[Frameworks] critiques?

[Chris Freeman]

Go to grad school lulz :)

But seriously getting good substantial critique outside of an academic
environment is tough.

I've known people that have set up critique groups to get together and view
work in progress.  That can be helpful and a good community-building
project.  It's all going to depend on what those people bring though - how
deep can they go with the language or art or filmmaking?  There's a bit of
a skill involved in critiquing and giving useful feedback that not everyone
is going to have.  That "rad, dude" person may have much deeper thoughts
about your work but may never have been taught how to put them into words.

I used to run a sort of "open mic" experimental night at a local art house
theater.  People brought their short films on a thumb drive before the
screening, we loaded them up and watched them, then had Q&A afterwards -
and continued it across the street at the bar afterwards.  I don't remember
it going super deep, but again something like that can be a community
builder and a start to finding the people whose opinions you trust.
Something like that is not possible right now, but if you are the type who
might be interested in programming community events, that could be an
opportunity after covid.  Or start it now with a virtual thing.

Also you could try to set up studio visits / work in progress screenings
with filmmakers in your community, film professors, any locals that run
screenings or film festivals.  You never know who might take you up on it.
Again, find the people who you think will give useful feedback.  Or try it
virtually so you aren't tied to just locals.  Look at the program from any
past screenings or film festivals you might have been in and hit up the
other filmmakers that were screened - "Hey we were in that film festival
together, I really liked your work, would you mind taking a look at my
upcoming film?"  It'll be hit or miss if it's cold calling, but try for the
people you talked to at any past events.

Or sometimes there are residencies or short-term things run by arts
organizations you can apply for that are like an academic environment, but
without all the student loan debt.

Take a class if there are any local institutions that do film or media,
maybe continuing ed / community ed classes at a college, or at local arts
organizations.  Or maybe there are some available online these days.

Also have some questions for people you are showing the work to.  Are you
trying to get a sense of how the pacing is working?  How natural the dialog
sounds?  How the glitch effects reinforce the theme?  The more specific,
open-ended questions you can come up with, the more conversation you'll
spark.

On Wed, Jan 27, 2021 at 6:56 PM John Muse <jmuse at sonic.net> wrote:

> Hi, Michael.  I’ve found crits (even with friends!) to be most useful when
> a., folks are in a room (or Zoom) together and can really talk through
> their experience with you; b., you prepare a few questions in advance,
> which can be thematic or technical, about the topic or the formal issues or
> their entanglement; c., you can offer different cuts (of a few sequences,
> of approaches to sound design, of color correction) for comparison; d.,
> there are snacks!
>
> It can be hard to explain the idea of a “rough cut” or “work in progress”
> or “temp music” or “temp titles” to people who aren’t makers and steeped in
> the lore, but you can frame things and focus everyone’s attention on the
> things that really matter to you.
>
> Hope this helps!
>
> j
>
> > On Jan 27, 2021, at 8:07 PM, Michael Campos-Quinn <
> michaelcamposquinn at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Hello,
> >
> > I'm curious to hear what anyone would suggest for getting critical
> feedback on works in progress beyond sharing with friends. There are so
> many different aesthetic interests and even politics so there's no single
> answer, but I've found myself looking for something between "rad, dude" and
> crickets.
> >
> > Any suggestions would be super appreciated!
> >
> > Best wishes to you all,
> > Michael Campos-Quinn
> > --
> > Frameworks mailing list
> > Frameworks at film-gallery.org
> > http://film-gallery.org/mailman/listinfo/frameworks_film-gallery.org
>
> j/PrM
>
>
> *************************************************
>
> John Muse
> Assistant Professor of Visual Studies
> Haverford College
> he/him/his
> j=John PrM=Professor Muse
>
> http://www.finleymuse.com/
> https://www.haverford.edu/faculty/jmuse
> https://johnmuse.academia.edu/
> https://www.instagram.com/johnmuseartist/
> https://www.facebook.com/jmuse99
> https://www.last.fm/user/jmuse
>
> *************************************************
>
>
>
>
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