Exclusive Report: Vue Westfield: Building The Future Of Cinema

The history of cinema exhibition is as interesting as the product it screens. Humble in its origins, much like the art itself, exhibition spaces didn’t necessarily change with the times. This was allowed up to a certain point, then the medium began to force the changes. In the early days films were shown in fleapits, musical halls and country fairs. By the 1930s there were grand structures devoted to luxury and opulence. In 2010, they are multi-faceted entertainment venues situated in shopping malls.

Like many people, I have fond, rose-tinted memories of going to the cinema in my youth. It wasn’t just the VHS revolution that afforded a film education. Going to the cinema every weekend was tantamount to a religious event. Saturdays were film days. Sometimes Sundays, too. The place to go in my hometown was the old art deco movie-house with three screens: all dark, decrepit and musty. The excitement and expectation made one ignorant of the grime, dirt and broken seats. In the mid 1990s, the multiplex came and people flocked there. The tired old shell; the ruin from a bygone era…was demolished. Its final run was the Keanu Reeves actioner Speed. The new cinema complex was bright and cheerful with superior sound and visual quality. There were ten screens. Nobody lamented the passing of the charmless old cinema. It really was a dump.

The act of going to sit in the dark with other people, usually strangers, is an odd one. Films can invoke a variety of reactions, but enjoyment is the predominant one. There is nothing quite like the moment when the lights lower and it all begins. Of course, in the distant past, there could be live orchestras or a man sat at the very front playing an electric organ to accompany the presentation. All that changed with diegetic sound. It added a new dimension and texture to the dream world.

In many ways, the shopping mall boosted exhibition options. The multiplex idea was a grand one. It situated the market for film, which had dipped significantly until the birth of the blockbuster in 1975, into a new realm of possibility. The idea was thus: put on loads of screens, loads of choice, in a clean space, close to other attractions and they would flock. It changed the experience of movie-going. It wasn’t just about going to see a film anymore. It was about an entertaining, multi-faceted experience.

In the 1980s, multiplexes were built to cater for a new type of consumer. Placing cinemas inside shopping malls has been around since the 1970s in the US. Film exhibition companies had customers waiting for them right there. It’s called shooting fish in a barrel. The modern age began.

In 1999, George Lucas announced to the world that digital was the way and the light. Over the past decade, the slow death of celluloid screens has occurred. James Cameron’s Avatar pretty much sealed the casket and threw it into the abyss. Old movies now are now being digitally transferred.

It is a more than a rare opportunity to visit a new cinema complex in the building process, but Vue invited Filmshaft to take a gander at what is dubbed “The Future of Cinema” at Westfield Centre in west London. So it was hard hat and high-vis jacket on as I delved into the world of construction. Cinema construction.

The shopping complex in Shepherd’s Bush is across from the headquarters of the BBC. It is a swish post-modernist structure more like an airport than a shopping Mecca. It is also Europe’s biggest inner city retail outlet boasting 23 million visitors a year. That’s a lot of footfall. As the disembodied, ghostly voice in Field of Dreams says, “If you build it they will come.” It is a canny locale in which to construct a state-of-the-art cine-complex. It lies within distance of a variety of locations and easy access to capture and attract a wide demographic. The aim is to deliver Europe’s biggest fully digital cinema.

Of course, in a world capital like London there’s plenty of cinemas to choose from. One is spoilt for choice. The Vue Westfield opens its doors at midday on 12th February. Offering fourteen screens of different sizes, it is an attempt to cater to different types of clientele as well as offering a new cinema-going experience.

There’s a competitive price structure on offer, too. What is the point of building a kick ass cinema venue and have nobody turn up? Whilst ticket prices vary up and down the UK and approach astronomical in places like Leicester Square, Vue Westfield has devised a ratio of ticket prices depending on the day. The prices, I am told, is set at £8.70 at peak times for adults and kids get in for £6.50. Add an extra pound if you want your eyeballs assaulted with VueExtreme. For London, that isn’t too bad at all.

On its debut week, Vue Westfield is running forty individual films on a packed schedule. The aim is to present a diverse programme that appeals to everybody…whilst trying catering for everybody. It is pretty much accepted now that the future of film is digital, and this may cause problems for the eighteen hours long celluloid Mongolian epic on pastoral angst, it’s not going to bother many people or threaten Hollywood any time soon. Yet Vue Westfield knows that a lot of people don’t just want Hollywood fare. They want choice and diversity.

Upon entering the main concourse, it is a mad flurry of activity. I am being given a guided tour by Chief Operating Officer Steve Knibbs, a man who has been building cinemas for 22 years. Even he takes pride in the vision of the place and his enthusiasm and passion is palpable during his explanations on various facets of design and intent.

Vue Westfield will be positioned high above the shopping centre on the top level. It will offer quite a vue (couldn’t help it!). Even though still undergoing its transformation, one can see the cinema is designed with curves and sleek lines. It will be bright, but not garish. Like all Vue cinemas, it has been designed by Glasgow based architects, Unick. As Knibbs explains, each cinema location follows a particular overall aesthetic, but is customised and suited to its specific needs and plan. As I walk around, the place is dripping wires, dusty as hell, incomplete and interspersed with the noise of electric saws and hammering. The builders are working 24/7 in order to get the job done.

Lead down maze-like corridors covered in sawdust and lit in moody deep red, I am taken into each type of screening room Vue Westfield is offering. The rule of thumb appears to be: maximum use of screen space. There’s no such thing as a small screen here like one finds elsewhere.

The Vue-Extreme screen I am shown is a tidal wave of sound and vision and more than induces a murmur of ‘wow’. It’s not Imax size, but it’s massive. Sitting down in a lovely, comfy chair in the premiere seating area and sticking on a pair of 3D glasses to watch a scene of Avatar, one cannot help but smile (even though I hated the film!). It is definitely the next step up in ratio size. And it’s unique to Vue Westfield.

Split between 14 screens there is a total of 2,891 seats. Five of those screens will be showing 3D output. A further advancement is the digital projection. Gone are the days of reels and reels clogging up the projectionist’s room. Those romantic purists amongst who love the idea of film as a physical object should realise digital technology has probably saved old films. Celluloid rots, deteriorates. Up to 70 per cent of films made before 1950 have been lost. Digital projection allows films to achieve immortality.

If you want to treat yourself or get away from hordes of kids, you can chillax in an adults only area that has been designed to offer a feeling of exclusivity, has a bar, extremely comfortable reclining seats and even tables.

The nature of Vue Westfield certainly appears to be attempting a new, heightened experience of going to the movies. It doesn’t seem to be about the simple act of sitting in the dark and reacting to the presentation. They had the grand picture palaces in the 1930s and 1940s with their art deco and art nouveau flourishes. Now cinemas resemble something more deliberately technological, something like the set of a science fiction film. In places like Vue Westfield, we will be experiencing the future. The architectural space wants to impress us as much as films.

We will be reporting on the exciting opening night of Vue Westfield on 11th February.

Tags: Avatar, imax, Unick, Vue Extreme, Vue Westfield, Westfield Centre