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Monday, October 30, 2017

STUDIO SWAP

Just a fun news today about the STUDIO SWAP!
This sounds like a great idea!
Studio Swap is a website initiated by the Nordic Art Association in Sweden. The aim of this website is to provide a simple and effective way for artists to contact each other and to exchange their studios with each other and in this way develop international networks.
The Nordic Art Association is an organization with the aim of developing networks in the field of visual arts in the Nordic countries and worldwide.
Put up your studio for rent or Swap it with someone else´s anywhere on the globe… and please share the word.
no deadline.
more info: http://www.studioswap.org/





On the "transartists" website (the one for the artistic residencies research) there is also a dedicated space for studios swapping and/or reasarch
http://www.transartists.org/studio-spaces

Monday, October 23, 2017

correzioni

le famose correzioni





quella cosa che in qualsiasi lavoro su commissione arriva. Sempre.



Fanno parte della vita dell'artista e del freelance, infatti apparentemente devono SEMPRE esserci delle correzioni.
Sono anche una cosa positiva, come un feedback, perché lasceranno il cliente più soddisfatto alla fine del progetto.


Ma possono anche diventare un incubo, e per di più un incubo non pagato, che si protrae oltre il tempo prestabilito, che porta frustrazione da entrambe le parti.

Ci sono però alcune accortezze da tenere a mente per viverle meglio con le correzioni:


- contarle già nel preventivo
 sia come soldi che come tempo (nel piano di produzione), è bene tenersi un margine per le correzioni, per i feedback, per i retakes

- cercare di anticipare le correzioni
Cerca di capire il cliente e le sue richeste: domandare e chiarirsi all'inizio il più possibile, tenere le antenne tese per captare tutto quello che il committente desidera

Spiegare anche cosa è possibile e cosa no: sii chiaro riguardo a cosa puoi fare e mostra magari un esempio di risultato raggiungibile.

Mantieni il contatto col cliente regolare durante tutto il tempo di lavoro, mandando udates e chiedendo feedbacks

- tenere ordinata la cartella di progetto

Questi consigli servono principalmente per preservare la tua sanità mentale durante il progetto e le correzioni che arriveranno
Sapere dove andare a pescare i files con le varie versioni è un buon inizio.


Rinomina i files in modo sensato (es Project_V_03, Project_V_04,
Project_V_05...)

Invia sempre una copia lavoro al cliente (qualità bassa, watermark..) con le mille versioni finché non dice che è soddisfatto ed è la versione definitiva!
(Questo serve anche per non avere copie non definitive in giro, che potrebbero essere per sbaglio pubblicate o diffuse).


 Ultimo consiglio, in generale, per qualsiasi lavoro di commissione (e non):
BACKUP (e c'è un post dedicato solo su questo)!








Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Artistic residencies

WHAT IS IT?
An artistic residency is  a place that welcomes artists for fixed period (usually 1 month-12 months) to develope or produce their work.
There is usually an open call and the artists should apply, telling about themselves and their project.
There is one deadline per year and in some rare cases more than one!
There are residencies for development, for writing, and for production.

WHY GO TO A RESIDENCY?
Artistic resindencies are a good opportunity to work on a personal project, without being worried about "how to survive" (rent, bills, etc).
They also offer a creative environment and a "social committment" (a little bit of good pressure) to get make thinks done.

Some residencies are totally free and the artist gets a workspace and accomodation and in some cases also a salary.
In some other residencies some expenses are covered by the artist himself.
It's also pretty common that the artist gives in exchange regular updates of his progression and/or shows his work during the stay. Of course resindecies also get some space in the film/work's credits.

Transartists.org is a website to find residencies in the world (not only for animation).

I will list some of the most famous residencies I know for animation:


Open Workshop (Viborg, The Animation Workshop)

Anidox-Lab and Anidox Residency (Lab and residency for developing and producing animated documentaries - Viborg)
CICLIC  (animation residency, France)

Fontevraud (residency for writing - France)
Maison des Auteures, Angouleme, France

Atelier l’Enclume, Brussels, Belgium
Media Arts Creators Residency, Tokyo, Japan

update: interesting link for more residencies

Stay tuned: my plan is to have some dedicated posts about different artistic residencies and "interview"  some friends who did, or are still doing their residencies in one of those places.

Check the "artisticresidency" tag for this.


HOW TO LOOK FOR A RESIDENCY?

- Think about what do you need for your project development
How much time?
How much space?
What kind of material/technology?
How much money?

- Consider if you're ready to go everywhere or if there are some favourite countries (consider the distance, consider the language..)

- SEARCH begins!
Read well all the Open Calls
Make a list of the residencies you find that may suit you and write down the most important info about them: deadline, duration, money, material required for the application...

- Decide where to apply

- Prepare the material for your application (description, images, motivation letter, CV, reel... everything that is required);

- Be sure to have read well all the information about the residency before applying or asking many questions per e-mail;

- Send your applications: send to every residency the material they require and tell them why you really want to go in that place rather than another;

- if you get accepted: CONGRATULATION!
being well organized is crucial to get the best from a residency experience!
Make a production plan and stick to it during your stay!
Start your residency adventure full of energy and enthusiasm, you'll do great!

Good luck with your resindency research and projects!

come impostare un INVOICE (fattura)



Quando un anno e mezzo fa mi sono trovata a dover emettere la prima fattura, non sapevo da dove cominciare.

Così mi sono messa disperatamente a cercare online, chiedere in giro, finché mi sono costruita un modello template.


Questa che condivido con voi è la struttura di una fattura che uso tutt'oggi, per lavori freelance, specialmente con l'estero.
Forse non è perfetta, ma spero e penso che possa esservi utile.
Consigli e suggerimenti, sempre benvenuti.






 








La questione di quanti soldi chiedere è un'altra, e la tratto nel post "come fare un preventivo" ;)
Vedi anche questo post su come dare un valore e una direzione al tuo lavoro

Monday, October 16, 2017

event report: ANIMATOU

6-14 ottobre 2017

ANIMATOU è un festival di animazione a Ginevra, in Svizzera.
Quest'anno (2017) si trattava della 12esima edizione e l'Italia era invitato d'onore. 


website
Facebook





Periodo di festival a raffica per me ultimamente.

In questo caso sono riuscita ad andare al festival di Animatou solo per gli ultimi giorni: prima di tutto perché mi trovavo in Cina al festival di Hancheng, poi perché Animatou mi offriva solamente due notti.


Quindi il mio commento è un po' limitato al tempo che ho trascorso lì, ma cercherò di descrivere tutto quello che sono riuscita a carpire negli ultimi tre giorni.

 

Il festival proietta i suoi programmi in 6 diversi cinema sparsi per la città. Animatou ha anche qualche accordo con un paio di posti per bere e mangiare e qualche esposizione.

Il tutto è facilmente raggiungibile a piedi, ma, per i più pigri, l'hotel Cornavin in cui eravamo alloggiati, offre ai suoi ospiti anche una carta dei trasporti di Ginevra per la durata del soggiorno. La città di Ginevra è molto bella e internazionale ed è stata particolarmente calda e soleggiata in questo metà ottobre.




 




Sono stata solo in due sale di proiezione: una si trova nel MEG, Musée d'ethnographie de Genève, un edificio architettonicamente meraviglioso e che ospita un museo etnografico gratuito e bellissimo + altre esposizioni temporanee.
Un'altra proiezione è stata fatta allo Spoutnik, un centro sociale molto undergroud e accogliente.

La selezione di animazioni era varia e interessante.
C'erano alcuni lungometraggi (premiere e avant premiere), non molti e purtroppo proiettati una sola volta.


Principalmente cortometraggi divisi in "corti internazionali",  giovane pubblico", " corti sperimentali", "documentari", "corti svizzeri", e un programma speciale. Questi erano tutti in competizione e gareggiavano per 6 premi, assegnati da 6 giurie differenti.
I premi variano da 3000 a 1000 franchi, oppure all'acquisto da parte di una televisione svizzera, oppure ancora due giorni di registrazione in uno studio di suono. Inoltre sono state assegnate alcune menzioni.
Vi erano poi tre retrospettive sull'Italia, proposte da Andrea Martignoni: retrospettiva storica, pubblicità e retrospettiva contemporanea.
Infine vi era un programma speciale sulla scuola CSC di Torino, uno su Animaphix (Rosalba Colla) e poi su Donato Sansone e Michele Bernardi.

In onore dell'Italia come ospite d'onore sono stati organizzati anche eventi culinari e musicali a tema, molto belli e aperti al pubblico (tarantella, preparazione della mozzarella, serata di risotto...).

L'organizazione è molto buona. Ci sono diverse persone che lavorano duramente prima dopo e durante il festival: l'intera equipe è disponibile praticamente a qualsiasi ora per telefono ed e-mail.





Wednesday, October 11, 2017

event report - Hancheng festival, CHINA


From the 1st to the 8th of October 2017, in Hancheng, China, the fist edition of Jinzheng International Short Film Festival was held.

I honestly do not remember if I apply for that festival sending my film or if they found me and asked me to apply, but they selected my short film Merlot and ivited me, together with all the other selected directors, to spend 10 days in China!!

I thought it was quite a big opportunity, so I decided to go.
Here I'll tell you my experience in China and at the festival, trying to combine personal experiences in a new country with the festival itself.


Fist of all, as the name of the festival says, it is not a festival only for animations, but for short films. So there were also short live action films and short documentaries. I would say also that animation was only a little section of it.

The festival was created last year by some European festival directors, who met together in Hancheng and made it happen.

The festival takes place in a Cinema (5 screening theatres), on the 4th floor of an empty and super new building that was built on purpose for the festival and concluded few days before the opening ceremony!
The cinema is in front of the entrance of the old city, which is very beautiful and where you can find the food markets (also night food markets), great places to spend time and taste amazing food.









  
There were different selection groups for films:
Grand Prix (films selected by other festivals), International Competition, National Competition, National Student Competition, Youth Programme, Children Programme, Silk Road.
Every block was very various, mixing techniques and genres.
Apparently the open ceremony and the closing/award ceremony were majestic, but unfortunately I missed them both :( They both lasted about 3 hours and included orchestra music, performances, songs, etc.
The awards are pretty big (around 8000 euros if I am not  wrong) and they were for best director, best national short film, best international and best grand prix, if I remember well.

All the directors were invited (payed trips and accomodation!) and this was a great chance and big generosity from the festival itself. Still wondering if it was just a boost for the first edition or not.

I met many directors and amazing people there, but, I have to say, sadly, mainly western people, since the Chinese directors were for me difficult to find and reach. Living such an incredible experience and sharing all this together is also pretty intense and one week is enough to feel a good connection with everybody. I think there were about 100 western guests at the festival.
We were staying in three different hotels, some better than the others. The directors were all together, the festival directors and the jury were somewhere else, still not far from each other.

The festival also organized some trips around Hancheng and were pretty much open to proposals. We went to a couple of ancient villages, to a national monument, to a mausoleum and to a light show on a lake. Then some of us asked to go to the Yellow River too. Taxis are so cheap that very often we used them to move.


Some more pictures I took, you can see here


Practical info:
- To go to China you need a VISA. For this purpose the festival provided me an invitation, but I still had to provide many other documents to the embassy and also to pay a fee (it was for me around 200 euros, but I heard from other people attending the festival very diversed prices! Bureacracy misteries!)
- in China there is no Google! Maybe you already know, but it was for me a big surprise. All the app I normally use do not work in China. No Gmail, no Google Maps, no Google Calender, no Facebook, no Instagram, no Whatsapp.
They all use Wechat and they use it for everything! Also to pay for food!
- In Hancheng was pretty impossible to get cash from the bank or to change money. So we had to bring cash from home (or change at the airport of Xi'an, but I am not sure about the interest).
- NOBODY speaks English. There are really a few few people who speaks English, ans they were mainly the volunteers (students from Xi'an). The rest of the people will just keep on talking to you in Chinese.
- There are no western people in Hancheng, so be ready to be stopped in the streets about 1000 times a day for pictures. Everybody will stare at you and find you amazing, and you'll get quickly used to it.


Some more facs and personal opinions:









- the local currency is the Chinese Yuan. Everything is very cheap for us coming from Europe.
- In this occasions it's good to do networking and get to know the people at the festival and especially the other guests. The time was short, so I tried to spend some time with everybody, which meant sometimes to change company every day.
- I found the air pollution very shocking and heavy. You cannot see the sun because of a white "fog" that covers all the area (I saw it for the whole time I was there. From the airport of Xi'an to Hancheng - 3 hours drive -!)
- You cannot drink tap water
- The way they drive and use the horn in the streets is very peculiar and funny
- When you are going to festivals so far away from home, and in countries you'd like to visit, it's great to take advantage of that and stay after the festival to travel a bit. It was unfortunately for me not possible, but many of the guests did it and I would surely recommend it. I would do it, If I didn't have some upcoming deadline and if I had a fellow to travel with. Alone around in China sounds a little too much for me, even if I love lonely trips!)
- At the end of the experience, once you're back and the jet lag is gone, don't forget to FOLLOW UP!


I leave you with a link of one of the winner of the festival, a Japanese Short Film that conquered the audience and the Jury (and which is luckily online):
And so we put Goldfish in the Pool







some more Chinese pictures on my travel-instagram