Final Week

This week, I've been working on tying up all the loose ends of Visions social media. I updated the social media manual, breaking it down in to more clearly organized sections such as "voice/brand," "scheduling," and then each different platform we use, and how to use them individually. I tried to include the information I would have liked to know going into it. I've also been in contact with Jake Hoffman, a high school student who runs Voyager Film Festival. He was hoping we could help get the word out via our Facebook page, so I made one of our final posts about that. It's so great kids are getting this motivated in High School! Otherwise, I've been working on our "farewell" Vine, which I intend to post this Saturday, as we also say farewell to our graduating seniors! And that's about it! Thanks for a great year, Visions4! See you from the audience next year!

April 22nd-29th

This week, I watched and posted Kiva's interview as well as the recently published Issue 1, Volume 2 of cleo. Everyone loved her keynote address and her so much, I thought they would like to check out cleo, as well. I'm hoping next week we'll get a batch of interviews for me to post so we don't lose momentum which I'm fearful we might. It's sort of sad we're going to be "off the air" for the summer, I feel like we still have so much to post! I've also been working on a schedule for social media, for the next lucky person to take my spot. Eliza was hoping to spread the word on the student screening Thursday as part of outreach, so I made an event page for that. Volleyball on Wednesday! I'm having nightmarish flashbacks… (kidding. sort of.) Actually, I think we can do a sort of cool Vine with that! I also have plans for a "goodbye" Vine if we have time during our final. Also maybe a funny video with that vitamin C song. Can you tell this moving on idea is emotional for me...

Apr 14th-21st

This week I mostly focused on editing the conference selections with Ally. That took a good 12-18 hours at least (for one presentation.) We split them up, so I did Tyler's and she did Brandon's. We were assigned two great, long presentations so it was hard to cut them down to 10 minutes. I think I worked a bit of magic though. I also posted a few filler posts (happy easter!) in addition to Jake's article. I also thought it would be nice to do a little "tbt" to Visions4, which helped cover up that we haven't had many interviews coming in.

April 7-13

This was a much slower week than....ever, probably. Although we did get a lot of new likes on our social media platforms which was lovely. The biggest thing was uploading Naomi's great pictures of the event. Everyone got super involved with liking, commenting, tagging, etc,. and I'm still getting notifications that new people are liking the pictures, so those were a huge success! Other than that, I was hoping to have a few interviews to post by now but I forget what a grueling process editing can be, so I'm sure Steven will have those for me soon. Things we still have to post: filmmaker and scholar interviews, keynote interview, and the video race videos. And then we still have Jake's weekly blog, which is a nice constant.

Mar. 30th- Apr. 6th

The week leading up to Visions was mostly filled with prep for the event. I transitioned to posting twice a day on the main fb page, and increased the energy and creativity in the posts as well (which was easy because I was getting crazy excited/energetic.) I was talking to Zoe about a program called eventsagram which compiles a slide show of instagrams on one hashtag that you can project at parties and things. I tested that out with the help of some V4 staff members (#thisisatest) to make sure it would run smoothly for the event. We had to do the free trial version which only runs for 6 hours or so, so after talking to Ally and Zoe, we decided to just do 2 different slideshows, but with the same hashtag and an increased time frame (so all the pictures would still be included!) I think that's what you call "outsmarting the system...."

The day of the event was craziness but I loved it. I had to keep leaving the theater to post because I didn't have service (thanks Tmobile), but the constant posting just came so naturally because I was genuinely excited about everything that was happening. I figured out the most efficient way to post was to take instagram pictures and then publish them on both facebook and twitter. That way, all social media platforms were being used and they had interesting pictures to go along with them. This system especially worked with my lack of service, as I wouldn't have been able to post 3 different things all day long (I would miss everything I was trying to cover via social media!) I also got a few GREAT vines (though I wish I had gotten one at the after party...such a regret) of the video race and of Kiva's interview. Facebook has now hidden several of the stories on the page, but I counted the day of and I think my posts totaled around 40 the day of/night before...? (Since the beginning of the school year, our fb page likes have increased from 600 to 779, our instagram followers have increased from 53 to 82, and our twitter following has increased from 114 to 161. Pretty successful so far, though I'd like to do more.)

Other than social media, I spent a lot of my time as one of the drivers for the filmmakers and scholars. I actually really enjoyed doing this, as it gave me time to bond with them. I sort of became Kiva's personal chauffeur which was so fun. First, I picked up Leah, Caroline, and Kiva up from the airport with Kateland. Their flight was delayed about an hour, but Kateland and I were so excited that waiting in the airport didnt even matter. We got to bond a bit, too, which was nice. When they arrived, we showed them the lay of the land, if you will, gushed about Blue Velvet/Dawsons Creek, and dropped them off at the hotel. Later that night I drove Kiva to the dinner, as she was going to be running late because she had a job interview, and I'm always running late, so it worked perfectly. After the dinner, I drove Kiva and Chris home after searching every Walgreens/CVS in town for a razor for Kiva (Sorry Chris!) Later that night, I coordinated all of the pickups for the next morning, as I think Zoe was a bit overwhelmed with all she had to do, and I was glad to lend a helping hand and take something off her plate. I was originally going to drive Kiva and Conor, but everyone was running a bit late and Kiva had to be there for a mic check, so I took her earlier. I intended to go back and pick up more people, but Kateland was there and told me she had it covered. So yay Kateland! After the event itself, I drove Amanda and Vincent to the after party, and was happy to get to know some more of the visiting scholars. The next day, Christian and I took Kiva on a self-guided tour of Blue Velvet/Dawsons creek locations because she was just as obsessed with both of them as I was, and I was happy to do it! It was a packed 6 hour day before I had to rush off to pick up my dad at the airport (because my family chooses the best times to come in to town), but we still hadn't fit everything in so we decided to do a few more things Sunday morning before she had to leave. Sunday morning, Naomi, Christian, Kiva, and I did a few more film location scouts, and then headed off to the Serpentarium--which was amazing and soo incredibly creepy. Then Naomi and I zoomed off to take Kiva to the airport! So those were my driving duties, and I wouldn't have changed them a bit. It really gives you such a great opportunity to bond with the guests!

Okay, so I know these weekly blogs are supposed to be way shorter and less detailed, and my future ones will be, but this one allowed me to relive Visions4 which I could do again and again and again so it sort of became a nostalgic play by play...

Visions4 Reflection

I wouldn't say too many things surprised me about the event itself, in terms of operations and things. I think one of the reasons it went so well this year is because everyone knew exactly what they were supposed to be doing, and had already planned back up plans, etc,. and it just all panned out perfectly. Although I was surprised how professional it came off. I was most surprised by the filmmakers and scholars, and their reception of the festival. Surprised, I guess, seems like an odd word here, because it's not as though I assumed they wouldn't enjoy it, or that I wouldn't enjoy their company. But I was really proud and blown away with how impressed they were with the festival. That was awesome to hear, and I heard it a lot. I also loved all of them--which actually is surprising. Everyone who had done Visions before told me you formed lasting connections and have such a great time with all the filmmakers and scholars, but I just assumed that attitude was reserved for those extrovert types that genuinely enjoy everyone's company and are okay knowing people on a more superficial level. Going into visions, I thought, "okay, I'm only meeting these people for a weekend, and it takes me much longer to get close to someone." However, they were all so cool, and so laid back, and so inspiring, and so inspired....the list goes on. I genuinely had so much fun. I was also surprised--in a good way-- how much weight the conference blocks had this year. I think in the past, they tend to get sort of brushed under the rug and we have to keep saying "Visions is a conference, too!" but the conference blocks were my favorite part this year, and I talked to several guests that felt the same. Also woooo feminism as a theme! This blog is so all over the place. In terms of social media, I was really happy with how it turned out. Evenstagram (the live feeds that we were able to project) worked out perfectly! One thing I didn't anticipate was not having service/internet connection in Lumina, so I had to leave every 3 minutes or so to post something. I was really good about that in the beginning, but the social media sort of weakened as the day went on. That's one regret I have--after party coverage could have been cooler. I was just on such a high at that point... I also really liked how we had the schedule this year--I would recommend doing something similar next year. For some reason I feel like it put more focus on the conference blocks, but I'm not really sure why. The after party was awesome, though I think we should have emphasized the step and repeat a bit more. For the majority of the night, I didn't see anyone taking pictures. But who knows, as I clearly missed out on a few photoshoots! Haha. Overall, I'm sooo happy with how everything turned out, and I can't wait to attend next year!

Cucalorus!

I had a great time at Cucalorus this year, just as I did last year. Though they were very different experiences. Last year, I was more focused on the films, and I really enjoyed myself. I didn't really care about the various social obligations attached and fully allowed myself to just indulge in some great, immersive filmmaking. This year was a different story––the films almost came as an after-thought. I don't know if cucalorus has changed at all, or it's just my level of involvement in the film department, but there was a much more obvious push from everyone around me toward the "events." I enjoyed the social aspect of the festival and wished I had gotten a bigger pass! I agree with Ally in that Cucalorus is definitely marketing an experience, rather than film screenings. I think we should do this too, though it's proving harder when we don't have as established of a reputation as Cucalorus. I'm definitely going to be reading a few marketing books over break... One thing I noticed right off the bat that Cucalorus could improve on was communication when it comes to their passes. I've been to the festival numerous times and still get confused every time how exactly to get tickets with my pass. You basically have to act like youre buying them and then last minute say you have a pass do you don't have to pay. I thought this was really disorganized and it delayed me getting tickets. This could easily be remedied with an instructions for passholders tab on their website. Also..while I preferred the programming of last year's festival, there were some great stand out films I saw. My favorite was definitely The Act of Killing. It was one of those films that you just can't stop talking about after it ends. I went home and discussed it with my roommate Jane until I had to leave to go to my next screening. It was very thought-provoking and powerful. In addition to The Act of Killing, I saw the comedy shorts, Borgman, and the secret screening. I really wanted to see Short Term 12 and had a ticket but had to do some last minute 495 filming instead :/ Oh! A note on the secret screening: I loved it, and think it's a great idea. Is this something we could do?? I thought it was great.