From: Ken Bawcom (email suppressed)
Date: Sat Jan 17 2009 - 22:23:38 PST
Quoting bryan mckay <email suppressed>:
> ...Sure, we could all watch things separately on our computers, but
> there's something to be said for seeing how a film plays in a dark
> room on a big screen with good speakers in front of a real audience.
>
> Bryan
>
I strongly agree with that. After screening for 18 years, when the
AAFF stopped screening that way, I stopped screening. Also, there is
much to be said for a group of screeners sharing their knowledge and
insights about a particular entry as they watch it, and just after.
Watching on a small screen, you can imagine what the impact would be
on a big screen, but when watching on a big screen, you FEEL that
impact.
I'm sure we'd all like to reduce the plastic waste, and on line
submissions are tempting. But, time is very important when screening,
and I can't believe that looking for things on line can be as quick as
loading lots of DVDs into a 400 disc changer, and just pushing a
button to advance to the next entry. Perhaps it would be possible to
download to hard drives, and view from those, efficiently, and with a
good quality picture. But, how many HDDs, and at what cost, to hold a
few thousand entries? And, staff would still have to do the work of
the downloads.
As to how long it took Ann Arbor to accept video submissions, for
years, the AAFF accepted only 16mm film for programming, and all
submissions were viewed in their entirety. The program was selected
immediately after screening was done, and only a few days before the
Festival began. We believed that we should only look at film, because
it looks better, and there wasn't enough time to get all the prints
before the Festival started. When the AAFF was opened to programming
video, and the amount of submissions immediately went up 300 - 400%,
all that changed. It had to.
Ken B.
"Those who would give up essential liberty
to purchase a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty, nor safety."
Benjamin Franklin 1775
"I know that the hypnotized never lie... Do ya?"
Pete Townshend 1971
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For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.