As the iconic Nicole Kidman espouses in her long-running advert for AMC Theatres: “We come to this place for magic (…)and we go somewhere we’ve never been before; not just entertained, but somehow reborn. Together.”[1]Nicole Kidman – AMC theatres. we make movies better. Genius. (n.d.-b). https://genius.com/Nicole-kidman-amc-theatres-we-make-movies-better-annotated
Her revelation of the cinematic space par excellence, the communal grounds wherein audiences can come together and experience audio-visual ecstasy in transformative fashion, rings truer today than it ever has before as modern audiences have taken the duty to enact these ideations and make them a reality that each and every one of us, persons willing to to buy tickets and carve out time in their schedules to go to such spaces, can experience in ways we never even thought possible.
Tickets and Anticipation
Tickets go on sale for the latest film that catches your attention. It’s a blockbuster. Or it’s an indie production. Perhaps, it’s even at art-house romp. Regardless of its inherent nature, this filmic media calls out to you, inviting you to experience it on the big screen and engage in an experience you couldn’t have anywhere else.
This ticket, one you eagerly purchased in anticipation of the experience waiting to be unlocked by it, sits in the palm of your hand, whether it be doled out as a more classical stub or a more modern code to be scanned later.
You count down the time before the film is set to play. For some, this waiting time is weeks or even months and for others its mere moments before showtime is set to start. No matter which side of the aisle you end up on, the anticipation before the feature whets your appetite. We’re counting on this experience to fill us up, providing a meal that could only be cooked in this environment at this designated time.
Finally, the moment arrives. The film is about to start as the adverts playing before this main course finally die down. Anticipation builds and reaches a fever pitch as we hanker down for what we were promised: to be “reborn.”
The Film Starts
Then the film starts up and the wonderous interplay between sound and image fill the space. The large screen becomes a massive canvas where visions can play out while the speakers surrounding the enclosed space begin to immerse you with their pristine sounds.
You lean back in your chair and begin to take it all in, soaking in the wealth of details offered by the artifice of the theatre. We, the audience, sit together and take in this larger-than-life vision, one created by various artists across a plethora of disciplines working together in an attempt to create something that will make our decision to attend the show worth it.
After all, ticket prices have increased across the board and time feels like it’s becoming increasingly scarce. Finding both the energy and the finances to go down to the theatre to enjoy the experience is an act of faith that must be rewarded.
Enter the Modern Audience
Sensing this dilemma and hoping to ensure that such disappointment does not come to fruition, the modern audience, one that represents a solid chunk of persons and not the collective audience at large, takes it upon themselves to ensure that these promises are kept and the theatrical experience not only meets expectations but exceeds them entirely.
However, these valiant soldiers of the art-form have few means available to them by which to do as much. After all, it’s not like they can directly go in and edit the movie itself. So, they must improvise with the tools at their disposal to create the best possible space for appreciating the movie playing
Sound Design
Of course, the first and most widely available tool in these heroes’ toolboxes is their ability to contribute to lend their talents to the audio-mix.
Some of these good Samaritans have realized that the time of the audio-commentary has disappeared, a disappointing trend that renders the films themselves the only thing to experience during their run-time.[2]Larman, A. (2020, October 22). The death of the DVD commentary: Alexander Larman. The Critic Magazine. https://thecritic.co.uk/the-death-of-the-dvd-commentary/ But audio-commentary adds a whole new layer to what’s going on, providing a feedback and explanation of why certain aspects of the picture are working and what parts of it we should pay more attention to.
Comments made during the movie, by audience members who try their best to be loud such as to ensure that everyone else can partake in the fuller experience, fill this gap and accentuate the idea of community that’s so important to the theatre in general.
A “isn’t that the person from that thing?”, draws attention to the impressive bodies of work that members of the crew have accumulated and helps us appreciate the scope of their careers, ones that would go unnoticed outside of the most current role on the screen if not for the reminder.
Series of “wait, so what just happened?” ensure that the no one is ever lost in the flow of the story, as they’re constantly reminded of key events during and after their moment on the screen. Why wait for a flashback or an explanation and risk the chance of not understanding something? Instead, being constantly reminded of previous scenes or bits of dialogue, sometimes multiple times in a row from a slew of modern audience members in the crowd, ensures that there is absolutely no room to not know what’s going on.
Meanwhile, a “this sucks” or “hell, yeah!” lets us know that our opinion of what’s happening in the film may in fact be wrong and that we should pay more attention such as to not get duped. We wouldn’t want to end up unfairly judging the piece with just our own opinions. Having help ensures that we give the movie a fair shot.
These types of comments also act as reviews — a buy one, get one free deal— that really lets us get the bang for our buck. Now we don’t even have to take the time to go and watch videos or read analyses after our viewing because we get to learn what others think in the moment without even having had to leave our chairs. The more people join in, the larger the value of the experience is. Bigger is always better, and the modern audience understands that better than anybody.
But the fun doesn’t stop there.
Some members of the modern audience realize the importance of sub-text and meta-textual interplay, understanding that it’s the relation between works that allows hidden meanings to become noticeable. These precocious people take it upon themselves to introduce these extra narrative layers to the film.
Some of them have conversations amongst themselves, ensuring that any moment of silence has some audio to go along with it. That way no one ever gets bored and they always have something to listen to. When something is happening, these conversations force us to be fully engaged, as we really have to hanker down and focus on what exactly is being said within the film.
The more intense version of these upstanding movie-goers are those who decide to have dialogues with persons not even in the environment. By taking out their phone during a showing and having a conversation that also layers over the film’s dialogue, they really make the audience hanker down and give full attention to the speakers.
But there’s the added benefit of bringing in another party to the experience from afar, as the persons on the other side of the phone conversations now get to be involved within the community present in the space without having to even be there. Now people who were unable to make it to the showing can joyfully participate with those excited cineastes who paid for their tickets and made the journey down, uniting distinctive groups of people that may otherwise not have such a chance to interact.
Phones also give the modern audience the ability to play composer. Cellphone ringtones playing constantly, one after another, can help fill otherwise quiet moments and ensure that they don’t feel too boring or hard to get through and may have the added benefit of introducing us to musical endeavors that we would have otherwise not been privy to. I personally can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard a track as a ringtone and thought to myself: “Now that’s a song I need to add to my playlist!”
Visual Layering
But movies are so much more than just their sound. Video on the screen might be an even bigger part of the allure of the experience, and here, modern audiences have truly innovated when compared to their historical counterparts.
Obviously, the phone users are punching above their weight, somehow changing both the soundscape and the way the screen itself is viewed. Bright lights scattered around the room make the screen one of many objects to look at, giving everyone else multiple objects to look at if they find that staring at one particular screen, the big one in the front of the room, gets too cumbersome for them. This way there’s always diversity present, ensuring that the movie itself does not overwhelm viewers who would otherwise be forced to pay attention to it the entire time.
But this recent era has seen the rise of “vapers”, modern audience members who decided that lights weren’t enough of a visual accompaniment and that a more poignant visual layer was necessary in the form of plumes of smoke punctuating the air and becoming hyper-visible in the projection light.
This gesture transforms the 2-D experience into a multi-dimensional one, as the smoke adds a new visual layer, a type of opacity, that you can actually touch and feel and the fragrance of these vapors takes it even further, tapping into an olfactory dimension that cinema hadn’t had before – an innovation in form if there ever was one.
The most dedicated members make sure to take as many puffs as possible and blow the smoke out in all directions, ensuring that their activity is noticed and that fellow viewers don’t miss out on the artistic flourishes being added.
Communal Engagement
The net result of these active changes to the filmic experience present newfound moments for community bonding between members of the audience who aren’t quite as modern. Now they’re presented with chances to get in on the action.
The chattering, the lights, the smokes, and the smells all allow chances for new interactions to bloom within the cinematic space, as audience members who aren’t as comfortable with the dynamic landscape often find themselves networking with the modern members, asking them to “be quiet”, “stop talking”, “stop blowing smoke due to allergies”, and the like.
These interactions, moments of genuine communication coming from the heart, would have never happened if not for the brave actions of modern audiences who push the boundaries of what the theatrical experience can be.
The Take-Aways
If the reason we go to theatres is to engage in a community experience wherein we take in fully the moving picture, a combination of both visuals and audios, meant to tap our senses and move us to new places that make the cinematic adventure wholly unique, something that would never happen in the privacy of our homes, then the modern audience makes up the viewers who are most committed to the cause.
These are the heroes taking on the responsibilities of the cinematic zone, ensuring that other viewers take away from the theatre something that would have otherwise never gotten. As Nicole tells us “We come to this place…for magic” and with a modern audience like this, we’ll certainly leave having experienced something akin to that. [3]Nicole Kidman – AMC theatres. we make movies better. Genius. (n.d.-b). https://genius.com/Nicole-kidman-amc-theatres-we-make-movies-better-annotated.