Unit 2: Arts Leadership. BFI Gothic Season #3

Late Night Screenings
November was soon on my team’s doorstep, and our season opened with a late night screening of Hausu along with a live musical performance by the Hellfire Video Club DJs. Our following late night Friday screenings of Repulsion and Suspiria were also successful, selling over 40 tickets for all 3 screenings, but our main focus was upon the success of the immersive event, as this was the first of this kind of event to be hosted at the Watershed; it was therefore important that such an event should meet expectations.

The Night of the Immersive Event
The day of the immersive event, November 29th, finally came, and I was able to travel down from Warwick University to help the team set up the spaces for the night’s event. Dressing the Waterside buildings was extremely fun and hard work, and it was fascinating to see how a space could transform with only a few props and pieces of furniture. I took it upon myself to cut up and organize the positioning of the black and white photos J had sourced and formatted. I was concious of trying to replicate the use of black and white photos displayed in the Overlook within the film of The Shining by attaching the photos in neat rows on white spaces of wall; mainly on the walls in our largest space, W3, and the corridor through which the audience would first enter the inside of the building. This would allow a sense of character to the building by giving it a sense of history and celebrity; indeed, as the event commenced, I noticed members of the audience studying the photos. I also helped in positioning furniture, such as two sofas in W3, and chairs for the audience of the Doctor (one of the Watershed’s resident magicians) in W1, and Jack Torrance’s writing desk materials in W2. For the sofas in W3 in particular, I decorated the white rug upon which the two sofas would be set up with blood stains, attempting to create a realistic blood pool and blood spatter using fake blood. This setting up of the space certainly got me in the mood for the evening’s spooky events!

As darkness approached, the team, volunteers, and members of the Watershed staff who had very kindly offered to help us in the running of the evening’s event changed into our costumes; white shirts, black trousers and red bow ties, to emulate the figure ghostly figure of the waiter Grady in the film. Zoe then gave us a group briefing on the proceedings of the night, as well as direction in how we, acting as members of the Overlook Hotel staff, were to react to the audience; we as the Gothic Season team had decided that the staff should be cold and reasonably hostile to the audience to maintain the atmosphere of creepy isolation and antagonistic influence of the Overlook Hotel.

I was tasked with staffing W2, where our performer as Jack Torrance was set up to type away at his writing desk, and who would become increasingly deranged and erratic throughout the course of the night. I was to keep an eye on the performer to check if he needed any refreshment at any point, as well as to ensure the audience didn’t behave inappropriately with him.

Thus, the evening began and continued without major incident or hiccups. I enjoyed watching the actor who portrayed Jack performing and interacting the audience; seeing how the audience reacted in alarm to his increasingly unhinged state. It was a really great experience to see my and the teams’ ideas finally come together and actually function as a live event.

Finally, at 11pm, the audience began to file into the screening of the The Shining, being treated to an immersive feature of female twins in blue dresses standing back-lit at the end of the corridor where the cinema screens are located (one of whom was portrayed by our fellow Future Producer, Amy Draper). This was just another unnerving little feature for the audience to get in the mood for the film.

shining event twins

During the screening, the team and I were able to begin clearing and tidying up the Waterside spaces, which would be closed off to members of the public after the screening. We also began preparing the Cafe/Bar by transforming it into the Gold Room; the ballroom in which the spirits of the hotel influence Jack to kill his family in the film. The Cafe/Bar would be the space where the audience could have a drink before the end of the event, relax and discuss their experience, and collect their belongings from the temporary cloakroom we had set up. The post-screening experience in the Cafe/Bar would also be the opportunity for us to gain feedback from the audience through the feedback forms that we had compiled; which included questions concerning the audience members’ age, how they heard about the event, whether they live in the Bristol area, what they particularly enjoyed about the event, what they would improve, whether they were new to the Watershed, and whether they would come again.

Feedback and Evaluation
As the screening finished, and the audience entered our transformed Gold Room, I headed up collecting feedback from audience members with the great help of fellow Future Producer, Hannah. Such feedback was later correlated by the Watershed, and demonstrated that the night was successful in its entertainment value, and in an important aim of our brief; that our audience would be keen to return to the Watershed for other events and screenings.

Shining-Analysis_Page-1 Shining-Analysis_Page-2

Experiences Gained and Lessons Learned
This whole experience of organizing an immersive cinematic event along with a season of films, and bringing such a project to fruition was a truly fantastic experience for me. Working with professional artists as well as with a prestigious cinema and artistic space such as the Watershed was a real privilege, and I now feel I have more confidence in collaborating with professionals I could otherwise have found intimidating. I really enjoyed focusing upon the aspect of online promotion, and such experience has since been useful during my second year at Warwick University, where I have become a volunteer for the marketing department (a Student Arts Representative) of the Warwick Arts Centre, specifically targeting marketing for the student population which predominantly includes online promotion. Indeed, if I were to change anything about my participation in the event, I would like to have explored the effectiveness of online promotion more comprehensively, liaising more with the Watershed’s Communications department to gain more experience and knowledge of effective online promotion. Seeing the process of how such a big event as an immersive cinema event can be successfully achieved has made me more confident to take up leadership roles within the arts, such as that of a director and producer. Indeed, as a testament to this experience, I am about to direct my first play at university, and I feel that the skills and knowledge gained from organizing the BFI Gothic Season events at the Watershed have put me in good stead to make my production, in all aspects from tech, to promotion, to the quality of performances, a success.