EEK!

So we've hit a little pothole in our MI2 seminar plans. Whilst originally believing we had all 4 guests secured and ready to go, we just found out that Brad Giblin from Film Victoria was not actually a certainty anymore which means we are back to that tentative 3.

It's not that 3 is a bad number but 4 is just so much of a better number for panel discussions, to give a more rounded reflection of the industry (we would have someone from games, music videos, the film financing sector, and someone from corporate video). Because Brad is MIA, we can't confirm the film financing sector being represented so are now on the hunt for a 4th panel member.

I've made a few suggestions to the group based on some research I did of the new media industry. Red Snow Productions are a new production company that specialise in anything from corporate videos to music videos. My interest in them and their company came out of their involvement with TVC production, something we hadn't yet explored for the purpose of the seminar. My second suggestion was Big and Small Productions who again specialise in advertising but in the online format - definitely something relevant to our seminar.

I've posted these suggestions on the Facebook page and so far no one's commented so we will see if there's an interest. Alternatively (pun intended), I may suggest we approach the online written portals, similar to Portable where Flavia used to work. Shall see how it all goes.

Apologies

I had a pretty bad start to MI2. I missed my first two lectures due to engagements in Perth and a shoot I was working on in Maryland. As a result, I wasn't in class when everyone was placed into groups for their seminars. I knew how the seminars worked based on the ones I went to two years ago in 1st year so knew there would be a TV seminar, film seminar, etc, etc. I really, really wanted to be in the film seminar as it would have been an opportunity to meet professionals within the film industry and ask them to come speak with us in the seminars. It's also a sneaky bit of networking which is great for us third years about to embark on our journey to the professional universe.

As fate would have it, the film seminar and tv seminar (my second choice) were both full and I had a choice between sound, distribution or digital/alternative media. I chose digital/alternative media based on the group that had already begun to form for the seminar who I knew were really good students, dedicated individuals who would work really hard for the project.

At today's lecture, I met up with the group and made a point of being open and available to everything that was floating around. By this point, the group had already made amazing headway, having secured 3 guests and already beginning to think about how the seminar itself would run. I asked how I could help and eventually it was decided that I would assist Mel in organizing the run schedule thinking about how we could arrange the examples of work from our guests in a creative way. Mel and I are going to converse using Facebook over the weekend whilst I'm in Perth so that hopefully by next week we'll have something set up.

MIFF 2011 - Session 4

The session we rated on Sunday was none other than the second part to the accelerator program which was extremely exciting for me as I didn't even know there was a second half. The reason this was exciting is because the Accelerator program promotes the best up and coming talent in film making and basically, these filmmakers are the future of the industry and will be the ones to dictate the direction it takes.

The films in order of preference again are:

1. A Fine Young Man
2. Nullarbor
3. Eli The Invincible
4. Toy Soldier
5. Collision
6. If I Dance Will It Keep Me Warm?

This was a really tough session to arrange my preferences from. The reason for this was that unlike The Missing Key, there were no films in the selection which had a lasting impact on me mentally (save for Nullarbor which I have already praised beyond belief so I thought I would be a bit different this time) This isn't to say that they weren't well-made films - it's just more that none of them had that "je ne said quoi" about them which leaves an audience breathless/restless/speechless.

That may have been the experience for A Fine Young Man however, as I believe many members of the audience didn't see the twist coming like I did (which I am always looking for even though I know it will spoil the surprise) The reason I still liked the film though is due to its impeccable cinematography which was shot beautifully on 35mm, and its set design, which nailed the 1960s decor and atmosphere perfectly. The acting was a little bit too over the top however which I believe is the reason behind why I could tell what was going to happen at the film's climax. A little inconsistency in their performance may have helped the non-believers.

Other than that, A Fine Young Man deserves the award it received on Sunday night (City of Melbourne Grand Prix for Best Short Film) and is, I think, a great precursor to a much larger feature film project which I hope the producers will consider for their next production.