Month 7: Inauguration Video Diary & IMC FILM FEST 2009

Jan-Feb began a two month period in which both Nicole and I barely took a day off - no exaggeration.

The possible exception was a trip that a few of us made to Washington, D.C. for the Presidential Inauguration. We planned this trip on short notice, to correspond to a community organizing event taking place at the IMC on the night of the inauguration - the idea being that we would film a documentary, or more appropriately a video diary of our experiences, post daily clips to our web site, and then have a Skype video conference with everyone "back home." Going with both my VISTA Supervisor and VISTA Leader gave me an excellent opportunity to get to know them better and learn from their areas of expertise. Many superlatives apply to being in the capitol for that ceremony, mostly having to do with the sheer numbers of people crowding the streets and the willingness of strangers to be interviewed in the cold by other strangers.

As soon as we returned, I went straight back to the planning for the IMC Film Fest. There was still much to do, including designing and distributing fliers and posters, doing interviews with local press and arts/events magazines, recording and broadcasting radio advertisements, and working with filmmakers to determine the final schedule. The Film Fest was a success, comprising three days of independent, and most local/regional films, covering all lengths and genres. We raised money for the IMC Production group, the group I helped create that maintains the media production facilities and builds a team of trainers who can assist and teach others. I learned quite a lot about event planning and management; the small group of us that put it all together have a vast train of e-mails and Google docs that we are archiving with the IMC to help others create similar events in the future.

The remainder of this period involved less training than usual, just a couple of sessions on audio and video recording, and I continued to update and troubleshoot the WRFU radio automation system while helping to facilitate meetings of those interested in learning this "back-stage" aspect of radio production.