Its quiet in the fest forums!

[TMerry]

Hi Barry, let me answer for myself. I entered a fest a while back and had a BLAST, the camaraderie and discussions between all the filmmakers gave me a sense of community that I don't normaly feel as a filmmaker who's a bit compartmentalized in my location.

Lately I have been working on a lot of corporate work, shooting and editing (it's all i do for a living) and it leaves me little time to compete in fests.

Everyone once in a while when I do have a few spare minutes, I drop by DVX user to catch up and also see if there is a fest coming up. usually I have just missed
one, or there's no info on the next one coming up

SOLUTION? How about anyone who;s ever entered into a fest, or who wants to is on a list that gets mailed out a month before a fest starts, so that those of us who do have the time
can start planning at least to have a small opening in our schedules, in case we like the theme of the fest. Hope that helps!

In the end, BIG THANKS to you, DVXuser and all of the wonderful filmmakers on this site!
-Tommy Merry

Well, I for one would be very interested in knowing why more people aren't entering. It's a little puzzling when we have a totally free fest that gives away thousands and tens of thousands of dollars in prizes, but participation ends up being so low. Why is that?

So -- if you've entered before, but aren't entering now... why not? What's changed? And what would make you more likely to enter?

[Charli]

Just to reply that simple economics is also a reason. Food/gas for cast & crew when so many people's wages have been cut or had to change jobs or lost jobs. The economy was different 3-4 years ago. Lot more entries. People were not losing jobs or being displaced from their homes. That's just one factor.

[DecadenceFilms]

Well, I for one would be very interested in knowing why more people aren't entering. It's a little puzzling when we have a totally free fest that gives away thousands and tens of thousands of dollars in prizes, but participation ends up being so low. Why is that?

So -- if you've entered before, but aren't entering now... why not? What's changed? And what would make you more likely to enter?

Hi Barry,

Responding just because I've left a message elsewhere asking about the fest.

As an outsider on here, I have difficulty understanding when it's taking place. It's not clear to me what's going on at any given time.

There's old threads in the dvxfest forums which seem redundant and I can't really work out what's current and what's not.

It's quite possible I'm being incredibly stupid here, but it feels more down to luck, rather than design, that I stumble on something.

[TMerry]

Hi Barry,

As an outsider on here, I have difficulty understanding when it's taking place. It's not clear to me what's going on at any given time.

I have to agree with you, there's a lot of threads and unless you know which is which, it's not easily clear to me at first glance. perhaps the current festivals
should always be at the top of the page by default and a different color or font for their heading "Title of fest_________ Date______"

I guess I don't visit here often enough to easily figure out which fests are current or upcoming

[MrFluffy]

When i visit the forum home page I currently see a banner ad for the hvx bootcamp dvd. Why not put a second oneunderneath with a nice banner and a link to the current active festival.
Include the name of the fest and the running dates.

As I said before, including a line at the bottom of the banner "Check back xx/xx/xx for the next fest announcement" would also nail the returning visitors.

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Also, I think there's been just a handful of comments in the second round. Activity always drops off to nothing after the first round.
I would extend the length of the first round by a couple of days and end it there. It's just dead now.

Best to keep the momentum going. This just kind of kills it IMHO.

[Hawk Teflon]

Just a thought I had while talking to one of the other dvxers here, but (And I don't know how possible this is) what if the first place entry into the fest was given a free "in" into a large film film fest like Cannes. I should imagine that would bring back quite a number of entrants, and would be good promotion within itself.