Secret Cinema: I've seen things you wouldn't believe
Monday 9 April 2018 14:05, UK
By Alexander J Martin, Technology Reporter
Have you heard of Secret Cinema? Paradoxically, chances are you did.
For those who didn't, there's no big secret. It's a more-or-less yearly event, which combines movie screenings with immersive performances which thrust the audience into the said movie's universe.
It basically allows you - and hundreds of fans like you - to dress up as a character on your favourite movie and spend hours solving secret missions in intricate storylines.
This year's event was focused on the recently revamped, cult science-fiction movie Blade Runner, and featured an elaborate set mimicking a neon-dystopian Los Angeles.
Only it wasn't really in Los Angeles, but in a huge compound in east London.
For those wondering why the name Secret Cinema - previous productions kept the film being shown under wraps, leaving audiences to figure out where they had been transported and what film they were being shown.
Although some gripes about ticket prices remain, the production company's commitment to the "immersive experience" made a strong case for revealing the movies beforehand - especially those with large cult followings.
As a Blade Runner fanboy, I must admit I was excited to be a part of the plot.
Not just for the creativity that goes into the costumes, or the talented actors and their commitment to role-playing. Not just for the elaborate set design or the sheer size of the thing.
But how all of those little bits and bobs were passionately put together to bring Ridley Scott's final cut of a cinematic masterpiece to life.
The event is officially titled Secret Cinema presents Blade Runner - The Final Cut, and really earns its description as a presentation, with a theatrical performance which invites you in and closes with the screening of the actual film.
Objectively, Blade Runner is the perfect fit for an immersive experience.
Its distinctive visual style and characterful setting have been capturing the public's imagination ever its release in 1982.
The way it works is each attendee is assigned a role. Each role a character. Each character has hopes and dreams which you must take into account if you want to start a new life in the off-world colonies.
Listen... it doesn't work if you don't play along.
Fittingly my new life began on Easter Sunday at the World Terminus - our departure point from the Earth - which is where Secret Cinema had constructed its elaborate set in east London.
The immersion is omnipresent but not over-bearing.
From the moment you step foot on set, all of Secret Cinema's staff are already in character - but creatively remain flexible enough to communicate with punters.
Everyone was acting, from those who played characters in the film to the team staffing the bars and selling food.
The attendees came in fantastically elaborate costumes - my only regret is not putting more preparation into my own.
I ended up looking less like Harrison Ford and more like Nigel Farage.
The Terminus itself was thronged with activists agitating against the upper class' ability to exploit replicant labour, alongside shops, bazaars and bars.
For those unfamiliar with the term replicant, they are essentially androids built to replicate people.
Attendees playing LAPD detectives were tasked with missions to investigate replicant smuggling. This was me.
Others played scavengers and smugglers driving forwards the narrative of the evening towards it climax.
The screening itself took place while the actors reprised their role around the screens, emphasising the immersion of the event - tremendously assisted by a theatrical lighting direction matching Jordan Cronenweth's iconic cinematography.
In an interview with Sky's technology correspondent Tom Cheshire back in 2013, Secret Cinema's founder and creative director Fabien Riggall explained how the project began when he was just 11 and his father had been offered a job running a bank in Casablanca.
"One day, I went to this old cinema in Casablanca on my own," Riggall said.
"I left on this really hot day and headed for a cinema called Dawliz, but didn't know anything about the film.
"There was quite a small audience. I sat there and watched this film, which was incredibly violent, incredibly epic, a beautiful film.
"The protagonist, at the beginning, was this 11-year-old, Noodles. It's such an immersive film - I thought I was the kid and lived that film."
The movie, as Cheshire wrote, was Sergio Leone's Once Upon A Time in America and "a turning point" for Mr Rigall.
"It was this feeling of a journey, and an event. I always remember that," he said.
This, for me, remains the best description of Secret Cinema's purpose.
Initially released in 1982 and set in what was then the unthinkably distant future of 2019, Blade Runner surpassed its source material with its visuals, ambience and Vangelis' hypnotic soundtrack.
Unfortunately, when it was time for the Hollywood Academy to present the Oscars, both the film's score and its art direction got snubbed.
Awkwardly nominated behind those of the hagiographical epic Ghandi.
It didn't even got to best picture. But such is the nature of the Academy. History will treasure it more.
Ironically, the film's unnecessary sequel, Blade Runner 2049, would win both the best cinematography and best visual effects awards at the Oscars in 2018, despite not really deserving either.
Perhaps this was the Academy's attempt to redress its mistakes. Perhaps they are just clueless as to what they're doing.
My experience on Easter Sunday wasn't really about beginning a new life in the off-world colonies, nor was it an opportunity for me to write a hammy undergraduate essay on the thematic similarities between that migration and the significance of Christ being risen - although that has been a serious temptation.
It was just genuinely fun.
I took pleasure in its attention to detail. Lines muttered in the background became features which I could interact with.
Product placement which wasn't noticed - the Johnny Walker Black Label in Captain Bryant's office - is more obvious as a part of the performance rather than part of the audience.
Background dialogue and the liminal details that create mood are opened up for the participants to explore.
That is the ultimate goal of Secret Cinema: for audience members to become participants and complicit in the creation of the theatre.
Some people might not like this, and these screenings aren't for those unwilling to participate.
Without that, the ticket price is obviously exorbitant and the commotion of the evening a distraction.
But for those attendees who are happy to play pretend, and indulge their wild fantasies as they roam, hands in overcoat, on the acid-rain streets of noir LA, the production is a considered delight.
I dressed up, played pretend and can now finally say it: "I have seen things you people wouldn't believe."
:: Secret Cinema presents Blade Runner - The Final Cut is running in London until June.