Saturday, February 17, 2007
The WSSF Filmmaker Showdown
I was wondering what would get me to start posting to my Blog again.. well its anger or disappointment not sure yet but one of them.. I understand why they are doing it but I have a feeling that it will have repercussions on the event. The Filmmaker Showdown Entry Fee this year is $50, that’s right.. They are charging amateur film makers to enter films this year.. So they can sell tickets for people to come and watch them. It should not surprise me as this is a town where ever thing costs money, and some jackass took advantage of the system last year by submitting a 5min film of him sitting in one place and thanking the judges for free tickets to the event at the end.
But I think what made this event great was the fact that it was a bunch of amateur film makers putting a project together in 72hrs in the hope that people will watch it.. That’s it, just watch and enjoy the short film, no prize..
2 years ago they started giving away a $5000 video camera, the following year registration was a pain in the ass.. The organizers seemed more frantic then ever as the number of people entering seemed to double. More professional movies had been entered; more film students from Vancouver were making the trip up for the weekend. To me this was the TSN turning point in our film maker showdown.
It would be great to see someone start up another amateur film fest with no entry fees and no prizes again (Like the horror fest – still fun, no fee, no real prize, still a sell out event). Sure some of the films were not as good, but they were fun to watch and make. They were people you knew in the community that make the videos, with people you knew acting in them.
I think this new fee is the next step in killing the amateur part of this festival.. is that too harsh for only $50? Think of they broke ass staff housing guy that took his computer and camera from home to Whistler, now working as a lifty or dishwasher for one season making less then $10/hr. Does he spend $50 on food or the entrance in a movie.. He already has to rearrange his schedule around the 72hr.. Then time to sleep when its over..
The easy way to solve this might be to have a pro and amateur categories, The pro’s are not in it for the camera either.. They are entering for the coverage this event gets in the world media, but they can afford to pay the $50 – hell I’m sure it’s a right off for them.
Will I pay $50 this year to enter, I guess I’ll leave that up to my team to decide.. but its fun for us and I still have faith that we can win this thing.. and by win I mean getting in the top 8 so our film is shown.
But I think what made this event great was the fact that it was a bunch of amateur film makers putting a project together in 72hrs in the hope that people will watch it.. That’s it, just watch and enjoy the short film, no prize..
2 years ago they started giving away a $5000 video camera, the following year registration was a pain in the ass.. The organizers seemed more frantic then ever as the number of people entering seemed to double. More professional movies had been entered; more film students from Vancouver were making the trip up for the weekend. To me this was the TSN turning point in our film maker showdown.
It would be great to see someone start up another amateur film fest with no entry fees and no prizes again (Like the horror fest – still fun, no fee, no real prize, still a sell out event). Sure some of the films were not as good, but they were fun to watch and make. They were people you knew in the community that make the videos, with people you knew acting in them.
I think this new fee is the next step in killing the amateur part of this festival.. is that too harsh for only $50? Think of they broke ass staff housing guy that took his computer and camera from home to Whistler, now working as a lifty or dishwasher for one season making less then $10/hr. Does he spend $50 on food or the entrance in a movie.. He already has to rearrange his schedule around the 72hr.. Then time to sleep when its over..
The easy way to solve this might be to have a pro and amateur categories, The pro’s are not in it for the camera either.. They are entering for the coverage this event gets in the world media, but they can afford to pay the $50 – hell I’m sure it’s a right off for them.
Will I pay $50 this year to enter, I guess I’ll leave that up to my team to decide.. but its fun for us and I still have faith that we can win this thing.. and by win I mean getting in the top 8 so our film is shown.