Pocket Fest Directors Show Off Their Handiwork
At the Nylon Studios-sponsored short film festival in L.A., ten spot directors screened their 2-minute shorts, all shot on Kodak pocket video cameras.
Spot Directors Show Off Their Handiwork
in the Pocket Fest Short Film Festival
At the Nylon Studios-sponsored short film festival in L.A., ten spot directors screen their two-minute shorts, all shot on Kodak pocket video cameras.
By Anthony Vagnoni
The first Pocket Fest short film competition took over the Pacific Design Center's Silver Screen Theatre in Los Angeles on September 22 to unveil the work that its participating directors had created, and by all accounts the evening was a success on numerous levels.
The event was the brainchild of Nylon Studios Founder and EP Mark Beckhaus. Nylon teamed with Kodak on the project, which makes the Play Touch pocket video camera and its Play Sport companion model.
Eleven short films were shown at the event-ten by the participating directors, all established talents in the commercial industry, and a short made by students at the Inner-City Filmmakers (ICF), the L.A.-based nonprofit that was participating in the festival. ICF is an organization which has been providing free year-round industry education for disadvantaged youths for over 15 years.
The students from ICF were a pivotal part of Pocket Fest, with the directors and resource partners involving them in every aspect of the festival – from assisting on shoots, observing the mixing process, shooting their own films and even guest blogging on the Kodak site about their experience. Their film about the experience, "Pocketful of Memories," was also screened on the night.
To view the shorts, go to the Pocket Fest web page here.
The brief was simple-the directors were given nothing but their imaginations and the Kodak cameras to produce two-minute shorts. All they had to do was somehow incorporate the Pocket Fest signature item – a pair of binoculars – somewhere in their films.
Beckhaus says the idea for the festival originated from a casual conversation with a director friend. "We were having a beer and both lamenting the current state of advertising. You know the type of conversation, about how it's hard to get good creative approved. We were whining, basically. And I thought, rather than keep whining let's do something constructive. How can we do something creative, whilst giving help to others who might need it? And that's how Pocket Fest was born."
The work runs the gamut from comedy to whimsy to drama to documentary. All the shorts were scored by composers and sound designers at Nylon Studios. The roster of directors included Bob Industries' Harry Cocciolo ("Doppelganger"), B-Reel Film's The Colony ("Felix"), City Film's Kevin Donovan ("Alienette"), Foundation Content's Focus Creeps ("Tough Shit Hippie"), GARTNER's Ted Melfi ("Happy Delusion"), Harvest Films' The Hoffman Brothers ("29 Palms"), Independent Media's Tom Foley ("After the Storm"), Insomniac Content's Mel Rodriguez ("Tunnel Vision"), Superfad's Justin Leibow ("Exquisite"), Tool's Matt Ogens ("Fallen") and Workhorse Media's Angela + Ithyle ("Sunday").
The list of directors solicited to take part was chosen by Beckhaus and the Pocket Fest board. Beckhaus says they wanted full-time working directors who, as he puts it, "were brave enough to accept the creative challenge at the core of the festival - to create a film using a consumer-level pocket camera." From the standpoint of his studio, the process had its own rewards. "It was great for us at Nylon," he says. "We got to do the music and sound on all the films, and they were all brilliant and totally unique."
Beckhaus says that roughly 30 ICF alumni took part in the project. "They got to do everything from crew on shoots, to participate in post production to documenting the event with their own film crews," he says. "The best part is, some have already been offered paying gigs from their involvement in the Pocket Fest shoots."
Director Harry Cocciolo attended the screening, and came away impressed. "It was a fun event for a good cause," he says. "It was interesting to see what the directors chose to create, with the challenges of working with a pocket-sized camera."
Cocciolo says he felt the cause of boosting minority involvement in the production community was worthwhile. "The students who find inspiration in film production through their time with the ICF can open a world of opportunity to themselves," he says. As for the Pocket Fest brief, he adds, "Creatively, I thought the parameters of the project – working with a pocket camera, no budget, and two minutes of screen time – would make for a fun challenge."
What did he think of the work? "I think some looked very good, and some looked like they were shot on a camera the size of a deck of cards," the director comments. "In very few cases did the look determine the quality of the piece, in my opinion. The dynamics of entertainment and engagement are not defined by film quality. An interesting, moving, or funny piece of film need not be cinematic. Proving that - or trying to - is certainly central to this festival. That's an interesting question, and a worthwhile challenge."
Beckhaus says he'd like to see several takeaways from the Pocket Fest project. "For the directors, it's the opportunity to have fun by having total artistic freedom to shoot whatever they like," he notes. "For the students, it's a great chance to connect directly with pros in the business and get firsthand experience working with the best. And for the sponsors, and particularly for us at Nylon Studios, it's the chance to give something to others via our position in the filmmaking community."
In addition to Kodak, Pocket Fest's list of resource supporters and sponsors includes Poolhouse, Patron, Gabrielle Schary Casting, Ellen Knable/EKA, Michele Morris, Foundation Content, New Hat, General Editorial, POP Sound, Butcher Editorial, Union Editorial, The Mill, Afterparty VFX, Mike Persichina, La Provence Bakery and VitaminWater.
Published 27 September, 2011
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