Hello reader,
Here's a quick update on what's going on in Ashelylandia.
Volunteer stuff
After talking with my department(s) about it during our most recent departmental meeting, I fixed and uploaded a spreadsheet titled "volunteer needs by department." I filled in each director/department name, shared it with the class on FB, and asked them all to take a look and fill it out at their next dept. meetings. They'll have a chance to alter it later, but I need an early idea of what kind of manpower I'm looking for (how many people do I need, which specific skills am I looking for?)
Jonathan also shared some volunteer documents from last year with me. I've been researching those things and solidifying my understanding of the process. The most useful document so far has been last year's volunteer schedule. I don't have to follow it exactly, but it helps to have a protocol from the past.
Next step is to contact Luqi about getting a volunteer page up on the website and a blurb that basically says to stay tuned if you're interested in volunteering. The campaign will launch in the first week of March (March 2nd is the recommended date from the manual.) Otherwise, I will continue to collect responses from the class on my spreadsheet, and await the upcoming events so I can rope some real people in!
Programming stuff
This weekend, we all watched 15 films and graded 15 abstracts. It was a lot, but surprisingly I was okay with it. I guess watching films just doesn't feel like homework. It's really inspiring to see the level of work that people MY AGE are doing in other parts of the country. I caught myself getting really, really excited to meet some of the filmmakers behind my favorite projects. I excitedly await the class discussion on these films. I had fun with the abstracts last week, but films are so subjective. It'll be rough but, genuinely, I'm predicting FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Until next week, friends and strangers,
Ashley
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Dirty Dozen: Volunteers
1. WHAT?
Get some interested, enthusiastic people to volunteer for the V5 Film Festival.
2. WHO? (who's the customer?)
FST students, film lovers... people who are interested in building their resume, gaining fest experience, and seeing a cool festival for free!
3. DELIVERABLES? (tangible and intangible)
Tangible: a festival pass, t-shirt, free food, access to the after party (that's tangible-ish, right?)
Intangible: Resume material, a day filled with FUN, and the iNvAlUaBlE~~~~ experience of meeting fellow film students from across the country (maybe globe?!?).
4. BUDGET?
Maybe this is a crazy idea, but............. essentially free, right?
Jkjkjk nothing is free. We're not paying them in money, but we're paying them in passes, t-shirts, and food. So the cost will be the number of volunteers x the cost to swag and feed them all.
5. HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE?
The process has essentially already started. I'll start recruiting actual volunteers once we start having promo events (like the bake sale, film kid mixer, etc.), and will shift an actual campaign into gear about a month and a half before the day of the event.
6. WHAT SPECIFIC SKILLS ARE NEEDED?
We'll need people in a variety of departments. Registration booth, ushers, people to guard the door, people to record the whole thing. General skills will likely include outgoing-ness (or at least the ability to fake it when dealing with the public), efficiency, and a level of professionalism.
7. WHAT SPECIAL RESOURCES ARE NEEDED?
Mostly people. We'll also need the film equipment, tables for registration, maybe a rubber door stop...
8. WHO IS WORKING THE PROJECT?
More details to come in the following months. A lot of ACE people, some FST students, people from the film community. Projectionists might be on the cusp since they get paid, but they're there too.
9. WHAT IS THE SCHEDULE?
Send out initial interest email to anyone who signs up at the bake sale around mid. February. Send another round in late Feb. Begin to create volunteer database in the first week of March. Launch official campaign within a day or two radius of March 2nd (upload volunteer signup sheet, start giving out slots, etc.) Keep searching for people and tweaking the schedule up until the day of the event.
10. WHAT ARE THE RISKS? (small vs. large impact, likely vs. unlikely)
-Not enough people sign up (large, but hopefully unlikely, if the outreach campaign is successful)
-People sign up, but some drop at the last minute (small; almost guaranteed to happen, which is why we should secure a handful more than we anticipate needing)
-ACE members don't want to help (large, since we rely on ACE like 50% for the volunteer manpower, but unlikely since they have been loyal in the past.)
-Volunteers get sick, leave early, or cause mischief during their shifts (small and hopefully unlikely, as we should ideally get people who want to be there.)
11. HOW WILL YOU COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR TEAM?
With my department: Facebook messenger, Google calendar updates, occasional text messages and phone calls when necessary. Some presentations.
With volunteers: in-person contact (at events), email (spreadsheets schedules, google forms, general info.)
12. HOW WILL YOU DETERMINE IF THE PROJECT IS SUCCESSFUL?
-If volunteers leave their shifts happy, healthy, and maybe even eager to participate in the future.
-If all operations go smoothly on the day of the event (if everything goes off without a hitch, it probably means we have enough volunteers and they are doing their jobs properly!)
Get some interested, enthusiastic people to volunteer for the V5 Film Festival.
2. WHO? (who's the customer?)
FST students, film lovers... people who are interested in building their resume, gaining fest experience, and seeing a cool festival for free!
3. DELIVERABLES? (tangible and intangible)
Tangible: a festival pass, t-shirt, free food, access to the after party (that's tangible-ish, right?)
Intangible: Resume material, a day filled with FUN, and the iNvAlUaBlE~~~~ experience of meeting fellow film students from across the country (maybe globe?!?).
4. BUDGET?
Maybe this is a crazy idea, but............. essentially free, right?
Jkjkjk nothing is free. We're not paying them in money, but we're paying them in passes, t-shirts, and food. So the cost will be the number of volunteers x the cost to swag and feed them all.
5. HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE?
The process has essentially already started. I'll start recruiting actual volunteers once we start having promo events (like the bake sale, film kid mixer, etc.), and will shift an actual campaign into gear about a month and a half before the day of the event.
6. WHAT SPECIFIC SKILLS ARE NEEDED?
We'll need people in a variety of departments. Registration booth, ushers, people to guard the door, people to record the whole thing. General skills will likely include outgoing-ness (or at least the ability to fake it when dealing with the public), efficiency, and a level of professionalism.
7. WHAT SPECIAL RESOURCES ARE NEEDED?
Mostly people. We'll also need the film equipment, tables for registration, maybe a rubber door stop...
8. WHO IS WORKING THE PROJECT?
More details to come in the following months. A lot of ACE people, some FST students, people from the film community. Projectionists might be on the cusp since they get paid, but they're there too.
9. WHAT IS THE SCHEDULE?
Send out initial interest email to anyone who signs up at the bake sale around mid. February. Send another round in late Feb. Begin to create volunteer database in the first week of March. Launch official campaign within a day or two radius of March 2nd (upload volunteer signup sheet, start giving out slots, etc.) Keep searching for people and tweaking the schedule up until the day of the event.
10. WHAT ARE THE RISKS? (small vs. large impact, likely vs. unlikely)
-Not enough people sign up (large, but hopefully unlikely, if the outreach campaign is successful)
-People sign up, but some drop at the last minute (small; almost guaranteed to happen, which is why we should secure a handful more than we anticipate needing)
-ACE members don't want to help (large, since we rely on ACE like 50% for the volunteer manpower, but unlikely since they have been loyal in the past.)
-Volunteers get sick, leave early, or cause mischief during their shifts (small and hopefully unlikely, as we should ideally get people who want to be there.)
11. HOW WILL YOU COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR TEAM?
With my department: Facebook messenger, Google calendar updates, occasional text messages and phone calls when necessary. Some presentations.
With volunteers: in-person contact (at events), email (spreadsheets schedules, google forms, general info.)
12. HOW WILL YOU DETERMINE IF THE PROJECT IS SUCCESSFUL?
-If volunteers leave their shifts happy, healthy, and maybe even eager to participate in the future.
-If all operations go smoothly on the day of the event (if everything goes off without a hitch, it probably means we have enough volunteers and they are doing their jobs properly!)
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
"A Festival of Their Own" Response
This was an interesting read. As a young filmmaker, reading about success stories from up-and-comers is really exciting and inspiring. Festivals are especially fun to read about, because it seems like that's where it all starts if you're a person who wants to make your own films.
I think one of the biggest things we can take from this is the extensive commentary on the atmosphere of the festival. Koury talks a lot about energy and atmosphere, and how the community positions itself around the festival because of all the volunteers it takes to make it happen. Sure, festivals have the potential to bring in objectively beautiful films and A-list scholars, but what good would a festival be if it felt bland, didactic, and ultimately uninspiring? The underlying purpose behind any film festival is to inspiration and collaboration. I think the team behind such an event is a major contributing factor in its energetic atmosphere.
It was especially relevant for me to read about BUFF because, like Cucalorus, it's run pretty much completely by volunteers. It's cool to know that a miniscule group of people can just pick up, pour themselves into a project, and start up a film festival. If they can do it in New York, we can do it here. Visions is gaining traction! Undergraduates from the state, country, and even world are growing excited about the prospect of having their work presented at a stellar festival. Filmmakers and scholars feel important when they present at Visions, and as undergraduates, that must be so amazing and inspiring.
Signing off for now,
Ashley
I think one of the biggest things we can take from this is the extensive commentary on the atmosphere of the festival. Koury talks a lot about energy and atmosphere, and how the community positions itself around the festival because of all the volunteers it takes to make it happen. Sure, festivals have the potential to bring in objectively beautiful films and A-list scholars, but what good would a festival be if it felt bland, didactic, and ultimately uninspiring? The underlying purpose behind any film festival is to inspiration and collaboration. I think the team behind such an event is a major contributing factor in its energetic atmosphere.
It was especially relevant for me to read about BUFF because, like Cucalorus, it's run pretty much completely by volunteers. It's cool to know that a miniscule group of people can just pick up, pour themselves into a project, and start up a film festival. If they can do it in New York, we can do it here. Visions is gaining traction! Undergraduates from the state, country, and even world are growing excited about the prospect of having their work presented at a stellar festival. Filmmakers and scholars feel important when they present at Visions, and as undergraduates, that must be so amazing and inspiring.
Signing off for now,
Ashley
Job Descriptions and Manual Response
Hello visitor!
Welcome to my Visions blog for V5! I'll start by saying that I'm really excited to be here. I usually try to only take classes I have a personal interest in, so I usually like most of my classes, but I walked into a realization during a studies course today that I am there to absorb information. Classes are essentially what you make of them. I really try to learn from critical studies courses; while I'd probably rather be putting my hands on film equipment and making creative decisions that I can call my own, I still don't SUPER hate the studies and history classes I have to take, because I still hope that subliminally they'll make me a better filmmaker. But it gets redundant sometimes and starts to feel useless. This week, we watched a film — now, I'm not saying it was bad, but I did not particularly enjoy it — and listened to a professor tell us why we were wrong about reasons we cited that made it "different." For the first time in my college career, that I myself recognized at least, I found myself in a lecture where I felt like an object. Anyway, the point of that story is that Visions feels like the opposite for me, which is so exciting. Not only is it a class where I'm an active member, but I'm important. I have responsibility and a certain level of control over certain things. If I don't perform, not only is that a bad grade, but it will affect actual people. That's terrifying and exhilarating. But it doesn't feel useless, which is so important. And I'm really excited to be part of it.
Anyway. Actual response to manual/job description readings now.
WHAT I LEARNED: I'm 1000% responsible for wrangling enthusiastic, hardworking, skillful volunteers to help pull off V5. I pretty much knew that going into the class, but one thing I didn't realize was how structured the process is. There's a recommended protocol, and week-by-week steps to complete. And it starts as early as NOW. The more I think about it, the more this job excites me, because it reminds me of the absolutely wonderful and fantastic and thrill-filled time I spent volunteering at Cucalorus 20 in November. I took a lot of volunteer slots, was very clear about my skillset and experience (including in the early stages), and showed up for my shifts ready to work. I consistently got tossed around to other stations and venues (I was in the box office department) and had to learn a lot really quickly (like, on-the-spot kind of quickly), but it was great. I spent a reasonable deal of time around some of the people in charge of hoards of volunteers (Tommy van Arsendale, Ryan Jaccard, Winthrow Newell, etc.) and found it amazing that Cucalorus runs on volunteers because people want so badly to be a part of it. It's really inspiring to think about! So, I feel like my job is not only to recruit the volunteers, but to generate excitement for it.
WHAT I NEED TO DO (by mid-February):
Welcome to my Visions blog for V5! I'll start by saying that I'm really excited to be here. I usually try to only take classes I have a personal interest in, so I usually like most of my classes, but I walked into a realization during a studies course today that I am there to absorb information. Classes are essentially what you make of them. I really try to learn from critical studies courses; while I'd probably rather be putting my hands on film equipment and making creative decisions that I can call my own, I still don't SUPER hate the studies and history classes I have to take, because I still hope that subliminally they'll make me a better filmmaker. But it gets redundant sometimes and starts to feel useless. This week, we watched a film — now, I'm not saying it was bad, but I did not particularly enjoy it — and listened to a professor tell us why we were wrong about reasons we cited that made it "different." For the first time in my college career, that I myself recognized at least, I found myself in a lecture where I felt like an object. Anyway, the point of that story is that Visions feels like the opposite for me, which is so exciting. Not only is it a class where I'm an active member, but I'm important. I have responsibility and a certain level of control over certain things. If I don't perform, not only is that a bad grade, but it will affect actual people. That's terrifying and exhilarating. But it doesn't feel useless, which is so important. And I'm really excited to be part of it.
Anyway. Actual response to manual/job description readings now.
WHAT I LEARNED: I'm 1000% responsible for wrangling enthusiastic, hardworking, skillful volunteers to help pull off V5. I pretty much knew that going into the class, but one thing I didn't realize was how structured the process is. There's a recommended protocol, and week-by-week steps to complete. And it starts as early as NOW. The more I think about it, the more this job excites me, because it reminds me of the absolutely wonderful and fantastic and thrill-filled time I spent volunteering at Cucalorus 20 in November. I took a lot of volunteer slots, was very clear about my skillset and experience (including in the early stages), and showed up for my shifts ready to work. I consistently got tossed around to other stations and venues (I was in the box office department) and had to learn a lot really quickly (like, on-the-spot kind of quickly), but it was great. I spent a reasonable deal of time around some of the people in charge of hoards of volunteers (Tommy van Arsendale, Ryan Jaccard, Winthrow Newell, etc.) and found it amazing that Cucalorus runs on volunteers because people want so badly to be a part of it. It's really inspiring to think about! So, I feel like my job is not only to recruit the volunteers, but to generate excitement for it.
WHAT I NEED TO DO (by mid-February):
- create a volunteer spreadsheet & share with class
- "During the first week of class create a Google Spreadsheet and title it “Volunteer Needs by Department” and share it with the class. This should include a column for “Director’s Name,” “Department Name,” “Number of Volunteers Needed,” “Volunteer Duties,” “Recommended Shift Time per Volunteer (hours).”"
- Talk to Luqi about volunteer tab on website with paragraph, telling people there will soon be a call for volunteers
- "First, there should be a paragraph informing site visitors that there will soon be a call for volunteers (give dates as soon as possible). Second, there should always be information on the website regarding the benefits of volunteering and a list of incentives for volunteering. In the past these have included a free badge to the event, free food, an official Visions T-shirt and admission to the after party."
- Ask directors to come up with volunteer needs
- Attend Visions events and organize and create volunteer signup sheet
- by mid Feb., email early volunteer signups with initial interest email
- Attend meetings with ACE to establish volunteer needs
This concludes my first Visions blog post. Until next time,
Ashley
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