Plan My Project - Case Studies

Movies on the Move

Movies on the Move brings general release and other films to 14 villages in West Oxfordshire, enabling rural people to experience affordable films locally where no cinema currently exists.

It creates an opportunity for each showing to become a social occasion and to attract and inspire a cross section of the community. It aims to combat rural isolation; support local village communities; provide opportunities for village halls to raise money; and encourage the making of films of local interest.

Movies on the Move offers 14 village halls a full film package including projection equipment and trained staff at a competitive price.

It is delivered through three hubs, at Filkins, Shipton under Wychwood and Chipping Norton; with Chipping Norton Theatre being the lead partner.

The screening in Filkins and Shipton are organised and run by volunteers who are members of the village hall committees. These volunteers set up and run the equipment and are responsible for the collection of entry monies and payment of costs.

By running the project as three Centres/hubs there are a number of benefits including reduced cost of film hire; reduced cost and improved quality of marketing; and the expertise and experience of the staff of Chipping Norton Theatre is shared by all the communities.

Each village ran their own affordable pricing programme and concessions ensured no one was excluded. The project has an induction loop system for the hard of hearing and disabled access was available at the majority of venues.

All individual locations were responsible for health and safety and entertainment licences. The venues were all checked by the projectionists for technical suitability.

There was a clear strategic vision - making films more accessible in rural areas. However one of the hubs had a slightly different vision of how that would be achieved. This was resolved largely by accepting the differences in vision and allowing that one hub to have permanent equipment whilst the others chose mobile equipment as the solution. Good inter-personal skills were needed to deal with the different aspirations of the hubs.

The roles and responsibilities of the 3 partners were very clear as there was a formal written service level agreement between them.

The project has met or will meet all of its objectives and targets;

3 community services have been established
1 community facility has been set up/improved
14 groups have been established/assisted.
3 partner organisations were engaged in community activities.
1 network for community groups was established/ assisted.
1200 additional people attended local screenings each year

In total some 1200 people attended 60 screenings each year, an average of 20 per session. The total cost of the project was £58,601 of which a significant part was for technical equipment which will continue to be used. It is estimated that each person attending a film was subsidised by approximately £12.

The project was regarded as a commercial pilot and from the outset it was intended that the films would eventually become self-financing. The funding sought was reduced year on year and the intention was always to move towards full cost.

The project will continue after the ending of funding but probably in only 5 or 6 villages of the 10 served by the Chipping Norton Theatre. The other two hubs will continue. Changes to Film-bank charges have made sustainability more difficult due to increased costs of hiring films.

To see the full evaluation report for this project click here.

To email the project manager click here.

To see other case studies click here.