JUMP Society

That sound in the distance… WaaaaaaaaooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooo

Echoing through the tram littered mountains… WaaaaaaaaooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooo

It’s a mighty conch shell horn calling out to all JUMP supporters and filmmakers! Round up your grant writing pen, dust off those fingerless begging gloves, and get ready to cash in some favors… We’re putting on a weekend filmmaking course right here in Juneau!!

Short Film Weekend Workshop
We love what people have been creating for the JUMP Society shows and we want to see our Juneau filmmakers creating even better short films in the future so we’re currently working to bring you a weekend of short film education hosted by Warren Etheredge and Andrew Blubaugh.

Andrew is responsible for coordinating the Northwest Film Festival and is a self-taught video and film artist himself. Warren is the curator of the One Reel Film Festival at Bumbershoot which is billed as the nation’s best-attended celebration of short film. Powers combined they form a giant pulsing brain of short film knowledge and watch approximately one gajillion short films a year. If you want more information on either of them there’s a good write up on Etheridge in the Puget Sound Business Journal and Googling Andrew Blubaugh turns up an article on the Kansas State Rodeo which I can only assume he won. Yeehaw Andrew!

http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2004/09/13/focus41.html

I’ll also use this as a plug for The Warren Report, Etheredge’s website where he offers up events for filmmakers and Photoshops himself into pictures with famous people.

http://www.thewarrenreport.com

This is for you so let me know what specific aspects of filmmaking you’re interested in learning about over the weekend. How to get into film festivals, how to promote, how to storyboard, what camera to use… that sort of thing.

Like usual, we hope to make this event free to all and I think it’s something that can be useful to filmmakers as well as people who just want to learn more about films. Filmmakers interested in attending should be preparing 5-10 minutes of their best work so it can be shared and discussed. The event will likely take place on the first weekend in December and it will undoubtedly rock.

Laters
If you’re interested in participating in the workshop, helping organize, or if you just want to bake cookies for our guests please contact me and let me know what your special skill is. Everyone has a special skill. Mine is air hockey.

Look out! It’s an onomatopoeia!

KaaaBooooom!

Dang that was close… and speaking of close, the deadline for the 5th semiannual (That’s twice a year) JUMP Society Film Festival is wriggling down your trousers and about to bite you in the butt. That’s right, the official deadline is June 25th, a mere eight days away. That’s enough time to create your universe and have a day left over for editing. So no excuses, I want to see movie magic… or at least some sleight of hand.

Call for Extras
Can you act? It doesn’t matter because I need extras! If you blend into the background and were always afraid of singing in public then you’re the one I need. Meet today (Thursday 6/17/04) at noon on the steps of the Alaska State Capitol Building where we will be filming the big protest scene for one of my JUMP entries. Basically we’ll be chanting “put up the wall” in support of raising the Egan wall between downtown and the valley. If you’re feeling extra helpful please bring a sign that says “Put up the Wall”, “Go Home Valley”, “Raise the Egan Wall” or something along those lines.

Dang. If this was a blog I would have just invented flash filming.

Props to Sarah

1. Make me Laugh.
2. Make me Think.
3. Make me Cry.
4. Make me Scream.

Our initial call for entries went out weeks ago but chances are that you haven’t seen any of our colorful new posters around town. Why? The problem is that they’ve been disappearing faster than we can hang them up. I initially thought we’d made an enemy on the downtown bulletin board circuit but apparently our posters were just so cool that they’ve become instant collectibles and are getting plucked up and taken home. Last week I even caught a couple kids plotting to steal the ones off our front door. Thanks go out to Sarah Asper-Smith who designed the posters and sprinkled a little cult flavor on this Summer’s festival. Pretty soon we’ll have people throwing rice and toast at the screen.

Laters
It feels good to be gearing up for the show, I’ll drop another letter when we get the times all nailed down. Until then don’t forget to feed your creative side…. I bet it likes pistachios.

Ladies and gentlemen get out the silly string and strap on your party hats, the best of the JUMP Society is coming to the JDHS Auditorium on Friday March 12th at 7:00pm. For one night only you will have a chance to see our finest films as selected by a prestigious group of local artists and aficionados. The best part… it’s free!

Do you owe me a favor? Do you want executive seating? If you’re interested in helping to organize this event please contact us at 586-3440 or attend our prep meeting Thursday, March 4th at 5:30pm in the Downtown Library. We’ve got all kinds of things that you can do to help and if we run out there’s a mountain of laundry chewing through the floor of my bedroom.

We’re still waiting to hear from a few of our judges but I’d like to thank those who has successfully sifted through the ninety-eight short films the JUMP Society has received over the past two years.

• Thank you to the hot blooded Donice Falcon and to her handsome and wise husband Zach Falcon
• Thank you to the sagacious and rocking Bob Banghart
• Thank you to the JUMP Society’s adopted mother, the invaluable Patricia Hull
• Thank you to the keen and capable Cheryl Levitt
• Thank you to the artful and cultured Ken DeRoux

University of AK

If you’re a JUMP Society filmmaker and you’re interested in participating in the “Jump Society: Behind the Scenes” show, please contact us. Heck, get a hold of us if you think you can fake being a filmmaker for a day. I haven’t heard back from many interested parties yet. Maybe you think I’m not inviting you specifically because this is a newsletter. Tell you what, I’m going to step out of newsletter mode for a moment and personally invite you to come talk about your films. That’s what I’m doing right now. I’m inviting you. No one else on this mailing list, just you because you’re the most important. The show will be at the University of Alaska Southeast Campus on March 26th and if you want to be involved in a more academic presentation of your work, we’d love to have you there.

Winter Wrap-Up

Our last film festival was, in my opinion, our best show yet. We packed the Silverbow so full of people that it looked like it would burst. By my count we had at least 550 people the first weekend and another 90 for encore Friday. I’ve had a few requests for a venue change because of over crowding but I sure do like a good cozy atmosphere. Maybe we’ll have to come up with some sort of ticketing system instead. We did have some audio issues that were partially due to a faulty speaker. We’ll have to iron that out as well. Right now Greg Cheney is talking to the Gross people about possibly using one of their theatres for a show in the future. I haven’t had much luck communicating with them myself so I thought we’d try sending someone who looked more like an adult and who has a vocabulary which doesn’t rely so heavily on the use of the word “dude.”

I still want to try an outdoor show on the third of July right before fireworks… anyone know who to talk to about that? I guess I’ll go ask some assembly members or something. If you care about where you sitting let me know where you would like to see future shows.

Laters

So long, I’ve got posters to cook up for the big show, swing by the Thursday meeting if you want to help out. Thanks for reading… Catch ya later dude!