Favourite things at the Fleadh?

[Jason Butler]

I didn't get down until Friday eve, couldn't get tickets to the 2:30 IFB shorts and there was again no chance of me making it up early enough on Sunday to catch the short docs at 9am! They have got to do something about the time for this screening.

So I saw less films this year than usual. Only saw two features and a programme of shorts. I liked Mummy's Little Helper & Three Degrees from that shorts programme. I did make it to the Pitching Award and it was my favourite thing at the Fleadh this year apart from the usual socialising in the rowing club/Radisson etc...

What did you see that you liked?

[Denis Murphy]

Favourite was definitely "The Guard" (which cleverly was on general release the day after its Fleadh premiere).

Least favourite thing (apart from all those pork pie hats in the rowing club) was the projection standards. House lights came on in the middle of Treacle Jr at the Cinemobile for about a minute. Projectionist appeared to have gone out for a smoke or something. My own short was shown at wrong aspect ratio on Sunday morning and hence looked like crap, blown up to the full width of the town hall screen with the top and bottom of the frame cropped. Sound overcranked as well, so no respite there (had my head in my hands all through the screening, couldn't believe it). Two films later the sound cut out entirely and there was a break while the 'glitch' was fixed. Most of the fairly large audience left at that point. Felt sorry for the makers of the last two films, if they were there...

Unacceptable.

[EoinDuggan]

Only got to see a few things in the end so my suggestions might not be a good reflection of the Fleadh as a whole, but Project Nim was brilliant and I was very impressed by The Other Side of Sleep.

[Maeve McGrath]

I saw a lot of shorts during the week which was very worthwhile. Also, I saw " The other side of sleep", the IFB shorts, really liked "Asal" . I also had a random viewing of "Bridesmaids" at the Eye
Most informative for me on a film making scale was the " What can the Irish Festivals do for you" seminar. That was fantastic. The filmmakers network meet up at the pub was a bonus.Thanks for the cake Jason!
I have to agree about the technical aspects brought up by Denis. The sound was so loud sometimes at the Town Hall it was unbearable.

[EoinDuggan]

The sound quality has never been great for films in the Town Hall, sadly.

[Ger Leonard]

The sound levels in the town hall were far too loud and overbearing on the Friday, yet seemed to be noticeably improved by the Saturday.

My short film STILL EARLY screened in Programme 3 Friday morning, where there was an extraordinary amount of technical glitches in the projection of many of the films. It must be stated though that some of the technical problems were inherent within the films themselves but these were not aided by the unacceptably poor standards of projection and the sound levels.

We had worked hard on the sound mix, (with proper monitor speakers), so it was frustrating to hear what should have been intimate and subtle appear so bombastic and overblown. I spoke to some folk after who had felt the sound deliberately and effectively "oppressive", but this was not intended nor was it the case when heard through properly calibrated monitor speakers. I spoke to Liz Quinn after, about this, as I want to ensure whenever and wherever it is next screened, the film is seen and heard as intended. My suspicion is that we will need to adjust our sound levels in our mix to accomadate the tendency in some cinemas/festivals to over compensate on their sound levels. (or perhaps insist on screening it from Digital Cinema File rather than Digibeta)

It was noticeable at the screening of THE OTHER SIDE OF SLEEP that the sound levels were again far too loud and intense.

Perhaps someone cottoned on to this by the Saturday as there was no loner any projection issues, and the sound levels were clearly improved for the Short Shorts/Frameworks programme and for THE LOTUS EATERS.

The film that most impressed me was WE, THE MASSES (which the filmmakers had fought to get shown as intended in surround sound on Digital Cinema Files), yet it was apparent that much of the audience seemed far more impressed by the rather bland, derivative, and uninspired 3D animations in the same programme.

Although both THE OTHER SIDE OF SLEEP and THE LOTUS EATERS were not without their flaws, and to my mind were not entirely successful, they were both interesting experiments and I'm pleased that they were supported by IFB.... lets hope IFB continue to support such films.

There were a few impressive short films, but I felt that many were let down by derivative "film music" , something which has long afflicted Irish short films.

The Rowing Club, as always, though was entertaining. (perhaps the projectionists should have earlier nights though!)

[mrbobdobalina]

I went to a few of the festival short programmes and enjoyed most of what I saw, along with the socialising as ye mentioned above!

The "Packaging European Projects for the US Market" talk in the Radisson was excellent too, even though it saw a lot of brave producers/directors being shot down by the panel! But it was constructive and helpful advice in the main, and the panel were good humoured and knowledgeable. The most interesting bit of advice to come from that session was to get distributers involved at the earliest possible stage of the process. I would have thought that bringing them a completed feature would be the way to go, but apparently they prefer to be involved as early as possible - even before shooting, so they can participate throughout and give guidance on the project.

[bzz31]

Favourite was definitely "The Guard" (which cleverly was on general release the day after its Fleadh premiere).

Least favourite thing (apart from all those pork pie hats in the rowing club) was the projection standards. House lights came on in the middle of Treacle Jr at the Cinemobile for about a minute. Projectionist appeared to have gone out for a smoke or something. My own short was shown at wrong aspect ratio on Sunday morning and hence looked like crap, blown up to the full width of the town hall screen with the top and bottom of the frame cropped. Sound overcranked as well, so no respite there (had my head in my hands all through the screening, couldn't believe it). Two films later the sound cut out entirely and there was a break while the 'glitch' was fixed. Most of the fairly large audience left at that point. Felt sorry for the makers of the last two films, if they were there...

Unacceptable.

I enjoyed your film. It was a good idea and well done. Noticed your credits were cut off alright.