Critique – Non-Fiction Seminar
Non-Fiction- Wanted For Disturbing The Peace
The very first of the Wanted Seminar Series, held on Friday the 22nd of August.
Content
The discussions were relevant and informative, particularly Genevieve Bailey’s contributions when she addressed the audience as ‘multi-hatted’ media practitioners. Bailey kindly explained the reason why young people struggle to get funding for projects is because we’re ‘at risk’. She claims that this treatment of young filmmakers is a huge mistake because there will never be new talent if no one’s willing to ‘risk’ giving us a chance. I also really enjoyed Bailey’s explanation of her approach to researching audiences and her love of social impact, which I found extremely relevant to young media makers who can lose sight of the purpose of who will actually sit down and watch their content.
Bailey’s description of her approach to finding, treating and interviewing subjects within her documentary was particularly insightful and something I will keep in mind for any future documentary making I pursue. John Hughes importantly advised that we stay positive in the industry and be nice to others, simple, but essential.
Approach
The opening introductory videos were a nice idea, but the clips were too brief and were not provided with any context. The guests were given too much time to speak about their projects and this caused them to get off topic.
The conversations and interview approach seemed a little disjointed when certain guests spoke for lengthy periods of time in response to a single question. It would have been more enjoyable if the guests and host were more conversational with one another, it would have felt less like a lecture. I found it difficult to engage with what was being said when the conversations dragged out.
The pitch concept was a unique idea to show the audience how the professionals approach a challenging concept from different aspects of filmmaking, although they never completely answered the question because the concept fizzled toward the end, they did still provide some insightful comments.
The Q&A through Twitter did not seem very successful, it seemed to just complicate something that should have been straight forward. The seminar was hastily concluded, which suggests it wasn’t well timed. The seminar also lacked atmosphere, they would have benefited from music in the intermission.
Theme
I enjoyed the stylish Pulp Fiction references within the seminar’s promotional material, food and the criminal references throughout the seminar segments, although I felt the theme was not present through the staging and could have been further enhanced throughout the approach to the presentation.
Staging
There did not appear to be a large amount of decoration or thought put into the staging of the seminar. I found it difficult to see the guests, they would have benefited from a stage. The sound was a little too soft at times, which made it difficult to follow the conversation. They also may have benefited from an usher guarding the door to ensure late comers did not disrupt the guests and distract the audience.
Promotion
The promotional video was very simple as was the promotional poster, but they were both executed well. Considering they had very minimal time to organise this and promote their event, I think they pulled it together well.
Grade: 65
