The Audience Spectrum
How do you engage? FLM110 Response 2

The cinema is a birthplace of new adventures, thrills and surprises. No longer are the days of surrounding a campfire to hear a new story told by the wise elders of the small town community, the cinema has almost been the natural evolution of those nostalgia filled days.
As an audience member I look to be entertained and challenged. These two points are achieved subjectively by the film itself, yet the medium in which the film is delivered is cause for affect.

When a major motion picture is released into the world, it enters movie theatres across the world. The reasoning for this (other than making huge sums of money) is to allow the audience to experience the film in an extraordinary manner, that may not be achievable in viewers homes. I go to the cinemas to experience a film in a grandeur state. To be entirely sucked in to it’s world and storytelling. Yet even with that in mind, there are some factors that can in one form or another, make or break the experience for myself. The Crowd.
There have been plenty of instances where I have gone to see a much anticipated film in theatres and have been with some of the best congregations of people. people who are quite when moments of important glimpse the screen and others who build atop of the laughter produced by some of the more comic moments on the screen. Yet there have been times that have fared quite the opposite.

A crowd that is doing anything other then watch the film they have come to see can be a real distraction, and at times pull you out of the experience. For myself this can really ruin my experience as I enjoy getting entranced by the films world and story. Nothing can be more intoxicating when you are reaching the climax of the film, only to be met with the glare of the persons phone flashing in front of you.

Which begs the question. Is the cinema worth the risk? Whilst I do enjoy the occasional trip to the ‘Big Screen’, There are moments which call for a more intimate experience. The sinking into the living room lounge, the peace and quite of your own home and the security of knowing that no one will interrupt the film is at times what I look for. The home experience may not be as extravagant as the cinema, yet it yields something different in return. A comfortable environment.
Films are meant to be an experience, yet also a device to express or tell a story. Akin to the days mentioned previously of gathering around the camp fire, these story are told to serve the purpose of conveying a point of view, theme or message. A pointless story is when with no core, no reason for its existence. A film should at times challenge me, I want to feel that in some form or another I’m learning something. Either from character development, to an overarching narrative. I want to feel as if I have come away from a film that I didn’t have before, either from the spectacle or a small line of dialogue hinting at a greater meaning. This is what cinema is for me as part of an audience, a means for telling a story.
References:
Image 1: http://www.nzfilm.co.nz/sites/nzfc/files/styles/page-banner/public/cinema%201.jpg?itok=av-QkBDJ
Image 2: http://www.kraftwerk.at/uploads/pics/SydneyTower.jpg
Image 3: https://media.10de10.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/telefone-cinema.jpg

