SO screening 3 went really well. It was a bigger audience then screening 2 and the crowd had more energy than night 2, even before the lights went out. And while we were not interrupted by distracting latecomers this time, there were all new distractions. I was sitting next to stinky, crunchy, sandwich guy with a paper bag that he liked to loudly crinkle for an obscene amount of time. Then there was really loud, shouldn’t be allowed to leave the house with whatever virus he has hacking guy, and lastly there was loud annoying 80’s cell phone ring girl, who let most of the ring play before finally getting it during the quiet ending of the film. Ohhh audience, where do you guys come from?
The Q and A went great. The audience had many questions for Zak, and the more he answered and they liked what they heard, the more they asked. The only really negative feed back/ question that he received was, “why did you make this 9 mins? There’s nothing you can do with a 9 min short.” Which I was kind of taken aback by. I think there is a lot you can do with a 9 min short, a lot more than you could do with the painful “40 min short” we saw they day before anyway.
The best part of the Q and A were 2 older ladies that had to be 65+. When they sat down before the movie I was thinking they are definitely not the IFHY target audience, watch them walk out during IFHY and come back for the film that followed. But it turns out they were only there for IFHY, and one of these older ladies really liked it, I mean REALLY liked it. After all of Zak’s responses she would loudly respond with a positive yes, or ohhh, and when she left before the next film played, she thanked Zak profusely and told him how much she liked it again.
I’m sorry to say that I had never seen Dogme #1 “The Celebration” before, but I thought that it was an amazing film. And it actually gave me a new level of insight into IFHY, so despite the different subject matter, I thought it was the perfect pairing.
So all in all, southside was a great experience for me to see how festivals work, meet some great people, and to see the audience reaction and feedback that Zak received. It was a great trip and I’m sorry to say we have to go back to reality tomorrow.
At the end of our second day at the SouthSide Film Festival, we went to see a local band play, sponsored by the fest. Very ambient, shoegazing, Explosions in the Sky style music. for me, the best music inspires cinematic imagery to dance around in your mind, and i could see “scenes” from the script I’m writing for Wanderlust playing out against this sonic landscape…. hmmm… maybe i’ve found my soundtrack already?
IFHY screening 2 of 3 was definitely a different experience than the first screening. There was maybe a forth of the people in the audience, and the short wasn’t playing in a block and didn’t have an opening act. So the title card went up cold and you could feel the shock in the room. I saw the guy in front of me silent chuckle during the patio scene, and one guy did a loud laugh mid patio, but other than that all you could hear were the late comers distractedly walking in to find a seat, and one older couple who came in with a flash light to find seats. Of course by the time John picked up his guitar the 50+ audience was definitely feeling Ron’s pain. Screening 2 got me to thinking, IFHY is not a comedy, so why am I trying to measure the audience reaction to the short by their laughter? Any thoughts on this?
Then we went to watch the Experimental block of short films. I gotta tell you this was rough. Experimental is not for me. And there was one “40 min short” that pushed my patience to the limit. There was a lot of fidgeting, yawns, and glances at the program during this one. And not just from me, but the whole audience. Perhaps that should become my new audience reaction gauge?
And finally we saw the Comedy/Mumblecore block of short films,and it was a much needed source of lighter fare after the experimental experience. And a few a of the filmmakers were there for a Q and A. Perhaps it was just nerves, but it felt to me that apathy is the new cool? So it was hard to get any info from this.
All in all it was an interesting day. I really enjoyed getting to see what other filmmakers are up to, and getting to feel the festival vibe. Screening 3 and Zak’s Q and A are coming up on saturday…
I have never, ever had such a fulfilling experience with an audience. And I think this is why SouthSide is such a great venue… their audience HUNGRY for these kind of films. As IFHY played down, I was astonished at how engaged the audience was — this compared to the screening recently in LA where the reception was good, but not overwelmingly so.
Jamie said she got the impression that John T. Woods hooked the women in the audience first. and that the initial laughs came from them when “ron and carol” are on the doorstep. then later, when “ron” sings the song, the guys (probably identifying with him a great deal at this point) really get into it. the song ended to applause. and that is a great feeling, when you get an applause mid-scene, well before the credits roll.
i’ll post a snippet of video showing the audience reaction in a bit (jamie videotaped it). it’s taking FCP on my laptop forever to crunch thru the HDV codec.
here’s a local news story that aired tonight. fast turnaround. you can see I got interviewed and they used some clips from IFHY. Glimpses of Jamie in there too. pretty cool when a short gets this kind of attention from a festival considering its usually reserved for features and feature filmmakers.
postcards advertising the screening of our short. pretty much the first one people picked up when they came to the table.
reporter for local newspaper. he pretty much said he couldn’t do a story on IFHY because of the title. that’s okay. i was warned he was weird.
some festival volunteers. couldn’t resist the symmetry between them and the mural so i snapped a few of them.
documentary crew in front of a huge Pirates of the Caribbean mural. i don’t know.
This is Jeff. He owns Deja Brew and has been championing IFHY since he day he saw it. great, great guy.
this is Graham. he runs the show basically and look much more stressed here than he actually was. very cool. let me swap out the copy they played at tonight’s screening for a better version right before we started.
this is the procession from the gallery to the theater. there were cops blocking off the road so the crowd could move freely through the streets.
The SouthSide Film Festival has the distinct reputation for being one of most filmmaker friendly festivals going. Their heart is definitely in the right place. I made the decision to attend this fest about a month ago and I thought I’d share some stories here, as they happen, with other DVXusers who may or may not have had the opportunity to usher their work through the festival circuit.
it’s nearly 6am in Pennsylvania. Jamie and I flew in yesterday to Baltimore and drove north in a rented SUV. Spent the night at my mom’s, who lives near Harrisburg. We’ll be making our way this afternoon to Lehigh Valley for the opening day of the fest. IFHY is one of half a dozen films screening opening night and apparently the whole thing kicks off with a bagpipe parade at 7pm. i’ll definitely get some video of that. i’ve got my trusty HV20 and a new Nikon D40 with which i’ll be documenting the experience and uploading here.
Zak : We'll be at the Times BFI London Film Festival Oct 22!
Marion : Go Sabi!
Zak : done and d... OU*CH@ FUCK!!
jtw : how bout we meet at my place at 2:00pm, then we can all drive to century city while i run into SpikeTV for 15 minutes and then we'll leave from there? I think one of us should break a bone, for good luck. takers?
Zak Forsman : i've got a better idea, let's wait until 4pm!
Jamie : How very unexpected. Count me in...
Zak : great idea!
john t. woods : Hey, let's go to Sacramento tomorrow on a whim.
Zak : What's up! We Fucking Love You! Drop us a note right here.
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