Cucalorus Response

My Cucalorus Experience

Screenings Attended:

1. Wilmington On Fire

2. Jwala Finger Shorts

3. Sweaty Betty

4. Devil's Tongue Shorts

5. The Frontier

I truly enjoyed my time at the Cucalorus 21 Film Festival. This was my first time, not only for Cucalorus but also really for film festivals in general. Although I have volunteered at Visions, I have never fully experienced a festival until this one. This really is a great opportunity for filmmakers and film fans, and I wish I was able to purchase a larger pass but I settled for the small pass. Cucalorus seemed like a place where everyone there had something in common, the love for films and what they contribute. To start things off about what I liked and found interesting at the festival, was that they decided to implement a conference (entrepreneurship) this year. Most of these blocks were during the first few days when I was stuck in class. This idea and addition seems be step in new and “branching out” direction for the festival. Also I like the special programs that included audio and visual experiences. We have talked about doing something like this and feel like we could build off that concept. 

            Throughout the festival, although I was not able to attend as much as I wanted, I was able to follow everything on their social media. Obviously they have multiple people behind their social media team, as they have constant posts on Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram. I watched their pages to see how often they posted and also the content of their posts. As most organizations, they included many pictures and some videos for most of their posts. They used their social media to promote upcoming highlight events, capture memories with images of the experiences, and also showcase their sponsors and promoters. During the festival, I became aware that Cucalorus, along with the three social media networks already mentioned, also used pinterest. Now when I visited their page last, it seemed that they hadn’t updated it since last year’s event. I am not to accustom to this social network and how it is used, so I will have to look into this one. An interesting fact: while going through Cucalorus’ Instagram page I saw people commenting on posts, suggesting that Cucalorus get a snapchat. So that shows that this network is starting to widen out to more and more festivals, just like ours.

            Other marketing aspects I noticed during the festival were just their takeover of Downtown Wilmington. The festival had signs, lights, everything throughout the streets persuading people to check out the festival. This was an amazing experience for me, I have even asked Terry Linehan to help me look into an internship with Cucalorus. I was able to have a great time enjoying movies, and also learn so much about how festivals run and promote themselves.

Fall Week 13

This past week things have continued to go smoothly. I have continued running the social media side, along with assisting Zoe with the ideas and structure of the op-ed piece. I think the op-ed piece is a really good idea for our brand and if we can get some publishings with it, this will give our image the boost we have been talking about. I will help in editing and revising what Zoe brings to the table. Along with this I have been steady with our Facebook and creating the calendars for such. I am also looking forward to tomorrow for our indiegogo video shoot, it should be interesting and fun!

Fall Week 12

Despite having to balance my workload with attending Cucalorus as much as possible, I have been able to develop a calendar for the social media. Zoe and I have planned to meet again before class on Tuesday, to finalize our action plan for this next couple months. Majority of my departmental work for this past week has consisted of analyzing Cucalorus' social media and marketing tools. Obviously I will go into more detail about this for my Cucalorus blog. Back to the social media, I am currently trying to think of ways to get the class more involved. Shannon mentioned something a couple weeks ago about setting up dates for people to go and like/share posts. I am working on this idea and considering assigning these to departments so we will have 2-3 people from the class promoting our posts. I will still be tinkering with this idea, but I am also still working on new hashtags, #ThankfulTuesday - possibly to promote our current sponsors, but my #MaverickMonday idea for the animations will have to be changed for the new name. Overall things are going smooth for the marketing department as we continue to prepare. Next up... the Cucalorus blog.

Fall Week 11

Over this past week, Zoe and I have been working towards our marketing action plans. We have brainstormed what are goals are for the rest of the month and developed ways to accomplish this matter. I have created a social media calendar where I have included all the Facebook posts for the rest of the month and into December. For this month, the marketing department wants to continue to keep our brand relevant while also enhancing it. We will continue promoting ourselves through social media routes and also working towards a publication that will greatly broaden and strengthen our brand. Going into this week, I have also been looking into Cucalorus' social media. I have been following their Facebook and instagram, researching how they are promoting their event, before it and also during it. I am looking forward to attending the festival and seeing how they market themselves to get a better understanding for festivals. As this is my first film festival to attend, I expect to learn a lot and discover many insights in the festival field.  

Fall Week 10

Well it's safe to say that last week was a success! Our fundraising did a great job and we were able to see them succeed last week. I made sure to give Development a shout out on Facebook for their work with the party and bake sale. For the marketing team, we must now turn our attention to this month of November. During this week, Zoe and I will develop our marketing action plan for this month. This month is quite different than the last one, being that we do not have any events this week. Therefore, Zoe and mines focus will be on getting word out there and making sure everyone is hearing about Visions. We are already planning our new ideas to vamp up our social media, and hope to continue to see increases in those numbers. With our action plan, we will also be creating a schedule for our social media to get maximum involvement and engagement. This month should really continue to improve my planning and organizational skills as we are not quite as rushed, and I am looking forward to the future challenges we must overcome in order to market our brand.