Discussions about the Encounters projects have started to gain momentum. For the Fresh Flix screening and workshops, our team, made up of myself, Luke and Matt, are targeting an audience of young people aged 15-19. We have also joined forces with our fellow Encounters teammate Christina, who is working on the Children’s Jury project. We’ll be watching the films chosen for the Children’s Jury Award and helping her come up with workshop ideas.
The Fresh Flix plan for Saturday 21st September is (loosely) the following:
10.00am – Fresh Flix: Shoot from the Hip screening
11.05 – Q and A with one of the directors
11.30 – Break and segue to W3 from Cinema 3
12.00 – Comedy Writing Masterclass
13.00 – Lunch
14.00 – Self-Portrait Filmmaking Workshop
17.00/18.00 – Finish
We have yet to confirm the facilitators of the workshops; at the moment, the possibilities are Jesse Armstrong (of Peep Show and Fresh Meat fame) leading the masterclass and Sam Firth leading the filmmaking workshop.
My role will be to present the Q&A sessions and to aid digital documentation via blogging, collecting audience responses, interviewing people and so on. Matt will be in charge of the ‘Comedy Writing Masterclass’ and the budget, and Luke will lead on the filmmaking workshop.
The aim of the project is to get young people engaged with film and inspire them to come up with their own content. At the minute, one idea is to target young people with a more general interest in film and television for the screening. This is because a screening can accommodate more people than a workshop, and the range of films are of a broad enough spectrum to interest a variety of young people. The comedy masterclass is slightly less broad in its appeal, but depending on the speaker, could still attract a large audience. The filmmaking workshop is far more specific – thus it makes sense to target young filmmakers more concertedly, as there will be a limited number of places and the workshop requires a more substantial interest in film production.
After doing some research into potential ways of reaching our target audience, it seems best to focus on Bristol colleges and sixth forms, particularly those which offer film/media-related courses, youth organisations such as the Creative Youth Network and 1625 Independent People, and filmmaking groups like Kollective Media. Advertising in the events sections/newsletters of these organisations, as well as developing a strong social media presence, will attract the age group we need. In addition, advertising in the local press, like the Bristol Post, could be a useful way of reaching parents, who may then suggest the event to their teenagers.
We’ll need Charlie’s help with some of the documentation, and I’ll need to speak to Gaia Meucci, the Short Film Programmer for Encounters, to get tips on presenting the Q&A. Our main resource requirement is equipment for the filmmaking workshop, which Watershed is able to provide. Without knowing who the facilitators will be as yet, it is difficult to say whether the budget will need to be reworked.
The more momentum the project gathers, the more I realise how much there is still to be done in quite a limited amount of time! Next up – finalising the event details and starting to think in greater detail about how we make sure we reach our target audience.