Wrap up: Oct 2012 #yegfilm Meeting

(Halloween decorations at the Mercer Tavern, which is in the same building as Startup Edmonton)

October 2012 #yegfilm Meeting

Last night we had our Halloween edition of the #yegfilm monthly meeting.

This was our second meeting in the amazing Startup Edmonton space.

(Watching the short film SICK DAY; yup we pulled in all the comfy chairs; photo credit to Startup Edmonton)

October 2012 #yegfilm Meeting

Short Films

First off, as usual, we watched local short films. We will show pretty much any local short film at any state of post-production. Heck, I would show storyboards.

Part of the point of showing shorts by filmmakers who are in the attendance at the meeting is to get some positive feedback on the film, and also to see how the short plays in front of an audience. When you’ve edited a film for 10-100 hours it can be hard to look at it with fresh eyes.

We watched two shorts:

1) SICK DAY - 12 min - Digital - Drama/Comedy - By Sally Poulsen and Jeff Samsonow

Sally and Jeff are working on a web series and other projects and really felt the need to try shooting a short to get a feel for principal production, ie. actually making a film.

They wanted some feedback on sound quality, especially with regards to recording sound in a moving car. Unfortunately we had no expert sound recordists in our midst last night, so if you are one or know anyone who is, perhaps forward their information on to Sally and Jeff.

I believe they said the short was shot on a Canon Vixia camera, so it does not take much in terms of gear to shoot a great short. Just get out there and do it!

2) SHINNY - 7 min - Digital - Infinite Lives Entertainment

While we had a few other shorts on the slate, unfortunately a couple people got tied up and couldn’t quite make it to the start of the meeting. We’ll show their films next month.

So in place of those films we watched a locally short called SHINNY. One of our members, Adam Bentley, who crewed on the short, lent me a copy of the finished film.

One thing  I really like about the short is that it was shot at a local outdoor hockey rink just down the street from me. It’s also beautifully lensed by local cinematographer Michael McLaughlin.

Who needs help?

After watching the shorts we spent a few minutes, two minutes per person actually, going around and introducing ourselves, what we’re interested in in terms of filmmaking, and what help, if any, we needed to make films.

We did manage to match up some productions and locations, so I think we were successful in helping each other out that way.

Even just over the last couple of months several short films and other projects have come out of #yegfilm members lending each other a hand.

Raindance

Another interesting thing that’s happening is that the local chapter of Raindance Canada and #yegfilm are going to be merging events. Essentially #yegfilm and Raindance Edmonton were having similar meetings once per month. Considering the size of Edmonton’s filmmaking community it might not make sense to have two similar meetings going on at basically the same time.

So we’re going to bring both together!

Raindance is an international organization with considerable clout and great name recognition. Raindance does many things and provides some great services, but one of the most recognizable is the Raindance Film Festival which is an Oscar qualifying film festival. Also, Raindance has had a hand in helping the careers of such filmmakers as Christopher Nolan. They also provide all sorts of courses, guest speakers, and events. But each chapter is free to implement whatever services they think are appropriate. There is a lot of entrepreneurial spirit at Raindance.

As a community #yegfilm is still thinking about what kind of meetings and events we are going to put on, what those meetings will look like in terms of structure. (If you have suggestions let me know—curtis@yegfilm.ca.)

I’m looking forward to working with Dylan Pearce and Jeff Woodward and the rest of the global Raindance team to help emerging filmmakers get films made.

Startup Edmonton - Investing in creators and designers

I also had a few minutes to talk with Ken Bautista, co-founder of Startup Edmonton.

Startup Edmonton has created a new program—this one for creators and designers.

As part of that program they are also putting together what they call “Preflight for Content Creators”:

Preflight for Content Creators is an intensive, 6-week pre-accelerator program that helps creative entrepreneurs working on rich media and entertainment products that span the worlds of video games, film, television, theatre, music, marketing and retail. During the workshop, participants work through the creative development process, engaging partnerships and audiences, building prototypes to validate markets, and developing production and financing strategies.

I am a huge fan of Startup Edmonton, and also had the privilege of going through their preflight program for tech startups.

Startup Edmonton is a great place to be around, so if you think that the preflight program for content creators sounds like something you’d be interested in trying out, I highly suggest it. Certainly Startup Edmonton is not just for tech startups. Anyone making great content—like films—can probably find something interesting happening at Startup Edmonton.

As I find out more about their programs and goals I’ll be sure to write about them.

Telefilm - You Still Have Time!

This will probably be the last time I mention Telefilm for a while, only because the deadline for submission to FAVA for the Telefilm Microbudget Grant is November 16th. That’s coming up very quickly.

This grant is specifically for people who have NOT made a feature length film. It’s very rare to have that kind of granting available, so if you can please take advantage of it. I know a couple #yegfilm members that are working hard on putting together a submission. In fact last Saturday I helped a team shoot a trailer for their application.

If you have any questions, FAVA is managing the grant process for Alberta participants so feel free to contact them.

Next Meeting - Nov 28th 7:30-9:30 @ Startup Edmonton

Our next meeting will be Wed Nov 28th. This meeting will be the first with Raindance Edmonton and #yegfilm together, so it should be a good one.

If you have a short film, or any suggestions for the agenda or format, please let me know: curtis@yegfilm.ca.

Thanks,
Curtis.

Posted by: yegfilm on Thu, Nov 1, 2012