Film Club - a trial run

johnny_ultimate

Hullo all,

So in the recent feedback thread and indeed a few scattered mentions elsewhere, the idea of a film forum film club has popped up again. Veteran posters will remember such a thing existed before, but faded out after a few years (for multiple reasons). The landscape has changed a bit with the normalisation of streaming, so perhaps it's worth giving it a shot again.

The idea would be simple: a film is picked, everyone goes to watch it, everyone reports back, pleasant discussion hopefully follows. With so much forum space dedicated to blockbusters these days, it'd hopefully be a good way to get a bit of attention to less visible efforts.

Now, this well mightn't work - initial enthusiasm doesn't always translate to consistent participation. I'm a cynic in that respect! But we can give it the best chance we can. Personally, I'd suggest sticking to what's available on Netflix at first - while it narrows the choices down dramatically, it also ensures they're easily available to anyone who wants to take part. If it takes off, we can look beyond Netflix. There's enough interesting stuff on there to sustain a few months of discussion if needed. There'd also be a bit of work choosing films that aren't too well known but not too obtuse either. For now it would be a trial: if it proves to not be worth the effort, it can be declared a noble failure

So, is anyone interested? Any thoughts on the best way of selecting a film?

RocketRaccoon

I would definitely be interested in this.

Mr E

Sounds good. I'm interested.

rockatansky

Definitely in, the sooner the better!

Liam McPoyle

I'd be interested. On the Rock and Metal forum a few years ago there was an album of the week.

Basically users nominated an album and whichever suggestion got the most thanks was picked as AOTW.

A similar set up for picking a film might work?

ziedth

I'd be on for that too...

Goodshape

Yep, onboard for this!

Selecting a film - probably a poll to determine the film. Someone (mod presumably) would need to take charge of compiling the list each time. Suggestions for the next poll could be made thread of the current one.

Fysh

I'm interested in this if it takes off. Something easy to maintain for the mods would be best, so a thanks-based voting system might work with low overhead - maybe with a veto system to avoid any Meet The Spartans-like incidents.

I think having separate threads for each film watched would be good to help avoid muddling conversations. if possible I'd also suggest avoiding choosing films that have been done in previous film clubs, at least as much as is practical...

megaten

I'd definitely follow along though I can have trouble articulating my thoughts when it comes to media so I don't know how much to actually contribute.
I'd agree to limiting it to Netflix to begin with too. Even though there more TV/Serial format focused there's still a lot of films on there that I never got round to seeing and its probably the most accessible service for films.

tigger123

I'm definilty on for it.

tigger123

megaten wrote: »

I'd definitely follow along though I can have trouble articulating my thoughts when it comes to media so I don't know how much to actually contribute.

Watch a movie, tell everyone what you think of it. Nothing to be stressing over

yabadabado

Sounds good , I'm interested .

homerun_homer

Will give it a go.

conor222

I'd be up for it too

bullvine

I would be interested, sort out of fallen out of love of film recently, might help my interest. Cheers

Basq

Yep, this sounds good!

enda1

Interested in giving it a whirl

kerplun k

In

Birneybau

bullvine wrote: »

I would be interested, sort out of fallen out of love of film recently, might help my interest. Cheers

Ditto

Sin City

Sure why not

Harry66

Yeah interested.

Falthyron

Yeah, I would be up for this!

Sad Professor

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

So, is anyone interested? Any thoughts on the best way of selecting a film?

The most popular (and contentious) part of fotw was always voting for which film to discuss. Which is why it pretty much died off once we started choosing users to decide the film. Getting people to watch a film, even re-watch a film that they've seen before, no matter how easily available it is, is very difficult. But it's even harder when the film is being chosen for them by someone whose taste in film they may not value.

The problem with having a popular vote is that you get the same old classics being voted on that nobody has anything interesting to say about. and in the unlikely event that there is someone with a different view they'll be reluctant to say it knowing that everyone voted on it and obviously disagrees with them.

I don't really know what the answer is, but if its going to be a "film club" I think it needs to be a compromise between these two different approaches. Like maybe a revolving group of users unanimously selects the film each week. At least it would mean it wouldn't end up getting left to the mods to organise. Alternatively go with the popular vote but make it a kind of "film canon" selected by the users of the forum rather than a film club. I dunno, it depends what everyone wants out of it.

Skerries

are there any genres that we do not want to see?

for example I wouldn't be into musicals and by extension Bollywood movies

Goodshape

I only ever watch Bollywood films, and the occasional musical.

Falthyron

You could do a monthly/weekly rotation of those involved in the Club to choose a film. Randomly, one member is asked to pick their film of the week and users can join in and then discuss in the subsequent week. That would be one approach.

Voting each week could work, but then how would you decide the nominee films? Could end up being a lot to choose from in the poll.

A panel that alternates every month? A number of people who discuss between themselves which film should be discussed each week of a given month.

Just some ideas, I guess!

willwe

But isnt that the purpose of a Film Club to open you to new films/genres. Im into this and it should be as broad as possible. How about silent era?

Fysh

Skerries wrote: »

are there any genres that we do not want to see?

for example I wouldn't be into musicals and by extension Bollywood movies

Tbh trying to cater to that kind of thing will kill the whole idea stone dead before it starts. If a film comes up that you don't want to watch, skip it. Otherwise you get something that can't scale because everyone has finicky likes/dislikes of some sort.

On the "how to select a film" front, if we're not going for user nominations, I would suggest a curated source, maybe the current version of Sight & Sound's 50 Greatest Films Of All Time.

Alternatively, one of the mods picks e.g. 5 films as suggestions and people vote for one of them to start off, then after a couple of weeks of discussion a poster from the discussion thread is picked at random to suggest 5 more choices and people vote on them, then repeat from there.

megaten

Maybe one of the Mods picks a film to start and then the next month a film is picked by one of the posters who actually watched and posted in the Film club?

heebusjeebus

I'd definitely be interested.

johnny_ultimate

Both curation and popular vote definitely have their own problems. Here's a potential compromise approach, and I think captures some of Fysh's suggestions too. I think it's the easiest way to ensure everyone feels involved, without loading any one person or group with lots of work.

We make a list of posters interested in choosing films. Participation in any 'film club' discussion is by no means relegated to those on the list, of course, and we can add people whenever they want. Every fortnight/month (whichever works best... a week is probably too short) a person is randomly chosen, and they pick three films they'd think would make for good discussion for whatever reason - we'll call that person the curator for handiness sake. I say three films, but if people think two or five would be a better number, that's cool too - three is IMO a decent limit). They privately run their choices past the previous 'curator', who can veto a film if they think it's, for example, way too popular for inclusion - just a failsafe to ensure, say, a Star Wars or Marvel film doesn't make the cut - of if the choices are wildly inappropriate. In the unlikely event a veto leads to a dispute, they can run it by a mod.

Once the films get the thumbs up, the user starts a thread with a poll of the three films, and a brief description / trailer of each film. Users vote to pick which one they want to see included. What's important here is that we stress that picking a film just because you like it isn't the best option here - instead, people are encouraged to pick either a film they haven't seen or the one they think would make for the best discussion. Thread is locked while users vote (I assume that's technically possible :pac:).

After a day or two of voting, a film is chosen, the thread is reopened, and *hopefully* people go and watch it and discuss it.

After a few days / weeks, the current 'curator' randomly selects next week's on something like Random.org, and the cycle begins again. If that new person doesn't respond in a decent amount of time, then someone else is chosen. If the idea does take off, a poster can't become curator again until the list finishes and everyone has had their turn, at which point everything can be refreshed if needed.

Alternatively, rather than the list, the existing discussion threads could be used to pick the next 'curator', as per Fysh's suggestion. That'd reward participation.

Any thoughts? If it seems a bit convoluted written down, I do reckon it'd be a decent compromise between popular vote and curation... popular curation, if you will If people would rather a trial run without that fuss, I'm sure myself or Sad Prof would be willing to kick things off before a process is formally formulated.

meep

How about whoever gets the most comment thanks on this weeks discussion gets to pick next weeks movie, unless they've selected in the past N rounds.

This rewards people for insigtful commentary and encourages people to make the effort.


Or just leave it up to the netflix randomiser;
https://reelgood.com/movies/roulette/netflix

We couold initially discuss the parameter requirements (IMDB/RT score threshold, acceptbale genres) and take the leap!

Icaras

Fysh wrote: »

Alternatively, one of the mods picks e.g. 5 films as suggestions and people vote for one of them to start off, then after a couple of weeks of discussion a poster from the discussion thread is picked at random to suggest 5 more choices and people vote on them, then repeat from there.

I like this idea, could give best of both worlds, if you don't like the selection skip a week.

Exclamation Marc

Sounds good. I'm in!

SimonTemplar

I agree that starting off with Netflix is a wise choice. Once this gets up and running, mubi (https://mubi.com/) might be a good source assuming enough of us has an account. Its catalog is mostly classics and arthouse cinema from most of the decades.

The Black Oil

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

So, is anyone interested? Any thoughts on the best way of selecting a film?

Genre
By first letter
I feel _____ is under/overrated
This has been on my shelf/list for a while
Classic example of 70s/80s, etc.
This got me hooked on cinema
What sort of tone do ye call this?!

Plague Maiden

I'm definitely interested in the discussion part but, to be honest, the nomination/voting system seems a bit laboured. I'd prefer to have some knowledgeable person like Johnny select a movie each week and then we all discuss it. I've been part of film clubs before and, as strange as it sounds, the films themselves are often incidental. The discussion is what I'm interested in.

BuyersRemorse

Interested in this, but I don't have Netflix, and don't plan on getting it.

Something as simple as a Letterboxd list where people can add titles of interest that are widely available on streaming platforms. We could have rules barring the inclusion of certain types of films, no Superhero films for example. The list could be curated and changed on a regular basis with films then randomly chosen using one of the many online sites that will pick a number at random.

I think that a large part of what killed it before was the simple fact that most involved would not watch a film they had no interest in seeing which to me defeats the whole purpose of it.

Uncharted

I'd be interested in joining this if possible....
Not sure of the protocol.

Plague Maiden

[Deleted User] wrote: »

most involved would not watch a film they had no interest in seeing which to me defeats the whole purpose of it.

Exactly. I would respectfully suggest that those who know they are that way inclined should not join or express an interest in the group.

Sad Professor

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Any thoughts? If it seems a bit convoluted written down, I do reckon it'd be a decent compromise between popular vote and curation... popular curation, if you will If people would rather a trial run without that fuss, I'm sure myself or Sad Prof would be willing to kick things off before a process is formally formulated.

Yeah, we might be over-thinking this. No point coming up with an elaborate voting system until we know people are going to watch the film. I think maybe just get it started and see what happens. The two of us can spitball some ideas for the first film until we work out something proper. Lets stick to Netflix but try and pick something that strikes the right balance.

tigger123

Sad Professor wrote: »

Yeah, we might be over-thinking this. No point coming up with an elaborate voting system until we know people are going to watch the film. I think maybe just get it started and see what happens. The two of us can spitball some ideas for the first film until we work out something proper. Lets stick to Netflix but try and pick something that strikes the right balance.

I think that's the best idea tbh. Keep it simple and get it started.

pixelburp

Keep it simple, and possibly keep it to online services - for now. I think what might have killed previous attempts was that realistically it required folks to buy / rent a DVD of Film X; whereas at least now with Netlflix / Amazon (though let's be honest, Netflix has the best and biggest catalogue ATM) it should be easy for people to just fire up whatever choice the club made.

yabadabado

Can't we let the OP pick the first film with a few conditions (No superhero films etc)
Then whoever is involved in the watching and discussion of said film can add maybe 1 films to a list and we use random generator to pick next films.Remove/Add films as necessary.

tigger123

yabadabado wrote: »

Can't we let the OP pick the first film with a few conditions (No superhero films etc)
Then whoever is involved in the watching and discussion of said film can add maybe 1 films to a list and we use random generator to pick next films.Remove/Add films as necessary.

Don't think precluding certain genres is really in the spirit of a film club though. Whole idea is to have your tastes broadened a bit.

(I'm not really a fan of superhero either btw )

yabadabado

tigger123 wrote: »

Don't think precluding certain genres is really in the spirit of a film club though. Whole idea is to have your tastes broadened a bit.

(I'm not really a fan of superhero either btw )

It was just an example as I've seen it mentioned a few times, I'm a fan of them but would understand if they weren't included.

Raoul Duke

I think that it might be a good idea to link the film picked with a current film that's been released in the cinema. The link might be thematic, or same director / actor, or ...

That way you can piggy back on that film's advertising to generate interest.

shazzerman

This sounds like a great idea - I would love to be a part of it.

S.M.B.

Raoul Duke wrote: »

I think that it might be a good idea to link the film picked with a current film that's been released in the cinema. The link might be thematic, or same director / actor, or ...

That way you can piggy back on that film's advertising to generate interest.

The Last Picture Show podcast do this and then discuss the two movies in two separate podcasts.

Recent examples include

Infinity War and X2
Isle of Dogs and Chicken Run
I, Tonya and To Die For

Sad Professor

We tried doing two thematically linked films before. There was very little participation.