My local cinema wants to show my wedding films.
 

Last week I got a letter from the local Odeon cinema. Odeon are one of the biggest, if not the biggest chain of cinemas in the UK. I opened the letter to expect some blurb about the lastest blockbuster now showing or an arts evening. Instead it was a very interesting read.

So I called them up for a chat. And very interesting it was too. Now I have a new service to offer my clients. Because from now I am able to offer couples the chance for them to see their wedding film, shot by yours truly, on the big screen at the cinema!

Now I don't expect many to take up this service even though its been priced very fairly. Its a multiplex, with various screen sizes, ranging from 100 seats up to the main cinema screen and 687 seats. Pricewise, it would cost me £200 for the small screen for three hours, or £550 for the big screen. Now I would have to stick my percentage on top of those prices, because I wouldn't do it for nothing. The guests would be greeted with a champagne reception and then sit down to watch the movie. Obviously they show normal realesed movies like any other cinema but any morning is available for this to happen.

And boy do I want to see my work up on the big screen!


Thoughts? Would you offer this to your clients?

that is just too cool for words....Odeon cinemas must be doing badly in the recession or something, but i say use it to your advantage....absolutely 110% offer this to your customers! what customer wouldn't want to show off their big day in such a unique way?!

they pay you x amount for the service and could even charge their mates £5 entry, to get some of their money back...everyone's a winner :)


i hope i get that letter from the Odeon too now!

Blimey, how lucky are you, that's gonna get you talked about.
Are the invites to the viewing from the couple only or can anybody turn up and buy a ticket ?
If anybody could turn up then it's worth you advertising the "event", that'd be like you having your own wedding fair, with no other competitors.
I can imagine that at least one person/couple in that audience is getting married so if you get one job out of it then it's worthwhile.

some of my bits and bobs and weddings here

Paul Kellett Channel on Vimeo

only available on your small pc screen though !!

Paul.

That sounds awesome. Come to think of it, I bet almost any theatre would offer this service, but just don't advertise. I keep seeing ads before films pushing the rental of their theatre for corporate presentations. It's essentially the same thing, no? And what theatre wouldn't provide a small screening room for that amount of money for three hours on a weekday afternoon - or even a Monday night?

My biggest concern is how many people would show up for a morning screening? But if the clients are willing to pay for it I suppose it wouldn't matter if two people came or one hundred people came. And the price is certainly reasonable.

Hey Richard - that doesn't come across too well :-) Steve - I'm sure the Odeon is hoping to make money on this venture too. Have they seen any of your films? Know how long they run?

I've just had one of mine shown on the big screen at the Thurrock Theatre in Essex. I simply handed the projectionist the SD 16:9 DVD I'd made, and it looked pretty darn good (so I suspect an upscaling player at work in the projection booth). My disc was printed with running time, PAL, 16:9 and a note to say it would auto-start with no menu page.

But maybe you plan on showing Blu-ray? Whatever happens I'd get to talk to the projectionist about the delivery medium, the aspect ratio and the count-down leader.

The film after mine had obviously been shot 4:3 and was composed of stills taken at the liberation of Auschwitz. Unfortunately the projectionist also showed this 16:9, fattening up all the inmates in the process. A disastrous mistake.

tom.

haha, tom, you're right...that looks worse when written!

i'd love to see my work on the big screen....i've used a projector to play stuff on the side of a house which was pretty impressive, but on a screen with curtains that draw back?! now we're talking! :)

I'll come back to this Steve. It'll take a lot of organising as presumably the Odeon will want paying up front (by you) and you'll have to get someone to sell / distribute tickets, send out maps, timetables, detail available carparks and actually get the money in.
It's this last bit that will prove to be difficult with far-flung and distant relatives.

tom, i'd say you can cut most of that worry out.

steve sells the package to the customer, books it for a particular morning agreed with by odeon and by the couple. then it's absolutely up to the couple to do the rest (i.e. invite their friends/family, send out maps, times, worry about distant relatives etc etc). All steve has to do is get the movie played at the right time (and cheekily invite a few mates, and future customers too :)

Wow that is soooo cool!

If I was a bride I would sooo want that!

Sounds like inviting your friends over to watch paint dry.


But seriously, that sounds interesting. Maybe they will let you do the first one for free. I would also want to preview one before making the arrangements and then finding it dosen't look good (noise, etc.) on the big screen.

How is it going to be screened?

Before recommending that a client spend $$ why not take along yr media , and a couple of objective observers - see for yourself.

I have seen some professionally produced local ads that look baaaaaaaaaad on the big screen.

Exactly right. I get paid for the whole package including the screening. I ask the couple when they want to see it. I then arrange with the Odeon on times and pay them (having already been paid). The couple and their friends show up, drink champagne and watch the movie.

My movies last for 1 hour 30 on average. Not much longer.

Delivery? The Odeon said to bring along a DVD, but thats not good enough IMO. If there's a HDMI into the projector, I would either bring along my playstation 3 for blue ray delivery, or Popcorn Hour ( more apt!) streaming 1080P HD of the hghest quality I can muster. It would look far superior to SD DVD.

Simple as that. It's a new initiative from the local cinema. Money for nothing for them. How many do they get in one of their small cinemas on a tuesday morning? None.

Could well be worth asking your local cinema if they would do this for you.

Let us know the outcome Steve. One of the best things about these forums is the way we're informed that a new post has been added to the chain even years later.

Must say my SD DVD looked pretty good up there on the big screen and the sound was wow! Shot on a Z1 and played off a 7 mbps Storm encoded DVD so it looked pretty good on my little 46" LCD at home.

One thing I noticed was that although my film lookd sharp enough the theatre's projector lost a lot of detail in the highlights and a lot of my footage looked blown out. I wonder if your 1080p footage through HDMI would retain more of the video dynamic range?

tom.

I would look into using a WD TV to present the video. No inherent DVD problems!

This is a very cool idea. I'm assuming your local theater needs to be digital cinema ready. I read about how Odeon is upgrading all their theaters in the UK. I did talk to the manager at our local multiplex about a year ago and they were still thinking about the move to digital at the time. Something like $100K per screen for the upgrade to the new projectors.