|
HOW DO I FIND OUT IF A MOVIE IS AVAILABLE
ON VIDEO?
First - try your local video store…most stores have
a huge catalogue that lists all the movies that have been
released on video and those titles that have been deleted.
For British classics, contact:
VINTAGE VIDEO,
604 Markham St., Toronto M6G 2L8
TEL.: (416) 538-9927
E-MAIL: jbarthel@interlog.com
WEBSITE: www.vintagevideocanada.com
and for foreign language films, contact:
REVUE VIDEO,
207 Danforth Avenue, Toronto, M4K 1N2
TEL.: (416) 778-5776
There are a number of sites on the web - a
good Canadian one is www.videoflicks.com.
HOW DO I REQUEST A MOVIE TO PLAY ON SNAM?
All requests are welcome. However,
obtaining the broadcast rights to feature films is a complicated
process, made more so due to increased competition, but every
attempt is made to satisfy viewers' requests. The movies are
acquired long in advance of their air dates. The 2001/02 season
schedule is complete. There is a form found in The Lounge
that can be used to submit your requests to SNAM's producers.
WHY ARE THERE RERUNS ON SNAM?
A repeat factor is built into the
very premise of the series. That is to say, we deliver 26
new shows through the fall and winter prime viewing seasons,
with 26 repeats for the spring/summer seasons. It is just
not financially possible to produce 52 new shows.
TVO operates in the most competitive television
market in the world and almost every service programs movies.
It is becoming ever more difficult to acquire the films that
viewers have come to expect from SNAM, due to this increased
competition from channels who have more money available and
are able to buy large packages of movies on an exclusive basis,
which means that only they can play them.
For the first time, we have been able to switch the order
of the movies when we replayed them in the Spring/Summer season.
Where appropriate, the movie that aired first during the Fall/Winter,
was the second movie and the film that originally was second,
aired at 8:00pm. Our research has shown that audience viewing
patterns have changed over the history of the series. Where
once viewers stayed for the entire evening's double-bill ,
now most watch only one movie. By switching the order of the
films, we are able to offer our audience movies they hadn't
seen first time around.
It's like getting two shows for the price of one! This was
never financially feasible before, but, going without a host,
has given us this opportunity that so many viewers have requested
over the years. And it's not just a truism to say each broadcast
is seen by new viewers delighted to encounter a classic film
for the first time and old friends happy to revisit it.
HOW ARE THE MOVIES SELECTED ON SNAM?
The series began in 1974 with the
philosophy of presenting specially chosen classic American
and British movies and examining where those movies fit into
the cultural fabric of our lives. It's also a series that
explores how movies are made, as cinema has been deemed the
art form of the 20th Century. However, cost, availability
and appropriateness are also factors in determining what movies
are chosen.
Likes and dislikes of movies is such a subjective
thing, but, I hope that there is enough variety of choice
to please the majority of our viewers. Some enjoy musicals,
while others don't; some write and request more comedies,
while, on the same day, others say we show too many. It's
a series for those who are revisiting old favourites and those
who are discovering classics for the first time.
SNAM has been changing and growing with television
audiences. As films of the 30s and 40s were important to the
lives of one generation, films of the 60s and 70s are part
of the boomers' cultural fabric. This season will feature
30s & 40s classics such as Gone With The Wind, Citizen
Kane and The Treasure of Sierra Madre along with 70s, 80s
and 90s titles such as The Man Who Would Be King, Taxi Driver,
The Big Chill and Grand Canyon.
|
