Week Three: Visions 5

There wasn't much new this week for the Pr/Art Department.  We continued discussing possible ideas for social media and a few new ideas we have for the website.  We have been working very hard in the last two meetings; therefore, there wasn't much more for us to discuss during last weeks meeting.

Research Assignment 1: Festival and Conference Management Styles (PART I)

Festival/Conference basics (from Withoutabox, event website and news articles):

1. What time is your interview scheduled and who will you be talking with when you call/Skype?

            I will be speaking with the executive director of the Ann Arbor Film Festival at 3:00PM on Wednesday, September 9^th via Skype.

2. Who started it and who runs it?

The festival was started by a professor of the University of Michigan, George Manupelli, in 1963. It is currently run by Leslie Raymond and David Dinnell. 

           

3. What is the mission of the festival/conference? (copy and paste the first paragraph)

            To support bold, visionary filmmakers, advance the art form of film and new media, and engage communities with remarkable cinematic experiences.

4. How does this compare with their actual programming choices from the past two years? Be specific in describing what they program (mode, categories within mode, niche, Political? Global? Local? Gender? Sexuality? Race? Any themes that you see? etc…)

The choices featured during their festival very much follow the mission statement.  There are a wide variety of films to watch ranging from features to shorts, music videos, student films, multicultural, as well as short discussion and paper/presentation blocks.  I don’t see any themes; they show many different things. 

5. Where is the event?

The event is held in Ann Arbor, Michigan. 

6. When is the event? (Give dates from last year if not current)

The event will take place from March 24^th thru March 29^th.

7. How do you submit? Snail mail, online, withoutabox, through their site, etc…

You can submit through a link and extensive form on their website, or through Withoutabox.

8. When are the deadlines to enter? Early? Reg? Late?

The early deadline was August 15^th, the official deadline in October 1^st, and the late deadline is November 1^st.

9. How much does it cost to enter?

The cost for the early deadline is $30 for shorts and $40 features; for each subsequent deadline the fee increases by $10.

10. Who’s eligible, what are the guidelines to enter?

There are no explicit guidelines for entry.

11. Is there a Student category?

Yes.

12. What formats do they except for jurying? DVD, Vimeo, Flash drives?

They accept DVD, Blu-Ray, Internet Links and 16mm copies for submissions.

13. What formats do they except for exhibition/screening?

The exhibition copy must be 16mm, 35mm, s8mm, Digital File, digibeta or BetaSP.

14. How many films screened at the festival last year?

There were 222 films (that I can count on the website) screened last year.

15. How long is a typical shorts block or paper presentation block at their event?

Typical blocks seem to be 2 to 2.5 hours long.

16. How many films or papers do they program per block?

There are about 10-15 films per block.  A presentation is normally in it’s own block.

17. How do people register to attend? Is there a cost to attend as a guest?

Tickets for individual screenings for the public and for AAFF members or students are $9 and $7 respectively.  The opening night reception is $35 and $25. The full festival pass is $95 and $80. The weekend pass is $55 and $45.

18. Look at sponsorship page and see what businesses. Grants and private entities give money to the event. Figure out how many of each kind and note any leads that might be useful to us.

There are a various number of sponsors listed on the website, many of them are local; few of them are well known such as The Academy of Motion Picture and Arts, Google, and Yelp.

19. What are their sponsorship levels and incentives for each level?

There was no information regarding this matter. 

20. Did they have a kickstarter or indiegogo? What incentives did they have for each level of donor?

$50 – Name recognition on the AAFF website

$150 – Plus, name printed in AAFF Program Guide

$500 – Plus, 10 tickets for AAFF Main Theater screenings

$1,000 – Plus, a special AAFF swag bag full of memorabilia and surprise gifts

$3,000 – Plus, Sponsorship of one festival program with on stage accknowledgement

$5,000 – Plus, a private AAFF hosted event of your choosing

21. What kind of non-traditional film/video events have they had before? Things like Installations,'Visual Soundwalls,' VJing etc.

There are filmmaker retrospectives, gallery intalations, panel discussions, historic and thematic surveys and contemporary artist programs along with their screenings during the festival. 

22. Are there ways in which they have expanded the typical film screening event? How have they branched out from sitting in a dark room in front of a screen?           

The festival has been around for over 50 years; there is a tour that happens every year that travels nationally to bring more attention and create a following base for the festival. 

Answer the following questions about your experience with your assigned festival’s/conference’s website:

23. Is the layout easy to navigate? What makes it easy?

            The website is fairly simple to navigate; the layout is simple (tabs for about, festival, tour, contribute, and archive).  When each is clicked, new categories in each subcategory appear on that page. 

24. Is the layout difficult to navigate? What makes it difficult?

            It is not difficult to navigate.

25. Can you find the information you are looking for on the homepage or via a link on the homepage?

            Yes; it is very easy to find information.

26. Aesthetically, what catches your eye? What's cool about it?

            It isn’t very aesthetically pleasing (not too many colors).  There are no complicated designs, it is very simple. 

27. Aesthetically, what doesn't fit in? What makes it look bad?

            Nothing looks bad; the theme of the website is very simple, so it looks like everything fits well.

28. Should there be more information? Is the page too bare?

            Though it is simple, all of the information you need is there, or there is a link to it on the home page.

29. Should there be less information? Is the page too busy?

            There is a sufficient amount of information on the page.

30. What would you do differently if you were to redesign this website?

            I would add more color to it, just to make it pleasing to the eye.  There are many dark blues, hues of gray/black and brown.

31. What would you keep the same if you were to redesign this website?

            I would keep the simplicity of the website; links, layout, etc. 

Second Week: Visions 5

I feel that, together, the PR and Art Departments have been making some great progress in our meetings. We have been very productive, covering many different things from social media, to blogs, to possible themes for the website and other marketing tools.

For our social networking, we have chosen to stick with the Facebook page, Twitter and Instagram. Those three mediums are most popular today and more relatable to marketing a festival and gaining interest.  We decided when we get closer to choosing a theme we will start teasing on social media. And when we get into the heat of things, we will post on each medium three times a week.  We will be posting updates about the staff, as well as different things to engage followers such as, but not limited to, discussions about directors, female filmmakers and foreign films, as well as news in the film world, and poll questions. We also spoke about what we want our blog to be like and how we want all of our outlets to be connected.

We have also been talking about and working on pulling together three themes to present to the class.  We have narrowed our themes down and have discussed various different ideas that we have for the website, including how to condense existing features and adding features that would be relevant to the theme.

Festival Interview Meeting

For this assignment I will be interviewing Leslie Raymond, the Executive Director of the Ann Arbor Film Festival.  We will be speaking over Skype on Wednesday, September 10th at 3:00PM. I am excited to speak with her and learn more about the festival and festivals in general.

First Week: Visions 5

I am incredibly excited to be a part of the Visions 5 staff this year! I have always wanted to learn what it takes to put together a film festival.  I worked for the Cape Fear Independent Film Festival last year, and along with another intern, took responsibility for the social media for the festival.  I enjoy working with social media; writing is one of my strong suits and I am very comfortable with various social media and relating websites.  I didn't do much other than social media within that internship, so I am most excited to learn the who, what, when, where, why of the festival life through Visions.  Though I will be working with social media again, I feel as though I will gain a lot more experience in different areas.  One thing that I can remember from the first class is hearing that all departments work together.  We have our own niches and delegated tasks, but we are not limited; all departments must work collectively for everything to work the way we want it to and for everything to go smoothly.  I think that I am most looking forward to that; working together, learning the in's and out's of the festival in it's entirety and seeing it through.

I will be honest and say that most of the time I do not enjoy readings that are assigned to classes.  Maybe because they come with a certain stigma of being class readings, or maybe because I often get bored.  That being said, I actually, very much enjoyed the readings for this week! Before coming to college, I never really took a great interest in Independent film, but as I learn more and more about filmmaking and film study, I have come to realize that it is the place to begin.  The readings have given me even more of an understanding into the world of independent film.

Festivals of Their Own: It was interesting to read about the history of film festivals, from their beginning to their end or to their fall in the eyes of the independent film community by becoming more corporate like.  I think the idea of making money is good to keep in mind, but not as to destroy the entire concept and the original purpose of a film festival.  The festivals talked about in the reading all began with the idea to bring original ideas and films that wouldn't otherwise receive recognition to viewers, then became politicized, and then fell into the corporate structure because they wanted to market their festivals to a wider audience, and make more money.  My favorite quote from this reading is on page 197 and it reads "The best way to show your work is to be proud of it -- excitement about your own project is more important than the location of the screening." I have always believed that it is more important to show your work and be proud of it, rather than focus on the monetary value of it.  Sure, it matters when you are putting your own savings and need return to live comfortably; but the most important part should be knowing that others out there enjoy the work you are doing, and more importantly, that you enjoy the work.

A Night at the Movies: From Art Hour to "Microcinema": The most important idea that this reading presented to me was that there are multiple ways, different ways to view and enjoy cinema, but because of popular culture we have always associated cinema viewing with large multiplexes with concessions and comfy chairs.  The three problems that the industry faces are monetary, with exhibitions (because watching film from the comfort of you home is becoming more popular), and with the intertwining of mainstream and art house cinema.  Though I have not been to many independent exhibitions, I would have to agree with the author and say that it is more community building.  Though mainstream cinema may reach more audiences, art house and independent cinema builds a community of cinephiliacs of all types.  I know that I definitely enjoy discussion after films!