New Side-Project: Wallpaper - End of the Arcade

We’ve made a new short documentary called ‘Wallpaper - End of the Arcade’, set in a decades-old amusements on the Isle of Wight.

I’d been thinking about doing something set in an arcade for years, it’s a setting that I’ve been mildly obsessed with since I was really young and the annual fair used to visit my hometown. There was always something so exciting about the neon, the noises, the new technology and the older kids who hung out there - I was way more interested in spending my pocket money there instead of on the dodgems.

These days, I still can’t resist having a quick mooch around to see what games are on show, even though they’re definitely shadows of what they once were. I think there’s something fascinating about the fact that these places, which used to be home to the very latest gaming tech, have now transformed into time capsules full of these electronic relics.

A while ago we got offered some new kit to try out so we quickly arranged to go and spend a couple of days in Ryde, shooting this mini-doc featuring the two guys who've been running an arcade for nearly 40 years, Richard and Peter. Having worked in the same place since the 1970s, through the heyday of the 80s, it was lovely getting first-hand accounts of the complete rise and fall of this seaside staple.

We kept things super simple, shooting on one Sony FS7, the DJI Ronin gimbal and a single panel light to help with the interviews. Having been given the run of the place and free use of the machines, the biggest challenge was staying focussed on the filmmaking, not getting drawn into yet another run at Time Crisis 2.

Give it a watch and let us know what you think.

Thanks to everyone who helped us put it together, especially our mate Titas, who set everything up for us.

TW