Week before Turkey Day

So this weekend I finally took a day off.  I felt I needed it having drill last week.  I did meet with Kyle last week.  He was feeling overwhelmed and we talked and I helped coarse him into creating a master calendar for the art department.  I also told him that he needs to get it from the other AD's in the class to help with his calendar.  I also discussed an idea with him to have an Art request form for the art department.  I have been working on this and using Nate Daniels template for the equipment request form as a guide.  I showed up at 9pm the night after class to make sure things were going well.  I also contacted Jaime for Channing to let him know that we needed stuff on the site changed ASAP.  On friday Channing contacted me and asked me to work with Jaime on converting the website back to wordpress.  I made contact with Jaime and on Sunday he came over to my house and we converted it, only to be told to change it back by Channing later that night.  After that I told Channing to make a command decision and that not everyone will be happy.  Pretty much to pick Wordrpess or Dreamweaver.  I felt that Dreamweaver was the best way to go and if Channing gets together with Jaime and learns a little bit about it, she could have control and approve changes that he makes.  I feel that Channing needs to be the Director of the department and not be so wishy washy on subjects.  I feel this will have a major positive spin on the art department.  This is the way I wanted to lead it when I was in charge and I felt it would have worked out better.  This is the way I will be running my Operations team next semester.  Myself and Jaime spent about 2 hours at my house working on the website.  I also checked out the R16 from Nate Daniels to do sound experimenting with for Visions Film Festival and Conference for the day of the event.  I feel that by having a better sound it will help with the DVD.  I also had a meeting with Nate set up for thursday of last week.  I went in and asked about equipment including steady cam, lights and dimmers, sound mixers, camera's and everything that I wasn't sure about for the day of the event.  The meeting went well and I feel we will be able to put out a better DVD.  I want the lights to help make the presenters and Q and A panels up front  to be brighter.  The R16 will give us a master sound that will allow us to control levels and have great audio of Q and A, Keynote, and anyone else who needs to talk.  I am working on setting up a master DVD process for the day of the event or an iTunes playlist for the event.  More will come after I do more research.  If I am lucky enough I may be able to talk to Monika Moreno this week and get some feedback on operations.

11-18-13 This Week So far... Here comes CPL Keefe

This last week I went through my job discretion and made a blogger for everything that is included in my job and what it means to me.  This way it will HELP me know what to do when I prepare for a master schedule for the remainder of the year.  The job discretion blog took me about an hour to do.  I think everyone should be doing this.  I also made my project's  for Volunteers and Digital Arts Race contest.  These took about an Hour of planning and then blogging about 30 minutes to retype what I had planned.  During drill this weekend I meet several people from different film schools in the area including SCAD UNCG, Elon, NC School of Arts who are all now interested in submitting to Visions for this year.  I have posters to be sent to individuals at UNCG and NC School of the Arts to hang in the schools to help raise awareness.  I also talked to SSG Brandon Stephens who has worked operations at a small film festival at NC School of the arts when he attended and he gave me some tips and pointers of what to do and what to expect.  I will be doing the walk through of Lumina with Matt Goslet this Wednesday morning at 10am.  I will have questions ready and ask Shannon to view over them next class to make sure I didn't miss anything.  This week I will be presenting my Pitch's for my projects to get class feedback tomorrow.  I will be making a power point for each one with half the slide one and the other side the next project.  I will follow the 12 steps planning on each slide to present the project.    I also did a lot of thinking when I was out there about my leadership style.  I feel that I need to be hard on deadlines and make people know when they need to get their butts in gear.  Reflecting on my Art Department Failure, I spread myself way to thin and worked to much on the website and ignored my team.  I also did not want to crack the whip and be like WTF to my team for not doing their work.  I try to not be an ass to people but it is starting to get crazy with people not doing their work on a high enough level.  Next semester my team will be on top of everything.  I will be doing all of the pre operations this semester so next semester everything will be  smooth sailing.  I will have my team a master schedule of when I expect work to be done and in what format.  I really do not want this festival to be a B+ festival.  I want this festival to be an A+ festival.  I want everyone to look back and say "Yeah I was a part of Visions 4".

Operations Directors

• Supervises the Facilities & Guest Informations Coordinator, Registration Coordinator and Volunteer Coordinator.
• Make sure my team is running smooth at all times. Make sure any needs that they have are taken care of ahead of my own needs. Make sure everything including Volunteers and Registration is running smoothly.
• Supervises the creation and administration of project schedules and budgets.  
• Have a master schedule for everything the entire day of what is going on in Lumina, Registration and Volunteers. For inside of lumina have a master schedule for everything that will be going on to a +/-5 minute increments. Include when to stage set up for after screenings and what will be on the screen for after the films and during the Q and A sections.
• Creates and manages the overall departmental calendar.

• Make sure the Team has a very full and functing calendar that will have due dates for everything through out the semester. Over Christmas break go through and prepare calendar and first week back meet with Shannon to go over Timeline created for all Operations.
• Utilizes good communication skills and time management skills to ensure that all projects are done in a professional and timely manner.
  
  

  Make sure My team and myself act in a professional manner at all times. Make sure that my team knows of all planning and they have had rehearsals, backup plans incase of technology fails, alternatives scheduled in case volunteers are no shows.

• Function as a location manager.
  
  

  Be the team leader I was in Afghanistan. Make sure my team is the best team at the event and everyone knows that. We are responsible for the Success or Failure of this event.

• Arrive at venue at least two hours prior to first screening and remain until after last film is over and emptied the theatre.
  
  

  Have my team there at 630 am the day of the event. Also have tech run the night before the film makers and scholars meal. Have equipment Set up and ready to run that morning.

• Organizes all Operations department meetings, takes attendance, and turns in attendance reports and evaluations to Festival Director at the beginning of each month;
  
  

  Create and talk to Shannon about previous systems that can be used to keep track of attendance. See about possibility of having barcodes on back of passes and possible scanning devise to read them. That way we will have an accurate count of who comes to what event and how many people total come to the event.

• Works with Programming/Traffic Director and Lumina Theater to assess and plan for all necessary technical requirements and equipment procurement for the screening venues, including projectors, lighting, sound, Q&A tables/chairs/mics;
  
  

  Make sure Myself and me team are on the same sheet of music as Matts team. That way we will be a cohesive squad and it will run smooth. My team will be the lead on the equipment inside of Lumina setting up. We must also make sure that Traffic is good and ready to go in for Matts team. We must have a backup plan incase Matt or someone in Matts team is sick the day of the event. We must have everyone in each team cross trained in each other jobs, so that we can jump in and help if need be.

• Works with Programming/Traffic and Lumina Theater to ensure that all Festival trailers, bumpers, and slides are played before their respective block;
  
  

  Use master schedule for Lumina as stated in previous bullet. I will create a master schedule that will include all times and the whole day of what will be playing. I will also want the Projectionist to be present during the tech rehearsals so that I can have a good understanding of what is expected of him.

• Work closely with the Programming Department before the festival to coordinate theater logistics, staffing needs and flow.
  
  

  Get together with Matt when he lets me know his free times. Make sure a Master Meeting schedule is there for my team and Matts Team to meet during the semester.

• Coordinates all operations with theatre projectionists, house managers, and theatre staff including opening houses, starting films/video, tech hours, sponsor slideshow, cuing mics and lights for intros and Q&A’s, emptying houses, setting up chairs, mics, and tables for panels;
  
  

  
  

• Acquiring the necessary equipment and rental items prior to the festival including banners, signs, director/scholar’s chairs, pipe and drape
  
  

  I will meet with Channing Duke to see if she had a list of all equipment that was used during the last festival. I will then at that time go through the list with Nate and set up in advance the make sure all the equipment is ready and available.

• Works with Marketing and Development Teams to make sure all sponsorship banners are properly on display and all sponsorship slides are correct before projection.
  
  

  I will work with Jill to make sure every Major Sponsor's Logo is in the right spot. I will also ask her to come to the Tech Rehearsal so that we can plan the sponsor loge's.

• Securing the correct number of director/scholar chairs and waters for panels and Q&A’s
• Adhering to all signage needs inside theater, including VIP seating (sponsors, filmmakers/scholars, visiting guests)
  
  

  Once we have the total number of film makers and scholars nailed down and confirmed that they are coming I will have the number of Chairs and Microphones ready. I will Have a volunteer that is willing to do this as his/her main job.

• Coordinating fastidious timing of set-up and breakdown of equipment and signage inside theater
  
  

  Get together with group in order to make sure that everything is set up. I feel that the entire class should come to the Tech Rehersal and set up. This will allow us for easy set up. I will also ask for the volunteers who are working the last shift to help clean up and gather equipment. This will be scheduled out before the event so persons in the class will know they must stay around and help my team set up and take down stuff. I feel that if we have Half the Class before and Half the Class after, not including those on After Party or driving Film Makers and Scholars to the after party. I also want to see if we could use one or two of the UNCW Vans for the day of the event. This will cut down on Traffic and allow the filmmakers and class to drive to the event together, the after party, and to the hotel safely the night after the event.

• Acting as point person for any signage that needs to be created, corrected, or relocated inside theater
• Discuss sponsorship signage with Development and Marketing Directors to insure compliance with Sponsor requirements.
• Manage and coordinate the display of VISIONS and sponsorship signage, banners, and filmmaker/scholar posters
• Managing a team of volunteers to set-up and breakdown at the various sites
  
  

  Make sure the volunteer Cordinator has master schedule for all volunteer's and alternatives.

• Ensure that screenings start on time, are emptied and cleaned promptly and guests are
• informed of any delays.
  
  

  All will be informed and will use the master schedule for the day of the event.

• Liaise and coordinate with ACE Volunteer ushers as necessary.
• After the screening, coordinate with the projection booth for the Q&A, making sure microphones are operational and keeping time for the programming representative and alerting them as to when the Q&A needs to end to start the next screening on time.
• Arrive at venue at least two hours prior to first screening and remain until after last film is over and emptied the theatre.
• Manage videography and photo teams inside Lumina Theater.
  
  

  Will use someone in the class to insure that all memory cards and batteries are ready and will make rounds every 2 hours to make sure and to give new supplies. They will also download the footage from each card each time to a computer and put in approbate folder for each camera.

• Coordinate and lead on-site tour for all VISIONS staff prior to April 1, 2014.
  
  

  I will communicate with the Lumina Head for this to happen in the middle of March. This way everyone can see what we are dealing with and we will have time as a class to go through and help toss ideas and planning around so that we will have a perfect plan A and B in place before the festival.

• Manage and execute the Audience Award balloting system and oversee collection and final count with the Programming and Awards staff.
  
  

  Look into cell phone voting and make sure it will happen. Also have backup plan of paper voting. Meet with Awards voting and make sure the main system will work for them in that they will be tallying the vote and announcing the winners

• Perform walk through pre and post vent to ensure that site has been cleaned and left in excellent condition.  
  
  

  Leave the theater as we found the theater, if not better.

Digital Arts Project

1. Identify the "What":  The project is a contest to help get the digital Arts Minors and Computer Science department involved in the Visions Film Festival and Conference.  I want to have a contest for creating bumpers so that we can get submissions and the winning bumpers will be shown between the films or during the breaks of the festival so that something is always showing on the screen. The winners names will also be shown with their bumpers during the festival so that they will get the recognition  they deserve.  This will also make people from the CS and DA departments of UNCW come to the event.
2.  Who is the Customer?  Visions Film Festival and Conference will be the customer.  This will also save us time in that we will not have to have a student in the class make a mulitple bumpers for the festival.  This will allow us to always have something on the screen during the festival as well.
3.  What are the deliverables?  The bumpers will be what will be delivered.   We will use VIMEO.com for the submissions and allow them to be password protected.  This will allow us to download the files and use them as an H.264 for a .mov or .mp4 which will be the best formats for the day of the event and for the DVD.
4.  The budget for the contest will be the same as the Volunteer Project.  With the Winners they will get a T-Shirt from the event and a badge.  It will also cost more in food to feed them they day of the event because we will have to treat them like our film makers and scholars.  This could also help make more money if more people come out and support the festival such as friends and family's of the bumper makers come to see their work.  We will need a page on the website for them to enter for the contest as well as a few posters to post around campus and an email attachment to send to the Digital Arts and Computer Science Departments.
5.  This project will take about 2.5 months.  I want to start working on the project the same time I am working on volunteer project.  I will start to make contact and work on the project over christmas break.  I will begin the push for the submissions by 2-1-14.  This way it will go until 3-15-14.  This way we can pick the winners and post them on the site and get the confirmation from them that they will be attending.
6.  I will need help with the invitational skills.  I will ask Matt Goslet for help and ideas of how we can write a pitch for the event to send out.  I only want it to be for UNCW Digital Arts.  The other skills are needed are posters and an email graphic of the poster, just like we did for the call for entries.  Website skills are also needed.
7.  Resources:  I will need help from Kyle to make the Art.  I will need help from Matt Goslet to get the format of the call for entries for the digital arts emails ready.  I will need help from Channing on putting it on the site.  
8.  Team- Me:  If this gets supported for the preparation.
1. Channing and Jaime for the website
2. Kyle for the posters.
3. Other member of the Art Program for the digital art design for the website
4. Matt Goslet for his expertness in call for entries. 
9.  Schedule
1. 2-1-14:  Email out and post posters and begin the Call for Entries
2. 2-10-14: Email Fallow up for departments.  
3. 3-15-14: Final day to submit
4. 3-18-14:  Announce Winners
5. 3-21-14:  Confirm Winners
10.  Risks:  This could be a huge risk if we do not have any turnout or submissions.  From when I talked to Eric Patterson he said this would be huge for the Computer Science and the Digital Arts departments.  They wanted a way to show their students work to the public and this was an awesome idea he said.  I feel we will have a good turnout of submissions.   
11. I will communicate with the team through Facebook.  We are all friends on Facebook and can message and set up meetings for this project. 
12. Success or Fail?   If no one submits this will be a fail.  Or if no bumpers are good enough to be shown it will be a fail.  If we get several great bumpers for the event then this will be a huge success that will help take some of the work load off of the Art Department.  

Volunteer Project

Identify the "What"

1. What is the project supposed to achieve?
1. The project is supposed to achieve a large number of volunteers for the day of the Visions Film festival and Conference.  The goal is to use Flicker for video the day of the event to help in the filming, and use the UNCW Photography Club as a Sponsor/ Volunteer to help shoot stills the day of the festival including the After Party.
2. Who is the customer?  The customers will be Visions Film Festival and Conference and FST 451.  We will be able to use them for our support the day of the festival in order to receive better video and photography during the day of the event without having people form class do this.  This will allow us to have more people working the event making it less stressful the day of the event.
3. What are the Deliverables of the Project?  The Tangibles for the project will be that we will have more coverage the day of the event.  If we can get volunteers on the cameras on at least 3 main cameras and a floating camera the day of the event with the PR department doing the interviews it will allow us to have more footage for the DVD and the Archive.  For the photography aspect we will have more photos for the website and the social media outlets the class is using.
4. Identifying the "How" with Budget:  The expenses for the volunteers can range depending on how we want to sale the event.  If we could offer a T-Shirt and Badge for all the volunteers for the day of the festival it would really make it exciting for their time.  We must also consider food.  If we agree to feed them with the filmmakers and invite them to the after party(which we will need to) then the price for the amount of food will go up.  All of this will depend on the price quota's for T-shirts, Badges, and Food.
5. How long will it take?  I feel this project will take about a Month.  I want to start the project in early January  right as we get back and start to run.  I will go and meet with the heads of Flicker and the Photography club right as the semester begins.
6. What skills are needed?  The skills needed for me would be to schedule the dates and times for the appointments with the two clubs.  Then it will be to schedule the persons for their shifts and to make a schedule for the rest of the volunteers.  
7. Special Resources needed?  I will need web support from Channing to make a page on the site for people to go and volunteer and have all the information sent to me.  I will also need a video that I can make to show them some of the films that will be going on as well as photos from the last After Party.   I will also need small posters to bring with me to the meetings to pitch the project to the clubs.
8. Who is working this Project?  Chris Keefe 
9. Schedule
1. 2-1-14:   Begin pitching to Clubs
2. 2-15-14  Have website announce new page and looking for volunteers 
3. 2-21-14:  Have list of volunteers started
4. 3-15-14: Have schedule for  rough idea of placement of camera's and crew for cameras.  Plan shifts for volunteers so they are not there all day.
5. 4-1-14: Have master schedule for day of event with all volunteers and backup plans for disasters and alternatives.  
10. Game of Risk?
1. Risks:  This is a small risk in that we could have a lazy person on the camera who is not really wanting to be there.  We could also have a bad far shot like we did last year if the camera operator is not up to par.   We could also have cameras that do not work well or do not live up to their wonderful brand names the day of the event.   
11. Communication?  I will work with my team when they come to the class.  I will establish the best way to communicate by Facebook as well as with cell phones.  Everyone will have everyones numbers and I will hold weekly meetings.
12. Success or Fail?  If we have no volunteers then it will be a fail.  If we have so many volunteers that we do not have jobs for them then it will be a success.  

DVD Quiz Blog

The main thing I have learned is that no matter if you send the invites to the same schools, you will get different and better results.  One of the biggest difference I noticed is the difference between the films that were selected and the Conference panels that were selected.  The voice of each of the years differently showed.  The 2013 DVD films were a little more professional and it had a vibe all of its own.  The 2012 DVD had more of an artistic feel to it.  The menu's of each DVD also told about the class.  The 2012 DVD had a very artistic and college look with the film reel, which I liked.  The DVD menu's for 2013 looked more professional and more precise.  I felt the Conference panels were edited better in 2012, where the panels seemed to have much more of a contemporary feel.  I feel that My Name is Khan showed this the best.  I felt the 2013 DVD Conference panel's were older meteral and less contemporary.  

Since my Last Blog what I have been Up TOO

I have been working on the website every other night since I was assigned a due date for the website to be live.  I felt I was making good progress and spent 3 hours 2x a week working on the webpage cleaning it up and reformatting the whole site.  The site has been handed over to Channing duke and I have not been able to work on it since.  I spent 4 hours at the edit lab last night making the DVD.  I am still missing 2 films.  I am having to go through and find the films.  I will input time for how long that takes later.

Managing Work

Managing work is something that I really truly struggle with.  I have the pressures of this class, the Army Reserves, and owning a home and planning a wedding.  I also try to deal with Mental Health dealing with PTSD so my managing work flow is really crammed pack.  The most important for me is to stay organized.  I do my best to keep things organized and clean.  I do my best to take 30 minutes out of my day to stay organized but cannot do it every day.  The second thing I can do is plan ahead to have no time to myself.  By making a  webpage from scratch I think that I need to take 4 hours out of 2 nights a week to make this happen.  I have tried to make contact with Eric Patterson 4 times and no results back.  The Avoid overload section I cannot avoid.  I have way to much on my plate and more getting piled on with this class.  I will do my best to keep my plate clear from anything else than visions for the future.  For practicing study techniques I get A's on my test and quizzes so I will continue to study how I am.  I try to have a flexible schedule and make everything else in my world revolve around visions.  The U.S. Army Reserves does not seem to care and will not let me reschedule training when I have important stuff to do for visions.  I have paid for the 270 dollar pass and am not allowed to miss drill that weekend from friday to sunday of that weekend.  Cocalorus has been nice enough to let my pass drag over to next year.  For the have a visions, i feel I came into this semester with a wanting to change the festival  for the better.  I feel that us not having the juror sponsor really hurt that visions, and not allowing the class to talk about it.  I want to make this festival huge and I have visions but they have been brushed off or so it seems.  I will work on having a smaller vision for the festival so we do not get to big to fast.