Fall Week 5

So this week we have begun more work within our department including: editing the mission and about page while also prepping for marketing launch for the party and bake sale. After a good discussion in class this week, Zoe and I have edited the mission statement, making it a little shorter yet more clear and easier to read. Over the weekend I will work on a draft for the website's about page, meet with Zoe about it before class and then present it for discussion next week. This week I also talked with CAIC about distributing posters/flyers across campus, which includes filling out a request form and getting approval for the posting. As for the readings, I think it is very helpful to have management skills such as they discussed to properly hold up an event such as hours. For an event like ours, being managed by students, these tips can be very useful when we begin working within our budget.

Fall Week 4

Last week the marketing department and art department met together. Zoe and I discussed marketing strategies for on-campus and off-campus. We sat down and brainstormed many different ways we could go for advertisements for both. After the meeting, Zoe reminded me to keep up to date on Trello along with details for future assignments. Over the weekend I worked on my dirty dozen blog based on the on-campus marketing strategies we came up with. I will next contact CAIC and get the ball rolling for advertisements around the campus. I have also been brainstorming tag lines for posters and flyers we use for the party and bake sale coming up.

Dirty Dozen: On-Campus Marketing

1. What is the project supposed to achieve?
 - To create many different ways of reaching students on campus through advertisements.
2. Who is the customer?
 - Students on campus, particularly film majors but also try and target others such as other arts majors and film fans.
3. What are the deliverables of the project?
 - I guess you could say the different strategies that we use, such as posters/flyers, paper / tv ads, and paint/chalk.
4. What is the budget?
 - Zoe and I will have to get together and discuss the budget based on what all we use.
5. How long will it take?
 - within the next month we will be planning everything out and set everything up in schedules because we will be advertising up until the event.
6. What specific skills are needed?
 - Helpful skills would be being organized, punctual, persuasiveness, out-going, savvy and persistent.
7. What special resources are needed?
 - We will need contacts to the activities department at UNCW such as CAIC.
8. Who is working the project? What is each persons job?
 - This will be Zoe and I, we will both work together in planning it and contacting people. Then will we both create the visuals (posters/flyers) and other s for display around campus.
9. What is the schedule?
 - in early October: we will gain approval for flyers and posters for the Halloween party and bake sale. I will have to discuss the rest with Zoe still, but by middle October we must begin prepping for approval for call for entries, etc.
10. What are the risks?
 - Large impact, Likely: we do not get permission for particular advertisements that we really wanted.
 - Large impact, Unlickely: We aren't able to contact certain companies that we want to work with.
 - Small impact, Likely: We have to settle for smaller routes of advertisement but can work through with extra work in social media.
 - Small impact, Unlikely: We forget to gain permission for an advertisement.
11. How will you communicate with your team?
 - We will communicate through meetings, Facebook and texting/calling.
12. How will you determine if the project is successful?
 - If we see increases in participation from targeted audiences through our on campus marketing.

Fall Week 3

This week both marketing and the art departments met together. Zoe and I discussed several ideas of what we want the tone to be throughout this festival. We want the writing to reflect those of our core audience, younger students of our generation. A few of the descriptive words we decided on were: funny/witty, resilient, and savvy. We went over this with Michelle and Tyler for their input as the tone will affect the animations and art direction also. Zoe and I then began to brainstorm ideas for tag lines. This involved us just spitting out ideas trying to find something that we know will click with the audiences when they read it. We created a google doc with many of these ideas and I have continued brainstorming on my own. We have a few solid ones we can select from and will most likely bring them up to the rest of the class soon. To end our department meeting, Michelle showed us a few color palettes she had come up with and we also talked a bit about t-shirts.

Interview

Interview with: Brian Owens, Artistic Director for Nashville Film Festival

J.G. - Hello Mr. Owens, I hope you are having a good day. Recently, I have been doing research on your particular film festival held in Nashville while in preparation for the one we will be holding this upcoming year. I found on your festival’s website the mission statement, but i wanted to know how you would word your mission and goals for the festival yourself.

B.O. - Well its basically in the mission statement, but for me the primary goal is to make sure we have a program of film that reflects the current state of the world, and from as many different view points as possible. Thats the philosophy I follow when we plan these programs. 

J.G. - So I see that you are originally from Indianapolis, what drew you to the Nashville film festival?

B.O. - Actually this position came available here after i had been running the festival in Indianapolis for about 5 years. And I happened to get it (laughing). That was in November 2008 and now Ive been here for 7 years.

J.G. - Well what would you see is your favorite thing about this festival and also the most challenging that you face?

B.O. - My favorite thing is my audience and the way that they are willing to take the journey with us, and by that I mean that they know that they're not just getting standard cinema so they're looking for something different and ready for it. And the most challenging is probably just being in April, which is a month of a lot of festivals so it takes time to make sure everything is scheduled on time and everything gets coordinated correctly. Thats easily the toughest time.

J.G. - I see that this festival was started in 1969 which was a long time ago, but what is something you wish they would have done differently when starting?

B.O. - Thats hard to say. I don't know if there was anything wrong at the early stages, but i do know that there were some tough transitions in the mid-90s that they faced. That was the transition from being a small 3 day event to a more full length event. So those transitions could've been handled better, but thats the only thing i can say i would change.

J.G. - Going off of expanding, what is your festival’s goal each year for the amount of screenings?

B.O. - Any area between 250 and 300, including shorts.

J.G. - And this past year, how many did you have screened?

B.O. - We had 285 this past year.

J.G. - And out of those, is it usually more features or shorts?

B.O. - It is usually close to half and half. Like out of the 285 last year, there were about 115 features and about 170 shorts. Slightly more so to the shorts because of all the categories. 

J.G. - Does your festival have any short film categories for college students only?

B.O. - Yes we do, we have a conference for just college students with a $500 cash prize.

J.G. - So how far in advance do you try to send out the call for entries for the festival.

B.O. - We actually start in June, it used to be September but since I've been here it is now from June to January.

J.G. - Ok and how do most entries come in, more so early or later?

B.O. - I would say about 40% early and then 60% later is probably the best way i could explain it.

J.G. - Interesting, and going into your pre-screening process, how many pre-screeners do you hire and how do you go about selecting them?

B.O. - We have about 70 volunteer pre-screeners who are paid through festival passes and tickets. Then we have the next level up of more professionals, for example we have a script doctor, a cinematographer and so on. So if a film gets a yes on the first level it will go to the professionals and if they recommend it then it will come to the programmers and ill sit with them and we will then put a show together. And the pre-screeners we bring them in differently, some are long-time members of the festivals and others are film students.

J.G. - Are there guidelines that you set out for them during the screenings?

B.O. - We do its mostly scoring standards with a score of 1 through 10, so if they want it to advance they'd give it a 8 roughly. And yea we tell them to look for original stroytelling— but you know what I've found for the most part, is to tell people to follow their gut instincts because thats what most are gonna do anyways.

J.G. - And going off the volunteers, does your festival have some during the festival itself also?B.O. B.O. - Yes over the running of the festival we actually have over 500 hundred volunteers throughout the event.

J.G. - How many paid employees does the festival have?

B.O. - We have a staff of four of us for full-time and year round. and then that doubles in size from January to May so we bring in four more. Then there is another staff of about 40 people or so that aren't really full time until the time of the festival.

J.G. - On the festival’s website I saw all the large sponsors such as Nissan and Regal group, do you get a good amount of smaller, local sponsors also?

B.O. - Well yea, and in the case of Nissan they are a large corporation but its headquarters are here in Nashville. Then we have a multitude of local companies, universities, art and cultural organizations and so on. We have about 90 partners in addition to the main sponsors.

J.G. - Do you have any advice on how to get a good amount of local sponsors onboard?

B.O. - Well you have to have separate goals with sponsors because the smaller ones won’t have the resources available like others do, and a lot of the times they will be looking for less so much exposure but to entertain fans instead. So you have to individually tailor to the local brands versus the likes of Nissan or Comcast who are looking for big exposure across the city.

J.G. - During the festival offseason, do you guys do any particular community outreach such as events and fundraisers?

B.O. - Yes we do have a couple, we have a big annual fundraiser in the fall that brings in close to $30,000 to $50,000. And we have a membership drive with several free screenings for our members if they're in town. We also partner with our local PBS affiliates for monthly screenings as well.

J.G. - So for the filmmakers that attend the festival, do they pay for registration also?

B.O. - Well if they have a short film get accepted, they will receive 2 free passes. If your feature film gets accepted, you get 4 free passes. But if they're also bringing the cast we do offer discounts for those after the first 4.

J.G. - And does the festival provide any funds for their traveling and lodging, because I have learned they try to do this for everyone here at Visions.

B.O. - We do but in a limited basis. Each year we will have a traveling budget that we will then split up among the filmmakers attending.

J.G. - At our festivals, I believe they try and take the visiting filmmakers through the local city for exclusive activities, does this festival try to do anything similar to that?

B.O. - We have a fleet of staff drivers who when available will take our visitors to downtown Nashville and to Jack White’s famous record store. So there isn't any big, formal tour but the visitors are available to our drivers.

J.G. - Well that is all that I have for you in this interview, I appreciate you giving the time for me and our festival. I was able to learn a great amount from this. 

B.O. - Oh no problem, and yea if you have any other questions feel free to email me and ask.

J.G. - Thank you Mr. Owens.

Assignment #1

Festival/Conference Basics

1. I have an interview scheduled with Brian Owens, the Artistic Director of the Nashville Film Festival, for next Tuesday after class at 4:00 pm.
2. NaFF was founded in 1969 by Mary Jane Coleman. Today Brian Owens is the Artistic Director and Ted Crockett is the Executive Director.
3. NaFF amplifies our collective and individual awareness by bringing the world to Nashville to celebrate innovation, music and the many voices of the human spirit through the art of film.
4. One obvious theme/trend is their input of musicals in their screenings. It seems like a larger amount compared to other festivals, and this goes with their mission of showing pride for the Nashville home which is enriched with musical history.
5. Nashville, TN
6. April 14-23, 2016
7. Submit through their website.
8. Early: 7/31, Regular: 09/30, Late: 11/30, Extended: 01/08
9. Ranges from $45 - $80
10. Available for US and International, Features must be 40 min. or longer and shorts must be shorter than 40 min., Features have premiere requirements, english subtitles.
11. There is a College Students Shorts Competition
12. Vimeo, youtube or dvd/blu-ray (must send 2 hard copies if this)
13. dvd/blu-ray
14. More than 280
15. 2 hours
16. 5-7
17. Tickets go on sell in March/early-April before the festival on their website.
18. Sponsors: Nissan, Regal, Xfinity, Southwest
19. University ($2,500), Supporting ($2500), Bronze ($5000), Film ($7000), Silver($10,000), Gold ($25,000), Platinum ($50,000).
20. "The Big Payback" donation.
21. None found.
22. They incorporate more music.
23. Their website is easy to use with easy headlines to direct you through their site.
24. The layout is easy and includes many windows.
25. Yes, on the homepage there are links for "about," "support," "entries," "schedule," etc. Making it very easy to find the info.
26. They include many images that go with links and headlines. They also have videos of past festivals and interviews with artists.
27. Not too fond on the color scheme. Turns my eyes away at some parts.
28. The homepage already carries plenty of information with easy to find links to more.
29. There is an fair amount of info that fits the page and not crowding it.
30. Change the colors, I like the layout and wouldn't change much of it but maybe take out some of the videos and include links to find them.
31. The layout is very easy to follow so I would keep it the same with only a few changes.