Week 3-Work Update

The table has been set. Next week, I will (hopefully) have the animation for the bake sale, the following promotional video, and the first director interview animation ready to go. The function within the bake sale animation is to make people laugh, or at least inform the community of the cupcake storm. Will not be using the word hope from now on. If the animation works, then the promotional video that follows will certainly grasp the attention of the customer, and reel them into our 'sugary' trap. What sucks is that I made a New Year's resolution, stating that I cannot have candy/chocolate forever. Ever heard of a chocoholic?

Week 2-Work update

So far the experience has been challenging, and that's always a good thing from a productive perspective. I am currently working on an animation that involves familiar 'comic-booky' faces. The animation will be used to promote the bake sale, as well as (if it's alright) provide some information about exactly what the event will do for Visions. This will work well with the other promotional videos that will follow shortly after in the coming weeks/months. I'm thinking of either producing animations that relate with one another, or completely separate works; in the end, they'll all perform the same job. Looking forward to the upcoming projects my department and I have in store for everyone!

Week 2-Dirty Dozen for upcoming Animation Project

1.  What is the project supposed to achieve?

    -Hopefully to get people interested in the event. Hopefully. But not only will it benefit the members of Visions, but the viewers as well; it may provide information for those seeking to understand.

2.  Who is the customer?

 -Anybody really. It's basically whoever's using a social network, and they happen to scroll down and find this bit of awesomeness.

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

-An animation that viewers can enjoy and be informed with. It's also eye-candy if it isn't informative.

4.  What is the budget?

-Absolutely nothing. The animation software currently being used will have no effect on the (or any) budget whatsoever.

5.  How long will it take?

-A couple of days at most, give or take.

6.  What specific skills are needed?

-Prior knowledge involving Adobe: Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere etc.

7.  What special resources are needed?

-None. Everything is created via After Effects plus resources found online.

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

-It's just me for now, but if I'm ever in a pickle I'll ask my fellow animators for help.

  

9.  What is the schedule?

-Animate one layer in continuity with the other, work on the next. A very simple process of creation, if everything works out.

26th: Background elements, rough draft

27th: Revision, final animation upload

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

-The only real risk I can run into could involve uploading an animation with the wrong message, which will never happen.

11.  How will you communicate with your team?

-By various means, including email, Facebook, maybe by phone etc. This animation is a 1-2 man job.

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

-If it meets specific parameters, and more importantly if it's approved by my department.

Week 1-'Festivals of their Own'

This article was, in any case, informative for the average film festival aficionado, like most of us here in Visions. In response to this piece, it was an interesting read as it did include not only insight from some of the most well known writers and directors of the underground scene, but also a little bit of history surrounding the topic. More importantly, the fact that it superbly presented several aspects of the film festival scene. For example, the spawning of smaller festival conglomerates, in response to the wider known Sundance or Slamdance festivals, marked the start of a new era in indie cinema. These smaller festivals served (or serve) as 'roots' for smaller films to sometimes climb their way up the 'tree', while gaining worldwide exposure for themselves and their works. A filmmaker who found good fortune after the U.S. release of his first film, Josh Koury, received so much attention at Slamdance (NY Film etc.) for his incredible work titled Standing by Yourself. Shortly afterwards, the film began sweeping other festivals, and continued to be highly acclaimed by critics and audiences within the festival circuit. After his swift success, he would then go on to making his own indie company. Another example of an aspect this piece broadens upon is the history behind the foundation of Sundance. Before it was called the latter, the United States Film Festival, as the writer suggests, arose via the contemporary decline of independent films in; this was due to the high volume of companies that simply ignored non-blockbuster films. Probably, the most interesting thing regarding Sundance is that the festival eventually became so huge, that the acceptance rate of smaller films dropped significantly as they were forced to compete with titles like sex, lies and videotape.

Week 1-Art Department

A considerable amount of information is written for each department within both the job descriptions and the manual. The Visions manual contains an elaborately organized schedule of all events and festival activities; among the list events are tasks required to be completed. This is useful as they are already available for everyone to view and utilize, however it should probably be assumed that several of these tasks are subject to change. Overall, it seems that coordination is the key factor behind the manual. The job descriptions from the documents that were available in the administration folder gave an (per member/group) applicable amount of insight into each of the occupations that make up (certain sections of) the Visions staff. The first document consists mainly of the descriptions for the Hospitality/Travel and Outreach department. After reviewing it, I noticed the division of labor particularly in groups structured hierarchically; the first segment included basic areas of responsibility, while the rest of the document had information about each of the members and the specifics of their jobs. The second document with the descriptions for the Operations department was exactly the same. I hope to learn how a film festival works! As far as how meetings are regulated go, it really does seem like the heart of a (redundant as it may sound) entertainment business operation. My experience on the first day was the equivalent of a goldfish being dropped into a shark tank. But overall, the class will be an extremely beneficial learning experience for myself and the newer members of Visions.