Visions Event Recap

So it was one thing to have volunteered for Visions, it's another to really be a part of the team! Visions5 was incredible and it was amazing to see all of our hard-word really paying off as the Festival Day unfolded before us. We were all up at 6 a.m. or earlier in preparation for the big day, shepherding our scholars and filmmakers to campus, making sure all our tech was working properly, everything was being taken care of by our dedicated V5 staff.
As marketing assistant, I worked with Hillary during the day of the event interviewing all of the filmmakers and scholars that we had presenting/show casing their work at the festival. While it was kind of a bummer not being able to watch the majority of the festival, it was a really amazing insight into the creative minds behind our papers and films that were exhibitioned at Visions5.
My personal favorite, was the interview with Stephen Goza, the director of Psychodiagnostik Sunsets.  He is such a unique and artistic individual, and while I was not a fan of his film at first, it definitely grew on me and to hear his intent with his film and being able to hear his process really made me appreciate his genius as a filmmaker.
Thursday night dinner and the after party, I feel, were the best social aspects of the Visions5 experience. During both events I, along with the rest of the staff, were able to really talk with and get to know our fellow film enthusiasts from all over the state and from across the globe!
Honestly, Visions5 as a whole was just amazing. I can't believe that I was a part of something so huge and I hope to work with all of my fellow classmates again in the future!

Week 13

So Visions5 is this Friday! Holy cow this semester went by so fast. In preparation for the big day, I'll be drafting up two blog posts: one which will be a "Visions is Coming!" post, and the other will be a recap for our Spring Bake Sale. Just some quick little blurbs to generate that last bit of publicity that we can to draw in our audience! I'm so excited to be working behind the scenes this year. I remember volunteering two years ago and having the time of my life, and now I'll be an active member of the Visions team! Gonna keep thinking calming, positive thoughts, and the show will go on!

Week 12

Got the Spring Bake Sale post up on the blog ahead of schedule! Due to scheduling conflicts I was unable to interview EK in person about the awards but I wrote up a short questionnaire for her to fill out that will be posted to the blog as soon as she finishes. I will be drawing up a questionnaire for Emma and Melissa as well about the after party. Now that things are slowing down (at least a little bit) at Visions I am more than willing to take on any other tasks that are needed in order to help the festival run smoothly come the 17th!

Week 11

Will be interviewing E.K. about the awards for the Festival to be posted to the blog this week. I will also be interviewing Melissa and Emma about the after party to go up on the blog shortly after E.K.'s awards post. This past weekend was a busier than I expected, and I got a little behind as a result, however, this week I am going to focus on catching up on all my posts and preparing for our fast approaching Festival date!

Visions Week 8 & 9

Week 8, Pre & During Spring Break:

Still working on blog posts and helping out where I can with other Visions departments. The interviews have been put on hold as of now until I can arrange a day wherein I can meet with all the department heads at once in order to get all the interviews out of the way. This way, I'll be able to get help with the content of my interviews and their relevance to Visions the class and Visions the festival. Unfortunately I had to drop out of the UF trip, but luckily the lovely Hillary was able to fill in for me! While I could not attend, I arranged with the group that during their time at our sister school they would update me with posts and pictures that will go up on the blog for an post-spring break update. Other than that, business as usual!

Week 9, Post-Spring Break:

I was unable to attend class but still working on Visions! (Always!). Checked out the recap that Kevin made of the UF trip, downloaded the photos that everyone took, and wrote up a blog post! After some edits that will be made by Rika and Hillary the post will go up tonight. I've got a presentation coming up today as well to update the class on the blogs goings-on. Will be bringing my camera in tonight for some more photos/video footage to be used in future postings. 

Week 6 & 7

Week 6 - Still preparing for the Mardi Gras Masquerade. Acquired some gourmet popcorn from Regal, as well as two movie ticket passes and an audio book from Pomegranate Books. Trying to keep on top of blog posts and still working on getting a mass interview with all of the department heads!

Week 7 - No class but still plenty to do! In lieu of meeting in the editing lab our class had a drive day instead. Each department uploaded any and all documents, spreadsheets, etc. in need of editing and commentary from the staff. It went really well, everyone had good feedback to share, and we got to do it all in the comfort of our pajamas! (Maybe that was just me.) Prepared for the Mardi Gras Masquerade party by getting a King Cake as well as writing up a Post-Party Recap for our blog! Probably my favorite post I've written so far. 

Visions Week 5

This week our department meeting was rather small but we got together and discussed our upcoming tasks for Visions. I'll still be working on the blog and the interviews - along with Michael who will be animating them - as well as helping prepare the gift basket that we'll be giving away during our upcoming Mardi Gras party. Our first animated interview with Ally was scheduled to go up this past week, but we're scheduling a reshoot to include a more thorough interview sure to entertain and inform our audience. So far for the gift basket we have gift cards from Blue Water, as well as some complimentary passes from Regal, and are still acquiring other items to be included. 

The blog is coming along very nicely, however, I've been falling a bit behind in my postings. In order to keep to my two written posts a week I will be scheduling them from now on, and I will prepare ahead of time the content/prompts of each post. This way there should be no issues with the blog being consistently updated so that we can keep our audience involved and informed every week. Gotta keep pushing through until the big day! No time to fall behind. 

Visions Week 4

Got a little behind this week with my blog posts, but no fear, getting back on track!
So this past week the Visions 5 Blog has been updated for the Spring semester with two new posts: one, which gave info on the upcoming Bake sale, and the second, which gave a summary of the programming portion of the Visions experience. Soon to come will be a video review of the Visions 3 animated film Vow. Following this post will be an animated interview with our head of development, Ally Gold. I will continue to post at least two written updates a week, along with two or more video posts a week. It's going to be a lot of work, and the creative juices will need to continuously flow from my veins, but I'm thrilled to be coordinating the blog for this semester! I will be updating Hilary and Rika both with any posts I make for edits and review, and with them helping me out this blog is sure to thrive.

Visions Week 3

For this week my task as Marketing Assistant has been prep work for the Visions 5 blog, and I'm very excited to get the ball rolling. I've drafted up two blog posts which, after peer review and editing, will be the first posts for Visions 5 in the spring semester. Along with these two posts, I've conducted two video interviews with department directors - Ally and Adrienne - which are going to be animated by Michael. My hope is that these interviews, and the blog itself, will be a fun and creative way to draw in a bigger crowd for the festival. Since we know from Rika's social media presentation that when we have videos or photos posted on our various sites, that is when we have the most attention being payed to our page. In order to keep our numbers increasing, turning the Visions 5 Blog into a video blog is our best bet. These video interviews will be the first dip into the vlog pool, and if those prove successful then we'll dive in head first! In preparation for the transition, I'm going to begin video taping mini-segments from our Visions meetings. This, I believe, will be a huge draw for our audience as they'll get to see some sneak-peaks into the hard work and dedication it takes to make Visions Film Festival possible. I will be going over all of these plans in my presentation during our next meeting. I can't wait to hear feedback and other creative ideas the staff might have on how to make the Visions 5 blog bigger and better than ever.

Visions Week 2 - Dirty Dozen Visions 5 Blog

1. What is the project supposed to achieve?
Provides behind the scenes info. for Visions 5.
Helps to spread the word about the festival.

2. Who is the customer?

Visions staff, students, filmmakers, film scholars, anyone interested in film or film theory.

3. What are the deliverables of the project?

Promoting undergrad work, provides info on events and Visions 5 as a whole

4. What is the budget?

None.

5. How long will it take?

Throughout Spring semester

6. What specific skills are needed?
Writing, research, communication, scheduling, organization, time management

7. What special resources are needed?
Access to previous Visions info (programming book and alumni contact info), previous Visions filmmakers and scholars (contact info), upcoming Visions events info, contact with current staff and Shannon

8. Who is working the project? What is each person's job?

Emily: Writing Blog posts, conducting interviews, sending drafts to Hillary 

Hillary: Editing

Rika: Editing

9. What is the schedule?

2 per week (not including interviews and recaps of events)

10. What are the risks? (Small vs. large impact, likely vs. unlikely)

Not being able to get into contact with interviewees 

11. How will you communicate with your team?
Facebook, texting, meetings, emails

12. How will you determine if the project is successful?

Accumulating hits/views on the Blog posts, comments on most (if not all) posts, promoting Visions to a wider audience 

Visions Week 1 - Festival's of Their Own

For our first assignment as newbie's to the Visions 5 staff we were required to read the article "Festival's of Their Own"
In the reading "Festival's of Their Own" the article talks about the history and the politics that have surrounded film festival's since their beginning in 1938. I was amazed at the impact that film festival's have had all across the globe, as well as the controversies which have surrounded various film festivals. Such as the very first film festival held in Venice, which due to the politics of the World War II era, wherein the German made film Olympia won out over the popular Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Or, how during Cannes film festival in 1955, the representatives from American petitioned to deny the blacklisted U.S. director Jules Dassin in order to keep up appearances. Cannes, I learned, is the most influential film festival of them all. Having been the exemplary model for other film festivals (such as Sundance) around the world and leading them in promoting films made by fledgling directors. However, as the years go by the profitability of film festivals has increased and led to an unfortunate exclusion of films which festivals were meant to circulate to the public. There has been a return back to the original spirit of festival's, with a wider variety of styles and stories to be shared, the film community continues to make available space for up and coming filmmakers no matter their interests.

I did a quick read through of the second article on Blackboard "Microcinema" and a shared theme of both articles was the promotion of the "small works" in film. To reject the consumerist nature of art and media and to continue to keep the spirit of art alive by celebrating the films (the art) of our fellow artists. 

Visions Week 1 - Marketing Department

While I'm inwardly shaking with nerves over being a part of Visions 5 this spring, I'm swallowing any apprehension down with as much confidence as I can muster. I am thrilled to finally be getting up and being apart of something that I feel is going to further me in my pursuit of a film career. Visions 3 was the first film festival that I ever attended - as well as the first volunteer work I have done that was film related - the experience was incredible and rejuvenated my passion for my degree of choice. I can think of no better experience to be a part of as an undergraduate film student. I expect to learn through hands on experience what it is like to be a part of a professional, organized, film event. Learning the ins and outs of what it takes to run a film festival, to collaborate with my film peers who share the same passion, and whose work and prior experience I can work with and learn from in order to better my own skills. Having met the class, read the manual and the job descriptions I can feel my nerves slowly but surely dissipating. The manual is written and outlined in detail and has been super helpful to me and any other newcomer's to the Visions 5 staff team. My job - Marketing assistant - means that I will be working closely the art department along with the rest of the marketing team in order to promote and spread the word about Visions 5. I will be working immediately under Hillary and assisting her in anything she needs in order to keep Visions promotion running smoothly and effectively. Also, I will be taking over writing the Visions 5 Blog which will be a new experience for me but one I am super excited about! 

While I know it won't be a cake walk, I can tell that the Visions 5 team is a very well-oiled machine and I can't wait to see the finished product!