Comments on January 2010 JUMP Festival
I found the new venue to be both a positive and negative experience. The down side was that the audiences seemed to behave much more formally. The Friday audiences barely clapped or laughed at all. This really was a change from the dynamic excitement that somehow flows through the Silverbow. Saturday’s 7pm crowd was more responsive and the last show at 9pm was the best crowd of the festival. Some of the people I asked about their impression of the two venues, felt that not having real food was another big missing element. With the fixed rows of theater seats, people really didn’t move much during intermission and with the isles being so narrow, people didn’t linger as much as they did in the Silverbow after the shows.
On the positive side, the actual movie watching experience was far superior at the Nickelodeon. Sound and picture quality were much better in every respect. Since the Lucid Reverie crew was running the place, everything was much more stable and predictable than at the Silverbow.
It seems that some of the old energy returned Saturday because there were a few people who started leading the clapping after each film and because the Lucid Reverie crew put in a few chairs and maybe everyone relaxed a little bit. If we decide to continue at the Nickelodeon, then we should probably work a little more overtly on cultivating the positive energy.
My only real complaint is that I didn’t like the over 21 restriction on the 9pm shows. I know that lots of people under 21 came to the late shows at the Silverbow. If there is something that we can do to allow alcohol sales, and still be inclusive, then I’d like to explore that. I know that some folks thought that alcohol sales would boost audience participation but the Friday 9pm “alcohol” crowd was less responsive than the 7pm “sober” Saturday crowd, so I don’t think the relationship between enthusiasm and alcohol is that clear.
Now for a few thoughts about the entries themselves:
JUMP Intro
Nice opening sequence. Aaron is a man of many talents. I liked Libby breaking ice in her extra-toughs. My only minor comment is that when Aaron and Libby were talking the soundtrack changed completely depending on who was on screen. A little blended background sound would have been a slight improvement. But hey, with those kind of special effects, who’s needs audio?
Butterflies of Iguazu
This was a great light hearted start to the festival. Oksana was very enthusiastic in telling her side of the story and Arlo also made it fun. I was impressed that they were able to make such an engaging little film about one butterfly encounter.
The Orphan
Excellent miniatures and stop motion animation. I was able to follow the story pretty well until the last few seconds. Once the witch was pushed into the river, I got a little confused. After watching it a couple of times, I figured it out. It’s always tough to tell a
story without words. The musical accompaniment was cool.
A Documentary Study
(Fear of Birds) I really liked the shot of the girl standing in front of the mural on City Hall with a giant eagle behind her as she described her fear of birds. The ending was a little abrupt. Maybe add a concluding sequence next time… But all in all this was fun and concise.
Actual Warning Label
Hard to believe this was a real warning. The lawyers must have worked overtime on this one. It sounds like the device is something you would want sealed in a high security vault, not something that you would willingly bring into your house. What a great marketing strategy. Nice job of blowing up the house…
Montana Creek Fish Trap
I was recruited by the City Museum to make a three minute silent documentary to be shown along side the display of the Montana Creek Fish Trap. I dusted off an old VHS tape shot by Bob Betts during the excavation and started editing. I entered it in the JUMP festival as an afterthought. I was surprised at the positive feedback it got. I might be inspired to work on it a little more.
Slight of Hand
I liked this one. I am somewhat biased because my son Connor is in it. It was fun for me to watch because I didn’t have anything to do with the production. The first time I saw it was at the festival. My only negative comment was that one of the cards was a 4 then cut to an Ace during the close-up and then went back to a 4 in the medium shot. This confused me. I felt like the whole story built up to going to the fiction reading but it ended before we got there. I wanted just a little more… (which is a compliment)
City one Minutes – there are a lot of these so I’ll be brief:
Dawn
I could smell the rotten fish. I liked the boats that looked like they were traveling on land.
Rain Forest
Cope Park can be wet, pretty and dreary all at the same time.
One Minute Adventure.
One minute isn’t much time to tell a story, it was a fun challenge.
Tracey Fjord
Very cool (ice cold) image of a glacier calving. I like the lady on the boat who seemed completely lost.
Whales
A very nice day and we got really lucky.
Alaska Weddings
This was the first wedding video that I have seen that didn’t include any expression of joy. Very enigmatic.
Shipyard
This captured the independent spirit of wooden boatbuilding in Juneau. This is rare and wonderful thing.
Tongue
I couldn’t watch this. A tongue is too precious to waste.
Basketball
Nice day at Capital Park.
Fishing
Neat what you can do with a tripod and a camera and one cast/crew/writer/director man of many talents.
Derring and Down
I didn’t realize that a guitar was a percussion instrument. It looked like a fun night out.
Back in Town
Excellent silent love story. This short really told a story in one minute without words.
Clock
I enjoyed seeing the clock run fast in time lapse. Especially with the bar sounds in the background. I liked the idea of moon time lapse but the moon was too blurry for me to fully enjoy.
Requiem
This was very cinematic. A rainy night can be a beautiful thing in the right filmmaker’s hands.
Hippo's Party
This was a very well executed claymation project. I liked that it was not dialog driven but the story was clear and fun. The hippo’s expressions made the whole thing accessible. I need to find a rubber ducky that can change its expression!
Juneau Fine Arts Camp Shorts
This was fun, short and engaging. Keep making those fun movies.
Ultro Mysterio
This movie really tested my extremely rusty Spanish. I loved the lighting and feel of this film. It really made Juneau look like something out of an old detective motion picture. It was funny and visually engaging. I would have liked subtitles though, Mrs. Figgarola (my Spanish teacher) would not be proud of me.
Peru Roughcuts: The Road
A very good documentary. I like the cuts between the two story tellers and the actual footage. The cuts between the two women as they spoke was almost seamless. Their stories complimented each other so well, it appeared to be scripted. The only disappointment was that the whole thing built up to an image of a bus hanging on the edge of a cliff but there wasn’t a single picture. How frustrating for the audience after all of the build up. Arlo later told me that the whole event was so traumatic that he didn’t feel appropriate grabbing his camera and taking advantage of these people’s misfortune. I applaud his humanitarianism (but damn it Arlo, that’s what American’s are supposed to do!) and think he should have mentioned that in the documentary as well.
Remodeling
Before I made this movie I handed the script around to a few people that I trusted and 2/3 didn’t like it. So I decided to make the short film anyway. Guess what? Only about 1/3 of the audience liked it. Hmm… funny how that works.
Filejerks Rap Session
I would have liked a little back story to go with the rap footage. Who are these guys? It was a nice slice of Juneau nightlife.
Beard Clippings
Well this was an interesting approach to an age old problem (critical missing footage) it goes back to Noah and the 15 commandments. I thoroughly enjoyed this documentary but I was really engaged in the subject and wanted to see Aaron on stage. I felt that the photos could have been left on the screen just a little longer to satisfy my curiosity about the subject of the documentary (I mean wow, Aaron won Alaskan Whaler 2nd place!) without ruining the joke. But even so, it was a fun documentary.