This year for Cucalorus, I was a filmmaker in the 10x10 video race thing as well as bartended. I tended the filmmakers lounge bar for all of my shifts. It was really fun in there because i got to meet a lot of different people. Also, i worked some morning shifts, so i really could have conversations with people rather than just bust out drinks and say hi.
One thing about the filmmakers lounge that was off putting, the volunteers being really overbearing about badges. Yes, make sure they have a badge, but don't run after people or treat people rudely. Well, they weren't rude, they were just old and not quite up to par on social cues. Whatever. Also, as delicious as pimento cheese is... 40 pounds is way too much plus it's obvious that you didn't try any other options of food when your filmmakers are chowing down on it every day of the festival. Also, there weren't enough bakery items in the morning. Both of these are what sponsors give you and what they don't. I just think that maybe finding a better way of using the cheese.. in other locations? i don't know. I did really like the popcorn machine. It was a nice touch. Also, the decor was fucking fabulous thanks to the designer... my sister Emily. But seriously, everyone kept saying how good it looked this year. It was super rad.
Ok, i'm not even going to go into everything in detail. I'm just going to say... Cucalorus this year was weird. Maybe because i spent so much time working on the 10x10, but it just seemed off. I think the tone of the volunteers might have been an issue. There weren't a lot of returning people. The new people were really intense and by the book. It's just not what cucalorus is about. It's about being creative and letting anything go. I feel like it's getting to be so big that they're having an issue of keeping their quirkiness and still getting money. At the end of the day, you're going to do what your money tells you to do, which is honestly pretty sad.
Another thing, the moderators. Some of them sucked really bad. For instance, me kind of stealing the mic... or definitely stealing the mic whatever. I want to point out that if it was just me and that film, i wouldn't have cared. All the films were fucking horrid. It's a video race, and i wasn't very proud of mine at all. But, my entrepreneur was up there looking to talk about his business that he took time out of his schedule to promote through cucalorus. You're damn right i'm going to make sure he gets his plug. Shame on you moderator. The first job is to do introductions. Being on staff for 13 years, you should know what a film festival is all about... filmmaker community.
To say the least, this year was unfortunately underwhelming.
As far as Visions go, we need to stick to who we are and what we know. That is celebrating the undergrad spirit and work from around the world. I think going away from that or losing sight of that will make us awkward and shallow as well.
Oh and my List of Events:
Dance-a-lorus
Bellamy Mansion
Orpington Shorts
Black Silkie Shorts
10x10
Jengos Backyard
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Virginia Film Festival
First, i want to say how stoked i was to have two film festivals in two weeks. That was absolutely fantastic. Two weeks of film disneyland.. nice
Last year, we only had a full day to play around Charlottesville for VFF. This year, we had the entire festival. No worries in the world except what screening was next.
We arrived slightly late so we missed the opening night festivities, but it worked out for the best become we did some bonding time. We explored around downtown and "The Corner", found some food, had a beer, went to our place, and discussed the next day's plan.
The first day was Friday. It was kind of weird to us that the films didn't start until 3pm. Maybe it was because of the opening gala the night before... who knows. But, we split up. I went to go see an experimental doc called "Park Lanes, Spare". It was directed by Kevin Everson, who is very interested in factory worker life and filming everyday spectaculars. I ended up meeting him and discussing his film later at the closing party. I found out that the reason he picked to film in a bowling factory was because "it was the only place that would allow him to". Also, i found out that he has a show going on in Winston-Salem right now.
The list of my films were:
Park Lanes, Spare
The Hip Hop Fellow
Drunktown's Finest
Dwelling: Experimental Short Essay Films
Out in the Night
Wetlands
Short Narrative Films
All of these films stick out to me for some reason. I talked to Kenneth Price a UNCW alumni and director of The Hip Hop Fellow. That doc was amazing. I had no idea that Harvard had a hip hop archive. Drunktown's Finest was one of the worst movies ever, which helped us all bond over it and make lots of inside jokes. Dwelling was super interesting to see. This showed that the filmmakers in this block didn't really grasp the meaning of experimental film. Out in the Night was awesome. It shined light on issues that I would never see. It told the story of four black lesbians that lived in a dangerous part of Jersey get harassed then put in jail over defending themselves. Wetlands was just so graphic and weird but super beautiful at the same time. The Short Narrative Films were just god awful and made me super confident in anything i want to create and send to festivals.
As far as the logistics go, the filmmakers' lounge changed from last year. Last year it was at a restaurant one block off the main strip. This year, it was moved above my favorite restaurant in the area, The Whiskey Jar. The lounge was cute. It was considerably small, but by providing means to make your own french press, the staff had created a really interesting way of forcing people to communicate and network. I ended up meeting quite a few interesting people in there. I don't know how i feel about being able to get tickets until like 10pm but badges only until 7pm. I feel like if you wanted the badge staff to help with other things, you could leave the badges at the ticket office. That's something that i didn't think went too well.
Also, again... trash cans! I need trash cans everywhere. I hate holding trash in public. It is so freakin awkward. In the lounge, the waiters were supposed to pick up empty plates and napkins, but they were really only there around the prime food hours. There wasn't even a trash can to throw the bag that contained the coffee grounds in. Whatever. One good thing they did at the after party, was have food that already came in a holding vessel. That was super smart and practical. Also, putting the bar in the center point of party made it easy to point out people you'd met earlier and mingle without feeling like you're going out of your way.
As far as their sponsors go, they have some pretty big names. However, even though they're pretty big corporations, they are still mostly local. Even the Pepsi sponsor is "PCVA: Pepsi-Cola Central Virginia". What that means specifically? I have no idea, but i know that it does mean that I feel like this festival really truly cares about their community and local college (another sponsor). If they didn't care, they wouldn't go out of their way for this specific branding. This is what i want for our funding, locally based and tangible. I want people to look at our sponsors and be like oh ok... got it. Wilmington and surrounding areas. Involvement of the community.
Last year, we only had a full day to play around Charlottesville for VFF. This year, we had the entire festival. No worries in the world except what screening was next.
We arrived slightly late so we missed the opening night festivities, but it worked out for the best become we did some bonding time. We explored around downtown and "The Corner", found some food, had a beer, went to our place, and discussed the next day's plan.
The first day was Friday. It was kind of weird to us that the films didn't start until 3pm. Maybe it was because of the opening gala the night before... who knows. But, we split up. I went to go see an experimental doc called "Park Lanes, Spare". It was directed by Kevin Everson, who is very interested in factory worker life and filming everyday spectaculars. I ended up meeting him and discussing his film later at the closing party. I found out that the reason he picked to film in a bowling factory was because "it was the only place that would allow him to". Also, i found out that he has a show going on in Winston-Salem right now.
The list of my films were:
Park Lanes, Spare
The Hip Hop Fellow
Drunktown's Finest
Dwelling: Experimental Short Essay Films
Out in the Night
Wetlands
Short Narrative Films
All of these films stick out to me for some reason. I talked to Kenneth Price a UNCW alumni and director of The Hip Hop Fellow. That doc was amazing. I had no idea that Harvard had a hip hop archive. Drunktown's Finest was one of the worst movies ever, which helped us all bond over it and make lots of inside jokes. Dwelling was super interesting to see. This showed that the filmmakers in this block didn't really grasp the meaning of experimental film. Out in the Night was awesome. It shined light on issues that I would never see. It told the story of four black lesbians that lived in a dangerous part of Jersey get harassed then put in jail over defending themselves. Wetlands was just so graphic and weird but super beautiful at the same time. The Short Narrative Films were just god awful and made me super confident in anything i want to create and send to festivals.
As far as the logistics go, the filmmakers' lounge changed from last year. Last year it was at a restaurant one block off the main strip. This year, it was moved above my favorite restaurant in the area, The Whiskey Jar. The lounge was cute. It was considerably small, but by providing means to make your own french press, the staff had created a really interesting way of forcing people to communicate and network. I ended up meeting quite a few interesting people in there. I don't know how i feel about being able to get tickets until like 10pm but badges only until 7pm. I feel like if you wanted the badge staff to help with other things, you could leave the badges at the ticket office. That's something that i didn't think went too well.
Also, again... trash cans! I need trash cans everywhere. I hate holding trash in public. It is so freakin awkward. In the lounge, the waiters were supposed to pick up empty plates and napkins, but they were really only there around the prime food hours. There wasn't even a trash can to throw the bag that contained the coffee grounds in. Whatever. One good thing they did at the after party, was have food that already came in a holding vessel. That was super smart and practical. Also, putting the bar in the center point of party made it easy to point out people you'd met earlier and mingle without feeling like you're going out of your way.
As far as their sponsors go, they have some pretty big names. However, even though they're pretty big corporations, they are still mostly local. Even the Pepsi sponsor is "PCVA: Pepsi-Cola Central Virginia". What that means specifically? I have no idea, but i know that it does mean that I feel like this festival really truly cares about their community and local college (another sponsor). If they didn't care, they wouldn't go out of their way for this specific branding. This is what i want for our funding, locally based and tangible. I want people to look at our sponsors and be like oh ok... got it. Wilmington and surrounding areas. Involvement of the community.
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Straight from the Programming Manager's Mouth:
Interview:
Sterling Hedgpeth
Programming manager
Mill Valley Film Festival
Sterling Hedgpeth
Programming manager
Mill Valley Film Festival
1.
Number of entries received: around 1,000
2.
Aim to screen: Every film gets watched.
3.
Prescreening process:
4.
Number of Pre screeners: They have a huge
selection of individuals that have been helping program for over 12 years. They
even bring in a documentary specialist.
5.
Who is chosen as a pre screener? They usually
don’t need to bring more people on because of the mass pool they already have.
6.
How do they score entries? Guidelines? The
entries are broken into categories then rated on a scale of 1-5. They factor in
originality, aesthetic, production quality, and local connection; however,
those scores are not averaged together. They request a number from 1-5 as an
overall score. They do, however, average the scores from multiple screeners.
7.
Jury after the prescreening? If entries score an
average of 3 ½ and up, it will then be passed to the jurors. The film will be
watched by at least two jurors.
8.
How far in advance do they send out call for
entries? How many come in? Early, late, in waves? Early is March 1st,
regular is mid May, late is early June, and the deadline is late June. The
busiest times are the early and late deadlines.
9.
How many paid employees each year? Volunteers?
There are only two permanent paid programming staff. The others are seasonal.
10. Specific
program or budget software? For programming, they use withoutabox. They were
one of the first film festivals to ever use it and have a deep-rooted loyalty
with them.
11. What
outreach do you use to keep the festival on the public’s radar on the offseason?
MVFF actually owns the main venue they use. During the offseason, it acts as an
art cinema house. Also, MVFF is paired up with CFI (California Film Institute)
and puts on events with them.
12. Swagbags?
For who?
13. Filmmakers’
perks? Free registration? Yes. The filmmakers also get ticket comps regardless
if the film is on rush or sold out.
14. Travel
funds? They provide accommodations and flights. The short filmmakers are
provided accommodations but not usually flights and with less comp tickets.
15. Perks?
They definitely try to keep the filmmakers busy. They have brunches, parties,
receptions after screenings, and tours of LucasFilm and Pixar.
16. Special
donor perks? Solely advertising on website, program, festival trailer (played
before every screening), bumpers.
17. Anything
you’d do differently or better? He actually turned down a higher operations
position to be the programming manager. He wanted to work with the filmmakers
directly and have an authorial voice as far as scheduling and film selection.
18. Any
advice? Be true to your mission. Find your emphasis and really concentrate.
Don’t change so much every year. Changing is a sure bet of shedding your
audience’s loyalty. Be authentic to what you want and what makes your festival
watch worthy.
Monday, September 22, 2014
This is how we mingle in September
JAMfest Shmavenger
Smuttin’
September Event
September Event
1.
Objectives: To create a fun social interactive
event that increases our awareness of the community. And to prove that we
(development) are smarter than the puppets.
2.
Customers: The class.
3.
Results: To ignite teamwork in an exciting realm
that promotes intradepartmental cohesion.
4.
Budget: Dis shit is free…other than like..gas.
5.
How long: Planning will take 2 hours… 3 tops.
The event will last 2 hours…3 tops.
6.
Skills: Teamwork, abstract thinking, well
planned out communication
7.
Needed Resources: technology (smart phones),
college level literacy, some good goddamn attitudes (think golden retriever
puppies)
8.
Team: Josh, Ally, Melissa (JAM). We will each be
in charge of 4 secret-squirrel photo-bombing locations. Ally-collect everyone’s
telephone numbers.
9.
Schedule: 18Sep: Meeting for planning. 25-26Sep:
Scouting top-secret locations. 28Sep: day of event
10. Risks:
People get lost. Likely with a huge impact… we avert this disaster by keeping
close comms using our cellular devices.
No one shows up: Unlikely but with a huge impact… solution: WE FAIL YOU
Phones die: Likely not a huge impact… make sure multiple people in a team have a back up phone and have a charger on deck. KYLE MUST WEAR HIS SPACE BOOKBAG.
No one shows up: Unlikely but with a huge impact… solution: WE FAIL YOU
Phones die: Likely not a huge impact… make sure multiple people in a team have a back up phone and have a charger on deck. KYLE MUST WEAR HIS SPACE BOOKBAG.
11. Comms:
Smartphones (texts, fb, old fashion talking)
12. Success?
We gain new friends while learning about historic downtown Wilmington all while
building our communication and puzzle solving skills.
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Research MVFF
1. What time is your interview scheduled and who
will you be talking with when you call/skype?
Sterling Hedgpeth, Programming manager
Sterling Hedgpeth, Programming manager
2. Who started it and who runs it?
Mark Fishkin started it in 1977 as a 3 day showcase
of film. It is now an 11 day international film festival.
3. What is the mission of the festival/conference?
(copy and paste the first paragraph)
The
internationally renowned Mill Valley Film Festival offers a high-profile,
non-competitive environment perfect for celebrating the best in independent and
world cinema.
The
nonprofit California Film Institute celebrates and promotes film by presenting
the annual Mill Valley Film Festival, exhibiting film year-round at the
Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center and building the next generation of
filmmakers and audiences through CFI Education. For more information please
visit www.cafilm.org or call 415.383.5256.
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...)
Being such a long festival, MVFF really has
everything. Kids films, docs, shorts, active cinema, scientific, comedy, world
cinema… the list continues.
5. Where is the event?
Mill Valley, California
6. When is the event? (Give dates from last year if
not current)
October 2-12, 2014. IT’S COMING UPPPP!
7. How do you submit? Snail mail, online,
withoutabox, through their site, etc...
Snail
Mail and withoutabox
8. When are the deadlines to enter? Early? Reg?
Late? How much does it cost to enter?
9. Who’s eligible, what are the guidelines to enter?
Anyone is eligible, just under right the right
category. Every category has their own guidelines. Features have to be over 50
minutes.
10. Is there a Student category?
No, but there is a youth produced category.
.
11. What formats do they except for jurying? DVD,
Vimeo, Flash drives?
DVD
12. What formats do they except for
exhibition/screening?
13. How many films screened at the festival last
year?
Over 200
14. How many films or papers do they program per
block?
This festival is so big that it really depends on which block you’re going to.
15. How do people register to attend? Is there a
cost to attend as a guest?
General
Admission: $14.00
California
Film Institute (CFI)
Members:
$11.50
Seniors
(65+) and Students: $12.50
Children’s
FilmFest (all ages): $10.00
Shorts
Programs: $8.00
All
access badges:
Single:
$2,500
Dual:
$5,000
16. 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.
Whoa,
they have major sponsors including Wells Fargo, Lucasfilm, Nordstroms, vimeo,
and a whole bunch of international sponsors. I don’t think any of their
sponsors are in our league right now.
17. What are their sponsorship levels?
The sponsorships are broken up into the type of
sponsorship they’re providing rather than levels. For example: Film Festival
Circle Support, Government Support, Hotel Sponsors, Major Media Support, etc.
18. Did they have a kickstarter or indiegogo? What
incentives did they have for each level of donor?
Nope.
19. 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?
They have active cinema which include calls to action and even a nature hike.
The artists in residence right now are METALLICA. YES… There’s online voting
for a film to get into the festival. They have concerts, memorials, and
throwbacks (Star Wars). There’s a lot going on.
20. Is the layout easy to navigate? What makes it
easy?
It is pretty easy because the drop boxes have pretty
much everything you can think of…except submissions, which are on withoutabox.
I don’t know if the submissions area isn’t on the website because the festival
is coming up and there’s really no need to have it.
21. Is the layout difficult to navigate? What makes
it difficult?
Nothing
except for the submissions.
22. Can you find the information you are looking for
on the homepage or via a link on the homepage?
Yes.
23. Aesthetically, what catches your eye? What's
cool about it?
It’s
very clean and simplistic. The colors they are using are blue and red which is
the most pleasing contrast of colors.
24. Aesthetically, what doesn't fit in? What makes
it look bad?
There are no defining features. I love simplistic
but with something to make it stand out.
25. Should there be more information? Is the page
too bare?
No. There’s a ton of info about the upcoming events
right on the homepage that catch your attention.
26. What would you do differently if you were to
redesign this website?
I would had some time of characteristic that de
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Times and Spaces
Week 3:
(Sep 9)
Director meetings: 2 hours
Department meeting: 1 hour
Class scheduling: 1 hour
Budget and job description research: 2 hours
Lynda: 2 hours
Lynda Presentation: 1 1/2 hours
Week 4:
(Sep 16)
Director meeting: 1 hour
Department meeting: 1 hour
Blog: 1 1/2 hours
MVFF Research: 2 1/2 hours
Lynda Presentation: 2 hours
Week 5:
(Sep 23)
Director meeting: 1 hour
Department meeting: 1hour
Sept. Event planning: 2 hours
Blog: 1 hour
MVFF Interview: 1 1/2 hours
Tyrone Power Luncheon: 2 1/2 hours
Emails/Research: 3 hours
This week was when things really got started. The development team has put together our September social, starting to put together the Halloween bake sale, deciding what's best as far as an Indiegogo fundraiser is concerned, and finished our film festival project. What are the best avenues we can take to make the most money? Focus on easy events that make the most money (bake sales, Indiegogo). What businesses should we look to for sponsorships? What can I take from the MVFF research to apply to Visions?... not a lot. MVFF is a huge, long standing film festival that is a road to an Oscar win. It was interesting but felt kind of artificial as far as what i usually associate with film festivals. Anyways, the next steps in the Visions process is start reaching out to last year's sponsors and finding new ones. We'll also hop onto the indiegogo train.. TOOT TOOT.
Week 6:
(Sep 30)
Director meeting: 1 hour
Department meeting: 1 1/2 hours
Sept. Event planning: 2 hours
Crowdsourced funding research: 3 hours
Indiegogo prep: 2 hours
Emails/Sponsor packets/Sponsor list: 3 hours
Blog: 1hour
Presentation work: 2 hours
We've decided on using Indiegogo. After a lot of research, pros and cons, and pizza, Indiegogo is the one for us. However, we are going to create our campaign around a more educational approach to hopefully gain more funds from the older crowd. As far as the younger crowd goes, we want to play around with a more interactive way of donating. Since we're going for the superhero theme, we were thinking of creating creatures or villains that eat donations. They can be taken to any event or posted up somewhere. I think it'd be cute. It's something that we need to hash out more in detail after talking to the class. Now that our fundraising campaign is pretty much just waiting for the green light, we can kind of divide up and start working on future business sponsors.
Week 7:
(Oct 7)
Director meeting: 1hour
Department meeting: 1 1/2 hours
Indiegogo research/ video prep: 2 hours
Printing quotes: 1 hour
Sponsor research: 2 hours
Comments/Revisions on Joshua's bake sale schedule/budget: 1 1/2 hours
Weekly Breakdowns: 1 hour
This week I started keeping track of our department through weekly breakdowns which can be found under the V5 Development Department folder, then under the Weekly Breakdowns folder. This creates a visual checklist for the three of us to see how we are spiderwebbed together and what needs to be done at what time for what reason. SO, if the blogs don't have enough detail in what i (or my team) is working on, feel free to check out these docs.
The pressing matter right now is Joshua's bake sale, which is on Oct. 29th. He's doing a really good job as far as coming up with a theme that brings together the tone of Visions for this year. Eating our "filmmaker inspirations" to become the superhero filmmakers we want to be is a creatively perfect way to start off this year.
Melissa is taking over Indiegogo. This is going to be her baby, and i know she's going to excel with it. The presentation is ready. She's presenting on Oct. 21st. The next move is making sure we know what we want for the video.
The printing quotes I sent in, have to be redone because Evonne wasn't sure of the paper stock i picked with the Sponsorship brochures. I wanted the glossy cover paper so it looks professional; however, since that's not the norm, i need to reply to her concerned email and maybe change it up or get a price check on both normal paper and glossy paper.
This week is also Fall Break. So instead of having class on the 14th, we will have a folder in which we are required to comment on everything providing each department enough feedback to keep working through the break. The only thing that needs to be posted for Development is Joshua's Autumn Bake Sale update, budget, and schedule.
Week 8:
(Oct 14- Fall Break)
Director meeting: 1 1/2 hours
Department meeting: 1 1/2 hours
Weekly Breakdowns: 1 hour
Blogs: 1 hour
Update indiegogo date: 20 mins
Make indiegogo book fee schedule: 30 mins
Oct 14 (fall break folder) comments: 2 1/2 hours
Check department comments, send to Shannon: 45 hour
Comment/Revise indiegogo schedule and budget: 30 mins
Indiegogo storyboards: 2 hours
Revised printing quotes: 30 mins
Crew Evals: 20 mins
Sponsorship letter revision: 1 1/2 hours
We have our indiegogo video locked down! Melissa has decided to direct with Joshua as her AD. I'll produce. J'aime and Luqi are going to help from the art department, and it's gonna be sickkkkk. I'm stoked for the video this year. I'm so glad we found our campaign early, and as a unit, we are running with it. It really creates compradore in Visions. Visions 5 here we commmmeeeee. Melissa definitely has a handle on this project. I have full faith in Joshua's directing skills that if she runs into any problems, he can help her.
Joshua's bake sale baby is next week. It's on the 29th. He is crushing it with finalizing everything and making sure everyone in class is on the ball as far as their inspiration baked goods are concerned. I love that he made it so each person is required to bring a food item AND a decoration....super smart. Also, the fact that he secured and set up TWO tables this time around...YES!
Now that execution is on the horizon for both of these projects, I am taking my hands completely off (unless help is needed) and focusing solely on sponsors. I've been reworking the sponsorship letter into a personalized 5th year version and will sit down with Hillary (marketing/writing pro) soon to flesh it out. The letter we've used in the past seems stiff and too professional. I want a mix of stoked and professional. Yes, we need to be very professional, but let's not forget that we are undergrads. We are creating this film festival for undergrads. This is our domain. Let's have our voice in it.
As we enter the second half of the semester (holy crap!)... I am so proud of JAM. I couldn't have asked for a better team. Let's make money!
(Sep 9)
Director meetings: 2 hours
Department meeting: 1 hour
Class scheduling: 1 hour
Budget and job description research: 2 hours
Lynda: 2 hours
Lynda Presentation: 1 1/2 hours
Week 4:
(Sep 16)
Director meeting: 1 hour
Department meeting: 1 hour
Blog: 1 1/2 hours
MVFF Research: 2 1/2 hours
Lynda Presentation: 2 hours
Week 5:
(Sep 23)
Director meeting: 1 hour
Department meeting: 1hour
Sept. Event planning: 2 hours
Blog: 1 hour
MVFF Interview: 1 1/2 hours
Tyrone Power Luncheon: 2 1/2 hours
Emails/Research: 3 hours
This week was when things really got started. The development team has put together our September social, starting to put together the Halloween bake sale, deciding what's best as far as an Indiegogo fundraiser is concerned, and finished our film festival project. What are the best avenues we can take to make the most money? Focus on easy events that make the most money (bake sales, Indiegogo). What businesses should we look to for sponsorships? What can I take from the MVFF research to apply to Visions?... not a lot. MVFF is a huge, long standing film festival that is a road to an Oscar win. It was interesting but felt kind of artificial as far as what i usually associate with film festivals. Anyways, the next steps in the Visions process is start reaching out to last year's sponsors and finding new ones. We'll also hop onto the indiegogo train.. TOOT TOOT.
Week 6:
(Sep 30)
Director meeting: 1 hour
Department meeting: 1 1/2 hours
Sept. Event planning: 2 hours
Crowdsourced funding research: 3 hours
Indiegogo prep: 2 hours
Emails/Sponsor packets/Sponsor list: 3 hours
Blog: 1hour
Presentation work: 2 hours
We've decided on using Indiegogo. After a lot of research, pros and cons, and pizza, Indiegogo is the one for us. However, we are going to create our campaign around a more educational approach to hopefully gain more funds from the older crowd. As far as the younger crowd goes, we want to play around with a more interactive way of donating. Since we're going for the superhero theme, we were thinking of creating creatures or villains that eat donations. They can be taken to any event or posted up somewhere. I think it'd be cute. It's something that we need to hash out more in detail after talking to the class. Now that our fundraising campaign is pretty much just waiting for the green light, we can kind of divide up and start working on future business sponsors.
Week 7:
(Oct 7)
Director meeting: 1hour
Department meeting: 1 1/2 hours
Indiegogo research/ video prep: 2 hours
Printing quotes: 1 hour
Sponsor research: 2 hours
Comments/Revisions on Joshua's bake sale schedule/budget: 1 1/2 hours
Weekly Breakdowns: 1 hour
This week I started keeping track of our department through weekly breakdowns which can be found under the V5 Development Department folder, then under the Weekly Breakdowns folder. This creates a visual checklist for the three of us to see how we are spiderwebbed together and what needs to be done at what time for what reason. SO, if the blogs don't have enough detail in what i (or my team) is working on, feel free to check out these docs.
The pressing matter right now is Joshua's bake sale, which is on Oct. 29th. He's doing a really good job as far as coming up with a theme that brings together the tone of Visions for this year. Eating our "filmmaker inspirations" to become the superhero filmmakers we want to be is a creatively perfect way to start off this year.
Melissa is taking over Indiegogo. This is going to be her baby, and i know she's going to excel with it. The presentation is ready. She's presenting on Oct. 21st. The next move is making sure we know what we want for the video.
The printing quotes I sent in, have to be redone because Evonne wasn't sure of the paper stock i picked with the Sponsorship brochures. I wanted the glossy cover paper so it looks professional; however, since that's not the norm, i need to reply to her concerned email and maybe change it up or get a price check on both normal paper and glossy paper.
This week is also Fall Break. So instead of having class on the 14th, we will have a folder in which we are required to comment on everything providing each department enough feedback to keep working through the break. The only thing that needs to be posted for Development is Joshua's Autumn Bake Sale update, budget, and schedule.
Week 8:
(Oct 14- Fall Break)
Director meeting: 1 1/2 hours
Department meeting: 1 1/2 hours
Weekly Breakdowns: 1 hour
Blogs: 1 hour
Update indiegogo date: 20 mins
Make indiegogo book fee schedule: 30 mins
Oct 14 (fall break folder) comments: 2 1/2 hours
Check department comments, send to Shannon: 45 hour
Comment/Revise indiegogo schedule and budget: 30 mins
Indiegogo storyboards: 2 hours
Revised printing quotes: 30 mins
Crew Evals: 20 mins
Sponsorship letter revision: 1 1/2 hours
We have our indiegogo video locked down! Melissa has decided to direct with Joshua as her AD. I'll produce. J'aime and Luqi are going to help from the art department, and it's gonna be sickkkkk. I'm stoked for the video this year. I'm so glad we found our campaign early, and as a unit, we are running with it. It really creates compradore in Visions. Visions 5 here we commmmeeeee. Melissa definitely has a handle on this project. I have full faith in Joshua's directing skills that if she runs into any problems, he can help her.
Joshua's bake sale baby is next week. It's on the 29th. He is crushing it with finalizing everything and making sure everyone in class is on the ball as far as their inspiration baked goods are concerned. I love that he made it so each person is required to bring a food item AND a decoration....super smart. Also, the fact that he secured and set up TWO tables this time around...YES!
Now that execution is on the horizon for both of these projects, I am taking my hands completely off (unless help is needed) and focusing solely on sponsors. I've been reworking the sponsorship letter into a personalized 5th year version and will sit down with Hillary (marketing/writing pro) soon to flesh it out. The letter we've used in the past seems stiff and too professional. I want a mix of stoked and professional. Yes, we need to be very professional, but let's not forget that we are undergrads. We are creating this film festival for undergrads. This is our domain. Let's have our voice in it.
As we enter the second half of the semester (holy crap!)... I am so proud of JAM. I couldn't have asked for a better team. Let's make money!
Week 9
(Oct 21-Oct 28)
Sponsorship Packet Updates- 1 ½ hour
VFF logistics- 2 hours
Directors Meeting- 1 ½ hours
Department Meeting (with Luqi and J’aime)- 2 hours
Revisions on Mel’s Indiegogo presentation, budget, schedule-
1 hour
Indiegogo equipment and location requests- 2 hours
Sponsorship Presentation- 2 ½ hours
Blogs- 45 mins
Class- 3 hours
This week was all about Indiegogo previs. We finalized what
Mel wanted from the Art department and moved forward with our shoot logistics.
Joshua did the final details for the bake sale such as scheduling, double
checking baked goods, and decorations. I went over the sponsorship packet again
adjusting what I thought was needed. Also, I put up the VFF specs for the
directors’ trip to Virginia. Our Indiegogo shoot is on Sunday, Nov 02 at 1230,
and the Bake Sale is this Wednesday, Oct 29th. I also have a
sponsorship update in class this Tuesday; Mel has an indiegogo presentation.
Week 10
(Oct 29- Nov 4)
Film Kid Mixer- 2 hours
CFE/Pegasorus Announcements- 1 hour
Bake Sale- 6 hours
Department Meeting- 2 ½ hours
FB Crew Call- 15 mins
Equipment pickup and drop off for Indiegogo- 1 hour
Prop list/ Call Sheet- 1 ½ hours
Indiegogo Shoot- 7 hours
Sponsorship Letter Revisions- 1 hour
Blogs- 45 mins
Fall Event Meeting with Shawn- 2 hours
Budget meeting with Shannon- 30 minutes
Class- 3 hours
Organize Indiegogo footage- 1 hour
The bake sale was this Wednesday from 9am-6pm. There were
two locations, one at randall, one at wag. I brought baked goods, a tent,
decorations, and signs at 9am, checked on the Randall location to make sure
Josh had everything he wanted at 10:30am, and went to the Wag location at noon
until clean up at 6pm. The bake sale made us $353.56, which is awesome and is
more than the $350 we had budgeted. Joshua took note of who was on time for their
shifts, what worked/what didn’t, and things to keep in mind for the future.
The Indiegogo shoot is set for this Sunday at 1230. We will
shoot in King, Fisher, and Randall. We’ve scheduled it until 5pm, but it will
probably run after. I pick up equipment on Friday and drop off on Monday. The
footage should be labeled and organized and given to Luqi and/or J’aime for
editing. The shoot went really well. We
got almost all of the shots we need except for my scene, J’aime’s, and some B
roll. Melissa seems really happy with how it turned out. The Indiegogo launches
November 18th, which means we will be focusing on the web page
content from here…while still keeping close ties with the edit and art going on
for it.
I’m still working on making the sponsorship packet. The plan
is to have it finalized and beautiful for the 10x10 Kickoff for Cucalorus at
Tekmountain. That way, I can hopefully get a meeting with the CEO to discuss
potential sponsorship. Speaking of which, I had a budget meeting with Shannon
before class on Tuesday. I’m stoked to go forth and find sponsors, focusing on
local businesses and finding the line and fit between potential sponsors and
partners.
We are also planning a Fall Event this semester. Shawn has
been brought on to lead this endeavor. I gave him the low down on event
planning and required he sent me his research and ideas by Sunday at midnight.
He got them to me a day in advance. We met up Monday night after classes to go
over his presentation and everything. During class, we voted to have the event
at Bombers Bev Co, and it will be themed 80’s Hanukkah Pajama party. We’re
moving forward with finding entertainment, locking down the venue, and finding
ways to make money.
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