Weekly Check in 3

Business as usual in the Development department. As the Valentine's day bake sale and party loom closer,  I am still awaiting a response from the UR about flyer approval. My first message to them received a response within a day with corrections (delete the word "come" and double check the UNCW logo specs) and the revised edits were sent back Monday. This past week I made up a Facebook banner to advertise the Valentine's day festivities, which should be going live sometime next week. As for awards, the final email format has been approved and will be sent out to prospective sponsors tonight so it's the first thing in their mailbox Monday morning. Some companies have sponsorship forms to fill out online instead, which I am in the process of completing (for example, GoPro). I am hoping to have responses within two weeks and have at least 5/8 of the awards settled by week 7, with all awards finalized and arrived by March 15th. I'm still really nervous about getting responses/not getting "cool" awards, but I've added about 5 new companies thanks to the classes' input (the planners, some other film software, Adobe keyboards).
On a slightly unrelated note, my costume for the space-themed Valentine's day party, Adventure Time's Lumpy Space Princess, is coming along nicely.

Helvetica

“At least I'm not a font nerd."
"A what?"
Matt smiled. "You know. People who love fonts. There are people who go to a movie and get agitated because, while the movie is supposed to be set in 1962, the restaurant awning shown in the background of some scene is printed in Arras Bold, which wasn't invented until 1991, so clearly the producers of the movie are insane and should be beheaded.” 
― Jessica Park, Flat-Out Love

     About two weeks ago, I read the novel quoted above and thought, what a weird thing to bring up. I bet Park just made up font nerd. 
     And yet, I have just concluded watching an entire documentary on these mythical nerds. When I first put this documentary on, I had 5 other things going on at once, but within 6 minutes I was captivated. I have never given much thought about the font companies use, and it never crossed my mind that state highways, service vehicles, post offices and the like all had to decide on a typeface. I also had no idea Helvetica was the most neutral font, nor that it's so popular! I feel like it's one of those things I never noticed, but now I won't be able to un-see it.
     There are truly some moments of genius within this eccentric documentary. Towards the end, the man speaking about "don't confuse legibility with communication" definitely resonated with me. Working as a graphic designer for the last few weeks has opened my eyes to a lot of details that I would normally overlook, and I have so much more respect for professional artists who deal with creating logos and advertisements for huge companies. Another interviewee stated how font can have personality, just as a drawing or painting could. As someone with extremely horrific handwriting, I only ever saw my sketches as art, never anything involving text, but the interviewees argue against that notion. I agree with one of the interviewees, "if you don't have the eye, no program will help." Hopefully I got it!

Dirty Dozen: Awards

1. What is the project supposed to achieve?

            I am in charge of locating prizes and awards for the 9 categories in the V6 Film Festival and Conference. My awards should also serve as a good connection between Visions and popular, or at least successful, companies that can last for the foreseeable future.

2. Who is the customer?

          The costumer, I suppose, would be the winners of the awards.

3. What are the deliverables of the project?

          The physical awards donated by the companies contacted

4. What is the budget?

            There is no budget. The awards are strictly donations.

5. How long will it take?

            As long as it takes for companies to break their wills and answer my persistent emails. Should be a work in progress up until April.

6. What specific skills are needed?

            A confidence in emailing and possibly conversation, and a well stocked vocabulary.

7. What special resources are needed?

            A working email, well researched contacts as well as a way to receive the donations.

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

            Awards are handled solely by myself, but will be shipped to UNCW and then handled by Shannon. My job is to research potential companies and ideal items, locate email addresses and send out requests for award donations.   

9. What is the schedule?

            By the end of January, I would like to have an idea of what awards I would like to receive as well as have a working list of contacts. Within the first two weeks of February I believe emails should be sent out to all contacts, with more emails being sent out through the month in case of new companies/contacts. February and March should involve conversations between myself and companies, with awards hopefully arriving by Mid-to-Late March and early April.

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

            The biggest risks are that 1) there is not enough time for companies to answer their emails, or send out their donations before April 15^th 2) no companies that I contact wish to donate, or the contacts that do answer are considered “lowly” and ruin Visions’ reputation. It is very likely that many companies do not wish to give away hundreds of dollars of supplies and I am extremely concerned over that. I suppose it is unlikely that any companies would be “bad press” for our festival. Another risk is that we lose connection between Visions and previous donors due to annoyance at being asked to donate every year.

11. How will you communicate with your team?

           My Development team and I typically communicate through weekly meetings and emails. Since I do not have an assistant or teammate per say, there is not much of an issue of communication.

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

                  I feel as though I judge my success in this area through my classmates’ approval, over whether or not they agree the donations are satisfactory or not. As long as every victor has some award, and are happy with their award, I will feel as though my project was successful.

Weekly Check in 2

This week past I met with my Development department. All the members are super helpful and eager to get me on my feet. I am glad I got to do my presentation of the flyers on time, and am happy with everyone’s responses and comments, even though I have some big changes to make. Moving on,  I had an issue with grading the papers, as I graded all of them on Thursday night before week 2 of class, but then when looking to grade the extra ones on Monday, I stumbled upon the grade sheet/response list and noticed none of my responses were listed, as if I had never turned them in. It turns out I was using the link for V5 to grade the papers, although I was reading the correct papers, and it wasn’t syncing up with the spreadsheet. Thoroughly panicked, I had to re-grade all the papers Monday night, as the Tech people couldn’t figure out where my grades went. I am currently swamped with the research for the Awards, and I feel the time crunch settling in around me - only 2 and 1/2 more months to go! 

Festivals Of Their Own response

I LOVE the author's writing style. When I first opened the document, all I could think was "oh no. This looks dense," but instead it was funny and very informational - I had no idea Sundance was in Utah. I think the article really reiterates what was said in the first class, that one of the greatest things Visions does for filmmakers isn't giving them a million dollar check or gift card to Dave & Busters, but a sense of confidence, a desire to keep creating. I am very disappointed in the direction film festivals have gone, choosing to display the high end films as opposed to their Indie roots, but that just makes Visions that much more important of an event.

P.S.  why isn't Visions on the list of festivals, but Chapel Hill made it!?!?!

Job Descriptions & Manual

Art Department:
As a last minute stand-in graphic designer, the Art Department Manual was very helpful. Basically, I am only filling in by doing posters (at least, I think that's all I'm needed for) and am not involved in the DVD or the Facebook art (since it has already been created by Fall staff), so the section about the paper sizing and importance of having a "bleed border" saved me hours of going back and re-doing anything. I am really happy to be considered an artist for this event, and I have worked so hard on the 6 draft posters needed by Week 2. Already I have remembered and learned more Photoshop tricks that I would have never of developed had I not been asked to be a graphic designer, and I am looking forward to opening this new door in my artistic ability.

Development Department:
I am very thankful for the email templates provided in the Development Awards manual section, because I would have been at a lost for words! The awards@visionsfilm.org email login information is invalid though. I am still confused as to what constitutes a "good award," how exactly I need to "research potential awards for categories," and am very nervous that no one will want to give me any prizes. The Awards section of the development manual is not nearly as clear as the Art Department's, and I am confused. Juggling two departments is proving overwhelming, and I need to figure out how to get this Awards work going ASAP. Hopefully after this semester I will be a better emailer, as I dread getting new mail, especially rejection letters.

Week 2, here I come!