The new entertainment culture

secret cinema

very much part of the new entertainment is the Secret Cinema phenomenon that is rapidly losing its secrecy (6,000+ members on Facebook already, God knows how many on the actual site, but then it has been in the Guardian). Still they have managed to keep the secret well, and only a handful of people have written about the experiences to date. Although this could just be a lack of follow-up buzz rather than well managed covertness:)

The premise is to show a film in an appropriate location, but also bring that location alive. So they showed Funny Face at London Fashion Week. Hopefully the next one will be slightly more mysterious...

INterestingly this week the Zutons have announced that their new tour will be taking place in forests across the country. Not sure what Scousers and trees have in common, but seems to be part of the same movement to give us entertainment in unexpected places...

blockbuster of the future

so, i went to see 'the beta version of the blockbuster of the future' this week, Beowulf, in 3D at the IMAX. Now, without wanting to sound too Nathan Barley, we launched commercial films at the Science Museum's IMAX three years ago, and at the time it wasn't doing so well. People were moving away from the cinema and enjoying the comfort of the home and the delivery of large flat-screens and surround sound systems, and the IMAX set up itself had not developed in 15 years and was becoming a relic instead of the prophesy of the future it had once been.

But now the crystal ball gazing has come back, with the new technology from 3ality, which allows directors to see the 3d footage as they film it for the first time, and allegedly will soon allow live streaming of 3D. So the experience they have gained from shooting U2 3D could one day be done at the same time as the performance.

Unfortunately the film itself was a little bit disappointing. It was certainly spectacular - the deep panoramic scenery shots far more than the action sequences. There was gore (huge amounts for a 12A - bodies being torn in half and munched on) and eroticism - from a semi naked drunken Antony Hopkins, to totally naked and digitally perfected Ray Winstone and Angelina Jolie's (if such a thing is possible).

But for all it's realism it was just a bit cartoony, lacked credibility. And for some reason they thought a story that had survived 1,500 years needed a new (inferior) plot involving some kind of strange reverse Oedipal complex.

It's definitely exciting as a herald for the return of the glorious cinematic event, but it is the live aspects that appeal to me more than the glory of 3D, which still feels just a little bit Captain Eo.

who needs tv?

Interesting to see two articles on the ‘new entertainment’ (my phrase, not theirs) in successive weeks of the harbinger of cutting edge entertainment The Guardian Guide (whose vocabulary of criticism always leaves me breathless with envy).

The first article was about the evolution of the new neverending series format pioneered by HBC with the likes of Lost and Heroes; that the worlds and plots of these shows are so complicated that you have to commit to them, and stick with them every week for years as they evolve over several series. There have always been long-running entertainment formats, Quantum Leap and The X Files most memorably for me, but the over-arching story could be summed up in the first minute, and then provided just the backdrop for the self-contained episodes. Whereas now the wider story is everything, and not just in terms of the ever-convoluting television plot, but now in a wider canon that seeks to provide a contextual backdrop of character social media profiles, biographies and sub-plots – the Silmarillion to television’s Lord of the Rings (and mostly equally as dull).

The following week’s story was about the latest generation of online entertainment, online shows such as Quarterlife and Kate Modern, that blends the surrounding content more succinctly with the main show to create a world that you not only consume, but also can get involved in – interacting with the characters as if they were actually your friends (as the pioneering LonelyGirl15 on YouTube actually pretended to be, much to the horror of said ‘friends’ when they found out she was a fictional construct.

However, there is still the all important next step to be taken (other than actually making them entertaining) – that allows the audience to interact with not just the characters and elements surrounding the story, but the plot itself. That allows them to cross the line between fiction and reality and become part of the story themselves.

It will happen, my guess is next year. Well, that’s the plan anyway…