They shoot...they miss

Roger Hislop

I have a lot of sympathy for the Democratic Alliance. Respect, even admiration. They’ve been a small, somewhat strident, but dependably consistent voice that demands that attention be paid to democratic liberal values: rule of law, equality, good governance, all those laudable things. So I’ve generally given them a pass on their more ham-fisted publicity and election strategies (note to any DA leader that may read this: Rule One of Marketing…no, call it Rule Zero…never, ever, ever (or at least hardly ever) slag off the competition. It makes you look weak, petty, negative and lacking in your own ideas. This applies to consumer products, to business consultants, to political parties. Just stop it. It’s a strategy that has never failed to fail).

OK. Moving on quickly. Let’s rather talk about the DA’s “activation” on the Sea Point promenade on this past Monday night that ended the Easter Weekend. It was just too awful and funny for words. It could have been – should have been – great. Maybe not changing lots of hearts and minds coming up to the elections on the 22nd, but at least it's a great way for Cape Town people to spend an evening, with the DA getting some kudos for it.

The local DA office set up a large screen to do a free public movie showing, where you could take a blanket, lie on the grass, snack on a picnic and catch a movie. The idea is that the DA sponsors the first few, and then it’s taken up by another sponsor as an ongoing regular activity, and it’s a fine concept. It raises awareness of the DA, and positions them as involved in the community. Nice.

Except that it was very poorly advertised (I heard by chance), with no signage nearby to let you know what was going on, and not even any DA branding until fifteen minutes before the show started (if you call a handful of A3 sized cards wedged against the base of the screen “branding”).

** UPDATE 16/04/09 - apparently it was not a DA event, they were simply kindly supporting the initiative led by the Ward Councillor, JP Smith (see the comment below). So DA, sorry for saying your marketing sucked. In this specific case...). So... back to the story **

But fair enough, it’s a start. It can only get better. Or so I thought.

And then the movie started. It’s called “The Opus”, and if you thought “The Secret” was time-wasting, pernicious nonsense, then try “The Opus”. It’s basically an infomercial for the associated DVDs, coursework and other self-help tat. Loosely based on the life of famous violinist and composer, Vincenzo Vivaldi*, who supposedly on his deathbed said the Opus was the driver behind all his success, it follows this talented little rapscallion from his berth on an immigrant ship sailing to the New World, his picking out a violin at a junk-shop, and the fame and fortune following, interspersed with wide-eyed, breathless cuts to the usual gallery of ’Merican motivational speakers and self-help gurus.

We can only speculate that the DA chose this title to that they wouldn’t need to pay for rights to publicly broadcast something watchable like Batman Begins, Yentl or Zulu Dawn.

** UPDATE 16/04/09 - it appears this is more or less exactly the reason, but largely because the local movie distributors didn't want to come to the party (as it were). Hey, movie industry... this is why everyone hates you and tollerates piracy. Because we all think you're bastards. And you keep showing us we're right. **

Within ten minutes my little posse had decided that a drink up the road at Harvey’s was a much more productive way to spend an evening. That, and the one stand-out line from the movie… “Vivaldi came from the Old Country, Europe…”

* But isn’t Vivaldi’s first name Antonio? Yes it is, you clever clogs. Vincenzo Vivadi appears to be a figment of the film-maker’s imagination.

Comments

A friend of mine referred me to your post.

I am glad you took the time to come and check out the free movie. As you say in your post, if this is done right, it could be an excellent idea.

Perhaps just a correction: the point behind the whole thing was not a DA initiative. There was no "activation" (whatever that means).

Hence the minimal DA signage and branding. I treated them like a sponsor and kept the politics out of the event, acknowledging the DA only on screen prior to the screening. The local Sea Point DA branch liked the idea enough to be willing to cover the costs of this first attempt.

As the Ward Councillor for Sea Point, I have wanted to introduce free movie screenings on the Promenade for years and have gone off to speak to the Labia Theatre, tried to speak to Ster Kinekor and reached out to possible corporate sponsors to get it going.

Ster Kinekor have been unresponsive and no corporates have bitten yet. Eventually, I had a breakthrough with a film distributor who agreed, only to withdraw the offer at the last moment.

I decided not to cancel the event and we went ahead with Plan B, which was the offer of The Opus, which the SA distributor, who lives in the area, allowed us to use.

So, the lesson I have learnt after doing this job for the last 8 years is that there are no easy successes and that you never have all the tools and all the money to make it work. Everything gets going a little at a time and I am going to have to make this movie thing work like I managed to get Sea Point back on its feet: a little at a time.

The event was a bigger success than you might imagine, in that I actually got the screen on the Promenade and obtained permission from all the blocks of flats behind for the "noise exemption certificate" (yes, you have to do all that and submit many other things to get events approval...). That sets a useful precedent on which we can build. Other event ideas have not even made it this far as it got shot down by the ratepayers association, etc.

I am pulling more people into the next attempt and I will get them together around a table at the end of the month and then we will try again. We will continue to pursue movie distributors to see if some of them will meet us half-way without making it impossibly expensive (the screen is already extremely expensive and if we want to keep this FREE, then we have to make it affordable for whichever sponsor we can find, so the movie rights cannot cost too much on top of all the other expenses).

So bad reviews aside, when we do the second screening, hopefully of something more popular and mainstream that will please a wider audience, I hope you will bring your friends back and let's see if we can add this as a permanent feature on the Promenade.

JP Smith
City Councillor

JP Smith on 2009/04/15

Hi Councillor Smith,

Thanks for the feedback -- I hope that my withering views on The Opus don't ruffle too many feathers -- and that the experience does not discourage you from this initiative.

It is a really pleasant way to spend an evening -- watching a movie with a picnic. So best wishes to you and the team in doing so.

And I do appreciate how stunningly uncooperative and ungenerous the movie distributors can be.

I thought it particularly clever of Harvey's to set up a take out menu for the screening.

But please, no more Opus, huh?

Roger Hislop on 2009/04/16

the character in the movie - opus- is a fiction character; they do not refer to vivaldi -antonio, the composer, it is just an idea in order to inspire you;
so, do not make hard judgments for nothing;
the idea of the movie is inspirational for the people; see earl nightingale, for the west or swami shivananda, for the east; they both tell the same thing, as presented in the movie
so...chill out, man

adnanaluna on 2009/07/30