I'm full of ideas - but no time (or people) to do them
Back a few years we had the MovieFest org team which was composed of a bunch of people round the country that wanted to further the MovieFest vision. There was an email list and some discussion - and we managed to pull together some of the best MovieFests to date.
Moving forward, MovieFest as a yearly competition is fairly static - as a formula for content creation it is successful, but the part of the vision where the MovieFest Trust gets these up and coming movie-makers showcased to the world - or at least their peers - is slightly stymied by the laws and things that cripple public showcasing of video publications, and by locational issues - you might get 100 people physically to view the movies at a screening - but at the cost of hiring a venue, projectors, screen etc etc is prohibitive. Saying that YouTube is a great way to get views. MovieFest have a channel and most of the entries are up there.
To generate more interest in digital video production I'd like to run a bi-monthly repeating short movie competition - short movies - on a topic, with small prizes for the best from local businesses (local meaning ones in your own town). MovieFest would provide some feedback from professional and peer review of the movies - and the best could be entered in a yearly, bi-annual or quarterly "best of" screening or showcase. We could produce resource DVDs for schools and showcase some of the movies - and possibly get professionals to showcase techniques or tips.
I'd like to run a few 1-minute movie competitions - partly to crack some of the technical issues - basically you get a short period of time to make a 30 second to 1 minute short using some common prop or topic - and upload it to YouTube/MovieFest - we could start with a topic of MovieFest to get some self generated promotion and buzz for 2009. We could also do some focussed on techniques - different shot types or better audio, interview etc -- maybe revolving around a monthly challenge in a video podcast.
I'd like to get MovieFest entrants and supporters more aware of others in their area that are doing the same thing - maybe facilitating some local meet ups or video groups. We probably have about 500 people in our contacts that are interested or have been interested in Movie-making -- and it'd be good to get a community happening from that. The discussions list MovieFest.org.nz list is probably a good start
At present our trustees are all busy people - so a lot of the forward planning and driving the vision could best come from entrants and interested people. One is every town in the country and we can easily make MovieFest 2009 a big thing. I personally haven't had the time to donate to MovieFest to keep the website progressive in any sense of the word - but graeme has been keeping it up to date where possible.
