Designing events, developing processes, festival strategies, and more...
FSDD #128 is packed with more ideas, creative processes, and tips from all of you!
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Designing memorable screening events
The brand strategist and cultural futurist Jasmine Bina shares eleven principles on how to create meaningful experiences. In-person or virtual it doesn’t matter — the framework will shake up how you think about gatherings writ large and at the very least give language to what’s working. I’d love to see these principles applied to screening events, watch parties, and film-related hangs in general.
To be clear, that’s already happening! Two of the principles especially reminded me of the team behind the feature documentary Rescued Hearts.
The first idea: “Map every expectation people will bring to your space, then work against them.” In doing so people will shed their biases, arrive fully in your space, and be ready for transformation.
The second idea: “Create a threshold people can feel. A threshold is the demarcation between the ordinary world and the special world you’re inviting people into…”
For some of the Rescued Hearts screening events producer Dana Croschere would begin the event with a grounding meditation. This would happen virtually. A beautiful way to stay true to their film, create a ‘threshold,’ and subvert expectation.
Please let me know if you are using or plan to use any of these ideas on your screening tours.
(AV)
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Let’s develop exercises to truly consider a few ideas…
You know, like Penny Lane does. Haul yourself away and spend a week trying to rough draft ten ideas for a movie…. Read how she does it, but be warned: you will want to do the same thing.
Please share if you have any exercises of your own!
(TH)
3
Preparation, Collaboration, Judgment…
Directors do so much more than simply call “action” and “cut” on set. In this thoughtful and beautifully written essay Mauro Mueller / El Suizo breaks down all the facets of directing and the bigger picture of what the job actually entails. It’s a valuable reminder that great directing isn’t about controlling every moment, it’s about bringing together talented people and clearly communicating a shared vision, so that together something meaningful can be created.
That’s one of the great paradoxes of directing. The clearer your vision becomes, the less you need to micromanage. A weak vision demands constant control because everyone is guessing what the film wants to be. A strong vision creates freedom. Once the destination is shared, every department can find its own path toward it.
(AS)
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Is it a “Doc”? Or could it be a “doc” once again, if only we had the means of distribution and promotion on our side?
What happens when two things that are 180 degrees apart are called the same thing? Is that a good thing? Could it be? Or will it always just be… confusing?
Do we need names for all genres of... everything? Although I've always loved music, I've never liked pop. Does that make me elitist? Is it the festival style nonfiction film that should change its name from "documentary" or the docutainment sort that needs to embrace a new label? Is there hope to make viewers more intentional in their selection or can they be tricked into eating vegetables by silly names and colorful packaging? Is there still hope of getting the platforms to take more creative risk, or do we need to acknowledge that they are more like utilities and must be regulated to share their real estate with independent third party suppliers and thus give audiences more chance to fall in love with the weird and ambitious?
(TH)
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Film Festival Submission Tips
Right now with festival submission season upon us, and everyone scrambling to get their films finished to submit, you might want to check out these tips from Donny Broussard, and save yourself some time and money in the process. How great to be able to learn from the experiences of others, and believe me he knows a thing or two about this, as he states:
I’ve spent a lot of energy thinking about, submitting to, and attending film festivals. I’ve had films rejected (a lot), won awards, and sat in plenty of empty theaters wondering where I went wrong. I’ve also made a lot of friends and built relationships with film fans that I continue to nurture. I’ve had bad experiences at festivals, but for the most part, film festivals have been a positive experience for me. With that said, I’ve learned a lot along the way about what works, what doesn’t, and what we as filmmakers should and shouldn’t worry about.
(AS)
Who’s sharing what, you ask?
ARB= Alex Rollins Berg AS= Amanda Sweikow AV= Ami Vora CR= Courtney Romano DS= Danielle A. Scruggs SS= Sara's Soliloquies TH= Ted Hope SG = Sam Gallen
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Thanks so much for including "The Invisible Work of Directing", especially in such smart company. One of the pleasures of writing these pieces is discovering that the supposedly “invisible” work resonates beyond one’s own set. Really appreciate the thoughtful words and the share!