Ideas For Watershed Comms

- No more than £20 Immersive event, were not sure our audience will pay more than this for an event.

We thought we might want to just entice our customers in, so standard ticket price for a film but the added bonus of Music? Also the cube offers something similar for just £5.

(J agreed) I think it would be good if we could get away with doing the late night screenings for £8 and not offer free drinks

The late night ticket pricing will hinge on whether we’re including a free/discounted drink also, so I’d imagine it will be at least £10, considering we’ll also have music. (Varun)

- Buy a ticket for the Immersive event and get a late night screening half price

I think this could work the other way around seeing as the late night screenings come before the immersive event - buy a ticket for the screening and get a discount on immersive event? (Flo)

Student tickets seem to have 20% off on regular tickets at the Watershed, so £16 seems like a fair price (that’s basing it on the immersive ticket being £20 - so 20% off is fair). Not sure about discounts on other events if we get late night screenings. There probably should be enough incentive for people to go to the sole events by themselves. How about putting in early bird package deals to get all three late night screenings for £25 (if each ticket will cost £10) and maybe throw in the immersive event for £36? (Varun)

James: [On Flo’s point]: That is a thing though about the event which is that we haven’t clearly set out whether it is best to do the screening before the event and the idea of putting the screening between as Varun and J brought up would be draining and might not be the best option. [On Varuns’] The idea of offering like a big package of events could be an interesting thing to try and offer.

I was thinking maybe the student ticket and early bird would be the same price but maybe £16 and £15 Is a good shout. (J)

3. Drinks offers? Can you put together a package of ideas we can then put to out Café/Bar manager.

I agree with Flo that a £5 cocktail voucher and themed drinks is a cool idea. (J)

Lily: Rather than 5 maybe 2 for 1 as a lot of bars do 5 and 6 pound cocktails

Themed drinks good. Bourbon. Zombies .. but call it something else ..

If the audience got a voucher type card when arriving which allocated you those drinks (could be a certain number) which are then struck off by the bartender to show the person’s had a certain number. Could be a way of regulating the discount, if you see what I mean. (Alex)

An offer on a themed drink seems like a good way to go along with the offers on regular drinks. Once you collect your ticket from the box office, you get given a voucher for either a free or discounted drink (this will affect the price of the late night screenings)

For The Shining, we could have a deal on Bourbon On The Rocks, and the on top of that, we could have Advocaat and REDRUM cocktails being sold at the bar. In terms of potential food served at the immersive event, we could have more daring takes on Danny’s favourites: French Fries & Ketchup, and Chocolate Ice Cream

We would need to know how much these drinks, etc cost before we can price them really. (Varun)

4. Do we put on a drinks and ticket offer which has to be taken up by 10pm on the night to encourage the audience to get to Watershed in time to enjoy the bar?

- Happy Hour 9pm-10pm 50p-£1 off all drinks, only for ticket holders for the late night screening

Agree, and possibly implementing the drinks offers above to encourage people to hang out in the bar, with live music, DJ sets, etc. Although I may be leaning towards focusing the small drinks offer before the screening, and opening the bar up, with a happy hour after the screening - people are quite hesitant to drink anything with volume before a film - they would probably be only up for a tiny, strong shot of a spirit. But after the screening, if we have the music, encourage people to stay on with the bar open, they can discuss their thoughts on the film, hang out with their friends, buy themed drinks and offers etc (Varun)

I agree with some offers before, some offers after, could you clarify Varun which offers you think should go which side of the screening? (Zoe)

5. Any ideas or thoughts on visuals / design for a simple flyer?? (The flyer will be no larger than A5 – double sided – it can be full colour).

Similar Colour palette to the above - I like the aesthetic of this and the simplicity of the key (Flo)

I love simplistic clever images that force you to double-take because they have more to them than they first appear to (like Flo’s key which is at the same time an axe - that particular poster is one of my favourite pieces of poster art). Anatomy is also one of my aesthetic loves, and I think we could incorporate the psychological elements of ‘haunting’ and Gothic through something to do with the imagery of the brain. Perhaps transforming the maze-like pattern of a brain into the pattern of the Overlook carpet design. (Alex)

I really like the top pattern and the key/axe thing but are they too specific to just The Shining?? (J)

How about going to Kubrick’s influences for the film? There was this photo from Diane Arbus that inspired the Grady twins. (Varun)

Diane Arbus is my favourite photographer… we should definitely look to her photographs for influence..

I like the idea that Alex and Flo have on a double meaning within the image being two things but would say keep to something that as an image that is iconic within the The Shining film like the axe, typewriter. I do like the maze that Alex has suggested but on first glance I would not go straight to the Shining. I think the key as a symbol works to also highlight the experience is the house and rooms and what is inside them and whether we use the key or perhaps even the image of the bathroom door and use the patterns of the hotel with it or have a double meaning in it, it all screams Kubrick’s film and the experience we are going for. (James)

We could potentially have an image of the watershed faintly in the background, the spooky kids.

I also really liked the anatomical brain imagery idea maybe creating some sort of house or ‘space’ (Zoe)

Just using this image to help illustrate the idea - a good illustration of Danny’s friend ‘Tony’, possibly with a “REDRUM” or “MEET TONY” caption (Varun)

- We could contact UWE. Bower Ashton has a freshers fayre pretty soon that would be a great place to put them and in the library and Spike Island. (lily)

- Dont Panic packs, 1000 flyers £40, thats just distribution not printing (zoe)

- Hamilton House / Parlour Showrooms / Arnolfini / The Birdcage / Start The Bus (Flo)

I am doing some work experience with a theatre company who have links with the drama societies for UWE and Bristol and some other clubs so I could be able to get more student-society and department based emails from them? There are plenty of creative venues like Spike Island we can put flyers and information and cafe’s across Bristol like the Grounded chain and such that are happy to take flyers. I live in Bedminster and am close to Southville and have done flyers for the Bristol Shakespeare Festival in the bars and cafes that get mixed audiences. (James)

- Arts cafes in Stokes Croft, Comic shops, 21st Century Flicks, Cube, Bristol Silents events, Bristol Filmmakers Networking events, Shooters In The Pub networking events or any possible place where people are interested in film (Varun)

I assume we will all be able to help distribute the flyers. I think the ideas that have been given are a good shout. Just hit up all the student hot spots! (J)

WRITTEN COPY: Darkness has crept into the Watershed, corrupting the heart of cinema and infecting the minds of film lovers. As the long nights draw in, join us this November as we present three haunting Friday Night Movies and Music, before welcoming you to the Watershed’s own Overlook Hotel as we introduce you to the disturbing world of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining for a spectacular immersive event. After all, one should never be alone in the dark - you never know what may be lurking in the shadows.

(Edited, but still up for lots of tweaks. I don’t know if the Friday nights should have a catchier name? Like Friday Night Frights and Sound Bytes - that’s an extremely off the cuff suggestion, but something along those lines! - Alex)

- Love this Copy Alex! We probably need to add that it takes place in November. Other minor points, Im not keen that ‘Darkness’ is repeated. I know you have more to add but maybe something like - Three Friday Night Movies and Music Culminating in a fourth spectacular Immersive cinema event.

‘The Corridor Sessions’ (For the late night screenings & djs/music) (Flo)

I think I quite like the “corridor sessions” but not too sure of the other ideas. I see what Varun's saying but Hannah and Maddy seem to expect us to come up with a name for it and I think it’s probably a good idea. (J)

‘Home Is Where The Heart Is’ (For the 3 late night screenings leading up to and including the immersive event) (Alex)

“THE HORROR” - simple, wide scope, effective and cryptic enough -> “WATERSHED PRESENTS THE HORROR”

The Shining is much more than a haunted house movie. It’s surreal, about fatherhood, identity, the sins of our fathers, etc. Going down the haunted house theme for the whole season is prohibitive in terms of the films we can choose, and connect to The Shining in many different ways. It’s a more reverent retrospective to celebrate the many facets of the film, and to choose a variety of films for the late night screenings beyond the haunted house genre.

Although, I think “BFI Gothic Season” is enough of a sell - having BFI’s name in there helps, and we don’t need to deal with more than two titles, because we also have to include the “Friday Late Night Screenings At Watershed” title

An alternate title for the late night screenings, I was thinking is “MIDNIGHT MOVIES” (or to avoid confusion of when they start, which I think is 11pm - “LATE NIGHT MOVIES”) - trying to make that statement of bringing back that culture of midnight movies - where hidden gems were unearthed to the cynical, insomniac audiences - this happened in the 70s in the USA that brought about films like El Topo, The Harder They Come, Pink Flamingos, Eraserhead, Rocky Horror etc - it all felt taboo and compelling to audiences, as if they were bracing themselves for something exciting and new (Varun)

I imagine the BFI Logo and perhaps their gothic logo will probably be featured on the flyer, so they won't necessarily be mentioned as a title or as copy? Yeah, I think you’re right, Zoe. (Alex)

I really like the “midnight movies” it reminds me of when I was little and anything that took part at midnight was bound to be awesome… like midnight feasts. What about Mental Midnight Movies, playing on the psychological element of Haunted House films.(zoe)

To find out more please sign up to our weekly email list, and follow us on facebook and twitter etc...??

[a]Zoe H.:

Maybe we could market this at a higher price and include a late night screening ticket?

[b]Zoe H.:

I changed this from £15, I thought there needed to be a extra incentive to get people to book early, students included.