My initial thinking had been to go across the country filming various different cinema theatre buildings.

But eventually I scaled that thinking back into the more practical and cost effective pursuit of focusing on essentially five different groupings of cinema theatre buildings…

• A large format cinema theatre building, such as the BFI IMAX
• A small scale independent and heritage cinema theatre building, such as The Little Theatre Cinema in Bath.
• A multiplex cinema theatre building, such as your standard Odeon or more opulent Showcase Cinema De Lux
• A restoration cinema theatre building, such as the Everyman in Bristol.
• A cultural cinema theatre building, such as The Watershed in Bristol.

A major influence on the visual design and majestic thematic presentation for The Cinema Complex was the Chartres sequence from Orson Welles’ F For Fake…

Undoubtedly, the shape and focus of the documentary would have evolved throughout it’s creation.

But I knew the best starting point would be to film an examination of the three cinema groupings and then craft a narrative structure from that foundation.

The documentary would have presented each building and explored how each compliments and threatens the existence of the others; all while presenting the immersive experience case for viewing films in the cinema.

The idea for the documentary developed from my BA (Hons) theoretical dissertation, Ways of Being: The Spectator and the Spectacle.

Specifically, the idea found its inception in Chapter Two – Hypercinema: The Implications of the Spectacle as a Hyper-Immersive Commodity and what was originally Chapter Three, but for various submittable word count reasons, ended up being Appendix F – The Multiplex is in Trouble: The Aesthetic Downfalls of Low Standards and LieMAXes. 

Between these two chapters I did a lot of research into the different types of cinema theatre buildings and the different film experiences they can provide to the film viewer.

Viewing a mind-blowing experience of being catapulted through a wormhole on a massive IMAX screen, as was the case with Interstellar, is a very different experience to watching Fantastic Mr Fox in a small and intimate and retro setting like The Little Theatre Cinema in Bath.

Furthermore, I found the writing of these two chapters somewhat frustrating because all the time I was describing these different cinema settings with their different architectural mechanics, I kept thinking to myself, “This would be so much easier to convey if I just went and filmed then and cut together an illustrative video essay.”

Crucially, I’ve always held a deep fascination towards cinema theatre buildings so the idea of making a documentary about this subject was an obvious filmmaking project for me to pursue.

Therefore, after I had graduated with my BA (Hons), I started to look towards developing a more ambitious documentary project.

I knew making the documentary on my own would be a tall order so right from the start I was keen to bring a second person on board the project.

The first person I thought of was George Oram who was a fellow student I had worked with and got to know during the final year of my BA (Hons).

I had worked with George on another fellow student’s short film that I had produced, Remember This, for which George had been the cinematographer.

George had already demonstrated he had the technical capability to work on a documentary project and, in particular, what I really needed was someone else who was a strong camera man.

I still wasn’t sure what exactly shape the documentary would take, but, because it was a very personal project, there was always the possibility that I might actually appear in the documentary and present the subject to camera, for which I would need someone else to be behind the camera.

However, George wasn’t just skilled as a camera man; he was well versed in all aspects of filmmaking practice.

This is exactly what I needed someone who possessed a multi-skillset and who could think on their feet – Both being things that George had demonstrated when were making Remember This.

There was another reason why I wanted to get George involved, I knew that the subject of cinema theatre buildings was something that would also interest him!

So I invited George aboard and sent him the video below in  which I laid out my initial abstract thinking for The Cinema Complex documentary…

In the video, I talk about two lines of thought.

The first line of thought refers to my idea to create a documentary that explores cinema heritage and the fascination with cinema theatre buildings.

The second line of thought refers to the re-assessment I had gone through regarding my personal viewership of films.

Studying film at university had caused me to question many of the basic assumptions about all aspects of film, but, in particular, my final year of university had really pushed me to radically re-think what films are, what roles they play in society and the types of experiences we can gain from them depending on how we view them, i.e. on an iPad or in an IMAX auditorium.

My theoretical dissertation had enabled me to start thinking very differently about films and how they’re viewed.

Then all the filmmaking practice I did throughout my final year allowed me to experiment with that thinking; as well as attempt to represent that thinking in a filmic form.

Film form as being an expression of human consciousness is something I explored in the short film/pilot episode for my practical dissertation…

So this second line of thought regarding the question of basic film form and film viewing assumptions was also a subject I wanted to explore within the vehicle of a documentary about cinema theatre buildings.

This second line of thought is also where the Breaking Cinema podcast was born.

For a time, the working title for The Cinema Complex was in fact “Breaking Cinema”.

Until I decided to develop a podcast project distinct from the cinema documentary and took the name “Breaking Cinema” with me.

I played with a few other working titles which included: “Cinema Breakdown” and “Now Showing”

But eventually I hit on The Cinema Complex which I felt was a much stronger and appropriate title for the documentary overall because it references both the cinema building itself as well as the psychological obsession I and many others have towards cinema theatre buildings.

The pre-production period was concerned with focusing the original idea into a filmable narrative end product; as well as looking at various different cinema building filming candidates.

However, as part of my research, I also wanted to gain a stronger understanding of cinema heritage in the UK.

Cinema theatre heritage

Throughout 2015, I became a member of Cinema Theatre Association which is an incredible organization that draws attention to all cinema and theatre buildings that have ever existed, from the humblest converted hall to the most modern multiplex.

Membership in the association also gives you access to their archive; as well as a number or magazine publications that are delivered to your door and proved invaluable for further immersing me in love and enthusiasm for cinema theatre buildings.

Reading through each of the periodicals was a very enjoyable and eye-opening experience.

I knew there was a lot of love for cinema theatre buildings but I didn’t realise just how much time and attention other cinema theatre enthusiasts put into the subject.

No only is there a lot of appreciate for cinema theatre buildings past and present, but there is an equal amount of love that goes into documenting those cinema theatre buildings and all the stories around them.

The Cinema Theatre Association was most definitely a huge help in my research for The Cinema Complex.

Cinemas to be examined

In terms of what cinema theatre buildings I was looking at to capture on film, there were five focuses I wanted to explore…

Focus 1 – Large Format Cinema – BFI IMAX

I knew I was definitely going to go after the BFI IMAX because I have a lot of love for that building and had already done a lot of research on it for my dissertation.

Furthermore, the BFI IMAX is the biggest cinema screen in the UK so it’s the ultimate example of a large format cinema.

Focus 2 – Small Independent Cinema – The Little Theatre Cinema

Another cinema I hold a lot of love for is The Little Theatre Cinema in Bath.

I got to know this little gem of a cinema from my time being an undergraduate and not only was I able to watch commercially released films there, but I was also able to view student produced films there as part of my BA (Hons) studies.

The clue is in the name, it really is a little cinema and would have been perfect for exploring the documentary’s focus on small independent cinemas.

Focus 3 – Mid-range Multiplex Cinema – Odeon or Showcase Cinema De Lux (or both)

Two multiplex cinemas I attended quite frequently in Bristol were the Odeon in Broadmead and the Showcase Cinema De Lux in Cabot Circus.

The Cinema De Lux is a massive multi-screen cinema that would easily have allowed me to present and explore the trappings of the modern multiplex cinema theatre building.

The Odeon wasn’t really a multiplex or, at least, it wasn’t a multiplex on the scale of something like the Cinema De Lux.

The Odeon was a much smaller and intimate multiplex cinema that is housed inside what used to be a much bigger cinema theatre building.

Due to it’s previous history of once being a single screen picture house that had originally opened in the 1930s; as well as it’s current and reduced/expanded status as a small scale multiplex cinema, I felt that it would make for an interesting inclusion in the documentary.

Most likely, I would have filmed both the Showcase and the Odeon because comparing and contrasting would have presented a better overview of just how varied and quirky even the supposedly uniform multiplex cinemas can be.

Focus 4 – Cinema Building Restoration – The Everyman in Clifton

I was also quite keen to include the regeneration of the Everyman in Clifton.

The Everyman has since opened and is not a fully functioning and very popular cinema here in Bristol.

However, back when I was first developing the documentary, the cinema was still being restored for its re-opening in 2016.

The cinema was originally opened in the 1920s and was a much beloved venue of the Clifton community which is what made the drive for its restoration from 2001 onwards such an interesting representation of the passion people hold towards cinema heritage.

Focus 5 – Cinema Cultural Centre – Watershed

It would have been criminal to make a documentary about cinema theatre buildings in the Bristol and Bath area without including the Watershed.

The Watershed is the embodiment of yet another type of cinema experience which is the cinema as a cultural community centre.

Watershed is a cultural cinema, a creative technology research and development space (the Pervasive Media Studio), a Café & Bar and a Conference & Events space.

It is recognised internationally as a leading centre for film culture, art and technology practice, and talent development programmes.

Practice filming

Another reason why I wanted to bring George aboard the project is because he was still a student at my university (he was a year behind me) so he still had access to the university’s filmmaking equipment.

Having access to the university’s equipment was hugely cost saving because it meant I didn’t need to buy my own filming equipment.

Another advantage of George having access to the equipment is that it allowed us to perform some practice filming together and to build up a working report with one another.

The Miracle of Crowdfunding served as the perfect opportunity to conduct some practice filming with George in 2014.

What originally was envisioned a single 3-minute crowdfunding pitch video very quickly snowballed into a much grander filming undertaking over about three months.

It gave me and George a great deal of time to work together and to establish a working shorthand.

While The Miracle of Crowdfunding was its own distinct project, I kept encouraging George to treat it as an opportunity to hone to type of documentary filming we would need for The Cinema Complex.

Both the Breaking Cinema podcast and The Miracle of Crowdfunding (and later The Miracle Mockumentary) developed as offshoots of The Cinema Complex documentary.

I also developed the documentary alongside my 365 FRAMES 2015 experimental filmmaking project and my Cameo Microfilms.

Crucially, as well, I had the building of my MTA Portfolio happening behind the development of all these other projects.

2014 through to 2016 was a hugely creative period of my life that was both very fulfilling, but also incredibly draining.

Basically, I just took on more than I could handle which is why Breaking Cinema, The Miracle of Crowdfunding, The Miracle Mockumentary and The Cinema Complex now all exist as unfinished projects.

I abandoned them all because I realised I could not complete them all at the same time and, when I determined my priorities, I realised that my top priority was the completion of my MTA Portfolio.

It’s a shame because it really felt like The Cinema Complex was my passion project, but it just never came together back in the 2014-2016 period of hyper-creativity.

But it’s still a good idea that may yet see the light of a cinema projector, which is I don’t actually consider this project abandoned, it is just waiting for me to take it back off the shelf.