 2.2 Identification Eg Murray Smith 1995 Different levels of engagement: Alignment Allegiance Keying

24. 24 2.2 Identification Alignment Film offering access to action, thoughts, feelings of characters

25. 25 2.2 Identification Allegiance Film marshalls our sympathies for or against characters

26. 26 2.2 Identification Keying Stressing of one character�s experience and tuning a sequence to that �key�

27. 27 2.2 Identification Need to move from �spectatorship� - how the film might position the spectator, to �audiences� - how actual people consume films

28. 28 2.2 Identification Eg Stacey (1994) Studying 300 cinema goers of the 1940s

29. 29 2.2 Identification Eg Barker Judge Dredd �Knowing Audiences� 1988 �Bargained responses�

30. 30 3 Pleasures in Cinemagoing �Escapism� often used to �explain� pleasures. Escape from what? To what? How is this affected by class, gender, race, etc?

31. 31 3 Pleasures in Cinemagoing Cinemagoing Magical world of the movies Part of the escape is the event and the place

32. 32 3 Pleasures in Cinemagoing Cinemas of the 1920s Picture Palaces In big cities 1500 seat cinemas Ornate and deluxe buildings Orchestras

33. 33 3 Pleasures in Cinemagoing Thousands of light bulbs Splendid rest rooms with paintings and mirrors Food and drink Comfort, safety, respect for working class people

34. 34 3 Pleasures in Cinemagoing People are disposed to enjoy entertainment films as part of their trip out may include modern commodities, activities, cultural structures.

35. 35 4 Multiplexes British Cinema Exhibition Spoilt for choice? Multiplexes in the 90s Stuart Hanson 2000

36. 36 4 Multiplexes Latest generation of purpose built cinemas Multiple screens Superior technological features Car parking Computerised ticketing Shopping and restaurant facilities

37. 37 4 Multiplexes First: Kansas City, 1966 By 1980s, dominant in US and begin in Europe UK 1st: 1985 Milton Keynes 10 screens 2000 seats Restaurant, brasserie, bar, social club

38. 38 4 Multiplexes Film choice Comfort Convenience High quality facilities Old cinemas closing�

39. 39 4 Multiplexes Location and Design Development of out of town shopping centre Former industrial land Appeal to motorist

40. 40 4 Multiplexes Usually part of larger leisure developments Cinema as one part of a leisure package, a �whole night out� Make a lifestyle decision: going for an evening out Not a product decision: going to see a particular film

41. 41 4 Multiplexes Streamline process of getting people into a film and out again Efficiency of scale: share car park, box office, toilets, etc Telephone and computerised booking

42. 42 4 Multiplexes Cinema admissions 1984 54 m 1987 79 1990 97 1994 124 1997 139

43. 43 4 Multiplexes Growth of multiplexes Sites screens % of UK screens 1985 1 10 0.7 1990 52 452 27 1994 95 772 39 1997 142 1222 51

44. 44 4 Multiplexes 5 Major companies, 88% screens Rank Odeon 630 National Amusements/Showcase 350 UCI 350 Warner Village 320 (Virgin: now sold)

45. 45 4 Multiplexes Hanson: Illusion of quantity Concession stand Large portions of popcorn, coke: 80% profit 25% of cinema revenue is from concession stand

46. 46 4 Multiplexes Box office receipts are shared with distributor �we put people into the theatre to sell them popcorn and soda� Surrendered the uniqueness of the cinema as a building

47. 47 4 Multiplexes Cinemagoing in uk traditionally dominated by 15-34 yr olds, but multiplexes have broadened the audience� Over 35s going more A, B, C1s going more

48. 48 4 Multiplexes Films held over for several weeks Show Titanic on several screens, and won�t show independent films No commitment to eclecticism, or faith in multiplex�s ability to transcend public taste Major distributors place conditions on exhibitors

49. 49 4 Multiplexes BUT Multiplexes helped revive a dying industry Better than no cinema Better than being uncomfortable, bad sight lines, no parking, etc.

50. 50 4 Multiplexes UK 4 exhibition companies take: 55% screens 65% box office

51. 51 5 Exhibition Majors control exhibition Non-Hollywood product does not get much place Hollywood: High production costs, marketing, stars: people want to see films�

52. 52 5 Exhibition Independent film Independent cinemas: 20% box office Smaller budgets for marketing Problems of access to cinemas Independent producers and distributors have fewer outlets, despite more screens.

53. 53 Edinburgh Cinemas Cameo Cineworld Edinburgh (Fountainpark) Dominion Filmhouse Odeon Odeon Wester Hailes UCI Edinburgh (Kinnaird Park) Vue Edinburgh (Omni, Greenside Place) Vue Edinburgh Ocean

54. 54 Edinburgh Cinemas Majors. First Run cinemas: Odeon Lothian Rd Odeon Wester Hailes Vue Ocean Terminal Vue Omni UCI Kinnaird Park Cineworld Fountain Park

55. 55 Edinburgh Cinemas Non-majors: Cameo (Oasis: the major independent film exhibitors in the UK) Dominion (Privately owned) Filmhouse (Subsidised by: Scottish Screen/ Edin. Council)

56. 56 Film Culture �Alternative Cinema Exhibition�? UK Regional Film Theatres Film in all its forms Minority interest, alternative cinema Arthouse cinema, foreign cinema Promotion of film culture Edinburgh Filmhouse Glasgow Film Theatre

57. 57 Film Culture Edinburgh Filmhouse Glasgow Film Theatre

58. 58 Film Culture British Film Institute Nourishing film culture: Preservation Exhibition Production Library/ Museum Education Sight and Sound

59. 59 References Branson, G. 2000 �Movies Move Audiences�, Chapter 6 in Cinema and Cultural Modernity. Oxford: OUPress Hanson, S. 2000 �Spoilt for choice? Multiplexes in the 90s�, Chapter 5 in R.Murphy (ed) British Cinema of the 90s. London: BFI