Intelligent Cinema for Intelligent People Paralysed by Choice.

[Richard Saville-Smith]

I missed Filmcamp a couple of weeks ago (sorry Arvind), but I have to say I hadn't really thought through the implications for cinema of a joined up digital platform for arts events in Scotland. But I went to EDCM this morning and just got it - bang.

Why is it that I don't go to more films at independent cinemas like the Filmhouse? I could look up their website, read their programme or sign up for a newsletter - and let's not forget the List - there's ENOUGH information. But the reason I don't go is because I don't know about what is going to be brilliant - for me. All of their films are brilliant for someone (I suppose) so they are dealt with in a kind of standardised format with each given a pretty much similar amount of space and work through of detail and plot. For me (not an expert) this is like having to choose a single film out of a crowd - based only on marketing content. Never going to work.

This is hopelessly old fashioned. But what if I was part of a Scotland wide Web 2.0 arts platform and I had my own space. In that space I could make a list of my favourite films and my favourite directors. The intelligent people at the Filmhouse, the GFT and anywhere else could then interrogate the system with their programme and drop me a line with Films that matched - maybe by the same director, maybe using their personal recommendation - if you like that, why not this? Of course if they spam me, I'll just ignore. But if I could get a single film intelligently plucked from their crowded programme and recommended to me, I can assure you I'd take that suggestion seriously.

AND. If cinemas could interrogate the whole system to find out what people in Scotland actually like, they might be surprised and they could learn from our personal preferences when it came to shaping their programme.

Web 2.0 - don't you love it.

[Rachael Castell]

Right - as promised - I'm back with an update! The iPhone app is now in development and we are working away to have a beta model running for a couple of cinemas by Christmas (there's nothing like being ambitious!). It'll be free to partner cinemas and will mean that they have their own app with personalised recommendations for the user from their programme, as well as listings info, social media feeds and a checking in function. It's a small first step, but you have to start somewhere!

In addition, we just launched a news and innovations site very much inspired by 38minutes.co.uk but just for people working in independent cinema. It's here: http://bit.ly/fs9WaH So do forward it on to any cinema people you know!

Thoughts, feedback, suggestions etc. on any or all of the above welcome as always.

Rach :)

[Jen Davies]

Richard - Well, it certainly sounds worthwhile and you seem to be gathering a bit of momentum around these conversations. Do drop me a line if you want to chat further about any of this. I do love throwing ideas around...

Theresa - let's have a catch up about all this. Will email you.

J

[Rachael Castell]

Hello everyone - and Richard, thanks so much for your post - it's sparked a fabulous debate. Who knew when you made that little snowball....!

Anyway, just wanted to pop my head in seeing as SylC (Support your local Cinema) has been brought up (I'm the project coordinator). As Jen and Theresa mention, our thinking is very much along the lines of your initial post (with a long view reflecting later comments sort of bubbling away on the back burner!). It's so great to know though that our plans are indeed reflecting the needs of audiences as well as cinemas. We are currently researching and workshopping potential products that will be designed to provide exactly the kind of service that you are dreaming of! Building on the skills and experience of moveipilot.com.

I'll definitely be posting more on here about SylC as we progress. So, to echo our Scottish partners.... 'watch this space' :)

Rachael

[Theresa Valtin]

Oh, only just got your last two comments displayed now. All very interesting thoughts. Jen, hope to catch up soon x

[Theresa Valtin]

Hi Richard, I can only reinforce what Jen's said above. Filmhouse is also a Support Your Local Cinema partner, so watch this space....
We've also been immensely successful with the launch of the free Filmhouse Loyalty Card (back in Sept 2008) which enables us to target and tailor our communication with audiences in the way Jen describes. Of course, it takes a while to build up a solid CRM database, and as customer you have to have articulated your interest in a certain type of cinema/genre/etc previously (by purchasing tickets for at least two french films in the last six months - in Jen's example), but CRM Marketing has definitely been one of our most effective tools in the last couple of years. And it's directly trackable, hurrah!
One of our main interests at the moment is looking at ways of better integrating traditional CRM Marketing and social media intelligence...
Best,
Theresa

[Richard Saville-Smith]

Hi Jen, I don't know about you but I find it all gets a bit infectious when you start thiking through the possibilities - especially knowing that digital empowerment means audiences will come up with their own genius applications.

If I haven't done so already, I'd like to make a case for a non-global approach. I really believe there's a particular overlap between culture, geography and nation - so I like the idea of building a Scottish version and then selling the IP to the French (etc) so that they can interpret it in their own inimitable gallic manner - as opposed to just being a filter on a global technological offering - kind of puts makes the product secondary to the people!

I'm feeling this whole idea should be put into a great big proposal and pushed uphill until it gets to the top and then we can watch it roll down the other side.

[Jen Davies]

I like the direction your thoughts are going in relation to this - it seems immediately apparent that a Scotland wide digital cultural infrastructure would be of great benefit to the country's cultural life, help everyone navigate the vast quantities of arts programming out there and generally do great things for every cultural organisation in relation to audience development. The benefits to smaller venues/ one off events would be amazing too.

We now live in a world where people can spot a turkey of a film in moments with a quick google search - and here at GFT we don't try to heavily 'market' individual films - it just doesn't work. My team and I spend our time trying to ensure that the right people know about the films that they might want to see. With a programme of over 600 different films and events a year plus a festival screening 250 titles over 11 days our main focus is putting out clear brochures with copy which accurately describes the film, ensuring our listings are up to date and we have various blanket things which cover everything - our newsletter goes out each Thursday with details of everything for the subsequent week, our listings go out to S1, The List, The Skinny, The Press Association and we send out press releases each month detailing key film titles, special events etc. On top of that, we go through our programme and try and work out who the audience is for each title/event and then contact them through a range of means to try and get the word out there. It sometimes works, it sometimes doesn't.

So how would GFT/GFF work with a Scotland-wide digital network? Well, if I was planning this network…
On the whole - we (as organisations) wouldn't. Our audiences would.

From our point of view it would be great to:
- Create an organisation profile - logo, link to site, feed from official twitter.
- Have our listings which are out there connected to this profile so those looking at GFT could see what's on.
- Have the ability to add an official blurb/ link to official site/ youtube trailer to any event.

Events shouldn't be tied to venues/organisations but they should be linked - so that organisations who want to can offer people more - e.g, their own resources, programme notes, interviews with upcoming guests etc. Things like films show at multiple venues across a city/country, programmes tour - going for the events as the main thing seems the only way this could work...

If the site then:
- Provides space on the events where the listings can be commented upon by those visiting them/attending etc
- That events can be recommend to their friends in their own networks and shared 'I will be going to this' / 'you might like this' etc
- If you create a profile with the site, it learns what you like (so I guess user rating of events needs to be actively encouraged) and recommends things coming up near you which you might find of interest (by both email in daily/weekly digests and on logging in).

And, It seems that only now are we on the brink of geo-specific sites - it's not just apps that will be able to answer 'what's near me now'. If this site then also could answer 'what's near me now that I would like' - then the site has cracked it.

We're trying to do a few of these things with our new site. While planning this it amazed me that sharing listings and enabling conversations isn't the norm, that no cinemas and film festivals I looked at were doing these things when the technology is so readily available.

The listings side of things is key to the whole thing and needs joining up - but this isn't impossible. Most listings are out there in various forms, some more accurate that others, pulling these in wouldn't be that complicated - perhaps from the Press Association - http://www.pressassociation.com/listings.html ? Although, when I spoke to The List magazine last year they were working on an open source listings project where they came up with some standards and planned to make this freely available. Perhaps if this project is nearing completion it'd be worth looking into? Not sure if this is wider reaching than Glasgow/Edinburgh though.

The country prides itself on its creative and digital economy - a bit of smart thinking and investment, a joining up of the dots and a user-friendly (mobile browser friendly / outward looking hub of a) site would be all that would be needed to lead the way globally (and while we're at it, let's make sure broadband penetration is 100% so even a craft event happening in a village hall on Lewis is part of this).

As I see it, make it all about audiences - helping them access the things that are happening and find the things that they would like and it'll work.

Starting with Scotland is a great idea - it prides itself on its digital economy and cultural output and is a country with a great history of inventing stuff - but this really should be global…

[Richard Saville-Smith]

Jen - Love it - all of it.

My post is in the context of the idea of a digital platform for all the arts and all the audiences in Scotland - somethig with crtical mass where people can talk across and between the arts, where they can be treated as participants with more than one interest, without having to go to multiple websites or multiple facebook pages. I'm slowly working through the idea live on 38minutes see here and here and here and here and I've met up with a whole lot of people who have helped open my eyes to the possibilities.

My question back to you Jen is how the GFT and GFF might work with a Scotland wide digital network. Seems to me that it would be congruent with all you do....

If you like the idea, let's look beyond Facebook and build something that is truly fit for purpose!

[Jen Davies]

Hi Richard,

GFT and many other independent cinemas across Europe are partners in a pilot run by the folks behind http://www.moviepilot.de/ - a site which works a bit like last.fm but for (mainly mainstream/blockbuster) films. It learns what you like from your reviews, recommendations and the suggestions of your peers and offers personalised recommendations of films you might be interested in.

This pilot project - called Support Your Local Cinema http://supportyourlocalcinema.wordpress.com/about-sylc/ aims to do what moviepilot.de does in Germany for blockbusters but for independent film and cinemas - helping audiences navigate vast programmes of cultural moving image work to find out what they might actually want to see. As partners in this pilot we'll shortly be trying out a few of the tools they're developing - I'll keep you posted on here as things develop…

As for using social media to find out what people like, that's one of the reasons why we invest so much time in Facebook and Twitter as an organisation. Sure, it's a great last minute marketing tool for when a films director decides to attend and offers to do a Q and A but it also enables us to programme what our audience wants to see. We regularly take requests for our late night classics programme through facebook and twitter and this summer we asked our audience which arthouse favourites they wanted to see back on the big screen. We had over a hundred requests, screened nine films (the ones most requested which we could get hold of). There were lots of conversations online around the films we screened and we saw larger audiences than in the same Sunday evening slot in July/Aug 09.

We're currently building a new site which has sharability on social media and conversations as part of it. Every listing will have a share this on Facebook/Twitter button so you can see what your friends are watching/talking about and there'll be spaces under listings for comments/reviews - the films most discussed are then also given additional prominence within the site.

On top of all this, and more of a long term aim (I don't think we'll even get started on planning this before GFF11 next Feb) is the possible introduction of a new free loyalty card scheme which would enable us to better understand how our customers attend the cinema and enable us to communicate directly with people who attend specific types of shows. Wouldn't it be nice if everyone who held a GFT card who had been to two french films in the last six months received an email offering priority booking on a great French director attending a preview screening of a new film?

Any thoughts/ feedback about any of this is most welcome. We, as many organisations are just feeling our way through this maze of social media possibilities. All insights appreciated.

Best wishes,
Jen

[Richard Saville-Smith]

You are!

Certainly be happy to have a chat.