Posting links

[Chris Swanberg]

I am missing something. Especially since I sort of led the charge after UWOL 15...

In the Longform, WHY is it unfair to view others films before they are "officially linked" once the entries are closed?

No trying to be obstreperous. Just trying to understand. I feel like after a year I want to see what my friends have put up. And would feel better if I had a more complete comprehension of why this has to await an administrative decision/action. I am not voting nor are they as best I know. And I have not heard a voting arrangement and could care less about who wins and am willing to bet they could not either.

In fact no "prize" has been announced and I am willing to bet no one cares about ANY prize. This was/is a labor of love and an effort to create something with the help of support and deadlines. I care about my fellow contestants and just want to see their efforts.

This was and IS a terrific idea of support and critique all the way along. This just feels a tiny bit uncomfortable at the end of a long bonding/support process.


Chris S.

[Lorinda Norton]

If you go back and read the rules of the long-form contest it's right there. You agreed to it when you signed up.

9. Your final project must be posted the week of November 15, at which time your entry will be available for final judging. You will not post a feedback thread at this time, instead you will upload your file to the UWOL site. We will have a thread announcing the finalists and linking to your entry. This will be the one Giant Final Feedback thread that will serve all the finishers.

Great idea, actually. More fanfare befitting for all the hard work.

[Chris Swanberg]

Thanks Lorinda. Fair enough. I guess I missed that. My bad. Now that said, and those ARE the rules, and we (*I*) "should have" known those in advance. Can I ask the Q. ... Why? (On a go forward basis... GOOD rules need to be subject to this IMHO) Not buying totally into the "ONE Giant Thread" idea I guess... when the movies run 20-45 minutes., not the DV challenge short time frames. YOU need time to take in these long form films.

I know that this was a new idea and potentially frustrating for Meryem and others along the way, and I hope we will do it again and do not want to be seen as frustrating that notion... but helping refine it as we consider elements unique to this genre.

Questions per se are not bad, and I know you understand that.

ps... Given the limitations ... and IMHO....the posted film was necessitated to be in an abysmal small size (and understandably)... but the links allowed a more viewable size.

pps. I spent (enjoyable) hours viewing several films.... as opposed to parts of an hour to view multiple short form films

ppps... The time I spent viewing this round was like walking with relatives in a beautiful place. I know not that it matters under our current rules, but Mike, Finn-Erik and Dale are like extensions of myself in film making.. kndred souls, brothers.

[Catherine Russell]

Chris:

You are one of the most kind-hearted people I've ever run across.

Cat

[Meryem Ersoz]

Originally Posted by Chris Swanberg

This just feels a tiny bit uncomfortable at the end of a long bonding/support process.

Tell me about it. You have no idea how uncomfortable enforcing rules is, on a group of grown-ups who do this strictly as a passion.

But if I don't do it, believe me, I hear all about it. The people who complain when the rules are *not* enforced to the letter, do not post these disgruntlements publicly, because they do not want to offend their friends, who they love and appreciate and who they know have worked hard.

They rely on me to do it and make these requests in private emails. Not saying this happened with long-form (in fact, it didn't...), but I have had quite a few requests to not let the short-form players post before the films are up en masse.

I'm all for refining processes...but you have to go through a process, at least once, to know what is being refined...

I don't know that we'll do another long-form (not ruling it out, but I just wanted to try it once and see what came of it...) - but if we do, there will definitely be some changes to the process. And we would certainly invite feedback from both participants and finishers before we posted rules. It is always a process.

Mat has a great set of ideas for smoothing out these issues. It remains to be seen if we can institute them, but we will try our best.