The Anchorage International Film Festival (AIFF) is a sprawling affair. At least 6 movie theaters screen films which are located all around town. You definitely needed a car (or a ride from a volunteer) to get between screenings. Since three films were usually being projected at the same time, it took a fair amount of planning to be sure you were where you needed to be.

I attended the festival from the opening Gala on Friday, December 2 and stayed through Sunday, December 11. I was one of the few filmmakers to stay for the entire event. I was also the only filmmaker to have 4 films (all shorts) accepted in the festival:

• Freedom of Expression
• It’s a Wonderful Day If You Like Rain
• Raspberry Bushes
• Superciliary (Eyebrow) Exercise Program

Read the rest of this entry »

Visual Storytelling Workshop

Ever wanted to make a great film? Be patient, it takes small steps, why not start by joining us this Tuesday night, December 13th, at the Ruby Room for a Visual Storytelling Workshop.

The workshop will focus on several elements of visual storytelling and look at how we can convey meaning through specific imagery. If you’re a beginner this will be a great chance to pick up some basics and if you already know it all you can come show off your big pulsating brain by answering all the questions and heckling me when I make mistakes.

Web Site Overhaul

Calling all JUMP Society filmmakers! You may have noticed the redesign of the website which features a stylized picture of filmmaker Gage Choat in the upper right hand corner. What we’d like to do is take pictures of other JUMP Society filmmakers that we can rotate in that position. If you’re interested in being on the site, stop by the office and get your photo taken with your favorite prop or costume or maybe try out that signature pose you’ve been perfecting.

Let us know what else we can do with the site… Do you have a website you want us to link to? Do you have a movie online or do you need a place to put one? Maybe we should start a photo album? Does anyone have production stills or photos of JUMP Society stickers in the wild?

Check in on the new site evolution at Jumpsociety.com

National Film Challenge

If you haven’t yet cast your vote for the Juneau film “Snarfl’xxing with Humons” then bounce on over to the National Film Challenge and get your democracy on.

January Show DEaDliNe

Better get moving, the due date for the next festival is January 7th!

Best of the Northwest Film Festival Followup

Yeeearrrrrghhh! Limited edition duck prints! Bah! Grumble. Well maybe we can write it off as a lesson in remix culture. Lesbian makeout movies and duck auctions are actually pretty funny together but I promise it will never happen again. Sorry. Grumble grumble. If anyone wants to borrow the DVD let me know.

Laters

I’m out of here but I’ll see you in class on Tuesday night. No spitwads.

Juneau filmmaker Greg Chaney just returned from the Anchorage International Film Festival where his film “Superciliary” won an Honorable Mention in the Snow Dance category. Four of his short films were accepted to the festival:

• Freedom of Expression
• It’s a Wonderful Day If You Like Rain
• Raspberry Bushes
• Superciliary Exercise Program

It sounded like he had a great time wearing his “Filmmaker” badge and hanging out with Oscar nominees at Alaska’s own international film festival.

The short film “Snarfl’xxing with Humons” created by Alaska Robotics has been selected as one of the top 15 finalists in a nationwide short film competition.

The National Film Challenge is an annual competition in which teams have a weekend to frantically script, film, and edit a short film. The filmmakers are given a quote, genre, prop, and character which they must also include in the film.

Alaska Robotics and Flakey Productions were the two local teams involved in the challenge which included 161 teams from 32 states. Both Alaskan films had to include a stringed instrument as a prop, a character who was an inventor, and the line “Everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die.” Alaska Robotics was assigned the sci-fi genre and Flakey Productions was assigned the detective/cop genre.

The National Film Challenge hasn’t yet announced any of the prize winners, just the 15 finalists for grand prize and the audience choice award. Last year there were about 50 categories including things like acting, sound design, graphics, best in genre, and best use of props and both Juneau teams are still in the running for any of those.

View the film “Snarfl’xxing with Humons” and cast your vote for the audience choice award!

The JUMP Society will be hosting a visual storytelling workshop on Tuesday, December 13th at 6:00 in The Ruby Room. The workshop will be an opportunity to learn about the basic elements of visual storytelling.. which we really know nothing about but will try to teach you anyways.

The Ruby Room is located downtown in the Emporium Mall between Heritage Coffee and Commercial Signs and Printing.

Best of the Northwest Film Festival

Strap on the moon boots and mittens, it’s gallery walk this weekend! That’s right, bring your Tupperware, it’s time to load up on cheese and crackers for your holiday parties. And once you’re done drinking wine… I mean looking at art.. we’d like to invite you to join us for the Best of the Northwest Film Festival at Centennial Hall.

Slide on over to Centennial Hall at 8:00 and see this show featuring a selection from the 31st Annual Northwest Film Festival. As usual, the show is free but we’ll have one of our poor loveable film making street urchins manning the donation bucket and a dozen more picking pockets inside. Proceeds will be split between the JUMP Society and the North West Film Center.

January Show DEaDliNe

It’s time! Start documenting the growth of your avocado tree or wrap yourself in tinfoil and talk like a robot. Do whatever it takes to make that perfect short film you’ve been planning because it’s already time for another JUMP Society film festival!

Entries are due January 7th and the show will likely be on or around the weekend of the 21st or 28th. We do like to get entries early so if you’ve already got a film in the can, drop it by Lucid Reverie or mail it to:

JUMP Society (rocks the world)
174 S. Franklin Suite 104
Juneau, AK 99801

Preferred format is Mini-DV but if that’s a problem then let us know and we’ll figure something else out.

Pre-Film Festival Visual Storytelling Workshop

I’m holding a visual storytelling workshop sometime in early December. I’m not an expert on the subject but I do have several good books and I’m pretty sharp with that googly internet thingy so basically it’ll be awesome. I’ll scrape together an overview and a few hands on exercises but we I’m hoping we can all pool our knowledge into.. a bigger pool… of knowledge. Then we will drink the pool? I’m obviously still working on logistics but I’m leaning towards Sunday afternoon on the 11th of December. Let me know if you’re interested… in drinking from the pool of knowledge… mmm… refreshing…

• Knowledge +2
• Charisma -1

Laters

Ok, that’s the newsletter. Awesome I’m done. Now I can go play Nintendo.