Week 15

This was the last week of for the FST 495 class, and today was our last meeting (until the final, of course). There is still so much work to be done. Emily Kaitlyn and I have both been so busy with the end of the semester and work that we have not met about crowdsourcing. I'm hoping to be able to actually launch that for our festival entry fees no later than next Monday, since we're already behind. Whatever we can't afford to submit to this season, we can always try next year. Then we can definitely submit to the earlybird deadlines.

I am really happy with our project. I think it came together really well, and it's a project I'll be proud to put in my portfolio. I've learned a lot this semester about so many things, from recording sound to making an organized, readable, detailed budget and schedule. I'll be able to take these skills with me in whatever I decide to pursue in the future. I can foresee myself making schedules and budgets quite a bit in the future.

Visions5 Response

Visions was probably one of the best things I could have ever done. I actually can't even believe I am writing a response to it, because it is over now and I never get to do it again.

The best part for me was mingling and networking with all the filmmakers and scholars. I got to know people that I would never have met otherwise, and I now know so many different people in so many different cities that it's hard to keep track. I enjoyed the films and presentations a lot; they were so insightful and innovative. We honestly had a lot of innovative films and ideas this year, I am so impressed by everyone.

I also learned so much about putting together a film festival in general. This is now something that I can look into for applying to future jobs that I would never have considered otherwise. I got to put my problem-solving skills and time management skills to the test, and I proved to myself and I think a lot of other people that I can handle stress and pressure.

I would never trade this experience for the world. I am so glad I got to be involved with this festival exactly when I did in my career as a student and filmmaker.

Week 14

Last Monday, we had our last interview and presented our Marketing and Distribution plan.

I think our presentation went pretty well. I am proud of a lot of the work I did. That is certainly not the end though, this is now time for me to go out and apply that in the real world for our film. I am working on crowdsourcing and the new website this week with Emily Kaitlyn. I would like the website and a trailer to be ready for our IndieGogo page. I think that will help market us and make people more interested in seeing a final product and help us.

This Monday, we presented our rough cut with image lock. I thought it looked pretty good, and I'm excited to see what happens with Emily Kaitlyn's next cut.

Week 13

This week I did the most work I have for this project to date. I put together most of the Marketing and Distribution plan. I slaved away at my schedule and budget for about five hours total, doing research and making everything look pretty. It was very difficult to do the website, so I trashed it and decided to start over. That's what I'll be working on next week.

We also have an interview for tomorrow. It will be our last one, which is exciting and also kind of strange. The project is wrapping up now.

I will be working on our crowdsourcing in the next week or two as well. I'm nervous for this week since it's Visions week, but I will try to get on all my projects as early as possible.

Week 12

This week was Easter so I didn't do a ton of work for this class. I did my group evaluations and coordinated some details of our last shoot, which will be next Monday, April 13. Otherwise, I had a lighter load.

I honestly enjoyed our rough cut today. It looked a lot like what I imagined it would, which made me excited because I knew for sure today that we are all on the same page. Before I felt 97% sure, and now I am 100% sure. There were obviously a lot of issues, but I was definitely pleased with it. I am excited to see the rest of it.

This week will be finalizing the marketing and distribution plan for me. I certainly have my work cut out for me!

Week 11

This week was very busy. Finally!

I had to coordinate equipment requests for Monday's shoot, then we shot for six hours Monday night. We got nervous for a bit because we originally planned on shooting four interviews, then two people cancelled on us. We squeezed one more person in at the last second, so we still got through three interviews. As we were filming, I could see the parts of each interview that would work perfectly as clips in our movie. It was also interesting doing that many in one night because every one of them was so wildly different from each other interview, and watching them back to back like we did was just really exciting. It does make me more nervous for editing, though. It is definitely going to be difficult to tie some of this together. But I love the style of interview we're doing; it is very unorthodox. More conversation amongst people, less formal. That's also what makes them all so different from each other.

I have already sent in an equipment request for what will hopefully be our last shoot, which is April 13. We will be operating without Aly for this one, but we pulled in a friend, Luqi, to help last night operate our second camera and she is such a superstar. She's going to operate camera for us on the 13th, so I'm not as nervous as I might have been if circumstances were any different.

Otherwise, I am continuing researching festivals and crowdsourcing options.

Week 10

This week we started to schedule a shoot, but when I put in the equipment request we ended up not getting the lights we wanted. Apparently, this is that time in the semester in which all the 495 classes are filming, so it was a little more tricky than it has been to coordinate between Emily Kaitlyn and Aaron, the current equipment room guy. We ended up rescheduling for another week, so now we are filming next Monday night. We are trying to film four people that night, which will hopefully be it for us and we can focus on editing.

We are confirmed to interview Lisa, a massage therapist Emily Kaitlyn and I work with; Ally Gold; Zack, a friend of Emily Kaitlyn's; and Aubrey, another of Emily Kaitlyn's friends.

I am working on looking up festivals on my own and I have been talking to Emily Kaitlyn about the one's she already knows about that she would like to submit to. I will be putting together a spreadsheet and putting it in the drive this week with all of my information for those.

I have also plugged in everything we will be doing into the calendar for the next two weeks, including equipment, editing, and the interviews.

We are also officially underway with a score and a poster! I'm loving how much this project is really coming together!