This introductory weekend gave us an insight into what we can be involved in as Future Producers and swiftly threw us straight into programming a collection of films for the Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival.  Watching 3 hours of short films to select an hour programme for a younger audience was a new and exciting challenge, particularly as the decision making was a collaborative process.  It was interesting to see how opinions were so divided on particular films, whereas others were firm favourites for us all.

On the Sunday afternoon we participated in a master class on ‘presenting with impact’, which I found to be particularly beneficial.  Public speaking definitely doesn’t come naturally to me and on rating my confidence at the beginning of the session, I put myself at the lower end of the scale.  By the end of the session I felt more knowledgeable about how to structure, create, prepare and deliver a presentation and consequently felt a bit more confident.

During the introduction to the programme on Saturday, we were divided into groups and given a challenge. My group was asked to design a playful workshop that we can sell inspired by the winning film for the Children’s Jury Award for kids aged 6-11.  I really enjoyed collaboratively developing our ideas, particularly because the people in my group all had such diverse creative backgrounds and were therefore approaching the workshop with such different perspectives.  Thinking ahead to the role/opportunity I hope to pursue in the programme, I would really like to be a part of the team producing the Family Arts Festival.