Week 5

Helloooowwww all! I am going to post below a list of everything I've done this past week and the amount of time it took to complete it.

Updating Part of the Master Contact List: 2 hours
Editing the Fillable Film + Presentation Submission Forms (PDFs): 45 minutes
Editing Various Email Templates: 45 minutes
Researching Aspects of Film Freeway: 1 hour
Researching Possible Ways to Create Labels: 1 hour
Department Meeting (9/25): 1 hour

That is pretty much all I can think of!1!

Peace

- Mayo

9.22: The Dirty Dozen (CFE)

"The Dirty Dozen" for the Call for Entries:

Identify the "what."

1) This project is intended to inform the audience (all undergraduate filmmakers + scholars) that we are now accepting submissions. The information in this process will notify all applicants of the deadlines + its corresponding fees. We will also inform the public of the date for our festival + conference.

2) The customer is primarily all undergraduate filmmakers + scholars who are eligible to apply. We are also targeting people who like to attend film festivals + conferences.

3) The deliverables of this project include the knowledge of the deadlines, fees, + dates of the festival so that they can prepare accordingly and make the proper arrangements.

Identify the "how."

4) We have $100 allotted for our department for this process. The money will be used to print posters for distribution to different schools.

5) The preparation for the Call for Entries process will take approximately a few weeks. During this time, we will be updating the contact list, creating email templates, editing submission forms, and setting up the Film Freeway website among other tasks. The actual promotion + managing of the Call for Entries process will last all semester long + the beginning of the Spring semester.

6) Good organization + time management skills are necessary for this process.

7) There are several forms that we have used in the past, including a master contact list, that we will need to complete this process successfully.

8) Emma and I will by working together on this process. I will be overseeing all aspects of the Call for Entries process, including the managing of the Film Freeway website. Emma will be assisting me in this process as we contact different schools + prepare the mail-outs to different schools.

9) Here are the deadlines that we are proposing:

    Dec. 5: Early Deadline for Films ($15)

    Jan. 3: Regular Deadline for Films ($25)

    Jan. 23: Deadline for Abstracts (Free)

    Jan. 27: Late Deadline for Films

Other considerations.

10) The primary risks include low reception by potential applicants. We want to make it sure that everyone knows we are accepting films + abstracts, + to encourage everyone to submit their work.

11) We have several means of communication within our department. We use the phone (text + calls), Facebook message, and we have our own Facebook page.

12) I believe this project's success will be determined by the amount of quality films + abstracts that are submitted.

Slamdance Interview

Interview with Anna Germanidi, Slamdance Festival Director

1. Over 5,000 submissions, usually 900 features (narrative) / 700 documentary features + shorts; 3,000 shorts; 1,000 narrative features; 200-300 beyond features. Screenplay competition = 2,500 (7,000-7,500 people submitting)

2. 100 films every year. 10-12 narrative features are programmed. 8 documentary features. 5 beyond features. 3-4 special screenings are held.

3. Programmers are all filmmakers who have previously been selected to Slamdance. We invite them to screen for next year. All alumni, some sign up. We usually have 100 programmers. We have many online programmers for our shorts category (all over the world). Local programmers for feature categories (return scores). Every film that is submitted is watched at least 2 times. You have to watch 145 shorts in order to grade certain categories. There are 4 full days of watching films. There is no director of programming. Everyone has the same voice.

4. We are always looking for new, directional voices.

8. Most people submit last minute. We don't receive as much early submissions as we do late submissions. We wished we could have a deadline later. We opened our Call for Entries in June, and we close in mid-October. We have received 3,000 films thus far.

9. We have very few paid people (4 employees). During the festival, we have at least 10 paid people and many volunteers. We have internships for students. We have people all the time working for the festival. We have 10-15 people working in the core of the festival. 20-30 people working elsewhere. Programmers will fly to the festival and attend the screenings and Q&A's.

10. We use without-a-box, internal website that we created that programmers use to submit scores.

11. We offer a screenplay competition and on-the-road screenings. We bring Slamdance films to places that would not otherwise see them. We send newsletters every 2 months. It has a distribution platform. We have a deal with Vimeo-on-Demand. We do not have that many press releases. We used Mixstab (a new app) to create a trailer competition. We try to get involved in mutual-beneficial partnerships.

12. Screenplay competition winners receive a Slamdance DVD, T-shirt, and hat. All winners get a badge to attend the festival.

13. Filmmakers pay their way to get to Park City, Utah.

14. Park City is very small. Filmmakers have to be out there to talk about their films.

16. Our big sponsor will receive placement of their name attached to the biggest party held by Slamdance. We have a sponsorship page. We also have an events page for happy hour. We use the website and newsletters to promote the sponsors.

Week 3

I conducted my interview with Slamdance Festival Director Anna Germanidi this past

Wednesday (9/10) at 5:00pm.

The film festival was created twenty years ago by a group of filmmakers whose films were not accepted into Slamdance Film Festival. The founding fathers of the film festival

are Dan Mirvish, John Fitzgerald, Shane Kuhn, and Peter Baxter.

 “Slamdance lives and bleeds by its mantra By Filmmakers For Filmmakers. No other film festival in the world is entirely run and organized by the creative force that can only be found in filmmakers. Slamdance adamantly supports self-governance amongst independents, and exists to deliver what filmmakers go to festivals for – a chance to show their work and a platform to launch their careers. The festival has earned a solid reputation for premiering films by first-time writers and directors working within the creative confines of limited budgets" (http://showcase.slamdance.com/about).

Slamdance Film Festival programs narrative featrues, documentary features, beyond features, documentary shorts, narrative shorts, experimental shorts, animation shorts, and “anarchy shorts” of which you cannot directly submit to.

The event is held in Park City, Utah

The event will be held from January 23-29 in 2015.

You can submit either through Without-A-Box or a Google Form that is linked to the website.

Early Deadline: July 25, 2014 ($40 for short entry, $50 for feature entry)

Regular Deadline: September 5, 2014 ($50 for short entry, $80 for feature entry)

Late Deadline: October 9, 2014 ($60 for short entry, $100 for feature entry)

Final Deadline: October 16, 2014 ($70 for short entry, $110 for feature entry)

There are no restrictions as to who can submit films.

There is not a student category.

Slamdance requires a DVD submission, but they will also accept an additional Vimeo link with the password.

99 films were screened at last year’s Slamdance event.

Slamdance does not split their showings into separate blocks. Instead they intersperse films of different modes throughout the day for the duration of the event. The feature length films are usually screened in the morning.

Event passes ranging from $8-$325 will be available through their website starting on November 3, 2014.

Here is the link to Slamdance’s sponsorship page (http://showcase.slamdance.com/sponsors). Based on my preliminary research, I am unsure if any of these partnerships will be beneficial to us.

The incentives for these sponors to reach a certain sponsorship “level” are purely through the amount of money or service provided to the event.

To my knowledge, Slamdance Film Festival does not have a Kickstarter or Indiegogo.

Anna Germanidi informed me during the interview that sometimes they have tried to travel and hold screenings elsewhere for people who cannot attend the festival in January. This is also used as a marketing tool.

The website (http://showcase.slamdance.com/) is easy to navigate. Everything is laid out nicely and it is easy to read the text.

The homepage consists of four major links: Showcase, Film Festival, Screenplay Competition, and Shop. Everything is sorted nicely and the site flows well.

This website is aesthetically pleasing as it has a slick, black design. This site appeals to me personally because it has a very professional feel with just a bit of “fun” fused into it. Specifically, I really enjoy the “ticket” layout that they have. It’s simple, fun, and slick. This kind of reminds me of the Visions4 design of the film reel hyperlinks that we have.

I think that this is the “Goldilocks” of a film festival website in terms of informational text on the homepage. There is not too much, but there is also not too few.

There is not much that I would change about Slamdance’s website. The only change that I would make would be to place a link to the submission process on the front page in clear-view.

Week 2

Week 2 Tasks:

Thursday (9/4): Directors' Meeting - 1 hour

Friday (9/5): Secured interviews with Anna Germanidi (Festival Director, Slamdance Film Festival) and Jenny Mays (Festival Director, Virginia Film Festival)

Sunday (9/7): Meeting with Group Workflow - 1.5 hours

Monday (9/8): Departmental Meeting - TBD

It's That Time of the Year Again

Hello all, my name is Jonathan Mayo and I am a senior here at UNC Wilmington. I have enjoyed my last three years majoring in Film Studies and being able to meet a bunch of people whether it is in class or on set. I hope to work with you all in the future on films or festivals!

This will be my second semester in Visions and my first time as a director (Director of Programming and Traffic). I was fortunate enough to be a part of the programming and traffic / operations teams last semester and was able to witness firsthand great leadership and collaboration, which I believe has well prepared me for this upcoming year.

I am super excited about working with my team (Kevin and Emma) this Fall and I cannot wait to work with Operations in the Spring as well. As far as my learning objectives, I hope to gain a more in-depth look into how festivals are prepared. I know this is kind of a broad answer, but I came into Visions last spring when everything and everyone was moving quickly and I did not have much of a chance to understand what it took to get to that point until late into the semester when we updated the manuals. I am also looking forward to seeing what techniques work and which ones we can change differently in our approach.