Blog posting written by Chloe Wilson, Television-Radio ’14, FLEFF Intern, Ashland, Massachusetts.

On Friday, March 30^th in Room 220 in the Park School of Communications, a “day of dialogue,” FLEFF Lab Friday, will occur. Multiple conversations are scheduled throughout the day, but one you don’t want to miss is the How to Get Your Break panel.

I spoke with Steve Gordon, the facilitator of the panel.  He is a current Ithaca College professor in the Department of Television-Radio and was previously the Executive Vice President of Creative Affairs for Viacom Productions.

We covered a range of topics in our discussion, but one major point that stuck out to me was how relevant FLEFF was.  Gordon talked about his experiences at multiple festivals, including Cannes and Sundance, but said that FLEFF was one of the most unique and intellectual.

Regarding the theme of microtopias, Gordon discussed the idea that it was about expanding already existing environments.  It was a different view that made complete sense to me, and I recommend going to visit Gordon during  FLEFF Lab Friday and asking him about it!

Regarding the How to Get Your Break panel, Gordon said that the members of this panel are “the best the panel has ever had.”   With filmmakers Laura Kissel, Jim Miller, and Shelly Niro, along with industry pros Kevin Lee, Carlos Guttierrez, and Rodrigo Brandao, I have to say I agree.

You can see a more extensive schedule of FLEFF events here, FLEFFers.  Happy FLEFF to all!

Blog was written by Kelsey Greene, Documentary Studies and Production, '13, FLEFF intern, Buffalo, New York

I am now in the front row watching Helen DeMichiel's presentation. 

She is telling us about how she started Lunch Love Community in 2009 with co-producer and director Sophie Constantinou.  To emphasize her great character she says, "You can't do it alone, you have to have teams of people and lots of skills," in reference to the new media documentary approach.  

Helen has had lots of experience in the media field.  She's made a feature film, made lots of installations, and knows a lot about different aspects of media.

After a brief introduction she is now showing us a short webisode called The Whole World in a Small Seed, which is about a gardening program in one of the schools in Berkley.

The main focus of her presentation is to tell the story of why and how she started Lunch Love Community.

She says they started with the idea of a feature length hour documentary, but due to different challenges faced, they decided to "become part of the media revolution as artists."  She is telling us about their decision to use webisodes (she chuckles after saying the new word).  

An interesting discussion she makes is the comparison of a webisode to a segment.  

• a news segment goes in gets story and that’s it
• with the webisodes they are trying to work against that
• She is interested in slow media as a filmmaker rather than "fast media" (segments) 

She now is showing us a slide that has a chart titled "Connectors."  The chart shows shows the increase in active website users throughout four months.  She says a layering effect of sharing, offering, gifting and promotion lead to the increase in an interactive dialogue with the community and a growing internet audience.  

To wrap up, she summarizes some of the things she has learned through the project.  She said she has learned simple architecture works best for outline and it is important to recognize that not one size fits all.  

She said she is starting to see the issues the project addresses in a much deeper way.  

In her final concluding mark she says "the viewers are not viewers anymore they are users,."  Her push is to tell people to watch and share, watch and share!  

Make sure you get involved in as many ways as you can!  You can visit the Lunch Love Community website, become a fan of Lunch Love Community on Facebook, and/or see more of Helen and learn about the issues and the project here at FLEFF!  She will be participating in a discussion with Laura Deutch tomorrow at 1:10 in Park 220 and presenting at Cinemapolis on Saturday at noon.