Mareel - Cinema & Music Venue

[fusion]

Acces to screen one could be from ground floor if you ask, if you have a particuler need, I'm sure the staff will help you out on that one .

 

I think its prity bog standard and what you would expect to see if you went into the same kind of venue on the mainland. just good to see it here now.

 

Yes i'm glad I'm not a cleaner too, some of the more packed nights, which will be coming there soon, will soon scuff the place up. I don't just mean the kids events either. You can see some states after a band/event have been in the clickimin.

 

Having music events in the cafe could be a major turn off for some customers who perhaps don't like that kind of music, but want to use the cafe as a cafe = cafe sales are down.

 

So it would need to be approprate and handeled with care. If its ok to have a jazz evening in the cafe bar then it should be ok to have a rock night as well.

 

I think the main cost is all behind the walls, it must have been a sparkies nightmare of a job to do.

 

all the additional rooms look kinda small though, wonder what room hire costs are?

[Hector's House]

... where's the mirrors gonna go then for when lippy needs to be re-applied?

Is that for when you take Ghostie to the Goth night?

[Ghostrider]

^ Nah, I'm the zombie, goth is so passé these days. Besides, ain't lippy more rocky horror than goth anyway...maybe your kinda thing?!?.

[Hector's House]

Zombies?

Maybe Mareel should have been designed using these guidelines... http://zombiesafehouse.wordpress.com/

[Fatal Paper Cut]

I think its prity bog standard and what you would expect to see if you went into the same kind of venue on the mainland. just good to see it here now.

 

Not from a technical point of view. The facilities offered and the way they're tied together is extremely well thought through. Basically, you can plug in a mic in pretty much every room of the building and send that as a feed to the rest of the building. You could record a live concert and send that to the recording studio for mastering on CD or as an MP3, or send it out live on the internet. You could even hook video cameras up in the main auditorium and send a live video feed of the concert out over the phone line to a broadcaster at the same time - a live session from Mareel as part of Celtic Connections, for example. This building isn't just a cinema, it's going to be the creative hub for Shetland in terms of music.

 

Yes, you'll get the Gussie Angus' of this world waxing lyrical about how in the past, Shetland folk would just gather in someone's house, or put on a dance at the hall, as if Mareel is somehow going to prevent or supersede that. It won't - but it will allow Shetland to export it's music to a world stage that's never been possible before.

[unlinkedstudent]

I think its prity bog standard and what you would expect to see if you went into the same kind of venue on the mainland. just good to see it here now.

 

Not from a technical point of view. The facilities offered and the way they're tied together is extremely well thought through. Basically, you can plug in a mic in pretty much every room of the building and send that as a feed to the rest of the building. You could record a live concert and send that to the recording studio for mastering on CD or as an MP3, or send it out live on the internet. You could even hook video cameras up in the main auditorium and send a live video feed of the concert out over the phone line to a broadcaster at the same time - a live session from Mareel as part of Celtic Connections, for example. This building isn't just a cinema, it's going to be the creative hub for Shetland in terms of music.

 

Yes, you'll get the Gussie Angus' of this world waxing lyrical about how in the past, Shetland folk would just gather in someone's house, or put on a dance at the hall, as if Mareel is somehow going to prevent or supersede that. It won't - but it will allow Shetland to export it's music to a world stage that's never been possible before.

 

I'd tend to disagree with you here. Shetland has been able to export music to a world stage in the past but not in this particular way. How much would it cost to use video cameras and set up a live feed without 'Mareel technology'?

 

I think I remember reading that Sky Arts are interested but if a lot of the dosh has been spent on technology for this functionality, will it seriously pay for itself during the lifespan of the building? Yes, it probably will make Shetland music more marketable but what size is the market? How many prospective purchasers/audiences are lined up? Whilst it may well be the technology of the present, it may be outdated in perhaps 5-10 years.

 

As for microphone feeds throughout the building - oh yippee, how super.

[Fatal Paper Cut]

but it will allow Shetland to export it's music to a world stage that's never been possible before.

 

I'd tend to disagree with you here.

 

Quelle surprise.

 

Shetland has been able to export music to a world stage in the past but not in this particular way.

 

Er, in what way is the meaning in those two sentences different?

 

How much would it cost to use video cameras and set up a live feed without 'Mareel technology'?

 

Clearly, you've never booked an OB satellite truck before.

 

This may amaze you, but renting space on a satellite so you can send a signal into space and have it bounce back to a receiver somewhere else is phenomenally expensive. To say nothing of the time it takes to properly mic up a venue, light it, install talkback, install video feeds to a vision mixer, set up video cameras, sync the colour on the cameras, do sound checks, transmission checks, etc, etc, etc. Being able to do all that in one building with a good acoustic and all the cabling infrastructure and equipment in place is a major timesaver.

 

I'll give you an example - in the Garrison, to adjust a light - one light, mind - can take the best part of 20 minutes. Half an hour at the outside. In Mareel, you'll be able to do it in about five minutes. You don't have to run cables here, there and everywhere because they're already built into the infrastructure of the building. It's much easier if you can just plug a talkback headset and a camera into a feed in the wall without having to trail cables across the room and try and keep them out of sight. And, crucially, you won't have to hire in a satellite truck with transmission charges of hundreds, possibly thousands of per hour. You can send your feed south via the internet instead. Cheaper, quicker, better.

 

I think I remember reading that Sky Arts are interested but if a lot of the dosh has been spent on technology for this functionality, will it seriously pay for itself during the lifespan of the building? Yes, it probably will make Shetland music more marketable but what size is the market? How many prospective purchasers/audiences are lined up? Whilst it may well be the technology of the present, it may be outdated in perhaps 5-10 years.

 

You should be able to get 20-odd years from a good sound desk. Same with lighting desks. Safe to say, the equipment isn't going to be obsolete in a few years. Besides, they'll be able to replace them as and when required. The technology is what you would need to be able to put on a concert anyway, it's just now, because of the way it's been tied together, it can be used to send feeds worldwide. They've not built the place on the premise it's only ever going to be used for concerts for broadcast - that's a nice extra. Once again, you're seeing problems that aren't there.

 

What size is the market? Sizable enough that they felt it was a good idea to build a dedicated music venue. Sheesh. Are you going to complain there's not nearly a big enough market for Shetland Music now, then? I'm not saying that there's going to be concerts broadcast from Mareel every other week. You'd have to be some sort of idiot to try and infer that. But, should they so wish to when the opportunity is there, it's now much easier to arrange, set up and actually do.

 

As for microphone feeds throughout the building - oh yippee, how super.

 

Would you like me to explode with rage and call you patronising beyond belief now? No? Thought not. Maybe it's not that important to you (You've already decided the building isn't fit for purpose with a whole gamut of problems, after all. Even if most of them don't actually exist.), but it's stuff like that which will allow the building to be so versatile. Otherwise they'd have to trail cables everywhere. Perhaps the biggest advantage being we won't have to then wade through four pages of you going on about XLR cable trip hazards.

[Ghostrider]

but it will allow Shetland to export it's music to a world stage that's never been possible before.

 

I'd tend to disagree with you here.

 

Quelle surprise.

 

Shetland has been able to export music to a world stage in the past but not in this particular way.

 

Er, in what way is the meaning in those two sentences different?

 

The first one can be read more than one way. Taken literally it can be read as saying that its not been possible to export Shetland's music to the rest of the world previously, which is obviously untrue. If you'd said "....to a world stage in a way that's never been possible before". It would have said nearer to what I presume you mean.

 

Regardless, clearly Mareel will need a much better internet connection to the outside world than the rest of us mere mortals can get hold of, or nothing much of anything is going to get very far an awful lot of the time.

 

Don't get me wrong, outgoing is fine, anything that brings in a buck and is publicity, cannot be bad. However I'd be far more interested in incoming, as that is what will put bums on seats. And lets face it, if "big names" to the south promoter SA have signed up with constitute 10+ year OOD Indie/Britpop acts and 30+ year OOD punk outfits, live incoming streaming is as near as Mareel is going to get to an A List music act in the foreseeable future. This kind of thing was spoken of in the early days, but seems to have gone suspiciously quiet in more recent times.

 

Having now seen this beast in all her glory (albeit in photos only), it poses the question, if live streaming of shows from elsewhere are still being considered, where and how do they get done? Assume hypothetically SA are lucky enough to get a live feed from a say P!nk, Lady Gaga or whatever gig someplace at a viable cost, you need a screen and sound system to bring it all together. The cinema screen I don't doubt would cope admirably, but 160 seated for that kinda show, fed through a sound rig designed for movie scores, just won't be flying anyplace any day.

 

The main auditorium sound rig no doubt would do it justice, but it lacks a screen....so what happens? Don't tell me Mareel has another screen to set up on the main auditorium stage for this kind of thing, sure, it would create a perfect set up, but in doing so it in effect makes the building a three cinema venue, which in turn very much calls in to question the justification for the main cinema being provided at all.

[Fatal Paper Cut]

but it will allow Shetland to export it's music to a world stage that's never been possible before.

 

I'd tend to disagree with you here.

 

Quelle surprise.

 

Shetland has been able to export music to a world stage in the past but not in this particular way.

 

Er, in what way is the meaning in those two sentences different?

 

The first one can be read more than one way. Taken literally it can be read as saying that its not been possible to export Shetland's music to the rest of the world previously, which is obviously untrue. If you'd said "....to a world stage in a way that's never been possible before". It would have said nearer to what I presume you mean.

 

Regardless, clearly Mareel will need a much better internet connection to the outside world than the rest of us mere mortals can get hold of, or nothing much of anything is going to get very far an awful lot of the time.

 

Don't get me wrong, outgoing is fine, anything that brings in a buck and is publicity, cannot be bad. However I'd be far more interested in incoming, as that is what will put bums on seats. And lets face it, if "big names" to the south promoter SA have signed up with constitute 10+ year OOD Indie/Britpop acts and 30+ year OOD punk outfits, live incoming streaming is as near as Mareel is going to get to an A List music act in the foreseeable future. This kind of thing was spoken of in the early days, but seems to have gone suspiciously quiet in more recent times.

 

Having now seen this beast in all her glory (albeit in photos only), it poses the question, if live streaming of shows from elsewhere are still being considered, where and how do they get done? Assume hypothetically SA are lucky enough to get a live feed from a say P!nk, Lady Gaga or whatever gig someplace at a viable cost, you need a screen and sound system to bring it all together. The cinema screen I don't doubt would cope admirably, but 160 seated for that kinda show, fed through a sound rig designed for movie scores, just won't be flying anyplace any day.

 

The main auditorium sound rig no doubt would do it justice, but it lacks a screen....so what happens? Don't tell me Mareel has another screen to set up on the main auditorium stage for this kind of thing, sure, it would create a perfect set up, but in doing so it in effect makes the building a three cinema venue, which in turn very much calls in to question the justification for the main cinema being provided at all.

 

Ah knickers. Three little words that make such a difference and I missed em out. Yes, that's what I meant to say.

 

Obviously yes, it'll need a decent internet connection to send feeds outwith Shetland, but once we're tied into the Faroese fibre optic link, that should be a lot easier. Mind you, it's also possible to do it via ISDN, but that's not nearly so common now.

 

I don't think they'll be intending to feed concerts into the auditorium though. Much more likely Screen 1 for that. They can bring in speakers from the store more suited for a gig if need be. Thats not to say it couldn't happen that way, and still leave the Screen 1 free for cinema showings. Which would be kinda useful in a multi-function building.

[Ghostrider]

I don't think they'll be intending to feed concerts into the auditorium though. Much more likely Screen 1 for that. They can bring in speakers from the store more suited for a gig if need be.

 

A shame, and possible missed opportunity if this is the case. Certainly for many genres the cinema with more suitable speakers is more than fine, but if it were possible to get a feed from a tour date of a "name" "rock, pop etc" act. With a decent screen and sound rig the quality should be good enough to bring out a lot more than 160 fans, many of whom are likely to want to do exactly the same as they would were they at the gig in person - dance, sing along etc...After all it would be little different than attending many music festivals (minus the mud of course), as you don't really have to be all that far back in the crowd before you're relying largely on screens etc to properly see and hear the show.

[shetlandpeat]

The desk for audio/video control is easily changed. I went through two upgrades when I worked with film lighting, we used to use the old ARRI analogue desks, +10v systems, we moved over to DMX with ARRI again, then I went to get trained on a Jands Desk. Clever bit of kit. The move from analogue to DMX was expensive, we had adapted our original racks to save from buying new, the cable cost nearly as much as the desk. As the cable will never needed to be more than 3 cores (unlike the 7 needed for analogue) and more or less an unlimited number of channels available just on 3 cores, it was a great move.

A 3 pin XLR is all that is required. Desks can be changed at ease. You can also rent them, to try before you buy.

[shellb2]

i just want to know when is it open and whats on at cinema...

[Staney Dale]

It's looking good. But I wonder if anyone 'in the know' who posts here can tell me why the waterside walkway is still blocked off? Or has nobody remembered to take down the barriers?

[shetlandpeat]

It's looking good. But I wonder if anyone 'in the know' who posts here can tell me why the waterside walkway is still blocked off? Or has nobody remembered to take down the barriers?

 

there is a geocache there, I went to look at it just after the barriers were installed.

[MuckleJoannie]

Looks like it finally opens tonight

 

http://www.shetlandarts.org/shetland-arts-announces-concerts-film-screenings-educational-activities-in-mareel/