mb video selection's video: 3040 01 Moving Pictures 1994 Amateur Cinema

A brief account of a charming enthusiast team of cinema-makers based in North Staffordshire, featured in a segment of the BBC2 programme "Moving Pictures" presented by Howard Schuman. The early 90s are a strange period to look back on - we had PCs, Macs, a blossoming number of TV channels via various outlets, the internet and even World-Wide Web existed but almost no-one had heard of it and certainly didn't have it in their homes. The idea of streaming video over the internet and displaying it on a large, flat panel, wide screen at home were still years away. So even in 1994, anyone wanting the 'big screen experience' who lived out in the sticks either had to do without, or flock to a small enterprise like this. What's interesting is the mention of the number of cinemas that were closing down, which is where they got the old rolls of unused tickets, and it's worth musing about the fact that, up until about 20 years ago, such buildings would often hold on to artefacts long past their "sell by" date, for decades on end (note the reference to pre-decimal tickets - '2 and 6' - 2 shillings and sixpence) whereas these days you can be sure that redundant items in a multiplex are routinely cleared out on a regular basis and monitored to ensure staff that don't comply, don't stay for long. Back in the days when cinemas were run by people with a love for film and experience to understand what's important about the experience, rather than a mixture of teenagers in pyjamas to sell the overprice popcorn, drinks and hotdogs and big bouncer dudes manning the gateline ready to throw their weight around at anyone who tries to run in without showing their ticket. What this clip doesn't explain is that, since they formed the team to prevent having to "pay for the bus into the city centre", how they managed to afford their (admittedly modest) projection equipment and, more to the point, how they managed to lay their hands on prints of the latest movies (which usually cost thousands of pounds). Cast-offs from the multiplexes, perhaps (which of course, contractually they were *supposed* to send back to the distributors, wink wink).