Frozen, shown on the 28th February 2015 was our first real attempt at “immersive cinema”. You may have heard of the Secret Cinema, with their lavish sets for Back to the Future, their hundreds of guests –  and their equally huge ticket prices. “Immersive cinema” is something that Community Cinemas can do which set themselves apart from the multiplexes providing forms of entertainment that stretch outside of the screen, yet which can be done on a relatively small budget. You just need to be creative, think big and then hone it down into an affordable plan. It’s what we like to think of as the @BillericayCine Experience”.

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With an attendance of 52, our guests really got into the swing of things arriving in various costumes – although it has to be said that Elsa was the most popular (is there a collective noun for a group of Elsas ?).

They were welcomed enthusiastically at the door by our very own Elsa (thank you Anabel, you were fabulous !) as tickets were handed over.

In addition to our normal refreshments area we had events occurring in three different places within the Library (err… sorry, Cinema !), the combination of which created a real buzz and helped to keep everyone entertained whilst they waited for the film to start.

In one area we had face painting by local company Let’s Face It. This proved very popular – and owner Jessica is an incredibly talented make-up artist (www.facebook.com/Letsfaceitofficial). The speed at which she created some designs was amazing. In another area we used the small chairs and tables from the Children’s Area of the Library and had our little moviegoers colouring in their favourite Frozen characters demonstrating a high level of artistic talent and creativity ! We even had a table where people could have Frozen tattoos (enthusiastically applied by Rebecca)  which proved very popular.

And best of all for everyone, we’d included all of this in the ticket price.

Immersive Cinema proved very popular – although we have to point out that it won’t be possible to do this every time.  It does require a lot more planning and organising by our volunteers. But the feedback we got was superb – and we’ll definitely be coming up with some new ideas to try out over the next few months.

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