Film Festival Reflection

week 6

Student Name: Yating Shi

Student Number: s3614117

This week we invited Mia Falstein-Rush to give us a lecture on the process of the programming film festival. Mia provides a very powerful and realistic perspective, and give us an insight into the development of the Australian film industry and her role as a programmer. What impressed me most was that Mia said she spent more than one year to organize the Seen and Heard film festival which is a film festival celebrating women in film. And Mia mentioned that ‘Seen and Heard’ is an inspiring and shocking theme because it determines the purpose and significance of the festival. As I read in one of the reading, “Programming for your festival should be purposeful, not random. It is important to nail down topics and themes before you begin looking for films” (Bartosova, Kulhankova & Rausova 2015, p 27).

So, I think a film festival should be promoted and disseminated in an attractive, purposeful and explicit way. Until this week, we’ve received hundreds of movies, and the real challenge is to watch and screen them to ensure the theme of our festival. On Thursday, we also join the film submission group to watch some Chinese movies and may present our feelings and ideas. So, it is very important to sort out the data and statistics, and classify movies when necessary, such as some movies for 15-18 years old viewers.

At the same time, when we meet before class with our group members, we also assign our jobs. We have made detailed plans, such as filming and editing trailers about the Chinese part before next weekend. To compare with last week, we have big progress in filming and the script. It’s very exciting for me. I feel that this product is being perfected little by little. I seem to be able to see its final appearance.

Reference:

Kateřina Bartošová, Hana Kulhánková & Zuzana Raušová, “Knowing Yourself and Your Audience: Programming and a Humming Rights Film Festival”,  in Setting Up a Human Rights Film Festival, vol. 2, Human Rights Film Network, Prague, 2015, pp. 27-46.

Film Festival Reflection

week 5

Student Name: Yating Shi

Student Number: s3614117

Week 5’s content of the class was interesting. I feel the atmosphere of everyone working together for this film festival. And I noticed that many people started their work under the leadership of the organization and got it done very well. The ability to organize is something I have been lacking since I was a child. I don’t know how to gather people and how to arrange tasks, so from this activity, I also saw the organizational ability of others. I hope I can make some progress in this area in the future.

Tessa has clearly developed her strengths in our group. She communicates with us and guides our mind. She suggested that we could make a formal trailer and some short trailers that were even a few seconds. So that we can put those mini trailers in some social software to attract people. So, maybe I can make a trailer about Chinese students seeing the propaganda of our film festival.

“In order to make the festival successful, you need to let people know about your event and make them want to become part of it. Even though your team has worked hard to put together a rich programmed, you can lose potential audience members if you try to introduce the festival to the public in all its complexity.” (Rambousková

, 2015). In his words, I think that making Chinese trailer may be an effective way to attract potential Chinese audience.

How to complete expected high standards under the real situation, it is a new challenge. In class, I saw how different people deal with different situations. At the same time, I realized that how to cooperate with others is also one of the most important contents of this semester. So, whichever team you are in, you need flexibility to get involved. I think it’s a challenge.

In a team, combining different approaches may help balance. Optimists and realists may quarrel, but eventually, they will see problems with each other. Perhaps this is balancing. All in all, I respect people’s different ways of dealing with problems, and I’m trying to sum them up to achieve our goal.

Reference:

Bohdana Rambousková, “How to Successfully Promote Your Festival. Links to an external site.” in Setting Up a Human Rights Film Festival, vol. 2, Human Rights Film Network, Prague, 2015, pp. 97-114.

Film Festival Reflection

week 4

Student Name: Yating Shi

Student Number: s3614117

Week 4 has been really focused on how to launch our film festival. So, organizing and planning have been the most important thing for us this week.

In these two classes, we have been writing, planning, and making to-do lists. But I don’t think it is a really happy activity because when people were discussing what are they good at or what are they interested in, I have no idea about what can I do. I feel embarrassed and depressed. I wonder what I can do for this festival through my own strength? However, under the guidance of my teacher and my classmates, I realized that maybe I could do something related to my majors, such as photography or editing. Although pre-production is a burden for me, seeing that our works are maturing, I noticed that I fell in love with the process of working together and discussing.

“Before you start with the actual hands-on work, you need to plan thoroughly what you will need in terms of manpower, materials, and money (or, in most cases, how much money you can spend and what you will realistically be able to get with it). Do this planning well in advance, as it is probably the most important stage of festival preparations” (Kuhn 2015). This passage seems to sum up what we have learned this week.

Pre-production is a result of collective effort, when we make plans, we divided everyone’s roles. Someone do graphic design or film programming or marketing coordination and so on. When we distribute the content of these tasks, it becomes much easier for us because people can choose what they want to do through their expertise. It makes me feel hopeful to produce our entire film festival.

Finally, after hours of preparation, we can see that the product is developing. I am looking forward to what challenges and difficulties we will encounter in the coming weeks, and how can we overcome them. Personally, I’m getting more and more excited about this film festival.

Reference:

Andrea Kuhn, “Who Is Organising It? Importance of Production and Team Members. Links to an external site.” in Setting Up a Human Rights Film Festival, vol. 2, Human Rights Film Network, Prague, 2015, pp. 71-83.