Weekly Check In 5

This week, after I presented, I got a solid kick that made me want to do some more in Visions. I have kind of had some high and lows with my scheduling and several other thing, but Devon and I are making progress with the Video Race. We made the registration form for the video race and Devon made up some very good and funny questions for the personal section of the questionnaire. I finished grading the films this week as well and I found them to possibly the best ones we have graded so far. The animations, in particular, really impressed me. I, also, revised the bumper from last week and made several tweaks to make the movement crisper and the color is fuller. I, also, came up with a possible logo for the Video Race and placed an art request. Samantha responded and made several designs that were much better than what I was previously thinking. This week I intend to officially secure the location because I have been allowing that to fall to the side which is not okay. I, also, helped out with the Valentine’s Day party this week and it was a lot of fun. I kind of bonded with more of the staff members, which is helping with trying to get more involved. I still think I am improving, but have ways to go with organizing, scheduling, involvement, etc.

Weekly Check in 4

This week I have tried to contact Pam Elliott one again in order to give us permission to actually shoot for the video race. She still has not responded to the email, yet so I just need to keep pushing because I want the location permit before February 21^st. I finished reading the essays and films for this week. I found a lot of the narratives to be rather boring but I was impressed with the documentaries. I place d a marketing request for the video race to be posted on the facebook by this coming Wednesday. I did the resume assignment for this week. I, also, began to work on making an actual resume to get a hard start for turning it in next week. Also, it is just good to have in general for when I want to apply for a job in the future. Devon and I reviewed for the presentation coming this Tuesday and just went over some key points we wish to discuss with the class. Finally, I created a bumper for this week. If the class responds positively to it, I kind want to see if I could maybe make a bumper for the video race. In general, I think I am making a step in the right direction when it comes to productivity in Visions. However, I still think I have a good bit to work on.

Weekly Check in 3

This week I managed to email Pam Elliott and Kimberley Howell a second time. They have yet to get back to me and if they don’t by Tuesday of this week, I am going to call their office in order to get direct contact with them. I, also, kept in constant contact with Devon this week in order to put together the presentation for this Tuesday. Devon is the one who put majority of the presentation together, I fed a few ideas off of her but she definitely put in majority of the work. I finished viewing the shorts this week and found them to be a tad bit disappointing. Compared to the ones that we had seen last week, they all were either too long or did looked like no effort was put into them. I feel like this week I keep falling behind. I started to get back on track the other night, but I feel like I am not putting in nearly enough effort if I want to stay on track for Visions as well as my other classes. The one thing I am managing to stay on track with is getting a location for the video race, but as far as everything I feel I need to improve drastically on.

Dirty Dozen: Securing the location for the video race

1.     To achieve location permits for the Video Race with in the next month.

2.     Anyone who is taking part in the Video Race. The Visions staff members because they have to participate in the race. Also, the any sponsored guest or student from a visiting school because they have to participate as well.

3.       The deliverable for us is the permission to shoot in certain areas within the UNCW campus.

4.       Our budget is about 250 dollars, which will be spent on props, shirts or bandana, and possible prizes. Acquiring the location does not require any funding but rather permission from UNCW to shoot on their location.

5.       This apparently took the video race coordinators several weeks last semester to acquire the permit.  I have emailed Pamela Elliott this week, and I expect to be in a constant conversation with and will to get permission by hopefully February 10, 2016.

6.       The special skills needed for this are proactivity and liability in order to stay on task.

7.       The special sources that maybe needed for this is the help from Dave Monahan or Shannon Silva. They might be needed if we need special permission from the Film Department.

8.       Aedan and Devon are the Video Race Coordinators for Visions 6 Film Festival and Conference this semester. Both are equally responsible for getting permission to shoot within the UNCW campus.

9.       January 25^th – Contact Pamela Elliott

January 27^th – Contact Kimberley Howell

January 29^th – Call Pamela Elliott’s Office

February 1^st- Contact both Kimberley and Pamela

February 3^rd – If necessary, contact Dave Monahan

February 5^th - remain in contact with Pamela’s office

February 10^th – Get location permit

10.   The biggest risk is not gaining permission to shoot and do not get have the video race. Smaller risk is that there maybe fewer places for people to film on campus

11.   Devon and I have remained in contact via text messaging and email. If there is ever an actual emergency we will call one another for immediate assistance.

12.   If there is a place for the participants to shoot by February 10^th, then I consider our job a success.

Weekly Check in 2

This past week I did a few things to get the video race started as far as location permits. I emailed Pam Elliott in order to acquire the location permits fort the day of the festival. She has yet to get back to me. I was instructed by Dustin that if I don’t get a message back from her then contact her assistant and, if necessary, get Dave Monahan involved. I, also, watched and graded the first short films that were submitted to us. I started them on Friday and ended them on Saturday. I, also, have started to organize my trello in order to stay up to date with all of the things that need to get done with in the oncoming weeks. Devon has started the presentation that we need to make for next week and I plan, obviously, to collaborate more with her in the oncoming weeks. I, also, began to do research on using bandannas as opposed to T shirts and dye to divide up the teams and see which one is the cheaper option. As of right now, it has been difficult to find the proper amount of color variety because I am unsure of the exact amount teams we will have. Finally, I have tried emailing several of my relatives to get cash for indiegogo. They have yet to get back to me, because technology is not there thing, but I believe they would be willing to help out.

 I feel like this week was a step in a better direction for me as far as organization goes.  It is still very stressful to try and stay on top of visions because no one is really holding your hand as you do this. However, I feel like I am slowly coming into my own. 

Festivals of their Own Response

The article discussed the origins of film a festival since around the 1930’s. At this time, Benito Mussolini was in power and saw this as a good opportunity to use film as a way “bolster his standings in the eyes of the world” (pg.189). I found it interesting that the festival was held in Venice even though film actually originated in France with people like the Lumiere brothers in the late 1800s. France did eventually try and create one but it was on the day that Germany invaded Poland, thus starting World War II. The text went on to say how several other festivals came about. Starting with the Cannes film festival in France, then Germany created one in order to combat the French, and then Italy revisited the Venice Festival. I found it interesting that Sundance was not fully established as Sundance till about the 1960’s. I thought that it had literally been around since World War II. The text goes on to make several good points about the old films festivals and how they have kind of forgotten the point of film festivals which is to actually show movies that cannot be seen really anywhere else. They have just become high class for already well established filmmakers that already have a theatrical or a television release planned for their film. The whole point of the film festival is to give recognition to filmmakers who aren’t really that well known but still work hard at their art. It is meant to be a discussion for the films being seen and a chance for several different types of filmmakers to interact. It made me glad to see that in response to that several other smaller festivals came about in order to pursue that goal and create an environment for all types of filmmakers.

Manual and Job Description Response

The manual helped out greatly about what the one hour one take video race will hold. The process seemed extremely intimidating at first. I had no idea what this type of thing would entail, but, it was really well laid out with Dustin and Ashley’s help. It made me realize of how much work will actually go into this kind of event and the amount of preparation that needs to be done in order for everything to move as smoothly as possible. I already have ideas about the ways we are going to divide the teams and what props we could possibly use in order to keep the space theme consistent with the rest of the festival. I began discussing the process with Dustin as well and the main thing he explained was to get in contact with Pam Elliot as soon as possible in order to get the proper location and liability permits.

After reading the manual and the job description, the main thing that I really want to learn this semester is scheduling and organization. That is without a doubt going to be the hardest thing for me because I do not plan ahead well at all. I always seem to do things at the last second, and this has been a constant issue with me. I have been told several times before entering Visions that this is going to be my job so I have to treat it like one. Knowing that, I hope it will make me better at actually doing things on a proper schedule.