International Film Festival: Unity In Diversity

Purpose

Understand the integral role event design has on the success of an event.

Identify a range of techniques an organisation could use when theming an event.

Use a variety of methods to design an event catered for a target audience;

Apply case studies take inspiration from other events that have been specific to a target audience.

Work effectively as individuals and in groups through the development of appropriate key skills

The management of the big events needs skills, expertise, knowledge and dedication for achieving true success (Getz and Page 2016). A number of film festivals are being hosted in London all throughout the year. This report would analyze the International Film Festival which is to be held Victoria Embankment Gardens in London. The event would be organised by ABC London Events Co. The participants must adhere to the film submission guidelines. In the event, two types of films would be screened- feature length films (minimum 60 minutes running time) and short films (maximum running time of 20 minutes). The original version of the films would be screened along with the English subtitles. This report would evaluate the purpose of the event and the theme of the event. The venue would be specified and the event plan would be designed. A strong social media message would be created which would capture the target audience. The other intricacies of the film festival would be discussed such as activities, menu, music, budget and any risk assessment issues.

The cinema is considered as the most democratic art form and the film festivals maintain peace, freedom and democracy of the country. The purpose of the International Film Festival is to promote world culture and offer a platform to the film makers for discussing diverse work. The film festival aims to offer a meeting place for the audience and the film makers so that they can share the world history, culture and the art forms.

The theme of the International Film Festival would be “Unity in Diversity”. The film festival would screen a total of 53 documentary/short films and 194 fiction films from all over the world. There would be films from all over the world and hence there would be diverse films which would be screened in the film festival. In spite of the diversity, the film festival celebrates the world culture and presents them to the audience. There would be individual sections in the film festivals which would help the audience to choose the films which would be most appealing to them.

Theme

The venue of the film festival would be Embankment Garden Cinema which is located at the picturesque “Victoria Embankment Gardens” in London. This venue has 780 “cinema style seats”, Dolby “7.1 surround system”, “4k digital projection” and others which give breakthrough entertainment experience to the audiences.

It is important to have a proper event design plan for the smooth functioning of the International Film Festival. The various events in the Film Festival would comprise of-

Planning of the film festival event- The detailed planning regarding the film events would be done in prior by deciding the budget, scheduling, invitation and the major attractions of the film event.

Setting up of budget- The identification of the main events of the film festival is identified and the corresponding budget allocation for the same would be done.

Scheduling of the film event- The scheduling of the main events during the film festival needs to be identified such as sending invitations, recruitment of manpower, main galas of the event and others.

Sending invitations to the dignitaries

Hiring of the film event crew- The key personnel of the event are being invited such as producers, directors, actors, audiences, critics and others.

Setting up of necessary infrastructures such as lights, projectors, food, screen, bouncers, sofa, chairs and others.

Promotion of the film event- Special focus should be on advertisements, hoardings, direct mail and social media network for promoting the film event.

Opening Night Ceremony/Inauguration- Screening popular films from different film makers along with song and dance sequence.

Red Carpet Galas- Segregation of galas by categories such as Love, Laugh, Debate, Thrill, Comedy, Action and Suspense

Official Competition in Feature Film and Documentary Film category

Special Presentations

Closing Night Ceremony

A strong message would be put on the social media network. Facebook and Twitter would be used to capture the audience and give them exhaustive information regarding the international film festival. The message would be-

“Inviting the international film fraternity and cinema- lovers for showcasing the extravagant international film festival that would be held in Victoria Embankment Gardens from 6 January 2017 to 10 January 2017”.

This section comprises of the activities need to be planned for organizing the International film festival. As mentioned earlier the film festival is decided to be held in Victorian Embankment Garden and the further activities are as follow:

Programming team, marketing team and event production team these teams are liable for the researching about the schedule for special events, promotion of the film festival and arranging decoration, posters for each event and catering arrangements respectively.

Venue

These activities comprise of showing a glimpse of the documentary film, animation, television, pop promos and filmed reports/records regarding the creative arts.

In this activity, directors have to say small talk regarding their movie or documentary and the concept of where they get the inspiration for making the film. Moreover, in this activity audience will ask a question to directors that may be regarding their film or future projects.

This performance-related activity is mainly organized for promoting a movie that has some performance related movies or documentaries. 

In this activity, the nomination for the movie under different criteria like best supportive character, best negative character, best animation, best direction, best critic and others. Hoffman (2015) defines hat award activities encourage the directors to present more best work in the future.

Montgomery (2013) depicts that food plays a crucial role in ensuring the engagement of the guests and thus, in this International Film Festival, a menu is provided to the honorable guests.

• Lime Sorbet Margaritas
• Bourbon and Blood Orange Blast
• Red Wine Sangria

Main course

• Roast Beef Tenderloin with Cognac Butter
• Hereford Ribeye
• Grilled Native Lobster
• Tournedos Of Beef
• Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Slow-Fried Shallots

Dessert

• Triple-Chocolate Cheesecake
• Banoffee Tiramisu
• Milk Chocolate Fudge Cake

Stevens (2016) depicts that music plays a crucial role in improving the quality of the ambiance of the film festival. Thus, in this International Film Festival a mild music would play so that when there will be a gap the activities, the audience can get entertained by this music. The music that is selected for the background music will be from the nominated movies or documentaries for the film festival. The prime reason is that this relative music encourages the directors and the nominees that their work is valued.

Costs of the event	Amount (in $)
Cost for individual entry tickets	150*5000 = 750000
Cost for decoration of the Victorian Embankment Garden	2500
Cost for promotion of the International Film Festival through Social Media	660
Cost for furniture for accommodation	1250
Cost for stage arrangement and lighting for live performance	830
Cost for welcome drink and dinner party	2600*5 = 13000
Cost for installing screens and their supportive devices	700
Cost for the wages to the Crew Members, host and the jury members	1500
Additional cost for water supply maintenance, emergency services, ambulance for any emergency	300
Total cost	7,58,740

Table 1: Budget for the event

(Source: Created by the author)

Timing issue

De Valck (2014) explains that timing plays a crucial role in planning a social event like Film Festival. Guest usually prefers the evening time for attending the evening until night. The season selected for conducting the festival is also an important aspect of planning and if not followed according to the audiences’ concern, the event may not be a success. Thus, in this context, this International Film Festival is conducted in the pleasing month of January.

Moreover, Adams and Hall (2015) moreover explain that, the more people are there to organize an event; there will be a high probability to raise a state of conflict. Conflict arises due to lack of meetings between the different team members while maintaining during event planning. Moreover, there are several activities managed by different teams and hence it is important for the managing authorities to resolve these conflicts for the successful event. Thus, proper planning in the initial stages like knowledge sharing and regular meetings and informal outing like dinner parties can solve this conflict. Burgess and Kredell (2016) thus depicts that effective planning for the winter International Film Festival should be planned from the mid of the year.

Event Design Plan

In addition to that, the planning of budget is also an important issue in event planning. It is evident that if proper budgeting cannot be formulated all the desired activities for the event cannot be accomplished. Gonzalez Zarandona (2016) furthermore explains that suggestion from experts on budget formulation will be effective as they can cover all the important aspect and divide the budget for all infrastructure, lightings, food arrangement and salary of the host and the crewmembers.

Activity/task/hazard	Yes	No / NA
All crewmembers have been provided with induction guide	ü
All crewmembers were aware of event emergency	ü
Provision of Safe Work Method Statement	ü
All crewmembers have insurance	ü
All food suppliers have certified food license	ü
Availability of ambulance and physical practitioner on health hazards	ü
Provision of Adequate amenities for disabled guests	ü
All portable electrical equipment/tools and power boards are shock proof and are tested	ü
All the generators for electricity supply are placed in a safe position	ü
All the music and sound system should follow the ‘least disturbance of other activities’ regulation	ü
Provision of Adequate bins for the film festival for waste management	ü

Table 2: Risk assessment checklist

(Source: Created by the author)

Conclusion

It can be concluded that the International Film Festival is hosted in the Victorian Embankment Gardens. The prime objective of this event is to give recognition and awards to the best work of the directors and new learners in the field of photography and cinematography. The theme selected for the event is the “Unity in Diversity” and the open garden of the Embankment Park is selected as it can accommodate a significant number of guest and audience. In order to maintain the effectiveness, the activities selected for the event are the planning of the different teams so that each section can be effectively managed. In addition to that, displaying film made by young people and their story behind the selection of a particular event in covered in talks. Moreover, the live performance will also be organized for ensuring the engagement of the audience and then the activity of the awards will be conducted. A total sum of $20,740 is estimated to organize the International Film Festival. Menu for the guest will also be provided after the completion of the event that comprised of the main course and the dessert.

Reference List

Adams, R. and Hall, S., 2015. Family Film Festival: Academic and Social Interaction outside the Classroom with Retention Benefits. Family Science Review, 20(1).

Burgess, D. and Kredell, B., 2016. 9 Positionality and film festival research. Film Festivals: History, Theory, Method, Practice, p.159.

De Valck, M., 2014. Supporting art cinema at a time of commercialization: Principles and practices, the case of the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Poetics, 42, pp.40-59.

Getz, D. and Page, S.J., 2016. Event studies: Theory, research and policy for planned events. Routledge.

González Zarandona, J.A., 2016. Making heritage at the Cannes Film Festival. International Journal of Heritage Studies, 22(10), pp.781-798.

Hoffman, R., 2015, April. 33rd Film Festival Reception and Awards. In 2015 ASCRS ASOA Symposium and Congress. Ascrs.

Montgomery, J., 2013. One Minute Film Festival 2003-2012. Afterimage, 41(3), p.26.

Stevens, K., 2016. From Film Weeks to Festivals: The Spread of the Urban Film Festival After 1980. In Australian Film Festivals (pp. 79-104). Palgrave Macmillan US.

Bass, W.L., Goodrich, C. and Lindskog, K., 2013. From Inspiration to Red Carpet: Host Your Own Student Film Festival. International Society for Technology in Education.

Bfi.org.uk. (2016). Homepage | BFI. [online] Available at: https://www.bfi.org.uk [Accessed 3 Dec. 2016].

Walsh, M., 2013. Last drinks in Brisbane: The Asia Pacific screen awards and the Brisbane international film festival. Metro Magazine: Media & Education Magazine, (176), p.42.

Reference List