This Week in Visions 12/3-12/12

Weekly Tasks
12/6: Meeting with Zoe, Flyer Miles Discussion (1 hour)
12/7: Sent e-mails to sponors (2.5 hours)
12/8: Research on Flyer Miles, Contacting US Airways (2 hours)
12/9: Putting together all of the packages for mail-out (1 hour)
12/10-12/11: Update Manual (1.5 hours)
12/10-12/11: Put together Develoment Presentation (2 hours)
12/11: Contacted/Researched US airways (1 hour)

This Week In Visions 11/26-12/2

11/26- Worked on putting mailout packages together (3 hours)
11/26- Printed more packets (1.5 hours)
11/26-Worked on email and mailouts (2 hours)
11/27-12/2-Thanksgiving break

***Waiting on additional return envelopes and sponsorship packet to be functioning on the website (last week)--> on hold

This short week I worked on preparing efforts for contacting sponsors. It is finally happening. Now the sponsorship packet is up on the website I can attach it in the emails along with the sponsor letters. The return letters came in this afternoon and now I can send out those this week. This time of the year is beginning to get very hectic and I am trying to stay on top of all of my obligations. I am trying to fit everything into my schedule and planning accordingly. Making the time to figure out when tasks will get done is important so that I do not become overwhelmed.

This Week In Visions 11/19-11/25

Weekly Tasks:
11/19: Cucalorus response paper (1 hour)
11/19: Finalizing spreadsheet (1.5 hours)
11/19: Dividing up sponsors for first contact (30 minutes)
11/20-11/22: Personalizing letters and e-mails (2 hours)
11/22: Printing posters (1 hour)
11/23: Hanging mural for indiegogo annoucement in King Hall (2 hours)
11/25: Development/Hospitality Meeting (1.5 hours)
11/25: AD Meeting (1 hour)

This week I spent most of my time executing the research that I have been doing for the past couple of weeks. I am excited to finally have things coming together and hope that along the way local businesses and corporate organizations become passionate about Visions. I also feel that a lot of us are becoming burnt out and this Thanksgiving break will be a good time for the staff to re-coup and get excited for the end of the semester, including the final days of Indiegogo and our end of the semester party. I really enjoyed my time at Cucalorus and learned a lot. As far as finishing up the spreadsheet and dividing the contacts, this was relatively simple since all of the data was laid out in the excel document. Personalizing emails and mailouts also did not take very long at all. I am glad my team contributed to personalizing the emails. It will also get easier for them to contact their businesses directly if they go in person as a follow-up. In the Development and Hospitality meeting we organized the letters to make it easier to send out. We also discussed the Indiegogo party on December 4th. In the AD meeting we discussed our departmental work and what we need done from each department. Currently I am trying to figure out which email I will be sending out sponsorship packets from.

Keynote Speaker

I believe our keynote speaker should be Sami El-Hadi. I like that he is an international filmmaker and screenwriter and he can bring a different perspective to Visions than previous years. He seems to be very well-spoken and is passionate about his career and success in the film industry. He is currently working on projects so he can address this in his keynote. I think that because Sami El-Hadi is from London, that he will attract audiences to attend his keynote presentation. I would definitely be interested in what he has to say about the film industry in London and if he has had experience in other international film industries. He is also had film festival experience which I would want to know more about.

I look forward to the discussion in class today about the other potential keynote speakers because they are all great candidates.

Cucalorus Response

This weekend I attended the Cucalorus Film Festival. I had bought the lowest-level pass back in September and while at the time I could not afford to get a larger pass, I regret that I didn't. I had such a great time at the festival that I wish it was over a longer period of time. There were so many great films that screened but unfortunately due to time conflicts I couldn't attend them all. One thing I will say is that I probably only had time to see 5 films this weekend. If it was a less hectic weekend I would have gladly purchased a higher-level pass. The 5 films that I saw were The Bounceback, The Sacrament, Bound By Sea, The Act of Killing, and Short Term 12. All of these films were phenomenal!

While I was at the festival I took notes on how the festival seemed to be running. This was Cucalorus' 19th year running and from what I saw, the event went very smoothly. I obviously was not there 24/7 so there could very well have been some issues with tech or some other variable that I did not experience. One thing that I didn't think worked or annoyed me was that I never actually received my pass. There was not clear instruction on where to pick it up and I believe there was only one place to pick them up and at a specific time of the day that did not work with my schedule. If I was volunteering, I would love to work in the filmmaker's lounge. I would pick their brains about stylistic choices they made and how they funded their film. If I had a larger role in the festival I would want to probably have a job doing something similar to what I am doing with Visions. The more experience I have with contacting sponsors, the more comfortable I am with raising support. I am glad that I do not have the job of Operations because of the numerous locations and venues that needed to be booked and scheduled. This would be very extensive and seems like a big headache!

If I were running this festival, I would run it very similarly to Cucalorus. It is a non-competitve film festival which I think is great because the festival should be about the art and the medium of film, it shouldn't be competitive especially when submissions vary in experience, age of the filmmaker, and access to professional equipment. This is the first larger scale film festival I have been to besides Visions and I really enjoyed the experience. I think that something that I would do differently is having reserved parking for attendees. It was hard at times to park in downtown Wilmington and often had to walk a few blocks to get to the venue. For people not accustomed to downtown Wilmington, Cucalorus should've thought about having signs directing attendees to the venue from various different street corners.

At Visions, I think I would like to implement ways to accommodate "walk-ins" who want to come to a particular shorts-block or a conference block that did not purchase a pass. I went with several people this weekend who had not purchased a pass and were paying $10 per screening. I am not saying that we charge $10 per block but maybe brainstorm ideas on ways to accommodate these students or community members. Something that Cucalorus does that would not work for the scale of our festival and conference is having multiple venues not on the campus of UNCW. It would be hard to reserve spaces that are close enough to campus that have enough space to attract audiences or attendees.

This week in Visions 11/12-11/18

Weekly Logs:

-11/12: Assisted Audra in editing the sponsor packet (1 hour)

-11/12-11/18: Researching for sponsor contacts and media contacts (5 hours)

-11/12-11/18: Put together a new spreadsheet for sponsors (3 hours)

-11/15-11/17: Cucalorus (10 hours) Saw 5 films and gathered ideas for sponsors

-11/18: Hospitality/Development Meeting (1 hour)

-11/18: Director's meeting (1 hour)

-11/18: Meeting with Maddie to discuss promoting Indiegogo (45 min)

-11/18: Reformatting the sponsor letters (1.5 hours)

This week was a lot of research for local businesses and contacts for sponsorship. I have been trying to stay organized and on top of my work so that I can meet deadlines and stay up to date with the calendar that I created. I have been trying to get work done for Visions whenever I am not in class and have some free time. I hope that this is reflected in my work.

Visions DVDs

From watching the Visions DVDs I learned more about our event and how Visions as a festival and conference is constantly evolving. In 2012 there were some really incredible films that showcased the incredible talent of undergraduate students from around the world. I was really impressed with Dissonance, an animated short that involved a robot and multiple ticking clocks. I found it humorous because it had extreme qualities of obsessive-compulsion and order. When one clock started ticking out of sync with the other clocks, there was this sense of panic. I thought that the sound design was also well-executed. There were also some great narratives on the Visions2 DVD including The Birds Upstairs, which actually won the Visionary Award that year. One of the documentaries that screened at Visions that I enjoyed was The Elect. The film allowed me to enter into the world of the Westboro Baptist  Church and experience their extremist views. It was also kind of heart breaking to see these young impressionable children growing up in environments that encourage protesting against homosexuality and equality.

From watching the Visions3 DVD I saw a change in aesthetic from the previous year. It wasn't a bad change though because Visions, each year is a different brand, run by different students with a unique perspective. Change is inevitable but that is what makes this festival and conference so different from others in its class. From this DVD I thoroughly enjoyed the narratives How's Everything and Got You. These two films really resonated with me for different reasons. I believe that there was a lot more variety in films from 2013 and there was a lot more innovation. I would love to see this innovation continue for Visions4. I would want to showcase films that were shot with cameras of different mediums like 16mm for example. I think that this upcoming year will be filled with submissions of so many different perspectives and I am excited to see what is in store once programming begins.

This Week in Visions 11/5-11/11

Weekly Tasks:
Updated Indiegogo (incentives, and dates): 1 hour
Blog about managing Individual tasks: 1 hour
Blog about reading response: 30 minutes
Start personalizing email and in-person delivery letters 11/11:
AD meeting (Hospitality/Development) 11/11: 1 hour
All AD Meeting: 1.5 hours
Meeting with Shannon to discuss sponsorship: 1.5 hours
Development research: 2 hours

This week I focused on breaking down a lot of the jobs that I need to get done for the rest of the semester. I am also working on a new development plan aimed specifically for local businesses. While I still plan to contact larger corporate sponsors, the main focus should not be on these companies because odds are they might not give as much as I planned/hoped for. It is important for next semester to have a development calendar and plan of approach on which businesses to contact. I will be able to start this sooner next semester as well. I will also be looking into which companies could potentially contribute to the swag bags or awards for the festival and conference.

Procrastination and Time Management

So before I even read this article I knew it was going to speak truth to me because procrastination can be my best friend sometimes. However, I think that I have gotten a lot better with time management since I have been a part of the Visions staff. In the past a reason that I might have procrastinated would probably be to avoid a negative experience. If I procrastinate now it might be because I am so overextended and don't have time to get everything done in a timely matter. I have been really good about monitoring my workload and preparing in advance for stressful weeks like this one. Between two papers, a presentation, two tests and a rough cut of a found footage project due this week I barely have time to breathe. It was pretty necessary that I be proactive in preparation for this week. It is also a priority for me to finish up everything that needs to be done in order for sponsorship packets to start being sent to donors this week.

One time management that I found useful was to break larger projects into smaller tasks. This is a sly way of making progress on projects while not overwhelming yourself and saying "screw it, it can wait!" Also one factor that I never really considered was determining the time of the day where I am most productive. This would actually be really significant and more proactive instead of waking up at 7am, doing work and being exhausted for the entire day. I am also bad with scheduling breaks into my work. This is something I need to work on so I don't get burned out too fast.

If I have concluded anything from this article it was that I am not as good with managing my time as I could be. Like all things in my life, it is a work in progress.

Managing Individual Tasks

Development and Fundraising

Identify the "what".

1.  What is the project supposed to achieve?

The Indiegogo account that I am managing is responsible for raising $2,950 in order for Visions to be able to fly in as many Undergraduate filmmakers as we can. The project of contacting sponsors is meant to receive sizable donations from corporate, local and private donors. The goal for this semester is to raise $500 for corporate donors.

2.  Who is the customer?

The particular customer that Visions is looking for to donate to our festival and conference would be people of all ages looking to support the arts (particularly film) at an Undergraduate level. The Indiegogo customers might be a more tech-savy, younger audience while the donor customers that we will be sending sponsorship packets to might be anywhere from grandparents who do philanthropy to large corporations to local businesses.

3.  What are the deliverables of the project?  (These are tangible and intangible.)

Tangible deliverables will be in the form of donations; whether that be cash donations, in-kind donations, or awards donations. Most of these sponsor donations will be coming via mail. The deliverables for the indiegogo will also be cash but sent electronically through PayPal. The customers who donate to Visions will also receive deliverables. Depending on the amount of money they donate on Indiegogo, they will receive certain perks as a Thank You for their support.

Identify the "how".

4.  What is the budget?

The budget for mailing out sponsorship packet for the fall semester will cost approximately $25.76. So for next semester, if we send out the same number of sponsorship packets as the fall then the expense will be $51.52 for the year. 

5.  How long will it take?

Once the process starts which should be this upcoming week, initial email contacts will be first. We have set aside one week to get personalized emails organized and sent out by each development/hospitality team member. Then we will move onto contacting local donors and small businesses in the Wilmington area the following week. Once mail-outs start, the sponsorship packets will take approximately 3-5 days to arrive. We plan on sending follow up emails and phone calls at a week's interval for each means of communication.

6.  What specific skills are needed?

Organizational skills are strongly needed. An excel spreadsheet was made with sponsor contact information, how we will contact them initial and follow up contact as well as who from the team is contacting that particular sponsor. It is a good way to keep track of how each person is contributing to the group and if they are keeping up with their work. There is also a calendar to remind everyone what work they will need to do for that week. 

7.  What special resources are needed?

Special resources that are needed for this project include Indiegogo and time. It is important to not fall behind on the schedule and become too overwhelmed to perform what needs to be done in a timely manner. The entire film festival and conference reflects on how much money, we as a staff, are able to raise. It is important to think about the big picture constantly when dealing with development.

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

Zoe, Audra, Ally and I will be working this particular project for development which includes contacting various sponsors and following up with those sponsors. We don't just want their support, we want them to donate to Visions.

Me: managing and updating the indiegogo account, dividing work amongst the group, staying organized and making sure the group is following the calendar. I will also be in charge of mailing out the sponsorship packets and getting quotes for shipment.

Zoe, Audra and Ally: They will contact various donors with the hopes of them donating to the Visions Film Festival and Conference. They will follow up with each donor and be responsible for filling out the excel sheet for who they have contacted, how they have contacted, and how many times they have contacted. 

Ally and Zoe: will be organizing and planning the ending party for the Indiegogo campaign

Audra: she will be wrapping up any last Funday Mondays that we have planned for the semester.

9.  What is the schedule?

Below is a tentative schedule for the rest of the development schedule:

• Week of 11/11: Indiegogo goes live (updates daily/weekly), group personalizes e-mail letters and in-person delivery letters for their assigned donors. 
• E-mails will go out on Thursday (11/14)
• Contacting businesses in person will begin over the weekend (11/15-11/18)
• Week of 11/18: Group will personalized letters for mail-out (mainly corporate sponsors)
• Also 2nd contact for emails/in-person deliveries will go out later during the week to follow up with initial e-mail/contact (11/21 or 11/22)
• Week of 11/25: Group will do third contacts for initial e-mail and delivery customers and second contact for the mail-out contacts. 
• Week of 12/2: Final follow-ups will be made
• 12/4: Indiegogo party 
• Week of 12/9: at this point I hope we were super successful in receiving donations from corporate, local and private donors. Everyone put in a lot of effort to raise funds for the Visions Film Festival and Conference!
• 12/10: Myself, along with the rest of the development and hospitality team, will update the rest of the Visions staff on how we did with raising money from donors and sponsors.

Other considerations.

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

The largest risk with the greatest impact would be that the development team does not raise enough money to fly in filmmakers and scholars. I would hope that is unlikely because I have not had any experience with raising large sums of money from corporate donors before. However, it is a risk that needs to be acknowledged. A specific example of an unlikely risk with a large impact is that a donor makes the check out to the wrong organization or that a sponsorship check gets lost in the mail. A large risk that is likely for this project might be that there is a delay in the mail-outs. This could be detrimental and push us behind schedule. A small impact that is likely to happen with this project would be if someone spilled coffee on one of the packets. We could easily reprint paper and get a new envelope if this were to happen. A small impact that is unlikely to happen would be if there was a typo in an email. This would be unlikely because the entire team will be proof reading sponsorship letters and emails. 

11.  How will you communicate with your team?

We all have each others phone numbers, e-mails, we can contact each other on facebook. If there is something that is not 100% we will utilize the to-do table requesting a specific duty that we need done from that person.

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

We will know if the project is successful if we reach our goal of raising $500 for the semester and approximately $2750 on Indiegogo after taxes are taken out.

This Week in Visions 10/29-11/4

Weekly Tasks:
-10/29: Created a powerpoint for Development (1 hour)
10/29: Created an agenda for remaining tasks for the fall semester (30 minutes)
-10/29: Researching other Development strategies (1.5 hours)
-10/29: Started work on Indiegogo (1 hour)
-10/29: Final edit of Indiegogo video was due
-10/30-11/4: Daily updates to Indiegogo (3 hours)
-10/30-11/1: Daily updates to sponsorship excel sheet ( 4 hours)
-11/1: Meeting with Zoe to create sponsorship calendar (1.5 hours)
-11/1: Went to see Evonne to discuss problems with the hard copy proof (20 minutes)
-11/1-11/3: Research on Sponsorship letters/templates (2 hours)
-11/2: Narrowed down excel spreadsheet for contacts
-11/1-11/2: Watched Visions 2 and 3 DVD (approx. 3 hours)
-11/4: Created a breakdown for who from the Hospitality/Development Team contacts who via mail/email/in-person deliveries (2 hours)
-11/4: Hospitality/Development Meeting (approx. 1 hour)
-11/4: Received Sponsorship packet and got mail-out quote (15 minutes)
-11/4: AD Meeting (1.5 hours)
-11/4: Create a hard copy example for a sponsor letter and email body (1.5 hours)
-11/4: Picked up Call for Entry Posters
-11/4: Jason's Deli Fundraiser (1 hour) brought 8 people

This Week In Visions 10/22-10/28

Weekly Tasks:
-Set up/had a meeting with Stephen and Maddie to create Kickstarter Bio and incentives (1 hour)
-Sh*tty Party: I took pictures for PR and website 10/24 (5 hours)
-First AD Meeting to Discuss change in structure for ADs 10/25 (1 hour)
-Follow-up meeting with Shannon to discuss roles of AD of Development and Fundraising 10/25 (1hour)
-Meeting with Shannon to discuss sponsorships and creating an agenda for next class 10/28 (1 hour)
-Meeting with Channing to take over for Development 10/28 (1 hour)
-Filming for now Indiegogo: Zoolander 10/28 (3.5 hours)
-Panera Fundraiser (1 hour) and brought 4 people

This Week in Visions 10/15-10/21

Weekly Tasks:
-Remained in contact with Evonne and received quotes for Call for Entry Posters
-Kickstarter script was due on 10/15
-Kickstarter Interview filming 10/16 (5 hours)
-Kickstarter Filming with Channing and Stephen 10/18 (4 hours)

Weekly Tasks 10/8-10/14

This week for Visions:
- I counted the lanyards and badge holders (1hour)
-Meeting with Shannon about quotes (1 hour) 10/10
-Contacted Evonne to get quotes for the Call for Entry Posters
-Meeting with Kickstarter video team (3.5 hours) 10/13
-Worked on Kickstarter: setting up bank account and content (2 hours)

Managing Work

In the article "Manage Your Work, Don't Let It Manage You: Tips for Managing Your Time and Getting Ahead" it suggested seven tips to effectively manage your time. The first tip is to Be Organized and utilize appointment calendars, To-do lists, having an organized working environment etc.  Being organized is extremely important to be successful. I have a planner where I keep all of my deadlines and meeting times to keep me on track with my workload and to avoid procrastination. I am a firm believer in getting work done in an efficient and organized manner. The second tip is to Plan Ahead and determine how long assignments or tasks will take you. If the tasks require multiple responsibilities, see if they could be broken up into smaller tasks. The next tip is to Prioritize. One should prioritize the tasks he or she needs to get done in order of deadlines and amount of time estimated for the task. The article suggests making an A-B-C rating for long term and short term tasks. It is also important to make sure no task gets overlooked. The next tip is to Avoid Overload. This is something I definitely struggle with on a daily basis. The article says to include time for rest/relaxation which can be hard to achieve at times. It encourages the necessity of breaks during study or work periods. Procrastination is a large factor for this tip because if you leave everything for last minute, you will become overwhelmed with duties and not enough time to finish them all. It is also appropriate to learn when to say no to taking on more assignments if you cannot handle the workload you currently have. The next tip is to Practice Effective Study Techniques. Similar to being organized, the environment is extremely important for successful studying. You should also make multiple goals and manageable tasks. You also want to get the most difficult work out of the way first and foremost. The next tip suggests to Be Flexible in Your Schedule. Things will happen that will throw your schedule off its course. You need to be able to account for mistakes, or unreliable people that will slow down your efficiency. The final tip is to Have a Vision or to know what you want to gain out of your responsibilities, long term. In order to have a vision, you need to know what is important to you and focus on that. You also need to stay positive because once you start to doubt your abilities, nothing good will amount from that.

With the Visions Film Festival it is important to understand all of these tips and how they can be useful when working with groups of people and also outside of Visions. Since we are all students, these tips can be useful when thinking about our lives in general. Knowing how to balance studying for a test, working at a job, preparing for a class presentation, and contacting companies to raise money for a film festival can be extremely daunting if your do not prepare for each task individually. It is extremely important to stay on top of the workload that comes with the territory of being a college student. At times it might seem like you are drowning in work but most of the time, it could have been prevented. Procrastination is a bitch and can have serious consequences if not taken seriously. That is definitely something you do not want to learn the hard way!

This Week In Visions 10/1-10/7

Tasks:

-This  past week I have met with Audra and we came up with some incentives for the Kick-starter account. (1 hour)

- Researched some other festival Kick-starter incentives and videos (1 hour)

-I met with Zoe, Ally, and Audra to discuss upcoming fundraisers and the Halloween party. (1 hour)

-I met with Stephen and Kyle to discuss ideas for the Kick-starter video. (1 hour)

-I met with Shannon to pick up the quotes packets and discuss some of the changes in the budget (30 minutes)

-I picked up the fundraiser check from Orange Leaf and we made $70! 

-I commented on the Mission Statement for Visions 

This Upcoming Week I Plan To:

- Get rolling with the Kick-starter Video

- Count the badge holders and lanyards from this past year's Visions

- Figure out costs for the call for entries posters

- Facilitate Audra with the small restaurants fundraisers/ideas

This Week In Visions 9/24-9/30

Tasks:

-This week I have started to look into Kick-starter and figure out some incentives for donors. I hope to have this up and running by next week and it should run right up until Visions starts.  (1 hour)

- I also met with the hospitality and development team to discuss more of the larger scale fundraisers, traveling to different colleges to spread the word about Visions and some more restaurant fundraisers for October and the upcoming months. We met for about an hour.

-I was going to set another restaurant fundraiser up for mid-October at Jason's Deli. I am waiting to see how our first fundraiser of the season goes to figure out more details for the next one.

-Extra research and readings for blog (1 hour and 30 minutes)

- I plan to meet with Shannon sometime this week also to get contacts for printers and quotes for flyers. (30 minutes)

Managing Small Projects Questions Answered:

The project of the budget is supposed to achieve the maintenance and upkeep of the budget in order to keep it well-balanced and successful. The results of this project may not be as straightforward as some of the other projects currently, but that is only because most of the expenses are "to be determined". The deliverables for this this project are easily measured and are in the form of money. Whether it be incoming money or receipts. There is a great deal of effort and attention required because financial responsibilities are vital to the survival of Visions. It will also be helpful to know financial budgeting outside of the classroom. For the budget, I believe it is best to have one person in charge in order to avoid miscommunication and miscalculations made by two different people. However, in the circumstances for planning fundraisers, I believe there should be a team to organize these events to make sure they go off without a hitch. The complexity of the project is determined by the willingness and communication of people to work with the entire project, not just the smaller projects, but the big picture as well.

Reading Responses:

This week we had to read Event Budgets: The Basics--And Some Lessons You Don't Want to Learn the Hard Way. The first important question it talked about when discussing the budget was, "Did you make money?" For the case of Visions I would alter the question and say, "Did you make enough money?" Being a non-profit organization we rely on the money we raise to fly in filmmakers from around the world. We wouldn't be able to do this if we didn't raise enough money. Also providing them with lodging and food is super important; and if there is extra room in the budget we would ideally like to provide them with entertainment while they are here in Wilmington. A lot of the points that were being made in the article which I considered to be important. As the treasurer I would like to make sure I do all of these things in a sufficient manner while still contributing to group life. I feel that it is important for the rest of the class to be on the same page as I am with the budget and I hope that they could come to me with any concerns that they might have. Now that our budget seems to have tentative dates and incoming money estimates I am eager and excited to see if our hard work pays off and we exceed our goals!

The second article we had to read for class this week was called Top Ten Tips for Event Management. One of the main points was to know your purpose and how that correlates to the success of your event. We want the Visions Film Festival and Conference to be unique and memorable but, how do we do this? We can do this by having an awesome venue or incorporating different and new activities, for instance the video race. I have not heard of another festival doing anything like this before so that helps us to stand out. Planning is probably the most important stage in event management. Everyone needs to have a role and be effectively pursuing their goals for their small project. We also need to program based off of our mission statement and create a criteria for what we expect this year's festival to look like. Communication is probably the simplest and most efficient way to do all of these things effectively while still managing your time. Also it is extremely important to reflect back and put yourself in the shoes of the attendees. What are they expecting to see? Are they going to be entertained? What do the want to learn from participating in this experience? All of these questions will help to make Visions super successful!

Rural Route Film Festival pt. 2 Interview with Alan Webber

My interview this afternoon was with Alan Webber, the creative director behind the Rural Route Film Festival. I learned a lot of valuable information not only from the directing aspect of his festival but new and interesting directions to consider taking with Visions.

1. How many entries did they get this year? For films make sure to ask them to distinguish between features and shorts.

Approximately 250 total entries were received and at least 150 were shorts in 2013. They tend to get more 40-60 minute films than true features that are over 90 minutes.

2. How many films do they aim to screen each year? How many papers/presentations do they accept? Again, for films make sure to ask them to distinguish between features and shorts.

The festival aims to screen a minimum of 4 new independent features and it typically varies for he amount of shorts they accept. They have the screening of the shorts at the Brooklyn Grange on the rooftop which is awesome and unique. They also had a tribute to a filmmaker this year and a few of his films played at the Museum of the Moving Image. They have never had any paper or presentations but Alan Webber did seem interested in incorporating that into his festival somehow.

3. What is their pre-screening process?

They have a Submission Review Committee. There is an online committee and a hardcopy committee. Submissions are equally distributed between DVDs and online submissions.

4. How many pre-screeners do they have each year?

They had 9 judges on their Submission review committee. Most were local, in Astoria, and there was one in Amsterdam and another in Portland. It is cool to see how these two judges contribute to the festival even though they are not present with the rest of the pre-screeners during the jurying process. 

5. Who is typically chosen as a pre-screener?

Pre-screeners for the festival are chosen based off of their experience with the festival in previous years as well as trying to incorporate newer people involved with the festival. According to Alan, for a pre-screener, he mainly wants them to have an apparent knowledge for independent film and an interest in what Rural Route Films is about . He also encourages people from other festivals to help out during the prescreening process. For example, Alan had a woman from the Woodstock Film Festival, in Upstate New York, come to help out this past year.

6. How do they score entries? Do they use a scoring template/rubric? Are there scoring guidelines?

They have a rubric or review form (filled out by at least 3 different people) that includes different categories including technical aspects (cinematography, editing, sound, producing etc.), creative aspects (acting, directing,lighting, overall aesthetics etc.), . They score each section on a scale from 1-10, 10 being the highest. There is also room to make additional comments on each section of the submission review form. There is also another question that is of great importance; "Does this film fit the criteria for our festival?"

7. Do you have a jury after the pre-screening process has ended?

Yes they have a jury after the pre-screening process, in order to discuss which films will make the cut into the festival. They also have to weed out a lot of submissions that do not apply specifically to their film festival.

8. How far in advance do they send out their call for entries? How do entries typically roll in? Early?

Late? In waves?

Call for entries starts in November and typically runs until mid-March. According to Alan, most of the submissions come towards the end of the deadline, aka a week before. However, some of them are submitted early because they wanted to submit the previous year but missed the deadline.

9. How many paid employees do they have each year? How many volunteers?

There are not really "salary" employees for this festival but they do have do have a few employees that make stipends including the directors of the festival and the managers of publicity and social media. It mostly relies on the help of volunteers throughout the pre-production and post-production of the festival.

10. Do you use specific programming, trafficking, budgeting software? Do you like it?

He uses a good-ole spread sheet to keep track of budgeting and expenses. I told him about how Visions was going to be using a new budgeting software and that I would let him know about it once I pay around with it/get the hang of it.

11. What community outreach do you do outside of your festival season to keep your event on the

public's radar and/or to raise funds? (Workshops, mini-festivals, fundraiser dinners, etc.)

Well they go on tour with their festival and they are currently working on that right now. Alan was very interested in trying to showcase the festival at a University as well and would definitely be interested in coming to UNCW. This is an excellent way to keep their festival on the public's radar because it is getting these independent films and the Rural Route Film Festival exposure to whichever locations they travel to.

12. Do you give out swag bags to visiting filmmakers? Presenters? Guests? If so, what type of items

do you include in those bags?

They do give out swag bags to filmmakers and guest that include stuff from their sponsors. Alan talked about some of the merchandise that Burt's Bees donates to them. He loves that they are all natural products and that is what Rural Route Film Festival is all about; the all natural lifestyle highlighted through film.

13. Do presenter/filmmakers pay registration to attend?

The filmmakers do not have to pay to attend the screening but they do have to pay to attend the after party on the rooftop of the Brooklyn Grange. He said this because there is a maximum capacity of people allowed on the roof at once for safety concerns.

14. Are you able to provide presenters/filmmakers with funds to cover travel or lodging?

They try to give as much money to filmmakers who are visiting from out of town but it is hard because lodging is quite expensive in New York and Manhattan. They also give out honorariums to filmmakers who are screening their films and to the international filmmakers visiting.

15. What "perks" do your filmmakers/scholars enjoy at your festival/conference? What else do you

encourage them to do while they're in town? m(Free dinners, tours, exclusive activities…in Wilm,

we'd try to take them to the beach, Screen Gems tour, etc.)

The staff shows a lot of the filmmakers around the Astoria area, even though they are interested in going into the more touristy areas of New York City. They also spend the afternoon one day at the Museum of the Moving Image. The staff tries to collaborate with different restaurants and bars each year to get the community involved as well as promoting the film festival.

16. Do you have special donor perks during the event? Or how do you thank them?

They thank a lot of their donors through advertisements, whether it be from their websites or on the actual pamphlets for the film festival. Rural Route Film Festival tries to give good press to all of their sponsors who help make their event possible.

17. What do they wish they had done differently or better when they were first starting out? What do

you wish you knew then that you know now?

Alan was talking about how when the festival first started they didn't know what they were doing but it ended up being successful (so he was obviously doing something right). "The content of the festival also has definitely improved and could potentially compete with bigger festivals," said Alan Webber. He said he wished he knew this when he was starting out. One thing that he would do better would be to plan around the schedules of films who had NY premieres that were in direct conflict with the festival.

18. If it’s a festival or conference that no longer is in existence…why did it end?

This festival is still running so this question does not apply.

19. Any other ideas or advice that we haven’t thought to ask about?
Alan liked how Visions was concise and only one day, but he also suggested maybe expanding it to various venues. I told him a little more about our festival & conference and he seemed very interested in it. 

This was a great exercise to do, especially for myself, where I need to work on being comfortable talking to new people involved in the film industry and the festival circuits. I am lucky to have made a great contact with Alan Webber and he told me to come check out his festival next summer if I was going to be in NY still!

Festival Quiz

What did you find most interesting when comparing the festival research materials?

I loved that everyone's festival was completely different. Each festival had quirks about them that made them memorable. For example, I remember that Ally's festival, Indie Grits, incorporated puppetry and family hip hop day into their festival. I wasn't sure as to why but I thought it was interesting and it helped me to remember them specifically. Something I noted was that a lot of festivals did not have a kickstarter account or an indiegogo account. However, I think that both are super handy when trying to raise money for a festival. I asked myself "Why not?" a lot when I was looking at other's research materials.

What sponsor ideas were sparked from the posts so far? Which festival/conference inspired this and why?

Most of the festivals had local sponsors who donated money, which we could easily incorporate into Visions. While some of the larger festivals had major sponsors like Zoe's Kitchen and Jet Blue, the festivals would use this money to fly their filmmakers and/or keynote speakers into town for the festival which I think is great. The Dallas Video fest was one that stood out to me for giving grants to filmmakers to fly them to the festival. This festival looks awesome and I would definitely consider entering a film here.

Rural Route Film Festival

Festival/Conference basics (from withoutabox, event website and news articles):

1.   What time is your interview scheduled and who will you be talking with when you call/skype?

     -I am meeting with Alan Webber via Skype on Thursday at 12:30.

2.   Who started it and who runs it?

     -Alan Webberà festival director

3.   What is the mission of the festival/conference? (copy and paste the first paragraph)

     -The Rural Route Film Festival was created to highlight works that deal with unique people and places outside of the bustle of the city.  Taking in a Rural Route program is like choosing the road less travelled, and learning something new about our constantly amazing world.  Whether it be a fictional backpacking drama set in the Peruvian Andes, a personal/experimental work about life in a Kazakh village, or a documentary about an organic, Appalachian turnip farm, our mission is to screen work about rare people and cultures normally overlooked by the mainstream media.  Our content consists of top quality, cutting edge contemporary and archival work from sources both local and far, far away.

4. How does this compare with their actual programming choices from the past two years? Be specific in describing what they program (mode, categories within mode, niche, Political? Global? Local? Gender? Sexuality? Race? Any themes that you see? etc…)

-The films selected must have a rural theme. It can be a documentary, a narrative or an experimental film. They also select films that have environmental features.

5.   Where is the event?

-Kick Off Party: The Strand Smokehouse in Astoria, NY.

-Screenings: Museum of the Moving Image and the Queens Library (Saturday July 27^th NY premiere of The Sourlandsàfree)

-After Party: Brooklyn Grange Rooftop Farm

6.   When is the event? (Give dates from last year if not current)

     -August 1^st-August 4th

7.  How do you submit? Snail mail, online, withoutabox, through their site, etc…

            -Receive an application through their website or apply through withoutabox.

8.  When are the deadlines to enter? Early? Reg? Late?

            -Final Deadline: February 1^st, 2013

9.  How much does it cost to enter?

            -For a feature (40 minutes or more): $35

            -For a Short: (39 minutes or less): $15

10.  Who’s eligible, what are the guidelines to enter?

            -All filmmakers welcome. Submission must contain a completed entry form, a digital entry through withoutabox, a short description of how the term “rural” is defined in your work, and a submission fee.

11.  Is there a Student category?

            -There is no specific Student category.

12.  What formats do they except for jurying? DVD, Vimeo, Flash drives?

            -For jurying they accept DVDs of the submission.

13.  What formats do they except for exhibition/screening?

            -If the film is selected for screening, the filmmaker must submit stills in JPEG (size req: 4x6” 300dpi) along with a synopsis and filmmaker bio.

14.   How many films screened at the festival last year?

            -9 films screened during the most recent festival and 8 shorts screened during the after party/Rooftop Farm shorts screening.

15.  How long is a typical shorts block or paper presentation block at their event?

-Approximately an hour and a half to two hours.

16.    How many films or papers do they program per block?

-During the Les Blank program they screened 3 of the great documentary filmmaker’s works: Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe, Dry Wood, and Garlic is as Good as Ten Mothers.

17.  How do people register to attend? Is there a cost to attend as a guest?

-Tickets for the Les Blank tribute were $12 and the screenings at the museum were free with the museum admission. The cost to attend the after party/Rooftop Farm shorts was $15.

18.   Look at sponsorship page and see what businesses. Grants and private entities give money to the event. Figure out how many of each kind and note any leads that might be useful to us.

-Some of their sponsors include: Burt’s Bees, Wrangler, Fresh Direct, Jet Blue, Nevada Film Office, Museum of the Moving Image, COFFEED, and the Queens Library. Most of these sponsors were local to the film festival so it would be helpful for us to look into local sponsors for Visions.

19. What are their sponsorship levels and incentives for each level?

-EVEREST CLIMBER LEVEL SPONSOR: $10,000 and above

            (Limited to two non-competing businesses)

            All Desert Oasis Level Sponsor benefits, plus:

                        · 1 Full page ad on inside cover of Festival Program (2,500+                                          circulation)

                        · Display of sponsor’s banner, poster, or sign inside festival venue                                                (1,200+ attendees)

                        · Company logo screened on private title card before each show

                        · Company logo placed at top of all advertising and promotional                                         materials

                        · Company logo on title page of Festival Program

                        · Company logo on front of Festival Postcard (25,000+)

                        · 8 VIP passes to all screenings

- DESERT OASIS LEVEL SPONSOR: $5,000

            All Crop Harvester Level benefits, plus:

                        · 1 Full page ad in Festival Program (2,500+ circulation)

                        · Link to company website placed in all email newsletters (12,000+                                    circulation) all year throughout offseason tour

                        · Company logo linked from Festival Homepage to company’s website

                        · Company logo on Tour Program for 20-city tour (1,000+ circulation)

                        · 4 VIP passes to all screenings

- CROP HARVESTER LEVEL SPONSOR: $2,500

            All Forest Level benefits, plus:

                        · 1 Half-page ad in Festival Program (2,500+ circulation)

                        · Thanked from stage during film introductions

                        · Company logo screened on title card with other sponsors before each                               show

                        · Company logo on Festival Postcard (25,000+ circulation)

                        · 2 VIP passes to all screenings

- FOREST RANGER LEVEL SPONSOR: $1,000

            All Gardener Level benefits, plus:

                        · Company name on all advertising and promotional materials

                        · Company name on Festival Postcard (25,000+)

                        ·2 passes to all screenings

- GARDENER LEVEL SPONSOR: $500

                        · 1 Quarter-page ad in Festival Program (1,500+)

                        · Company logo linked from sponsors page of Festival Website to                                      company’s website

                        · Company name on sponsors page of Festival Program

                        · Link to company website placed in all email newsletters through festival                          wrap-up (12,000+ circulation)

                        · Product placement opportunities

20.  Did they have a kickstarter or indiegogo? What incentives did they have for each level of donor?

-They did have an indiegogo account and some of the incentives they had for donors were a Burt’s Bees product, a copy of the “Best Shorts Films” DVD from the 2003-2008 festivals, exclusive posters, a festival pass for the 2013 festival, a round-trip plane ticket and a few others.

-They also had a kickstarter account in 2011 where the incentives were very similar to that of this year’s indiegogo account.

21.  What kind of non-traditional film/video events have they had before? Things like Installations, 'Visual Soundwalls,' VJing etc.

-Rural Route Film Festival has live music throughout the entire festival during breaks of features. They want their audience to be enriched by this rural culture and to escape from the city life for a few hours. They also utilize an outdoor projection for one of the screening blocks.

22.  Are there ways in which they have expanded the typical film screening event? How have they branched out from sitting in a dark room in front of a screen?

-I found it interesting that they do their main shorts block screening at the after party on a rooftop barn in Brooklyn. It deviates from the typical film screening theater.

23.   Is the layout easy to navigate? What makes it easy?

-The website is super easy to navigate I had no problems trying to find what I was looking for. All of their main tabs were informative and helpful for my research.

24.   Is the layout difficult to navigate? What makes it difficult?

-The layout is not difficult to navigate at all, much easier than that of Artivist’s webpage.

25.   Can you find the information you are looking for on the homepage or via a link on the homepage?

-Yes I found everything I needed from the webpage or via a link from the webpage. The only thing that I had to look up outside of the webpage was if they had an indiegogo or kickstarter account, which was very easy to find.

26.  Aesthetically, what catches your eye? What's cool about it?

-I like the subtle rural elements to the page, like the tractor but for the most part the webpage is very plain.

27.   Aesthetically, what doesn't fit in? What makes it look bad? 

-I would have liked to see more incorporation of color into the webpage to make things more exciting. There is a great deal of white in the webpage.

28.   Should there be more information? Is the page too bare?

-There was plenty of information provided on the webpage, I never felt like I was struggling to find the answers to the research questions that I needed.

29.  Should there be less information? Is the page too busy?

-I do not believe that this website was too busy either, it seemed to have the right amount of information on each page without overwhelming me.

30.  What would you do differently if you were to redesign this website?

-I would definitely try to make the page more modern looking. The fonts were a little boring so I would update those as well. I would also try to incorporate more art and graphics on the webpage. That would also help to bring in some more color.

31.  What would you keep the same if you were to redesign this website?

-I like the incorporation of a lot of the trailers to the films and that the website actually had an achieve of the previous years and the films they screened during previous festivals.