Overview of Cinefest Festival - Report Example

REPORT ON CINEFEST FESTIVAL By Professor Class University City Date of submission Overview of Cinefest festival Cinefest festival, an annual event, plays an important role in bringing together students from media faculties. This year, the event took place in Theatre A between 19th and 21st August from 6:30 pm Moreover, it offers them an opportunity to display their short films and videos that they have individually or produced as a group. The media fraternity involves students with proficiency in film, television, and radio program. The festival is often organized by the School of Culture and Communication. Besides, the festival also draws support staff from the media faculties who act as the judges and assist in planning the festival activities. Other departments involved in organizing the event are Directorial, Production and Operations, and Marketing. Programming such events in most cases is very difficult, therefore, there is need to show commitment and understanding of the general purpose of having the festival (Jarman & Jessica, 2013, 152). Since it is a competition, the selected students are often grouped based on the category in which their plays fall and the winners awarded depending on the categories. My role in the Programming team Programming the event is one the challenging areas of Cinefest festival since it involves identifying talented and creative students and offering the equal opportunities to display their plays. Since I was in a group with other eight more people, most of activities involved matter relating to theme and issues we found challenging we left to the Directorial group. Furthermore, the events holds ensures that students display based on categories such as cinematography, sound design, directing, and editing. As a result, the programming team ensured that the judges were drawn from array of existing professionalism within the media industry. Identification of the activities to be conducted on a daily basis was also the role of programming team and pointing the members who were responsible for delegating such duties. The responsibilities were many, however, with the commitment and proper planning, the programming team was able to identify the key responsibilities to be carried out within the festival and as a team, we decided to divide the tasks amongst ourselves. Decision on the best subthemes was also another considering the number of subthemes proposed by the members of the team. It took time to decide on the theme since this year’s was to reflect the lives of people as a strategy of attracting more participants. However, we decided to settle on the ‘road trip’ as the theme after a series of discussions. Every night was to have its own theme; therefore, the team had to shortlist the recommended subthemes. As the programming team, we had to select different themes for the three-day festival taking into consideration the age of the participants. Beating the deadline for the preparation was also another, so the programming team managed to have representatives from the university management for the purpose easing accessibility to the materials, invited personalities, and internal staffs. Since the school has many foreign students, and they form the majority of the participants, the theme also had to consider the varying cultural background of the students. Selection of the film for every night was challenging. Nevertheless, the programming team selected the films for every night based on their availability and suitability to perform. As a member of the programming team, I managed to view the sessions of the selected films and ensured confirmation of the performers in a bid to reduce inconveniencies. Attracting the audience was another factor that had to be taken into consideration. For sustainability and efficiency, the programming team had to market the festival through provision of the synopsis of films and videos to be displayed on the event. To attract more guests and audients from the diversifying students, the marketing processes had to be effective and reliable. I also had the chance to interact with the invited guests and those who showed concern in relation to attendance. The discussions with the guests involved alerting them on the arrival time and other related details such as their distinct reserved areas of seats. Furthermore, I also made the physical copies of the films to be performed and handing them over to the production teams who managed to test them besides ensuring the backup films were in place for the event. As a member of the programming team, I had to ensure that the seats of the invited guests like Tamas Wells who was invited by Jin and Meng. He offered technical guidance and advice to students with specialty in singing and writing songs. To distinguish every film, there was need to ensure that each had its own theme. There was Mexican film, Chinese documentary, and American Film named Y Tu Mamá También, Last Train Home, and Wild respectively. The themes were identity, conflict, and reflection for Mexican film, documentary, and Wild respectively. My responsibility also included searching for a music band. Although it was difficult to find one, YD and I worked together to find a local artiste within Melbourne. We even used the social media to find the band but to find one was not a guarantee since no band likes performing free of charge. Outcome of the festival With proper planning and involvement of people with similar interest, the festival achieved all the desired outcomes. Even though there were some challenges, the festival managed to involve all the students within the media profession and guests who offered technical advice to the performers before the actual time of showcasing their talents. Within the programming team, I managed to secure the seats for the invited guests, an activity that assisted in reducing the confusions that often result. The reserved seats were marked and placed in designated areas where guests with similar profession were allowed to sit. Proper marketing of the event also attracted many donors. Some the donors for the event included Pragda and the Spain Embassy in Washington D.C. The festival also aimed at giving the voice of the unheard stories of different cultures through the films. I managed to gather audiences with diversified cultural backgrounds and beliefs to ensure uniformity of the event and free integration of the people. Considering the fact that the university consist of people with different beliefs and cultures, through the judges that the programming team selected, the aspect of racism was completely avoided. Most of these activities were subject to my suggestions as a bid to help fight the looming rate of racism. Besides selecting the performers and guests based on the availability and quality of works, geographical distribution of the available chances was also taken into consideration. This enabled the effective and efficient contribution people from different institutions, which made the event a success. Since the event is often free and open to the public and student-run, the event managed to attract numerous number of students from different professions. In order to ensure that both the invited guests and students adhered to the time factors, the programming team organized free refreshment and gathered students filmmakers and their crews. As a result, there was less time wastage since I ensured that both the selected performers and audience were at the places of requirement. Programmes such as pre-performance managed to help most of the students polish their plays which in turned resulted into positive performance (Delbosc, 2008, 125). With the diversifying challenges within the media industry, there was need that the students pursuing courses related to such profession were introduced to people with adequate knowledge and experience. Since the festival is non-profit, there was no fees to offer the performers. It is important to note that many students are talented. Nevertheless, little supported have over the years been provided to them. Consequently, the exposed the students to the experience that employers within the media fraternity are looking for and through the invited guests, they were able to find out the strengths and weaknesses. According Rev. Mark Scalese, the director with the Film, Television, and Media Arts Program, Cinefest festival gives the best students the opportunity to showcase their work (Welch & Winkel, 2010, 115). Additionally, he referred to the students as hard workers within their areas of profession; as a result, the event offers them the opportunity to shine. The programming teams still continues to receive numerous recognition on their effective commitment towards ensuring the success of the event. Even though establishing a stable judging was the major problem considering their level of commitments, as a representative of the programming team, negotiation with the relevant faculties was successful since management decided to officiate the entire festival. As an event that brings together people together, the event organizers often receive application from dozens of submissions from the university staffs willing to take part in the event. Ensuring international relations amongst the students play a major role in the global integration process. Through marketing of the event, I managed to give the festival an international look since it attracted students and public from different communities and countries throughout the world. Moreover, the festival also managed to facilitate the accessibility of the independent filmmakers. Working with other groups enhanced better connection the level of connection among the students. Strengths and weaknesses of the festival The major strength related to the festival is the desire of the students within the media profession to showcase the talents and knowledge. Students in most cases desire to have the experience to display their personal works and receive the views of the public for the purpose of acquiring areas within their projects that they could adjust. Besides, the students also had the desire of experiencing other cultures; as a result, the festival offered them the opportunity, which made them come out in large numbers to display their skills (Sansonetti, 2015, par. 5). We managed to finish all the preparations three weeks before the actual event since we were working together. Using the social media helped reached many people especially Instagram and to some extent the teachers also promoted the event during lecture hours. Another strength of the festival was portrayed among the programming team who showed friendly and genuine welcome to both the invited guests and public. Since the festival is student driven, it attracted many university staff members who wanted to be among the judging panelists. Students believed in the criteria used by both the judging panel and the programming team as a fair process which encouraged them to enroll as participants in the festival. Commitment of the organizers was another strength especially with Director Shelly. Furthermore, the festival attracted a number of students from varying institutions, thus, there were different cultural communities displaying their talents which offered other students the opportunities of having an insight in cultural diversity. More importantly, reservation of seats for the invited guests also helped in management of time and overruling on the possibility of inconveniences and confusion (Carlsen & Jack, 2011, 103). The programming team also offered areas of resting, relaxing, and refreshments to the audience. Working together also was another strength especially while locating the music band. Sam, a member of Group D helped us locate a music band among his friends. The major weakness of the festival involves dependency on the donors. Since the festival is free and open to both the public and students, finding resources for organizing the event might be difficult. In cases where the donors withdraw from participating in the event, organizing such festivals might quite be a challenge to the programming team. Locating the performers became a challenge especially when the funds are involved since it is not easy to a find artistes willing to perform free of charge. Another weakness is screening of trailers of the videos rather than the whole film. Most people do not like watch trailers, therefore, screening such videos often discourage them from attending the festival. Infrastructural problems also features as the weakness of the festival as most of the attendants arrived late claiming that accessibility to the venue had been affected by the congestions on the roads. Multicultural nature of the movies, which were being screened, had both the negative and positive aspect. Consequently, some audience complained of the natures of the movies that the festival was screening without putting the subtitles. Such screening activities influenced the level of understanding of most audiences (Galligan & Mulero, 2014, par. 7). Poor road signs also misled some of those attending the festival, as there were no clear demarcations or signs giving the visitors direction to the venue. Recommendation for the next organizers In order to ensure effective and efficient festival, there is need to turn all the weaknesses into opportunities. Therefore, the programming teams should have reliable means of acquiring funds for sustaining the festive seasons rather than depending on the donors who to some extent might become unreliable especially if they withdraw from participating in the event. The organizers should also take into consideration that not all the visiting audiences are familiar with the venue of the festival and place signs giving them directions to the venue. Consequently, the festival organizers should also consider the different cultural communities attending the festivals and screen the films with subtitles in languages that audiences could understand. The event should be conducted in areas, which have the ability of accommodating many visitors in order to allow many guests to attend the event. With many cultural diversities from the global context, the festival should also have involve students with expertise but coming from less developed countries. Incorporating students from other cultural backgrounds would help tackle issues relating to language barrier. The festival organizers should focus more on online and lecturers as their marketing strategy to help attract more audience. References Carlsen, & Jack, A. 2011. Strategic SWOT analysis of public, private and not-for-profit festival organisations. CBS - Faculty Office, Curtin University. Delbosc, A. R. 2008. Social Identity as a Motivator in Cultural Festivals. Visitor Studies, 26(4), 122-126. Galligan and, A., & Mulero, L. 2014. Cine Fest: San Juan, PR. Retrieved from http://cinefestsanjuan.posthaven.com Jarman, & Jessica. 2013. An evaluation into the feasibility of setting up a mobile cocktail bar for festivals and other outdoor events. Cardiff Metropolitan University. Sansonetti, J. 2015, April 29. Cinefest to showcase the best in student films | The Fairfield Mirror. Retrieved from http://fairfieldmirror.com/the-vine/cinefest-to-showcase-the-best- in-student-films/ Welch, D., & Winkel, R. V. 2010. Cinema and the Swastika: The international expansion of Third Reich cinema. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Read More