Screen Machine: Take Two!

On 15th April 2005, a brand new mobile cinema service, Screen Machine: Take Two, will take to the roads across the Highlands and Islands.

HI-Arts, the arts development agency for the region that commissioned the new machine, have been taking cinema to the region's most remote communities since 1998 with the much-loved Screen Machine mobile cinema service.  Screen Machine: Take Two is set to take the mobile cinema experience to a new level.

The premiere screening of Screen Machine: Take Two will take place in Lochgilphead, Argyll, on Friday 15th April at 6pm, and will begin with the family favourite, 'Valiant', featuring the voice of Ewan McGregor and a stellar cast of British actors.  Other films showing on the debut tour will be Martin Scorcese's 'The Aviator' and the popular comedy 'Meet the Fockers'.

The next generation eighty-seat, fully air-conditioned mobile cinema has been built by French company 'Toutenkamion'.  Literally translating as 'Everything in a Truck', Toutenkamion specialise in custom-built vehicles, including mobile recording studios, restaurants and travelling galleries.

To create Screen Machine: Take Two, Toutenkamion have used the tried-and-tested 'Cinemobile' design.  The first Cinemobile was built by the company nearly twenty years ago, and is still on the road in France today.  Now into its third-generation, the Cinemobile model used for Screen Machine: Take Two has been especially adapted for the Highlands and Islands, to meet the particular requirements of the regions' roads and ferry crossings.

This flexible design coupled with a swift setup time will give Screen Machine: Take Two the potential to visit a different location each day - the new machine can be setup in just one hour.  This will almost double the number of venues across the region that the mobile cinema can serve regularly, with Screen Machine: Take Two's circuit already confirmed to include twenty or more communities including new sites across the Uists and North West Sutherland.

Inside the new mobile cinema, audiences will also see a wide range of improvements from the prototype Screen Machine I, including more comfortable seating, a larger screen and the latest surround sound processors.

What is more, accessibility has been greatly improved for Screen Machine: Take Two, with wider aisles, facilities for subtitling, a high-contrast colour interior to aid those with visual impairments, more headsets for audio-described screenings, and full accessibility with wheelchair positions centrally located towards to the rear of the auditorium.

Screen Machine: Take Two will also introduce a convenient new method of ticket booking for audiences, courtesy of HI-Arts other recent development - The Booth online ticketing service.  The Booth (www.thebooth.co.uk) was launched in November 2004, and will provide Screen Machine audiences with the facility to book tickets online for cinema screenings.

The new-look brand and logo for Screen Machine: Take Two has been designed by Highland based company, Inside Information.  The strap line "Unfold Your Imagination" runs down the side of the vehicle trailer when on the road, and becomes "Imagination Unfolded" once the vehicle is opened up in cinema mode.

The Screen Machine: Take Two capital project has been funded by the Scottish Arts Council Lottery Fund, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the Scottish Rural Challenge Fund, with funding for the operation of the mobile cinema coming from Scottish Screen and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

Iain Munro, Head of Capital at the Scottish Arts Council, said: "We are now delighted to be supporting Screen Machine 2, which will be able to reach more communities and on a more regular basis, allowing even more audiences to enjoy the full cinematic experience."

John Watt, Director of Strengthening Communities for Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), said: "The new vehicle will bring the latest big screen releases to even more people and communities throughout the region."

Alyson Hagan, Acting chief Executive of Scottish Screen, welcoming the launch of the new vehicle said: "The Screen Machine is an amazing mobile cinema as it allows people who live in remote areas, with no easy access to regular cinema, the chance to see a varied programme of films right there on their own doorstep. It is wonderful that there is now a second Screen Machine available to tour, meaning that even more people in the rural parts of Scotland get that exciting experience of 'going to the pictures'."

Lewis Macdonald, Deputy Minister for Environment and Rural Development at the Scottish Executive, said: "Our Rural Challenge Fund is aimed at supporting innovative initiatives, such as Screen Machine: Take Two, which seek to improve the quality of life for rural communities, including those living in remote areas."

Screen Machine I
The prototype Screen Machine I was launched in 1998, and has proved the demand for cinema from some of the most rural communities across the region.  20,000 tickets were sold for films show at Screen Machine I in 2003, and Screen Machine has one of the highest per-seat average attendance figures of any cinema in Scotland.

However, being a prototype, Screen Machine I had its technical limitations.  A long setup time of four hours meant that the mobile cinema often needed to stay in one community for up to three days at a time, and was therefore limited to serving larger villages or central locations to ensure the best accessibility.  Screen Machine: Take Two has no such restrictions, and will be able to visit smaller villages.

As for Screen Machine 1, this prototype machine is a long way from retirement.  From June 2005, the machine will be working with Eden Court in Inverness to provide the theatre's film programme whilst the venue is closed for its major redevelopment.