Getting sniffy about outdoor movie show

Published on Friday 24 July 2009 13:38

FORGET the smell of the greasepaint and the roar of the crowd. At Festival Square this weekend, it'll be more a case of the smell of the locker-room and the buzz of the class-room, when the first ever scratch 'n' sniff screening of Gregory's Girl wafts into town.

As part of the London 2012 Open Weekend, an annual UK-wide celebration counting down to the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Big Screen outside the Sheraton Hotel on Lothian Road will show Bill Forsyth's classic Scottish coming of age comedy drama.

Ranked 30th in the British Film Institute's list of the Top 100 British films, Gregory's Girl stars John Gordon Sinclair, Dee Hepburn and Clare Grogan.

The story is simple: When Gregory Underwood, an awkward, gangly teenager falls in love with Dorothy, the new star of the school football team, there's only one thing for it – he has to ask her out on a date. That's easier said than done, but then the path of young love is rarely smooth, as Gregory quickly discovers.

Sunday's multi-sensory version, the first outdoor scratch 'n' sniff experience anywhere in the UK, comes courtesy of Bompas & Parr, the 'architectural foodsmiths' currently working with Heston Blumenthal on his forthcoming television series

Most recently seen dishing out aphrodisiac marshmallows at the Horseless Carriage of Curiosities on Bristo Square earlier this month, the pair have designed eight scents to accompany the film, all of which have been impregnated onto a special scratch 'n' sniff card.

On the day, cinema-goers will be joined by an enigmatic penguin (sure to be familiar to devotees of the film) who will appear in the crowd at appropriate moments to hold up a placard instructing the audience when to scratch and sniff the complimentary card they will receive on arrival.

The open air screening follows the success Bompas & Parr enjoyed when they decided to revive Scratch 'n' sniff cinema (or Odorama as its pioneer, American director John Waters called it when he introduced the concept with his 1981 film Polyester) earlier this year at an adults-only screening of Peter Greenaway's The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover. Then the scents included those of dusty books and rotting meat.

Although keeping Sunday's scents a secret, Sam Bompas teases, "A lot of the action takes place on the playing field, so you may expect to experience the fresh smell of the outdoors, followed by the fug of the locker room and maybe some romantic smells in there too. Dorothy, the love interest with the fancy footwork, will have a signature smell to accompany her scenes. We had originally considered pumping the smells into the crowd as the action unfolded but it wouldn't have worked.

"It would be fine getting the smells out there, but the problem would be getting them to disperse in time for the next one. Without some way to clear the previous smell you'd just end up with a strange cocktail of smelly socks, cut grass and perfume hovering over the square."

Steve Cardownie, the Council's festivals and events champion adds, "This quirky Scratch'n'Sniff version of Gregory's Girl on the Big Screen will introduce a new generation to Bill Forsyth's films, which are hugely popular the world over. It will certainly be one of the most innovative cultural events of the summer in Edinburgh. I'm very much looking forward to seeing the transformation of Festival Square into an open air cinema with a difference."

Running at just over an hour and a half, limited seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis for the screening and you are advised to bring along cushions or collapsible seating.

Finally, it might be summer, but this is Edinburgh, so dress appropriately with a view to remaining warm and dry – if you do, as Gregory might say, you are in for a 'bella' evening.

Gregory's Girl, Big Screen, Festival Square, Sunday, 5pm, free

the great outdoors: Viewers take their places in Festival Square for a big-screen show

Duran Duran set their lasers to stun in Castle Concert

Loose ends

Liam Rudden

SLICING through the fug pumped from cleverly concealed smoke machines, lasers were the big thing in the 1980s. No disco, gig or even stage production was complete without a state-of-the-art laser show – indeed Theatre Royal Hanley's touring production of The Rocky Horror Show enjoyed an entire new lease of life by simply adding lasers.

Over the years, however, lasers have become a forgotten effect. Unless you happen to be Duran Duran, that is. Just ask anyone who saw their triumphant return to the Capital at the Castle last week.

Despite the heavens opening during the support act, just as Florence Welch of The Machine fame sang, 'And I could hear the thunder and see the lightning crack' - she could and it did - the 7700 crowd partied like it was 1984 when Le Bon and Co projected a mirage of ethereal ghosts high above the Esplanade, courtesy of five strategically placed lasers.

Perfect sound, impeccable staging and Le Bon's intrinsic showmanship made this one of the best Castle Concerts in years.

That said, two nights later, Simple Minds gave them a run for their money when, again, even a deluge of biblical proportions (the only way to describe the downpour. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Jim Kerr had an ark ready backstage, just in case] couldn't dampen enthusiasm.

Appropriate lyrics too opened the Minds' set with Kerr belting out, somewhat optimistically, 'Come in come out of the rain'.

Which brings me nicely to a night in front of the TV - or STV to be precise. Regular readers will remember I flagged up STV's decision to opt-out of screening The Bill.

Well, the programme makers at ITV have listened to viewers' complaints (more than STV bosses have] and rejigged ITV3 schedules so that local fans of the award-winning series can continue to follow the investigations of the Sun Hill cops.

Catch the first of the new episodes, Live By The Sword/Die By The Sword, next Wednesday on ITV3 at 11pm. Thereafter, ITV3 will broadcast The Bill on a Monday at 11pm.

Just for the record, the series dropped by STV, including latest casualty Midsomer Murders, used to attract between 500,000 and 600,000 viewers.

It has been reported that most of their replacements managed only 200,000 viewers – a discrepancy of between 300,000 to 400,000.

How long, I wonder, before they decide Coronation Street is too 'northern', Emmerdale too 'middle England' and hospital drama, The Royal, not west coast enough for us 'Scots'.

No doubt the parochialisation of STV will have the whisky glasses clinking among the heather-wearing members of the Scottish Parliament, while the rest of us tune out.

And talking of all things Scottish, I can't help thinking that The Gathering in Holyrood Park this weekend could not have come at a worse time.

Ex-pats have flown into the Capital from all over the world for this event – confined for hours at a time, breathing recycled air. All it would take is one infected fellow-flyer to launch an epidemic of swine flu.

Which is why I'll be avoiding the Old Town like the plague on Saturday. The best way for pregnant mothers to avoid the swine flu virus is to avoid crowds and being in confined spaces with other people. Well if it's good enough for them . . .

Finally, my favourite tag line of the week comes from the press release for 'that well-known block-buster' Mega Shark Vs Giant Octopus (released 10 August), which stars '80's pop sensation' Debbie Gibson as, no not one of the aquatic monsters, but as maverick marine biologist Emma MacNeil.

It reads: Mega Shark Vs Giant Octopus Is The Ultimate Bite-sized B-Movie Blockbuster Of Epic Proportions.

Just a bit OTT with the adjectives, guys.