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BRING BACK THE Q & As

Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2018 12:00 am
by Paxton
Just watched the Leigh Whannell Q&A and remembered why I have been coming to Frightfest for ten years: great films and great filmmakers. I hated the first two days of 'we can't tell you any spoilers' intros and 'we can't tell you what's next because we signed an NDA' questions. No insight, no background detail, it might as well have been one of the organisers or something with no connection to the movie doing the introduction

Leigh demonstrated how good it was to experience a director interacting with an audience, shepherded expertly by Alan, of course. It made the film and the experience all the more enjoyable.

If Whannell can do a Q&A, I can't see the problem with everyone doing one. I have yet to see any filmmaker treated with anything than respect in audience questions- irrespective of the general feeling about the film. I can't see the point of bringing these guys to Frightfest and then not letting them speak.

Re: BRING BACK THE Q & As

Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2018 1:41 am
by cineBAKA
I'd prefer a Q&A to an introduction, personally. I felt sorry for the guy who introduced Fright Fest, who clearly wanted and expected to do a Q&A after the film. Then I saw the film and felt less sorry for him.. :lol:

Re: BRING BACK THE Q & As

Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2018 8:13 am
by argento1977
Agreed...the Q&As were an integral part of Frightfest for me and their absence leaves a gaping big hole.

Re: BRING BACK THE Q & As

Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2018 11:44 pm
by Jon H
Don't know if this is connected to the extended intros instead of Q&A's, but is anyone else noticing there seems to be more latecomers to screenings this year? In the Arrow screen especially, we seem to have quite a few people wandering in 5, 10 even 20 mins after the film has started. Wonder if people have realised that the time in the programme isn't now the actual start of the film? It's a bit stupid if so, but don't understand why people are coming in late when the times are in the programme, outside the cinema, on the website....

Re: BRING BACK THE Q & As

Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2018 12:27 am
by ItWasAllGiallo
Although I haven’t quite been caught out by this myself (yet), I’d suggest the latecomers may be due to the extended intros messing up the timings between disco screening finish times and main screen start times (or vice verse). For example one of our crew that went to see Bad Samaritan yesterday had a 15 minute gap turned into a -2 minute gap between the end of BS and scheduled start of Upgrade due to the delayed start. She managed to make it before the film started but only just...

Re: BRING BACK THE Q & As

Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2018 12:45 am
by coles84
Yes, I really miss the Q & A's. Always interesting to hear from people involved in the films talk about what you just saw, not having it this year, like others have said leaves a big hole. The intro's feel all a bit pointless without knowing too much about the people before the film and with the lack of things they can say.

Re: BRING BACK THE Q & As

Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2018 10:00 am
by Paxton
Anyone know why they have stopped them, what problem they are trying to solve?

Re: BRING BACK THE Q & As

Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2018 10:39 am
by sherbetbizarre
Paxton wrote: Mon Aug 27, 2018 10:00 am Anyone know why they have stopped them, what problem they are trying to solve?
From the Newsletter :
There is one major change to FrightFest proceedings this year. We will only be hosting specially selected post-final credits Q&As at the end of a few films. Instead, every movie with star talent attached will have an extended, spoiler free, introduction. This is mainly because of the way the cinemas are configured, especially the two Cineworld Empire main screens.

We have decided that having a flood of people walking out in front of the visiting guests when they are being interviewed due to other films starting or limited scheduled breaks is really not a good look. And remember if you do have any burning questions for our celebrity guests, you can usually find them hanging around in the lobby areas anyway. Don’t worry though writer/director Leigh Whannell will be doing one of his legendary Q&As at the end of UPGRADE
http://www.frightfest.co.uk/newsletter.html

Re: BRING BACK THE Q & As

Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2018 3:20 pm
by jonbly
From the Newsletter : We have decided that having a flood of people walking out in front of the visiting guests when they are being interviewed due to other films starting or limited scheduled breaks is really not a good look.
This is understandable... but another thing causing that flood is that the schedules are REALLY packed - missing a Q&A you're less interested in was a way to make a break long enough to grab some food.

Re: BRING BACK THE Q & As

Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2018 11:26 pm
by Paxton
From my observation over the years, the majority of ticket holders stay for the Q&As, the filmmakers also seem to enjoy it. Goes back to my earlier point, the festival has always been about interacting with the guests and them feeling the love from the audience

Re: BRING BACK THE Q & As

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2018 1:54 am
by Persephone
Whilst I can understand the organisers not wanting to have streams of people leaving during the Q&As the issue with the extended intros is that some people just don’t care about the guests. I had a very vocal group behind me who clearly had zero interest in any of the guests & as such routinely talked throughout anything the organisers/guests were saying. They were there for the films only and truly resented the extended intros eating into their break time when they wanted the choice as to whether to leave or stay for a Q&A. For my part as I like guests & hearing them speak I just wanted them to shut the hell up. I’d much rather have had a v short intro & then the chatty Cathy’s could have left as soon as the film was done so we could enjoy the guests talking.

And I noticed the sheer amount of people coming in late. I mean I personally could never show up 20 minutes into a film & then casually wander to their seat in the middle of a row but people routinely were.

Re: BRING BACK THE Q & As

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2018 9:09 am
by DavieT
Yeh have to agree with many posters here - I preferred the post movie Q&A. Those not interested could then leave so those who were interested could stay and properly hear what the directors/actors had to say.

Re: BRING BACK THE Q & As

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2018 9:22 am
by DJBenz
We have decided that having a flood of people walking out in front of the visiting guests when they are being interviewed due to other films starting or limited scheduled breaks is really not a good look.
It can't be something the guests are unfamiliar with if they've been at other festivals though? Surely Frightfest isn't unique in people leaving during the Q&A's?

Re: BRING BACK THE Q & As

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2018 9:37 am
by DavieT
DJBenz wrote: Tue Aug 28, 2018 9:22 am
We have decided that having a flood of people walking out in front of the visiting guests when they are being interviewed due to other films starting or limited scheduled breaks is really not a good look.
It can't be something the guests are unfamiliar with if they've been at other festivals though? Surely Frightfest isn't unique in people leaving during the Q&A's?
Yup agree - surely the guests know that not everyone loves their movie or is interested in Q&As. It’s surely not a uniquely Frightfest thing.

Re: BRING BACK THE Q & As

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2018 9:56 am
by greenzombidog
I missed the Q&A's also. The Leigh Whannel one was really good. All the intros seemed a little pointless as they were all just saying the same thing. " We can't really tell you much because of spoilers". It also really impacted on the breaks. Although the Crystal eyes intro was good because they could discuss the whole aesthetic thing without fear of spoilers. I hope the Q& A'S return next year.