MediaActive is working on Adventures with young people aged 15 to 23 years in rural Shropshire, exploring cinema ‘beyond the multiplex’

Our Young Programmers are learning about different genres of film and thinking about new ways to stimulate interest by other young people in trying something ‘un-hollywood’

Ideas Generation is a key part of the programme

Adventures seeks to:

• connect young people to the world of specialised film and film exhibition

• create opportunities for young people to learn more about the cinema exhibition industry, including archives

• enable young people to become film programmers and advocates for specialised film

Adventures also considers how young people can make best use

of their local, often rural and part-time cinema venues, and how

those venues might better attract younger audiences.

USP of small community venues?

Can’t compete with multiplex seating so create something

completely different – indoor picnics for example!

Young Programmer sessions operate as regular short after school or

evening sessions, or as intensive 1 or 2 day sessions, sometimes as

part of a film industry work experience commitment by the

participant.

Adventures in Alternative Cinema blog

www.mediaactive.org

Young Programmers then go on to programme film and

cinema based events, promotional and engagement activity

with a view to engaging more young people, and the wider

public, in enjoying specialised film.

Adventures

in Alternative

Cinema

blog

Engagement Activity:Events have included interactive presentations, designed with

younger audiences in mind, using a selection of film clips with input

from guest speakers and filmmakers.

• Introduction to World Cinema

• Introduction to Documentary

• Introduction to British Cinema

• Introduction to Artists Moving Image

Engagement Activity:Pop Up Screenings - indoor skate park, high street shop windows,

supermarkets, busy market cafés during Shrewsbury Food Festival

filmmaking workshops using archive film

Special offers & branding cinema screenings targeting younger audiences

Social Media• Small scale interventions - new ideas to capture interest……….

Crowd sourcing –

post your vote to

facebook

analogue tweets

analogue tweets

Some of the things we have learned

• Generally participants hadn’t thought about how hard it can be

for the independent film and cinema sector to get the attention

of young people – when they recognised the “indie factor” of

non-mainstream film and cinemas they were quicker to think the sector deserved support…..and felt it was (or could be) “cool”

too.

Some of the group visiting FLAG Film Festival

at FACT in Liverpool

• When surveyed, young people didn’t appear to have a problem

with the idea of subtitles – unlike older audiences – but were less

likely to watch foreign language films because of the lack of publicity.

• Most of the young people had never experienced the WOW

factor of satellite broadcasts in a cinema either…and this could

be a potential selling point.

• Community venues that are part-time cinemas are most likely to

be set up in a way that suits the taste of the (not so young)

management committee – and are often staffed by older volunteers too…so young people may not consider the venue to

be for them.

• Young people like Uni’ style

student offers not just because

of the discount, but because

it treats them as an older age

group.

• Young people had a long list

of films that they consider to

be “classics” - films that they

have grown up watching but

have never seen in a cinema – they want to see them on

the Big Screen!

• Young people don’t want to

only programme for other

young people!

www.mediaactive.org