Last Seen Blogs
Text
Debriefing Report Meeting
Today's meeting concluded our internship journey and focused on mutual feedback and questions. I was surprised by how the film festival, functioning as an advertisement, successfully attracted people to the suburb and community. George also provided valuable advice on furthering our development as photographers.
Following the conclusion of the IWFF, I encountered many intriguing individuals and gained exposure to new opportunities, including other festivals. Notably, I had the chance to participate in the SydFest Independent Film Festival. I asked several questions about pre-planning for a film festival and gained substantial knowledge in the process.
Overall, I am deeply grateful for this internship opportunity. It imparted valuable knowledge from both the film and photography industries and led to several new opportunities.
0 notes
Text
Final Week :3
IWFF Diary Day 3 [0416]
Film Trivia
Marrickville Distreict Hardcurt Tennis Club
Today's activity is a movie trivia event, from which I mainly learned two aspects of knowledge. First, by sneaking a peek at the Answer sheet, I got a perfect TO WATCH LIST. This part of the trivia is divided into movies that took place in the Inner west area, Australian movies, and Canadian movies. I think this is a very good plan to learn about "national film culture" through movies.
Secondly, through communication with the organizers, I learned a lot about how film festivals are organized (more about the financial side and how film festivals operate). The main income of film festivals is sponsorships, advertising and ticket sales, and a part is film distribution and copyright sales, but this is not included in IWFF. The promotion methods of advertisements and sponsors mainly reflect in small activities, such as the previous Photo Exhibition and this venue, and the wine provided in the venue are all sponsored.
In fact, in large film festivals, there will be an Awards section. There is no Award section in IWFF, which is replaced by Short Movie Selection. Part of the reason for this is to avoid unnecessary competition, because the essence of IWFF is to promote regional and film culture. There is also a small part of the reason is the Funding Problem. In the Awards section, as a staff member, there will be many opportunities to contact and watch movies, and also learn how to assess the quality of movies. I find this very exciting. If I have the chance, I will definitely try this opportunity in the future.
IWFF Diary Day 4 [0417]
VIP Drinks
Canadian National Film day
I used to be funny
Testament
Today's internship date happens to be National Canadian Film Day. Before today's movie started, Greg mentioned an idea that I found very interesting. Since Canada has an International Film Day, why doesn't Australia have one? So, he will hold a meeting with the staff of the Canadian Council tomorrow to discuss related ideas. The Canadian International Film Day was first held in 2014, initiated by the Canadian Film Association. The event aims to promote the development of Canadian cinema, promote Canadian film culture, and celebrate the diversity and creativity of Canadian cinema.
IWFF Diary Day 5 [0421]
Last Night
Fight To Live
Short Film Selection 2
I take back my previous words, Benson told me that the Short Film Selection itself is an Award. Today is the busiest day. Today is the big screen Sydney premiere of Fight to Live, the actors and directors are all here. Many fans and industry workers came to celebrate, it was a very grand scene.
There are also many student works in the Short Film Selection, and I also saw MMI's works in it.
Overall WRAPS
During this internship, I gained insight into the link between local film festivals and tourism promotion through practical experience and continuous research. I learned about the operations of film festivals and their significance for film enthusiasts and professionals. Furthermore, I understood the benefits these festivals offer for both parties. Most importantly, the internship allowed me to network with industry professionals and gather information on opportunities for participating in more film festivals.
In the first week, I aimed to define my future direction within the internship. Now, I find the idea of being a "movie observer" quite appealing, perhaps as a behind-the-scenes photographer or festival participant. These experiences can enrich my knowledge and skills in "film production". With a sufficient knowledge base, every task becomes manageable.
To conclude, I intend to delve deeper into the relationship between local film festivals and local cultural promotion. Having studied the operations of Biennales this semester, I notice similarities between these and local film festivals. This point of intersection intrigues me and I will present further research findings in my final report.
0 notes
Text
Week 1 wraps
IWFF Diary Day 2 [0412] : 17:30- 19:30
Opening Night
Public Screening (Napoleon Dynamic & Winners of Young Creatives)
On the second day of my internship at IWFF, it was the opening ceremony, and today's event was the Free Entry Public Screening. During today's internship, I was shocked by the number of people who came to see the Screening. Because in my previous research, I found out that IWFF is a film festival in its second year of operation, but judging from the number of people who came today, I felt that the scale of this film festival is very large.
Today's speakers included staff from Inner West Local Council and Mini Festival. This made me feel that the film festival itself, like Biennales, is a method of promoting regional tourism and bringing people in. Because in the Public Screening, I also saw people who obviously did not come from the Inner West area (my teachers). I find this very interesting and I will focus on observing this in my later internships.
IWFF Diary Day 3 [0413] : 15:30- 18:30
Photo Exhibition (Stephen Dupont)
Today's event is Stephen Dupont's Photo Exhibition. He is a photographer I highly respect. When I was a freshman, I watched a documentary about DRC Congo. The director and my mentor at the time both said that in such a dangerous country, you can't directly help them. What you can do is document it to tell people what happened. This is also why I was initially interested in documentary photography and documentaries. Stephen Dupont's work is documentary, and he has been to many dangerous regions and photographed the people there. This time IWFF will also show his film work <KAUGERE: A place where nobody enters>.
ince there were no special activities scheduled today, the staff and Dupont himself were chatting on the site all the time. I also took this opportunity to ask many questions, so far today is the day I learned the most.
About the Inner West Film Festival (thanks to Dov Kornits and my teacher George for answering my many questions):
IWFF is the only Sydney (even Australia) film festival so far sponsored by the Local Council as the largest sponsor.
All films selected by IWFF are selected by Co-Director Dov Kornits, some are from submissions, and others are from invitations. The film festival has not yet set up awards because it does not want to cause unnecessary competition. But awards may be considered in the future. So at present, IWFF is more like an exchange place between filmmakers and film lovers. I think this opportunity is even more precious for traditional "awarding".
IWFF is similar to Biennales, which can bring tourists to the local area.
There is also a question about Location Selection. I am very curious whether the venue for IWFF is also a way to promote local businesses. But I may ask other staff about this question later.
About documentary photography/documentary film (thanks to Stephen Dupont and my teacher Anna for answering my questions):
For Dupont’s work, the identity of the photographer affects his film shooting method. He shoots Obervational documentaries, and most of the time he is "waiting things come in the frame".
But the concept of documentary has never existed in graphic/film works. Because all the content seen by the audience is determined by the director/photographer. So there is no "completely fair documentary", but this does not mean that all documentaries are fake, just that this can be an idea in the shooting of a documentary.
Finally, this is the work summary for this week. In fact, I don't think I have learned much about "film production" itself in the past few weeks. On the contrary, I have learned a lot about Marketing, how film festivals operate, and how "film festivals" attract attention to works as directors and producers, or find like-minded partners.
0 notes
Text
‘Pain travels through families until someone is ready to feel it.’ -Stephi Wagner
This Quote was mentioned in Kim Pham's Pitch Presentation for her work <Birds Hands Beaver A Fish Mint Bouquet>.
IWFF Diary Day 1 [0411] : 17:00- 22:30
Media wall Photography
Photographs Speakers and Presenters.
Today is my first time participating in a Pitching Competition "from start to finish" as an Staff. A Pitching Competition is where directors present their ideas to other industry professionals to seek interested parties to collaborate on projects. There were a total of 14 projects today, and I learned a lot from this event.
（Taken at Inner West Film Festival, 11 April)
In these projects, I found that the genres of 'Horror' and 'Comedy' accounted for a significant portion. This is different from my previous thoughts about this industry, because in a year and a half of study, I have not seen my classmates shoot or "have shot" horror movies. I think this is because horror has higher requirements for scripts and production. As students, we may not have the leisurely time, budget, and resources to complete a work with horror elements.
（Media Wall, Taken at Inner West Film Festival, 11 April)
Another thing is that I find in these works, many of them are inspired by the director/scriptwriter themselves. The most impressive work for me is based on the director/scriptwriter's own experiences, telling the story of self-growth. That is, the <Birds Hands Beaver A Fish Mint Bouquet> I mentioned at the beginning.
（Pitching Competition. Taken at Inner West Film Festival, 11 April)
Another impressive work is the <ECHO 8 Triology> directed by Maria Tran. But what impressed me was not just the work itself, but Maria Tran as a director. She is a very confident woman, and from her speech, you can clearly feel her profound understanding of the industry. She mentioned in her speech that age is not a problem, nor should the type of film be limited. Perhaps she will make comedies or horror movies in the future, she said "Why not?" (I don't remember the exact words, I only remember the general idea. If there is any misunderstanding, I apologize) And during the break time, due to my interest in the ECHO 8 project, I searched for information about this project and learned that Maria is a very experienced director, producer, and actress. At the same time, the <Echo 8 Triology> is also the first action Trilogy film from a female perspective in Australia. I think as a female director, it is very respectable to direct a "male-audience-oriented" action film from a female perspective.
（Pitching Competition. Taken at Inner West Film Festival, 11 April)
I feel that there is still much I want to understand about this industry. Through today's "Behind the Scenes", I found that all directors and producers have the trait of "confidence". They are confident in their works, and have their own methods to turn their ideas into "real existing films" to show to people. This experience has also given me knowledge different from before, and in the internship in the next few days, I want to truly understand what the Australian film industry is like, and what differences the Australian film industry has with other regions. In this Pitching Competition, there are directors from different cultures/origins. And because this film festival is a collaboration with Canada, it seems that there will be many films "not from Australia". I think I can learn more about this industry by communicating with these outstanding industry elites and comparing their films.
More Info:
IWFF: https://www.innerwestfilmfest.com.au/
Birds Hands Beaver A Fish Mint Bouquet : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TD2vFtdSE0)
Echo 8 :https://www.echo8movie.com/
0 notes
Text
'The only way to do great work is to love what you do.' - Steve Jobs
Writing resumes and researching target companies is a kind of self-recognition
[This Blog was written during the holiday of the sixth week. The reason for wanting to write this blog was because I received an email about the Internship, which made me want to recall how I got this Internship, and it seems to be a reflection on the first half of the semester.]
If I start from the beginning, the first thing I learned in this course is to be a person with a sense of time. (Especially when I didn't reply to emails for two weeks and was rated by the teacher as 'unprofessional', and when I was sick and absent during the first presentation, I didn't check my email again and made the same mistake again) This lesson really taught me how to be a trustworthy person in the industry, and indirectly confirmed the direction I want to take in my future career.
Actually, I have always been torn about what role I should take on in my work, because during the previous semester I tried various roles in a film crew, such as producer, director, cameraman, post-production, soundman. I think I am more like an 'all rounder', mastering different roles excites me, but at the same time I also believe that as a 'professional' worker, I should have a focus. This is also the reason why I chose this course at the beginning, I feel that compared to another course, this course can give me more guidance for the future. Internships are also a way to directly understand the industry and give me more factors to consider.
In the following week, we had face-to-face communications with some companies. We learned more about their working modes and what we need to do as interns. Then it comes to my self-investigation. I've gone through my works in recent years and my past resumes. As a photography graduate, I actually have little experience in the film and television industry in recent years. Steve Jobs once said, 'The only way to do great work is to love what you do.' Therefore, for me, what I did more that week was to think about what I actually want to do. I revisited the notes I took when communicating with the companies in class, combined with my previous research, at that time I highlighted four companies. Spectrum, Eden Studio, ABC, and Inner West Film Festival.
In summary, through the understanding of these companies, I at least confirmed what I don't want to do. Although I know that as an intern who is about to graduate, many things must be experienced. But at least I know some of the directions I want to go.
Use the knowledge I already have to acquire new knowledge
So this part is about what happened this week. This week, I really confirmed that my internship will be at the Inner West Film Festival, and through communication with the company, I also confirmed that my duty is likely to be working as a photographer on site. I'm actually quite excited, because as an intern I'm afraid to make mistakes, but if what I need to do is what I'm really good at, this will make me really look forward to this internship. Especially when the person in charge of IWFF tells us that we will have the opportunity to meet many famous photographers, directors, and producers and have the chance to listen to their experiences in person. This all excites me very much.
Another small thing also happened during the mid-term break. In this semester's final project, I served as the Producer in both crews. I think the position of Producer suits me very well and also exercises me a lot. I learned a lot during the early preparation, so I think I may learn more about the experiences of on-site producers in my future internship life.
This is all about my current self-reflection and what has happened! My internship should start next week, and I am very much looking forward to it.
(This article only represents personal views and feelings)
1 note
·
View note