Sarah Hoyle

My PhD explores the expansive world of outdoor film screenings. It looks behind the films that are curated for screening, the people who attend the screenings and the location of the screenings to question whether contemporary outdoor film screenings represent a new, old or renewed film culture.

 

I will look back drawing inspiration from outdoor screenings in America in particular the Drive in Movies. I will take a journey over 60 years to modern day Britain where for many young people smartphones provide an alternative platform to watch films. This is far removed from the traditional cinema environment from which outdoor film screenings evolved.

 

Looking forward I will consider the economic future of outdoor film screenings, I will reflect on the impact of advances in technology and the ongoing changes in how we view and use different urban spaces as stages for watching films. 

 

I am working on my PhD part time alongside running Together We Create, the charity I set up in 2009 to delivery innovative projects to young people and their communities, more information about the charity can be found on Twitter (@TWC_Projects) or at www.togetherwecreate.org.uk.

Between 2006 -2008 I established a pan London film festival for young people called the Four Ells Film Festival. On the back of this and over 10 years spent working in creative education  & community settings, in 2014 I completed my MA in Film Television and Visual Media at Birkbeck, University of London. 

 

My MA dissertation compared three unique outdoor film settings in London; a commercial setting in a busy tourist area; a screen under a motorway and a nomadic production which toured parks and green spaces across the city.