Difference between revisions of "How To Be A Cinema"

Getting Started

If you dream of owning a cinema or fancy your hand at showing films to others – but don’t know where to start – you’ve come to the right place. This wiki is designed and structured to give you a complete overview of all the facets of screening films. From the big important points like screening rights and finding a venue down to the minor worries like how much is too much to pay for custom cupcakes.

With vast leaps in technology, cinema is more accessible than ever to put on or capture an audience for. So without further ado here are the main categories that cover everything you need to cover as you prepare for your screening:

The Film

Looking at the process of picking films, how to track down the screening rights, the different kinds of screening rights (Theatrical vs Non Theatrical), formats, checking copyright © and a selection of best practices to help make the process as painless as possible. This first step helps to set everything else in motion. Once you have selected your film (or films) for screening this filters down into every subsequant step. After all, you don't want to book a venue, build an audience, sell tickets and get an expert speaker for a night of Akira Kurosawa films, if it turns out you can't get the rights sorted.

The Venue

Whether you are looking to screen in somebody else's venue or in your own we look at venue licencing; the equipment and technology to consider; the accessibility and health and safety requirements of your screening; and other important factors in dealing with a venue. We'll also touch upon what most venues will expect from you as a user of their space and how to best approach the money aspect of using a venue. Building a succesful relationship with a venue not only makes it easier for you to come back with another screening in the future but also makes the venue more accessible to other screeners and events.

The Identity

Whatever the reason for your screening of a film, there's almost always an identity involved. No matter if it's a screening as part of a community event, a venue's own regular film night, a monthly film club that moves from venue to venue or a one-off season or night of films, an identity provides a quick indication to potential audience members of what the event will be like. We'll look at how to pick a name, work on some basic branding, setting up some online presence and the potential for getting your name out and marketing on a shoestring.

The Audience

Now that you have a film, a venue and a name to put on the flyers and invites, it's time to start letting your potential audience know about your event. Depending on the type of film and venue you're screening there are different ways to approach finding your audience both through online and traditional avenues. If you're event is going to be ticketed who will organise the sales, you or the venue? If it's a free event how are costs going to be covered for space and rights? What will you do if three hundred people turn up to your thirty seat screening?

The Event

So now that you know what you're going to screen and where; sorted the licence, the dates and got the word out it's time for your event. All your preparation so far has gone into structuring the event and now it's time to screen. This section deals with everything from checks to perform on the day and common stumbling blocks to a smooth running event. We'll also go through some post-game analysis techniques to help you refine your process and make your next event even more succesful.

The Money

When it comes to the money for rights, venues and working with partners it's always best to be clear and honest. Whether it's negotiating the proportions of the takings with a venue, commissioning a designer to help with a poster or paying for your licence money is one of the big obstacles but don't be shy, we can point you in the right direction. Whether it's negotiating the proportions of the takings with a venue, commissioning a designer to help with a poster, recompensing a guest speaker or paying for your licence; money is one of the big obstacles. Don't be shy when talking about money with the other people you work with for your screening.

The Love

While money is an important part of any screening event, passion for film and the cinema community also plays an important part in the success of a good event. Film is a permeating cultural activity, it touches on other disciplines such as books, music and photography. Public screenings have been a part of most societies for over a hundred years and in putting on a screening you are becoming part of that legacy. We'll look at the broader context for film screenings as well as hearing from some veteran film screeners who share advice and guidance on why they do what they do.

The Partners

Perhaps you want to join up with other independent creators or makers. Could be a local designer to help with marketing materials, a local food maker, guest speakers or anyone else that can provide value to your screening. How do you decide what's appropriate for your event and how to find and engage other people.

Could be a local designer to help with marketing materials, a local food maker, guest speakers or anyone else that can provide value to your screening. How do you decide what's appropriate for your event and how to find and engage other people.

The Resources

Here we house everything from leaflet and poster templates to guideline documents and useful links that didn't fit in anywhere else to colour guides, font resources and free graphic software. This is a jumble box treasure trove of the miscellaneous.

Here we house everything from leaflet and poster templates to guideline documents and useful links that didn't fit in anywhere else to colour guides, font resources and free graphic software. This is a jumble box treasure trove of the miscellaneous.