A weaker, more unstable division of roles in the cinema space is characteristic of volunteer-led and DIY exhibition practices, especially those that take place in unconventional screening venues, as compared to commercial exhibition in permanent cinemas. This paper traces genealogies of audience work in cinema spaces with a focus on film societies and cine-clubs in mid- and late-twentieth century Scotland. It explores how roles were demarcated within the cinema space and throughout the production of the cinema event, intersecting with discourses of professionalization and with the concealment or foregrounding of the projection apparatus. The historical research is discussed alongside contemporary fieldwork and interviews with exhibitors in the community cinema and DIY sectors. From setting up the chairs to baking cakes to fixing a dodgy audio jack, the material contribution of audiences to the production of the cinema event is part of the appeal for those getting involved in such initiatives. In this context, the transitions between roles before, during, and after the screening are important elements in understanding the potential of non-theatrical cinema to constitute parallel or para-institutional modes of spectatorship. Panel 6 – Methodological challenges and approaches in historical audience research Sarah Neely (University of Stirling) ‘Reel to Rattling Reel’: Telling stories about rural cinemagoing in Scotland, email: As Annette Kuhn explains in relation to her pioneering research on cinema culture in 1930s Britain, ‘how people remember is as a much a text to be deciphered as what they remember (2002: 6). This paper, drawing from research conducted as part of a three-year AHRC-funded project looking at the history of the Highlands and Islands Film Guild (University of Glasgow and University of Stirling), will examine the ways in which cinema memories are narrativised. Through an analysis of the project’s oral history interviews, but also correspondence with respondents, respondents’ diaries and other written accounts, including poems, short stories and other forms of creative writing, the paper will focus in particular on the relationship between the sensory stimulation of the cinema-going experience and creativity. It will also make comparison with material drawn from Kuhn’s Cinema and Culture in 1930s Britain Archive (Lancaster University), giving particular consideration to the ways in which cinema memories are narrativised across the various forms, but also the ways in which cinema memory (as a very particular form of cultural
A weaker, more unstable division of roles in the cinema space is characteristic of volunteer-led and DIY exhibition practices, especially those that take place in unconventional screening venues, as compared to commercial exhibition in permanent cinemas. This paper traces genealogies of audience work in cinema spaces with a focus on film societies and cine-clubs in mid- and late-twentieth century Scotland. It explores how roles were demarcated within the cinema space and throughout the production of the cinema event, intersecting with discourses of professionalization and with the concealment or foregrounding of the projection apparatus. The historical research is discussed alongside contemporary fieldwork and interviews with exhibitors in the community cinema and DIY sectors. From setting up the chairs to baking cakes to fixing a dodgy audio jack, the material contribution of audiences to the production of the cinema event is part of the appeal for those getting involved in such initiatives. In this context, the transitions between roles before, during, and after the screening are important elements in understanding the potential of non-theatrical cinema to constitute parallel or para-institutional modes of spectatorship. Panel 6 – Methodological challenges and approaches in historical audience research Sarah Neely (University of Stirling) ‘Reel to Rattling Reel’: Telling stories about rural cinemagoing in Scotland, email: As Annette Kuhn explains in relation to her pioneering research on cinema culture in 1930s Britain, ‘how people remember is as a much a text to be deciphered as what they remember (2002: 6). This paper, drawing from research conducted as part of a three-year AHRC-funded project looking at the history of the Highlands and Islands Film Guild (University of Glasgow and University of Stirling), will examine the ways in which cinema memories are narrativised. Through an analysis of the project’s oral history interviews, but also correspondence with respondents, respondents’ diaries and other written accounts, including poems, short stories and other forms of creative writing, the paper will focus in particular on the relationship between the sensory stimulation of the cinema-going experience and creativity. It will also make comparison with material drawn from Kuhn’s Cinema and Culture in 1930s Britain Archive (Lancaster University), giving particular consideration to the ways in which cinema memories are narrativised across the various forms, but also the ways in which cinema memory (as a very particular form of cultural
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