WILDsound OCTOBER 2008 Film Festival
Video and Moderation

My Blue Heaven Comedy Singapore, 19 min.

Love Royale Comedy US, 6 min.

4 Stops Comedy CAN, 4 min.

Love Birds Comedy US, 3 min.

Hype Comedy CAN, 11 min.

Family Portraits Horror CAN, 7 min.

For Cereal Lovers Only Horror US, 1 min.

Grimoire Animation CAN, 1 min.

In Darkness Horror CAN, 12 min.

Ending the Eternal Horror CAN, 13 min.

Strangler in Paradise Horror CAN, 17 min.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: ENDING THE ETERNAL

Showcasing two different genres in separate halves caused an interesting reaction with the audience. This was our 20th month using the FEEDBACK session and it was by far the quietest month we've ever had. The audience just wasn't in the mood to talk about the films after they saw them.

We went back and took at look at past festivals and noticed that COMEDY films get the least about of audience responses. I guess perhaps it's because it's either FUNNY or NOT FUNNY for the viewer and they have nothing more to say.

And HORROR films could be described as a polarizing genre. A lot of people lover horror movies and a lot of people don't. So the audience reaction was different for these films. If it's a DRAMA short film for example, people love to talk about it because it's a genre that's universal.

Bottom line, it was an interesting evening.

WILDsound's FEEDBACK session is all about the art of finding the balance between HONESTY without JUDGMENT!

No one really wants to hear JUDGMENT. It comes from a negative place, plus it's so easy to do. Someone making bold judgments about someone else's work really isn't that productive. The filmmaker really doesn't gain anything from it and the audience and online watchers of these video don't either.

What we try to do is always give honest evaluations of the films that are screened. Mainly how the audience and moderator were emotionally effected by the films that were screened. Sometimes certain moments in a particular film doesn't work, which leads to a great discussion to why it didn't. Then creativity happens all around the cinema as people want to chime in on whether they agree or disagree. But the trick is for our MODERATOR to keep that creative line moving and for the evening to not go into that negative place.

There have been some magical moments in some of these 20 feedback sessions and everyone goes away feeling good. They were entertained, inspired and possibility learned a thing or two. Especially the filmmaker. It's our job to always make each month as unique and entertaining as possible.

One of the underlying themes for this month's event was SELF-ACCEPTANCE! Each main character in the films presented had to go through a journey of accepting their current life and faith. And for most of these characters, this acceptance was an extremely difficult journey for them.

A lot of these films were premieres and seen by audiences for the first time. It's WILDsound's job to make sure they get the best experience they can achieve, and hopefully with the feedback session make them better filmmakers.

October 2008 Film Festival, October 2008 Film Festival

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