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View Full Version : Déjà vu – Plea for a concurrent Ad-Fest alongside Trailer-Fest?



Blue_Food
07-02-2009, 10:47 AM
I don’t wish to moan here, especially considering I’m a new member, but what the heck – I’m going to anyway!

Am I the only one who is a little disappointed by the sense of déjà vu brought about by the announcement of ‘Trailery-er Fest’, and a little puzzled as to why the same theme would be repeated twice in a row, especially considering the less-than-spectacular turnout (in terms of the number of participants) the last time around?

From a personal perspective, I just can’t seem to find myself getting excited by the idea of producing a mock-trailer for an imaginary film – which is fine; I don’t expect every theme to cause every potential participant to become flooded with inspiration each time around, and I don’t deny that it could be a fun and educational experience.

However there are also practical elements that somewhat turn me off the idea, and I’d be surprised if no else shared them. The thing is that in order to produce a trailer for what appears to be a ‘real movie’, one is likely to have to put just as much time, effort, and – most importantly – money into the project as one would if they were making an actual film, in terms of the number of locations, cast-members, etc.

I also think it’s possible that we’re more likely to attract interest and favours from potential collaborators if we tell them that we are working on a spec commercial, as opposed to a trailer for a non-existent movie.

Considering the fact that the Trailer-Fest 2 deadline is four months away, is there any chance (depending on the level of interest) that perhaps an actual Ad-fest could be run concurrently alongside Trailer-Fest (maybe with a more imminent deadline – say, two months, and a shorter max-duration – say thirty to sixty seconds)?

My suggestions in terms of how themes/rules might be approached would be if participants were given (a) A type of product, and (b) the name of that product – and then be free to go from there. Types of product could be anything from a soft drink, a fragrance, a newspaper/magazine, a pain-killer, a chocolate bar, a piece of software, a brand of condoms – whatever (my personal picks would be fragrance or pain-killer!). The product would be given a snappy, befitting name, and then we filmmakers-cum-admen are free to brand it how we choose, design the logo and packaging, decide who our target is, and produce a spot in a style that we consider appropriate, whether that may be quirky, hip, sophisticated, romantic, etc.

Anyway, I hope that this rather long post is not taken in the wrong way; these are just my suggestions, and I’d be interested to see what other members and mods alike think of them, and what the likelihood is of us seeing a simultaneous Ad-Fest running alongside the Trailer-Fest?

Many thanks,

Danny

Neil Rowe
07-02-2009, 06:30 PM
hey danny. we tried a regular AD fest with a normal ad, before trailerfest and got 0 entries. it was also one of the most ignored main dvxuser fests in fest history. Now i dont persay disagree with anything your saying in regards to the validity or reasons for having an AD fest, which is why i tried to bring it back as a regular side fest to begin with. its just that while we got very few entries for trailerfest, we got more than with a standard adfest, and slot of requests for a repeat since trailers are fun to make and people didnt notice or missed out on the first one. AAAANYway. id have to say your way off in terms of making a trailer taking as much rescources as making a solid feature film, beginning with the fact that you dont even have to have a solid story behind it. no comparision whatsoever there. however, how bout i meet you somewhere in the middle and simply shorten up the time for this fest, and afterwards ill take a poll on who would like to do what with adfest within a few choices, and steer it from there in the direction the community seems to favor. adfest is for the community afterall so ive got no problem shifting things to serve that community better. this time around though well stick with trailerfest 2 since the community that took notice seemed to welcome it and want it back and then well take another look to see where we stand. :)

Blue_Food
07-03-2009, 06:44 AM
Hi Neil,

Thanks for the response. I also see you’ve already gone ahead and brought the Trailer-Fest deadline forward too, which I think makes sense in any case – so thanks for that too!

I admit that I was rather exaggerating when I compared the required resources for making a trailer vs. an actual film. I suppose I was just imagining the potential frustration one might feel after spending hours dressing and lighting a great remote location for a single line of dialogue or something! Then again, I suppose sometimes that situation would be called for during an actual production…

I wasn’t actually aware of Ad-fest’s 2007 appearance as the main event, so thanks for pointing that out, and I will have to check out those entries later on. Regarding the failure of its first outing as a side fest, I think it’s possible that people may have found the theme – promoting the site itself – potentially exploitive. I’m not saying that’s how I saw it, but I suppose I could forgive someone for thinking that way.

Anyway, I look forward to seeing how the fest evolves, and appreciate that you’ve taken my thoughts on board, and even gone so far as to shorten the deadline. I think that this particular side-fest has great potential to produce some mini-masterpieces for everyone’s reels, and I sincerely hope to see it thrive… So I guess I should just shut up, get over my reservations about this round, and start thinking about what I can contribute to it!

Thanks again,

DP

JonB
07-07-2009, 07:12 PM
I really like the idea of a Trailer Fest, and I think many other people do as well. But I understand its not everyone's cup of tea. What about making Trailer Fest its own side competition? So it would be a trailer everytime, but you would have to make a different genre or more specific required elements, and leave Ad Fest as its own competition and make it more Ad-based (ie A hairspray, soda, etc.)

Idk, just a thought...

Jake

Neil Rowe
07-07-2009, 09:15 PM
well, trailers are ads.. for films. .. but of course i understand what your saying. :) we'll just try to get more participation first in either before we try to split anything up though. ;)

JonB
07-07-2009, 09:24 PM
well, trailers are ads.. for films. .. but of course i understand what your saying. :) we'll just try to get more participation first in either before we try to split anything up though. ;)

Yes, yes. Of course. I have a feeling participation should be up for this round of Trailerfest. I know will be at least from myself ;)

John LaBonney
07-13-2009, 11:56 AM
I was also a little surprised to find that the next AdFest challenge was to do another trailer, but I think at this stage it's important for this mini-fest to gain a little traction. If Neil's saying that there's a bunch of leftover interest in the trailer theme, then I think that for the moment it's not a bad idea to sacrifice a little variety in order to pump up the number of entries and get the membership more interested.

AdFest serves a different purpose than the DVXFest, and it offers the opportunity to learn and practice some assignments one might get in the real world outside of narrative filmmaking. Trailer-ediitng, commercial-making, coporate video projects, and who knows what else. I believe there will be all kinds of different and interesting challenges for AdFest in the future; give it a chance to grow a little.