This Week so Far

During this last week I have had a meeting with my group minus matt herzog.  I just gave my guys an idea on what was on the horizon.  I have also spent about 2 hours looking into webpages display and webpage.  I have been stalking other film festival sites and trying to find things to steal design way.  I have also went back and looked at the list that I created in class at what people liked and did not like about their own festival pages.  I will be out of town this weekend so I will not have internet ability where I will be for Drill unless they put me in a hotel room.  So if I do not respond till monday that is why.  I have spent an hour looking at our schedule tonight looking at possible deadlines for pr and kyles art.  I have also tried to plan how to involve everyone.

Quiz

What did you find the most interesting when comparing the festival research.  The main part that I found interesting was reading over the different festivals.  How they are ran differently but still have the same level of interest from people in the community.  I had never heard of the Angelus film festival before this week and looking into my research it is one of the most popular film festivals along with Sundance, Austin, and Humboldt.  I also found it very interesting that Humboldt is ran by Undergraduates and that Angelus is for undergraduates but ran by people who are not undergraduates.  I see that Humboldt gives the students a way to learn how to work for a festival and that Angelus will allow students to get noticed by Hollywood personal who work or are a part of the industry.

I found the most interesting sponsor ideas from other festivals comparing them to our's is the amount of sponsors we need.  Monika told me that the reason the Angelus film festival is not happening this year is due to the main sponsor pulling out due to financial and economical reasons.  I feel that we need to gain more and have backups to all of our sponsors.  By saying this I also mean that we need to as she said reach for the stars and the worse they can do is say no.  I looked at several of the sponsor ship pages and they all have big names that I am sure like Fuji Film and local industry work departments that lend support to festivals.

My Interview with Monika Moreno

1.How many entries did they get this year? For films make sure to ask them to distinguish between features and shorts.  

Under 600 all shorts under 90 mins.  Doc, animation, narrative. 

2.How many films do they aim to screen each year? 1 evening screen 15 finalist in one night.  Next day show runners up total of 30 films or less.  Other events during the year to screen other films. How many papers/presentations do they accept? Again, for films make sure to ask them to distinguish between features and shorts.

3.What is their pre-screening process? How many pre-screeners do they have each year?  Who is typically chosen as a pre-screener?

Films are mailed in.  They are stripped of any nice artwork so they will all look alike.  They do this so the screeners will not be able to judge based on school or fancy artwork. The first round is done by knowledgeable students or persons in the lower ring of the Hollywood industry ladder that includes film makers, actors, producers, editors.  They mix the male and female number of viewers in order to obtain a fair voting.  Some movies will get a larger male vote and others larger female vote because of the subject matter of the film.   Each film is seen by 3 people groups and multiple groups. 2^nd round the jurors are people who are more entrenched in industry.  Top 10 percent left will be sent to the final round.  During the first two process they numbers decrease from about   600 to 60 total films.  Jury for finalist must be in the industry to be a juror for the final films.

4.How do they score entries? Do they use a scoring template/rubric?   They use a scoring guideline for the first round of films.  They are rated on such topics such as directing, editing, etc…  They are also graded on how well they fit the scene or theme of the festival.  The second rounds of entries are scored very detailed. In order to be a juror for the second round of rubric’s they must be in the industry and have screened at other festivals. 

5.Do you have a jury after the pre-screening process has ended? The jury for the Angelus film festival has a jury template.  The heads of the Angelus film festival also watch the films.  The templates are used to help refer back to films and notes.

6.How far in advance do they send out their call for entries? How do entries typically roll in? Early? 
Late? In waves? Early enrollments 35 May 1^st-Jan. Regular entries 45 by June 1^st.  late 55-65 by July  first. 

7.How many paid employees do they have each year? How many volunteers? 2 full time employees.  4 part time.  Interns 2-3. 

8.Do you use specific programming, trafficking, budgeting software? Do you like it?  Withoutabox is a godsend and something every festival should use.

9.What community outreach do you do outside of your festival season to keep your event on the 
public's radar and/or to raise funds? (Workshops, mini-festivals, fundraiser dinners, etc.) Angelus works very hard to keep track of past winners of the festival.  They do this in order to gain support for the film maker and use them in the future.  They get previous winners together in order to raise public awareness of the festival including dinners and lunch ins.  They also take select winners to Sundance film festival in order see other films and to help them make contacts in the industry that they can use in the future on upcoming works.  The last four years they have had sponsors that have enabled them to take filmmakers abroad to London and Czech Republic for festivals.    Last 4 years sponsors to help take filmmakers abroad, London, chech.  They also do smaller screenings around the states and involve local festivals.  Screenings around states.  Involve in local festivals to help gain support of their own festivals.  . 

10.         Do you give out swag bags to visiting filmmakers? Presenters? Guests? If so, what type of items 
do you include in those bags? Yes.  Contact industry groups.  Contact Final Draft.  Screen Writer software.  Contact ASAP for us.    T-shirts to magazines subscriptions also given away. 

11.         Do presenter/filmmaker pay registration to attend?

NO directors and makers do not pay.  After party invitation only for staff and filmmakers, sponsors( We need to start doing more of this).

12.         Are you able to provide presenters/filmmakers with funds to cover travel or lodging?

When we can.  Sponsors normally give stipends.  Check airfares.   Pick them up from airport and help them out.

13.         What "perks" do your filmmakers/scholars enjoy at your festival/conference? What else do you 
encourage them to do while they're in town? m(Free dinners, tours, exclusive activities...in Wilm, 
we'd try to take them to the beach, Screen Gems tour, etc.)

Van ride of town.  Fuji Film, tour of Hannah Visions and  Warner Brothers Studio’s tour in past.  Hawaiian appetizers night before festival for all film makers to meet and get comfortable with each other.  Once winners are announced in August they hold a finalist lunch in.  Nice restaurant.  Announce on twitter.  Monika is a big supporter of using Facebook and twitter for alumni of the festival also invited to the lunch in.  It is great to at this time to interview the filmmakers and post the interview online.  We must have an alumni page on Facebook to keep this festival growing.

14.         Do you have special donor perks during the event? Or how do you thank them?   Special place for them at reception.  VIP treatment.  Keep it going during the year.  Give them VIP tickets to festivals or pass’s to visions.  Give them ad on program.  Or on website. 

15.         What do they wish they had done differently or better when they were first starting out? What do 
you wish you knew then that you know now?   Involve more and get more sponsors.  Don’t get complacent with just a few.  Make each year different.  Live music.  Add something more each year.   After festival debrief with staff and sponsors. 

16.         If it’s a festival or conference that no longer is in existence...why did it end? Economics. 

The main sponsor of the festival had to back out due to economics’ at the time. 

17.         Any other ideas or advice that we haven’t thought to ask about? Don’t have fear for asking celebs or anyone high in the industry for help.  They will love to help student film makers anyway they can.  Have celeb jurors, and invite them to the festival.  They will most likely come and be honored judge and be invited to the festival.  They will come just being asked.  Just ask Hollywood for help.  They are open to helping student filmmakers.  Get an outside perceptive from people.  Jurying will attract students.  One year HBO selected the winners.  Internaltional Documentary Association to ask for a juror for the documentary films at our festival.  Animation students, try to find an animation studio’s or giant in the industry to be a judge or juror for the process.  This will attract participants if they know a star or giant in the industry is watching the films.  Know how much time it will take, when the films will be to them, when you need it back to the exact date, they are very busy but willing.  We need to create a feed lapse email announcing when and any small details about our festival so everyone is constantly reminded of the festival. PR department.  Make list of indie film sites online and post all of our call for entries on them as well.    Post on those sites.  Winners take pic and link sponsor information.  Send to all prior and everyone on the mailing list. 

For our website she said if we want a really good website try to contact a film poster creator or someone who is a movie art person to make a poster.  She thinks the contest idea that I had about branching out to the digital arts departments to create bumpers before films is an amazing idea.   

Film Fest Part 1 Angelus Film Festival

1. What time is your interview scheduled and who will you be talking with when you call/skype?  1130 am Monday 9-16-13.
   
2. Who started it and who runs it?  the festival is not being run right now. 
    Monika Moreno is the Director, Lance Spott is the A.D. of the festival when it is running.  
   
3. What is the mission of the festival/conference? (copy and paste the first paragraph)
   
   
   Our philosophy is simple—We are a not-for-profit student film festival bent on finding the best, and showcasing it to the world. We believe if you are that good of a filmmaker, you deserve a career and a leg up, and as wide of an audience as possible.
   After 16 years, we have a knack for finding talent and Hollywood’s noticed. Winners receive ṻber visibility, select winners receive an all expense paid trip to Sundance and/or Europe for Angelus international and gobs of publicity. Not only are we fun to travel with, our wonderful sponsors believe in you enough to dole out fabulous cash awards and amazing prizes.
   We keep the entry fee low, and communicate after each round and as often as possible because your time, your money and your project is valuable.
   Our passion is the independent voice that focuses on the human journey. Do it with drama, laughs, with documentary or animation – just do it with excellence. It gets us up in the morning.
   
   
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 main theme that I see based off of the winners of the festivals is about the journey.  The prizes they give is trips to other festivals to help other film makers complete their journey.  

   
   
5. Where is the event? 
   
   

    Los Angelus

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

    Sept. 29,2012

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

   The ways I have found that people have submitted in the past is by DVD, VHS or any other format they can send and mail into the festival.  You can get your films, tapes back if you send in a self addressed envelope.  

   
   
   

   
   

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

   July, 15th 2012 is the only deadline I have been able to find for 2012

   
   
9. How much does it cost to enter? 
   
   

   35-45 dollars

   
   
10. Who’s eligible, what are the guidelines to enter?
     Any undergraduate from around the world.  If the film is not in english then it must be dubbed in english
    
11. Is there a Student category? 
    
    

     Every film is undergraduate or graduate film school work.

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

    DGA are Beta SP, 35mm, or DigiBeta. if selected, DVD, VHS

    
    
13. What formats do they except for exhibition/screening?
    DGA are Beta SP, 35mm, or DigiBeta. if selected
    
14. How many films screened at the festival last year?
    
    

    I have not been able to find an exact number of films shown at the festival in 2012,  It is a question I will ask Monika tomorrow.

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

    The numbers vary from year to year, but in a typically we receive well over 500 shorts a year, from over 100 film schools and over 20 countries.

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

    I have not been able to find the information about the blocks.  

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

    I called the 800 number and the person who answered the phone on friday did not know how much the festival cost.  She is going to email me the information when she can ask her boss this week.

    
    
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.
    
    

    Outstanding Animation Award, sponsored by Catholic Academy for Communication Arts Professionals. $2,000

    Full Circle Exchange Wake up to Justice Award. $2500

    Fujifilm Audience Impact Award $2,500

    Triumph of the Spirit Award, sponsored by the Peter Glenville Foundation. $5,000

    Excellence in Filmmaking Award in honor of Fr. Patrick Peyton, CSC. $10,000

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

    The Angelus Student Film Festival draws entries from graduate and undergraduate students of film from around the world and was recently honored with the world-wide distinction as one of the “25 Festivals Worth the Entry Fee” by MovieMaker Magazine and included in its previous “Best of” issue as “Best Bet for Student Moviemakers.” Each year during the Angelus Student Film Festival, the future of the film industry gathers to showcase their films of artistic excellence that reflect human dignity. With over 500 entries annually from some 185 film schools in over 30 countries, the Angelus Student Film Festival draws a diverse, passionate audience of college students and those working in all areas of the film industry.
    

    Impact

    • Event visibility with both logo placement and organization messaging before celebrities, future filmmakers, industry executives, and the media
    • Brand placement in advertising before relevant consumers
    • Brand placement on college campuses in more than 30 countries before future filmmakers as well as the entire campus population
    • Media placement in national and industry publications
    • Brand placement in online Festival Guide – potential for tens of thousands of viewers
    • Brand placement in email blast sent to 5,000 relevant consumers
    • Online exposure through the Festival website as well as industry sites
    • Brand placement on Festival social media sites
    • Hospitality opportunities for your VIP clients

    Reach

    • Target thousands of future leaders of the film industry in a relevant and meaningful promotion
    • Through your sponsorship you will not only reach consumers, you will reach students who are potential employees for your organization

    Industry celebrities such as Gary Oldman, Sean Astin, and Jim Caviezel support Family Theater Productions’ Angelus Student Film Festival. Join us as we encourage the best and brightest future film directors and actors to produce quality films that promote compassion, creativity and respect. Many Angelus winners have continued in their careers and received industry recognition, including Academy Awards

    I found that the best I could find for prior endorsements in order to make people submit to their festivals.  I feel we need to see if any of our past viewers has made it into the big time so we can use them as a perch to support and interest people in our festival.
    
    
20. Did they have a kickstarter or indiegogo? What incentives did they have for each level of donor?
    I have not found any kickstarter or indeiegogo for the festival.  I have search for prior  information with no luck.  I will ask Monika about this.
    
21. What kind of non-traditional film/video events have they had before? Things like Installations,
    'Visual Soundwalls,' VJing etc.
    
    

    The crew of Angelus traveled to almost every other big name festival from Sundance, London, Cannes.  I think this all helped gain them sponsorships and money from donors to use as prizes.  

    
    
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?

    From What I have found out.  They used a main theater to show the films.  They do use a bunch of community events in order to keep the community involved in the festival.  I am wondering why the festival stopped.  

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

    
    

    I personally really like the website.  I feel that it is very neatly organized and is kept very clean, but very cool looking.   

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

    I think the layout is very easy to navigate.  With in 1 minute I could think of what I needed to get to and find it on the site.  I would like to find out who their webpage design person is and what website creator they used.  

    25. Can you find the information you are looking for on the homepage or via a link on the homepage? 26. Aesthetically, what catches your eye? What's cool about it?
    
    

    I think the color of the website is the first thing that drew me to the site.  I love the Angelus hand at the top of the screen.  I also love how that background never changed as you click on the links at the top.  I feel they are very easy and makes me as a college student say this is a festival that I want to submit to.  I feel that it is something we need to do to our page. 

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

    The only thing I could find out that makes it look bad was that it still has the stand by submissions for the next year festival that is not happening.

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

    NO..... I feel the page is not information overload and it has the necessary information.  

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

    The website in my opinion is perfect.  I like how it is edgy.  It is not to busy but it is not bare either.  It has the prefect mix of information and creative design.

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

    If I were to redesign the website I would only create an archive tab with links to different years of the festivals.  I think it would be good for us if we had a drop down menu that was 2012 festival, 2011, 2010 etc...

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

    I would keep the main image and layout of the website.  I would only create an archive drop down for people to see the past festivals.  I would also have left up the last years schedule and blocks so film makers can see what types of films have been submitted and allow them to see if their films would fit into what has been selected.  

    
    http://www.angelus.org/about-introduction.html
    
    
    
    

Time Management and Public Speaking

The public speaking article should have really helped me but having a stutter still creates fear in public speaking.  I felt the part of knowing your audience will really help me.  By knowing who my audience is I can better chose how I want to explain my topic.  If i am talking to a bunch of my own college friends I can use terms and explain things roughly that I would not do if I were presenting to a potential employer or in front of a class.  The openings are areas that I really struggle with.  I fear that i will begin stuttering so I just charge right into what I am presenting after taking a few deep breaths.

For the Time management part I feel that I already do have a great time management system in place.  I feel that I overbook myself and that is a problem I need to do better.  In the section that I watched called communicating my availability I need to make sure I schedule some personal time.  Between the reserves, owning a home, 15 credit hours, pets, I have no time to myself.  I need to find away to de-stress and work around me time, to avoid being over stressed and better management time.

Extended Reading

I would have to say that after reading the article that both articles have the same premise about how festivals need a since of community.  After reading this I began to think that we really need to improve our community amongst UNCW.  I feel that if we get more campus evolvement than we will gain more support in the wilmington community.  I feel that if we get and involve the digital arts department (animated films and shorts) and maybe involve them in contest to create the new poster contest for the festival or to create shorts for the festivals and the winners will be shown at the festival.  I also feel we should involve Flicker to get them involved with the festival.  They account for a lot of Pre Film Majors and other Film majors.  We could get volunteers for the day of the festival and allow them to get a badge and shirt for their hard work and admission to the after party.  We could involve the Photo Club to maybe take pictures for the festival and give us a copy of all the photos they take.  They could use the photos for their portfolio's and we could use them for Facebook and online purposes for the next festival.  We could also have a photo contest like we do the 1 hour 1 take video.  We could also have use the members of flicker for the 1 hour 1 take video race.  I feel that by reaching out to these few organizations we will more than double our campus community involvement.  By doing this we will also spread the word of the festival out further and into wilmington by word of mouth.

Also during my festival research I feel that we are more advanced than other small festivals.  I feel that we have the leg up on smaller film festivals in the area, but we are rather small in regards to the large festivals such as Cucalorus and Sundance.  I feel that if we play our cards right for the next few festivals we could begin to rival Humboldt.  I think we should in some way embrace our differences from other festivals and make them our strong points.  These are just a few of my random thoughts but I feel alot more to come.  Goodnight blog world.

Article and Visions 2013.

I found this article a little out dated but a great history of film festivals.  I would have never known that the first film festival was in Italy in 1938 and that Cannes was created to counter this festival.   I would have thought that as famous as Cannes Film Festival is, that the Italian film festival would be more well known.   I remembered in my readings that Mussolini as a cruel dictator, I would have never guessed he had a love for the arts and wanted this festival.  I also did not know that the first undergraduate  films were not shown until the late 1970's.    I also found it very interesting that  Sundance was called  United States Film Festival.  Me being an Steven Soderbergh fan I did not know that his first indie type of film  "Sex Lies and Videotape" was debuted at Sundance.  One of the other items I noticed in the article was how it takes time for festivals to really pick up numbers and attract people to the festival.  It took Sundance's rival 5 years to make massive gains at Sundance's numbers.  The most interesting thing I took away from this article is how some major cities are underground hubs for film.  I lived just south of Seattle for 6 years and would have never known that it was a major underground film city.  I tried to find items like that and everyone told me that if you wanted to find stuff like that you had to go to LA, or NYC to find it.  I know now that Atlanta, Seattle, Austin and other big cities have these underground film communities, that make me want to find some in Wilmington.  This article has peeked my interest into finding out more about this underground film communities, so I can try to branch out and learn from these films.
For visions this year I want to learn how to become a better civilian leader.  I know my military style of leadership can only go so far and can at times make people feel intimated.  I know i cannot tell someone to do pushups for their mistake and forget it happened.  I will however take my drive that I have learned from the military to stay on top of my team and allow us to have deadlines that will be meet, a steady trusting environment where people can spread ideas where no one will think or not share ideas, and a fun community.  One of the main things I learned being from my mentors in the army was there is a time to be strict and to work hard, but there is also times when it should be fun while you work hard.  I want to learn how to make it hard work seem fun and enjoyable to my team.  I also feel that this year I will not feel so out of place.  Last semester I kind of felt lost because people did not delegate task's that clearly.  I feel that with me knowing the larger picture now I can clearly delegate task's to everyone equally and not have one person over worked and others not worked enough.