Cucalorus 2013

During the 2013 Cucalorus Film Festival, I was able to attend 5 screenings, which included Borgman, the Vasyugan experimental shorts, Short Term 12, Brew Your Own (by our own Zach Boylston), and The Act of Killing.

Aside from enjoying the festival from an audience member's standpoint, as one of the Visions4 directors, I immediately noticed the marketing excellence of the festival. I rarely went into any establishment or went on any local website/social media site without seeing advertisements for the festival. I know that Cucalorus only employs 4 or 5 people, but that small number does not at all reflect the reach of the event in general. I want a newspaper edition of the Visions4 programming schedule to be places in boxes around town now, and even an online version of that paper--with schedules, interviews, reviews, etc. I don't know how realistic that is, but what the hell right?

Another coordination aspect that I admired was the high level of organization. That being said, I do not know how many things went wrong or how often the festival had to deviate from the initial plan, however the fact that I did not notice, and others did not notice, is commendable. It is inevitable that things will go wrong in an event like this, but it is how the staff deals with it that matters, and if it is dealt with smartly and efficiently, the filmmakers and attending audience will never be phased.

In summation, I have learned a few things from attending the festival, and have even been inspired to begin a few new projects for Visions, such as the newspaper. Overall, the distinct attribute of Cucalorus is their voice and character. I believe that Visions can be seen as a different case because of the year to year staff, however the undergraduate element must be consistent, and each new staff must find their own personality and commit to it fully in image and voice.

Visions Work Log 9/12 - 9/19

-Contacted Jacob Mertens for potential Alumni Interview-confirmed for December

-Worked w/ Maddie on Indiegogo marketing and  approach

-Began research on certain festival's "history" pages (look and format of the Alumni interview page)

-Donated to Indiegogo

-Director Meeting

-Website and Marketing Meeting--discussed new fundraising plan w/ Audra, Indiegogo social media, needed website updates w/ Channing, and new artwork/posters for Kyle (indiegogo & party, new tour)

Procrastination....Yeah I'll do this later

Well...this is awkward. My first blog post in over a month and the subject is procrastination. How ironic.

Of my main procrastination causes, I would have to say being overextended, under trained, and a perfectionist are usually the cause for my late nights in the library and lack of sleep.

My blog entries (and lack there of) are directly related to being overextended, whether it be from assignments in other classes or projects going on in Visions. I do work very hard on these assignments, papers, and projects, however I create a hierarchy of tasks. I do not think creating a hierarchy of task is necessarily a bad thing to do...as long as you complete the task that may come lower on the totem pole in a timely fashion...which I have obviously failed to do based on this late blog entry!

In regards to being under trained, this has to do mostly with my role as marketing content director--a position that I am very honored to be chosen for. This isn't saying that I am not doing what I need to do or don't enjoy this applied learning experience...but because it is a learning experience, and I have not worked with marketing extensively in the past, I find myself lost at times with potential tasks. This leads to some procrastination. However, I know that this is in the process of improvement, as I am growing more comfortable with the position of Marketing Content director.

Perfectionism can stem from the previous 2 causes of my procrastination, as I am reluctant to complete anything that I know might not be the best quality--whether it be rushed or somewhat incomplete based on lack of experience. So, in my thinking, solving the previous causes will act in a domino effect.