Paris and cinema it's
an awasome mix that I decided to test this summer with the application
Cinemacity.
Cinemacity is an application that
through geolocalisation offers you the opportunity to visit Paris and to
review major motion pictures that were filmed within 300 meters of the position
from where you are standing. There are approximately 400 videos (excerpts
of well known films).
Cinemacity was
coproduced by Arte and Small Bang. More information on
You may also
take part in this project by sending your own "sweded"version of a film scene shot in
Paris.
As it was summer
time so I tried it during “Paris Plage” which is an event that recreates the
beach at the border of the Seine river. If you are in Paris during holidays,
try it!
I don't have the latest version of IPhone so maybe some of my remarks may not be experienced by users of iphone 5.
I chose to watch videos that I was close to and could discover spontaneously. A map pointed out my position, indicated the closest videos and the perimeter of 300 m that enabled me to unlock the videos.
Sometimes when I wanted to zoom in on my position, the application dezoomed it.
I started to walk and experience the magic of Paris. The length of videos varied from very short (30 seconds ) to almost four times as long (2 minutes). I traveled in space and in time as this app includes black and white films as well as recent ones. For example next to Notre Dame I saw Gina Lolobrigitta playing Esmeralda.
After each video excerpt, my screen showed the video’s poster, its title, and synopsis.
Since this application requires 3G connection- we are dependent on the quality
of the internet connection. As long as I had 3G, the experience was really
great. However, sometimes I lost it and I couldn't acces to videos, which was
frustrating.
Also, at the “Paris Plage” event there is no Wifi Free Spots...
There is an option to download the videos prior to your visit according to the
walk you will choose.
But as I was moving randomly, I crossed through a few different intineraries
and switching between connected and non- connected modes was not convenient for
me.
Sometimes the geolocalisation indicated my position in a totally different
place than I was.
To sum up- it’s a good experience that enables us to discover Paris
through the magic of cinema.
The disadvantages- the experience depends on the quality of connection if we
don't download a specific walk prior to arriving.
