Fan Film Festival Planning

We are still shooting to have the fan film festival in August. But we need to start planning now so I started this thread for suggestions on how to best do that. One important thing we need to start is deciding what films will be shown so we can get permission from the creators. We also need to figure out how many will show up so we know where we need to try and hold. There has been talk of doing workshops on different aspects of amateur film making as well. Let's get those ideas flowing.

 

OK folks,

Since I pretty much planned the last one, I'll start.

First off, we need to pick about 90 minutes worth of fanfilms to be shown. Now, if we're going to show films produced by us, we need to take that into account.

Selection criteria should include production quality (duh), story, etc, but the films should also be suitable for a PG audience, as I'm sure we will have children in attendance. We may also want to provide a mix of styles: Serious, comedy/parody, animation, etc.

After the selections are made, the copyright holders of the films need to be asked IN WRITING for permission. Last time I did it via email and it seemed to work well. Be sure that the person/organization you're asking for permission really has the ability to grant you permission. For example, if a film has been submitted to the atomfilms starwars fanfilm section, atom films holds the rights to the film, NOT the creator.

We should maintain a list (possibly here) of films that are candidates and which ones we finally decide on.

The only way we can show ANY of these films without LFL being upset is to have free admission. However, I think that if we made admission a can of food for the food drive it would be ok, but we may need to check with LFL...which could prove difficult. Based on experience, if it's not a fully sanctioned LFL function, LFL people won't say anything (yes or no).

As for the workshops, I think it would be cool to do so. It would make this more like a mini convention. My thinking is that we'd run the films all day long and have mini 1 hour workshops throughout the day. We already have a volunteer from Boise that has offered to teach a lightsaber coreography (sp) class. Other workshop ideas could be costuming, digital editing, cheap props, or simple digital effects.

We need a few people to work on this. If we're going to pull it off, we need a place. If we have workshops, that will require more space than if we don't. If we could get the media involved, it could help make it a success.

Of course, anywhere we have it will require $$$, so the question of where the $$$ will come from must be addressed soon (the club budget doesn't have it).

We'll also need to download all films in the best quality/version possible and convert them to a suitable format for projection (I can get a projector that connects to a PC and/or VHS/DVD player)

We already have permission to show one film should we choose to, one made by a group in Boise. The creator has also volunteered to come to the festival as a guest.

It would also be good to have people in costumes for the event.

Remember, the main goal of this is to attract attention and recruit new members...if we can turn it into a food drive that'd be icing on the cake. I do think it would be easier to get the media involved if there's a human interest twist like a food drive attached. Perhaps a radio station would sponsor it and pay for the location?

If anybody has any ideas, post them here...that's my $.02 worth...

I'd organize the entire thing, but work on at least 2 film projects right now (plus work) is keeping me quite busy.

 

I'm still having trouble getting my film onto a disk that reads in DVD format. The original is on DVCAM right now. Any help I can get on this would be great. I've copied it to disk once but it came up as an AVI, I think... and was readable by Real Player.

Also if you guys can give me any details as to what your expectations are of me with the lightsaber workshop I volunteered (sp) to do, that would be helpful as well. I know August is some time away, but the more time I have to plan, the better it could be.

Master Tolemac

 

I went the blunt route and posted a message on the fan film forum asking if anyone wanted to donate a movie for the festival. I have a few responses already, including some high tech questions. People want to know if Flash films are acceptable (I HATE Flash) or possible to download.
And they have given us some candidates to approve of.

Lets get those 56k modems cranking.
Threads name is "IDAHO FAN FILM FESTIVAL SEEKS ENTRIES"

 

Malcolm,

I can get convert either MiniDV or Digital8 to MPG, which is what we really need. Or I can convert AVI as long as it's pretty high quality to start with. If it's a pretty hi-res (480x480 or higher) and full 24 or 30 frames per second, I can work with it. Feel free to PM or email me if you have ???'s.

Also, you might want to check out www.dvdrhelp.com...great site that talks about video comression, etc

tmpgenc.com has an mpeg encoder you can download that converts AVI and Quicktime to MPG, and has a pretty good output quality.


Doug

 

Here's a link to the thread in the fanfilm forum: http://boards.theforce.net/message.asp?topic=11274772&start=11299375

 

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

We need to find a place to hold this thing.

Last time we did it at the public library, however it is a bit small (seats about 50 people) but it is cheap.

We will need a large room to show the films in, and possibly one or two smaller rooms for the workshops.

We have a budget of basically $0.00 for this, but since it's for charity perhaps a facility would donate the use of that facility.

The dept of parks and rec has 2 possibilities: A large room at the old Navy Rec center on North Skyline or the Hockey Shelter at Tauphaus Park. Either rents for $175.00/day.

Any ideas, post them here.

 

Any of them rent by the hour?

 

A few of the schools rent by the hour. $50.00/hour is the going rate for an auditorium, plus $5.00/hour if we need a "technician", which they all said they'd require us to have if we were projecting, even if it's our projector (go figure)

Of course, this info was from 2 years ago, just started calling other possible locations today. I will contact the schools, etc again.

I'm going to try to go check out the room at the rec center some time this week, I'll let you know and maybe you can go too....

 

I got 2 DVDs in the mail today from prospective filmmakers.

"Run Leia Run"
and
"Disastor at Naboo"

I will show them to the powers that be ASAP to get a feel if they are up our alley.

 

I've seen them both, I'm not sure. I personally like "Disaster at Naboo" but it may be a bit insensitive (or perceived to be). "Run Leia Run" is a parody of "Run Lola Run" and I'm not sure many folks will get it...besides, 3PO says a bad word in it....

But, we can let the others decide...we should have a planning meeting...post here when you're available in the next few days.

 

What if the members on the Fan Film Comittee got together to view the films, and we could decide as a comittee whether or not it is a desireable film to show? Just a suggestion!

 

Well I have some free time this weekend. Who else has already seen these?

 

OK, that's the idea is to review the submissions as a committee.

So far, these are the submissions (as far as I can tell). Not all have been received yet.

The Awakening
Essence of the Force
Run Leia Run
Disaster at Naboo
A Deception of the Force

In addition, there's a film from Boise (the title escapes me) and there's also Wan-Abi.

I do have one thought: If the filmmaker is going to be here, we should show their film. The maker of "A Deception of the Force" as well as Malcolmtolemac from Boise have stated that they will be here.

In addition, I've put up a bare-bones version of the website. Ryan A will take over from here. It's at:

http://fanfest.fateback.com/

We need to start thinking about sponsors. The $5.00 submission fee will help, but unless we get 40 films submitted, it won't be enough (unless we settle for the Library).

Also, we need to start thinking about media involvement. If we get this thing big/cool enough, we could get some Insider/Official Site coverage....

Is everyone available to get together sometime this Saturday?

Doug

 

OK,

So, the date is set at Aug. 9. That's just over 1 month away.

Here's my thought: We scale back a bit due to fundage and do it at the Library, after 5:30 pm (when the Library closes).

To date, I believe we have recieved 3 films: Run Leia Run, Disaster at Naboo, and L'il Jedi. Today I invited:

Desert Duel
Essence of the Force
Seeds of Darkness
Broken Allegiance
Reepo

To submit. I'll let everyone know what happens. If you've got a favorite you'd like to invite, let me know and we'll get an invite email sent...

I still haven't recieved Marc's film from Boise.

We should get together sometime this week (Friday?) to work out details like advertising, etc...

Doug

 

Give me a call whenever you need help.

And did the club watch Two-Ness last time? (Or is that too *insidery*?)

 

Friday is the 4th of July, so I'll probably be booked, but if you wanted to get together Saturday, I could do that.

 

Boskone: We did NOT show two-ness, but I'm not sure the audience would get it if they have not seen Duality, which we probably won't be screening this time as we showed it last time.

Rabid: DOH! Saturday works....

Doug

 

So are we set for for a meeting on Saturday? We need to get moving 'cause we're losing next weekend to the camping trip. So, I'm all for meeting Saturday, I just didn't know if that was set or not.

 

I'm up for it, say 3:00, my place?

Doug

 

Well, the meeting went pretty well. We viewed the films that have been submitted so far, and chose which to screen and which not to screen.

So far, the films accepted (and their running times) are:

Li'l Jedi - 4:18
Disaster at Naboo - 3:10
Desert Duel - 17:02
Reepo - 6:58

That's a total of 31:18. We need about 1 hour more. Films invited that haven't responded yet:

Essence of the Force - 8:00
Seeds of Darkness - About 20:00
Broken Allegiance - 23:00

That'd be about 51 minutes more, bringing the total to about 82 minutes. There's room for a couple more.

The maker of "A Deception of the Force" has stated that he'd like to submit his film AND that he would be able to attend. I have sent him another email asking what the status is. For more info on this film, check out http://www.adeceptionoftheforce.com/

So far, the only film not accepted has been "Run Leia Run", because it's confusing as all heck.

That's all for now.

Doug

 

FYI, here's the proposed Schedule:

9:30 - doors open
10:00 - 11:30 - first showing
11:45 - 12:45 WORKSHOP
1:00 - 2:30 - second showing
2:45 - 3:45 Filmmaker Q&A Panel
4:00 - 5:30 Third Showing
5:45 - 6:45 WORKSHOP
7:00 - 8:30 Fourth Showing

 

I contacted the library, the room is booked for Aug. 9. The ONLY day I could get it during the day is Aug 2, from 1:30pm on. What do you guys think?

The schedule would be something like this:

2:00pm - 3:30pm first showing
3:45 - 4:45 - filmmaker q&a
5:00 - 6:30 second showing
6:45 - 7:45 workshop
8:00 - 9:30 third showing

We could try to find another location if this doesn't work.

 

ok, Erik and I are talking about exploring dates in september, so I'll check on that today.

 

i think that maybe september might be a better time. more people back in town, because school will be back in. also, if it is at the library, hopefully it will have a better attendence (longer time to have things posted stating what is going to happen). finally, it will give us more time to make robes, or other costumes, so more of us can be in costume. a really good thing to explore guys.