Documentary

The seminar was very enjoyable, if a little slow. The CONTENT was highly relevant. The guests spoke with real panache, joy, experience and encouragement. Points about self-reliance and the just do it no-matter-what anyone says attitude, were very much after my own heart. Hearing those sentiments confirmed by people who are producing really high quality work was inspiring – getting to see samples of what they’d done was also encouraging and ignited my own desire to tell stories through audio-visual media. Their attitudes to work speak volumes for hard work and imagination.

The APPROACH was a little too linear and perhaps the host could have more actively drawn out the guests. There was a certain awkwardness to having the four guests sitting in such a symmetrical way, less formality might have made everyone more a little more comfortable.

The THEME was Wanted for Exposing… Fairly safe, not too much to report.

The STAGING was quite well done, although I think it really lacked aesthetically.

The PROMOTION was adequate. Nothing to report either positive or negative.

Overall, I enjoyed the seminar a lot and found it inspirational and encouraging. One minor criticism was the hosting and aesthetic quality of the presentation.

74/100

 

 

Women

Obviously, being male, this week’s CONTENT was slightly less relevant to me personally, but I went in hoping to get a good understanding of what it means to be a woman working in a predominantly male dominated industry. Especially an industry with so many female future graduates.

The THEME was relevant and important.

There was some interesting content in the beginning, a kind of quiz where we were asked about statistics on female participation. Somewhat predictably, the answers didn’t reflect the diversity that a modern society would aspire to. I found the guests wholly under-utilised and although one of them held up the tone very well, I felt that the quality of questions left a little to be desired. I would have liked to see a much more fiery discussion of feminism and I think the quite sensible option of playing it safe by the seminar team, stifled the debate somewhat. Therefore, the APPROACH could have been a little more audacious, especially given the subject matter. Ultimately, I think they failed to make a point beyond “women are grossly under-represented in media”. What did come through loud and clear, and to their credit, was “don’t be afraid” and “you don’t need to ask for a hand up, just do it”., which of course is good advice for everyone, male or female. If I was going to nit-pick, I would say that the guests were a bit too safe. Perhaps they didn’t aim high-enough, in terms of finding women who were truly ‘killing it’. (like Nadia Tass or Jane Liscombe)

In terms of STAGING, I liked the film-noir vibes a lot, but they were let down by the quality of discussion. There were a few sound problems too, combined with the slightly overloaded quiz.

The PROMOTION was perfectly adequate.

68/100

 

Film

And now the one we’ve all been waiting for… Firstly, where was Nadia Tass in the feminism discussion? I think I could watch her all day. She is possibly my new hero, for reasons I will explain later.

This was far and away the worst prepared seminar as the STAGING and general production values were verging on woeful. Why did they have three cameras? What possible purpose did that serve? The sound was terrible and the powerpoint almost pointless. The extremely high-powered guests and overall quality of the discussion were wonderful.

The THEME was almost non-existent and didn’t really come across at all. Failure.

In terms of CONTENT, guests and discussion, I cannot rate this seminar highly enough. Learned a lot and came away very inspired. The world of grants is intimidating, but the world of DIY is full of possibility. Making a feature film seems like the modern version of a resume. The man in the middle did seem to ramble on quite a lot. I could have listened to the people on either side of him for considerably longer.

The APPROACH was a little flat, but saved completely by the quality of guests, who almost took the whole thing into their own hands. I found the host to be a little bit presumptuous with the questioning, too many caveats and long winded build ups.

The PROMOTION was perfectly fine.

If not for the production values, this would be an 88. Unfortunately, they’ll have to deal with a respectable,

72/100

 

International

The CONTENT of the seminar was equal to the film seminar. Really top quality advice and inspiration from a variety of sources. Engaging from start to finish.

The STAGING was also pretty good. It looked very professional but there were a couple of mishaps at the start. The dual hosting format was also odd, but it allowed for a greater variety of questions. Ange and Simon are both quite awkward 🙂

APPROACH was done very well, and  I think they really benefited a lot from going so late in the semester. The questions really got right to a quality of information that other seminars stumbled upon, rather than owned. The hosts did an excellent job of thinking on their feet.

THEME was very confused and got a little lost. Airline? What does that have to do with the powerpoint slides about crime? Very off.

The PROMOTION was terribly over-saturated. WE KNOW ALREADY.

But you can’t deny quality…

82/100

 

Digital

The CONTENT of the digital seminar was mostly entertaining, but rambled on a little bit. Unlike the international seminar which seemed to so diligently pick apart the questions from previous seminars, to get to the core of what people wanted to know, this one seemed to blow about on the wind a little. Guests spoke for too long or too short a time and, this is not the fault of the seminar-ers. but failed to cover any new ground, with so much having been said already.

I liked the THEME very much. It was camp and silly and consistent all the way through. Appropriate choice of music too.

STAGING was very professional. The way they blocked out the light showed that someone had really been paying attention to previous groups. Light was a persistent problem for nearly everyone, but this team definitely pulled it off. Further, the sound was probably the best quality yet. Choice of microphone and sound-system were entirely appropriate. The cheesy graphics of the guests that were projected behind them were great.

The APPROACH was quite good but, as stated, the host didn’t really drive the show with much conviction.

PROMOTION was fine.

76/100