Week 7

This week was a long but also great week. We have officially programmed the selections for this year Visions Film Festival and Conference. Some films that made it through are not my favorites but the ones that won awards really make me happy. I feel like we have some pretty strong thought provoking blocks so that is good. That being said this week I had to send rejection notification e-mails to the paper people. I hope they are not discouraged by it. One thing I have realized is that databases are unpredictable. When we first compiled it we had some issues that we had to fix. I was under the impression they were fixed until I got a facebook post from Shannon and she was experiencing technical difficulties. Somehow the addresses for some of our entries got mixed up. Luckily my team was ready to help me fix things and look over the data. We were still having some trouble identifying some of the addresses so I sent an e-mail to find out where they are currently living. Some people only posted their city which makes no sense but I am on top of it. Another thing I did was pitch the new idea for the installation seeing as to how we wanted to incorporate the Art of Motion and showcase it there. Everyone said they liked the idea and Rob and Michelle are interested in helping me with it. I think the concept I am working from could shape out to be beautiful. Another thing I did this week was addressed the envelopes for poster mail out. It did not take too long with the help of my team they actually finished it a lot quicker than me. Another thing I did this week was prepared for my meeting with Beth. I went through my resume and made some revisions to the style and tone of it. I also made sure to read the post and create questions about not only linked in and the job search but also about Beth's career. I was ready to tackle a myriad of topics but with only thirty minutes we only got to the resume. I hope we get another chance at consultations again. I feel like it was very useful to me and helped give me some confidence. All in all it was a good and eventful week.

Week 6

This week shaped up to be an eventful week for us. The first thing I did this week was discussed the plans for poster mail-out with Grace. We had to make sure we got enough envelopes as well as narrow down how many schools I planned to mail out to. I chose to mail-out to 30 schools that are close in proximity and might possibly send students. I hope that this year's beautiful posters will entice their student body and peak interest not only for this year but also V7. Another thing I did this week was looking into programming positions at film festivals. I was very disheartened by the extensive experience they request when it come to being a programming director but in a way it makes since. I found one way around this however is having a graduate degree which I plan on attaining anyway. I did however find a ton of opportunities at festivals which I am excited about looking into. The really big thing for this week however was our college trip. The group and I made sure to meet a couple of times to go over the slides and presentation so that we would be comfortable with it and so it would come out fluid. Grace did a great job making the presentation. This one was very different from my partner school trip. We were actually given a whole class period with a true question and answer section. The students were very attentive and receptive and even approached us after class. Not only were they interested in the festival but they were also interested as us as filmmakers, students, and our film studies department. Following that we attended a meeting with DKA the film fraternity on campus and they had light refreshments and really treated us a guests. They told us about their group as well as asked about how we function and it was truly an awesome networking experience. However there was a total bummer on the trip. The PA training we were convinced was such a great opportunity was actually a scam. There were plants in the audiences and the speaker did not know what documentary film was called. The only hands on training was passing walkie talkies around in the audience. We however stayed in order to be good ambassadors for UNCW. I am really excited for next week because it means the end for programming!!!!! Well not the end of our job but the end of programming centric work. I feel like we will have alot of good debates and we will create some great blocks for this years festival.

Week 5

This week has been an eventful week. This week means it was our last round of films to jury. It took a while to get all of the films together and we still had a few people that entered to ignore the e-mail making our jury list a little shorter than usual. However we refuse to let that stop us. Since Daryl did not get to leads discussion last class and Shannon wanted her to wait another class period I prepared Daryl to lead next class. I know she is ready and she seems pretty confident she can handle it. Another great thing I did this week was to shoot a bumper with Rob. I think it is hilarious and will make the class laugh. It was kind of hard to do with the equipment room closing early last week so it was very guerilla style. Another thing that we did this week was to go over our Forte training. After going over it I have began to reevaluate my managing style and have been trying to be more assertive. Furthermore this week I got prepared to inform the Scholars that we accepted their papers but I could not find the e-mail template. Jonathan told me it was actually Shannon who informed them last year but I drafted up an e-mail in case Shannon wanted me to do it this year. I also made sure the Jessica and Daryl set up a films still in consideration database for the final night of jurying so that as I am leading the class we will know what films we are arguing for. I also set up a time to meet with carson about the instillation that we will be doing in the clocktower lounge for friday night dinner. I think this is going to be a fun project to work on and it should be fun to bring in others to help on it. I plan to start working on soundscapes for Carson's animations this week as well. I have been trying to get in contact with my Goodfellas connection but he has been hard to get ahold of especially with classes because by the time I get out he is at work and does not pick up the phone. I plan to call early tuesday morning to talk to him about chances of being able to get them private for the After Party. This is also the week before our trip to our Partner School GMU. We met to practice our presentation and go over who would do what slides and what not. Grace did an excellent job putting together the presentation and I feel we will definitely be able to get the students engaged. I am excited about our trip I think it is going to be a great time.

Week 4

This has been an eventful week. The first thing I did this week was self-assesment. As a manager it is important to look at your own performance rather just your employees. I learned it is important as a director to be more dominant in correspondence with filmmakers. For the past couple of weeks I have asked nicely for those who submitted their films directly to FilmFreeway rather than posting a vimeo link. After three weeks and multiple e-mails I still am missing responses from about 12 people. I now realized it is important to make the deadline harder and finite. I will add in the manual that you should request them and if they are not in by that time they will be dropped from consideration. I believe this will influence them to respond punctually. Another thing I had to do this past week was prepare Daryl for jurying. She tends to be shy because she is an introvert but I know she has what it takes to be lead. This week I also started to come up with ideas for bumpers to make with Rob and we plan to work on them this coming weekend. I also had fun finding sample resumes to use in job hunts. One thing i found was is that is damn near impossible to find the resumes of my favorite directors. They must keep those under lock and key. I am truly excited to get prepared for the job hunt. I have alot of anxiety when it comes to graduating and getting a job in film but I believe this assignment along with the work I have done will help me a great deal. I also made sure to delegate tasks to Jessica and Daryl to make sure we are prepared for jurying next class. These ladies truly are awesome teammates and are proactive. They had them done almost as soon as I requested. We also made sure to set up the meeting to go over our presentation to the partner school next weekend. I believe we are going to have a great time and bring back alot of students this year as well. Grace seems to really be on top of it this year and GMU is actually giving us a lot more time to talk about Visions than we had last year. I also gave Michelle feedback on the posters all of which are amazing I am excited to vote on them whichever one will be great.

Week 3

This week has been rather eventful. My team and I lead our first round of jurying and I did my best to give them a good example to follow after. One thing I have noticed while jurying the films is that people do not read the rules all the way through. Many people have submitted directly to filmfreeway instead of providing actual password protected vimeo links. I e-mailed all of those filmmakers that i saw had not submitted correctly and demanded a vimeo link. I also have had trouble proving some entries were undergraduate films. I quickly drafted up an e-mail of inquiry as well to make sure they could be qualified or disqualified. I also had the duty of organizing the papers for jurying this week. I am disheartened because not everyone submitted their final paper. I plan to give the stragglers until midnight tomorrow night. Hopefully they send them in if not I guess they will be making our jobs a little easier. One big problem we have been having is with the film submissions database. Somehow it keeps messing up the ID numbers. I had to  find an old revision and start back over from there which was very frustrating because upon fixing it there it messed up once more. After a few more tries it began to work better I will be going back through it in the morning just to make sure. I am excited however because we will possibly get done with the jurying process a week early which gives us more time. We also got some great news in this week directors meeting that I can't wait for the class to find out about. I also made sure to prepare Jessica for her first time leading jurying I know she will do great. I am excited about the resume assignment I am just getting started and hope that this really helps me solidify a job after graduation.