Yesterday evening this was the view that confronted me. An empty auditorium.
This was the table that I would sit at to answer questions from a room full of people about Out at Lunch, after it’s first public screening, held rather appropriately, at Cambridge. But would anyone come? Would this still be the view that confronted me in an hour’s time when a room full of people had not turned up to watch the film. Even if people did turn up would they like it? Would they have any questions? What would I say? From past experience, unstructured public speaking can have a tendency to tend towards irrelevant or inappropriate waffling…
If you put aside the sick feeling that comes from the idea of people actually watching the film that I had been working on for nearly two years, it really had been quite a good day up until then. Driving through the streets I knew so well in a taxi full of Out at Lunch merchandise on my way to screen a film that I (sorry Alisa, WE) had made, has got to instill a small sense of pride. I felt quite important, and I kind of liked it. Of course pulling up outside a college lecture theatre and unloading a sports bag full of mugs and bags is not quite a red carpet, not yet, but still.
The sense of pride increased as we met our parents for a drink before the film-them both sat at a table with big proud smiles on their faces and pink Out at Lunch pin badges on their chests. I then remembered that I’d done an interview for Cambridge News the week before- well, vaguely remembered, the interviewer had unfortunately chosen to ring me at 9 in the morning after our cast and crew screening in London, needless to say I wasn’t quite with it.
Having been told that there would be something in the paper that day I popped out to find a copy. Walking back to the restaurant I flicked through the pages to firstly check if we would be there at all, and secondly to read what I may have said before I showed it to the family at large. Expecting a tiny piece that would hopefully mention the details of the screening I can be forgiven for nearly missing the GIANT PICTURE OF MY FACE, but there we were. Centre Spread! So thank you to Louise Martin at the Cambridge News for a lovely article that made my mum cry, my sister grab her iPhone and start tweeting and a lovely man on a newspaper stall very happy as we bought ourselves no less than 16 copies.
I was still feeling rather buoyant a little later on after we’d set up our table of merchandise outside the screening room (with the Cambridge News laid open in the centre of the table, of course). We looked quite professional! Or, failing that, quite keen at least. Never mind that we’d just bought the basket for the pin badges in Oxfam for 29p, or argued over who would cover the £6.99 for the money box to hold large wads of cash we would be receiving from all the sales (all profits go towards distribution costs!). We looked good. And I was still feeling good.
Well, that brings me back to the rows and rows of empty seats, so many seats; the fact that the microphone wasn’t working so I would have to project my answers to the potentially non -existent audience members; and a niggling feeling that it may have been wise to test the DVD prior to pressing play in front of lots of (hypothetical) people.
So did they come? Yes. Not in their hundreds but a really good number. And did they enjoy it? Well, yes! There were some laughs, and lots of questions (podcast of the answers to follow shortly) and people said some really touching things afterwards. And, most importantly, did they buy merchandise? Well, they admired it. And a fair few people did walk away with their belongings safely contained in an organic cotton bag for life with even more sporting Out at Lunch badges to match my parents.
So that’s it. Out at Lunch is out in the world! And, it seems, people like it. So this is what the last 2 years has all been for, we’re finally film-makers! You know what, I’m really quite enjoying it. Bring on the next one!
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