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Anybody can make a short video. This is the message of the
On the Fly video festival.
On the Fly started in 1997 when a group of videographers
in Toronto, led by Scott McLaren and Andrew Bee, decided that
a video festival was the best way to pool their resources and
make videos. They asked a few of their friends to participate
and screened the results in a local club; thus was the tradition
born.
One important contributing factor to the creation of the video
festival was the development of inexpensive and highly portable
digital video cameras and non-linear (digital) editing systems.
On the Fly is a video festival that comes with a philosophy,
and a large part of that philosophy is that, unlike with film,
which can be expensive and requires cumbersome equipment, anybody
can make a video.
The festival quickly developed a few rules (and with them, an
identity): each video must be shot and edited in a day. In addition,
all of the videos would all be screened in a day (which would
require much stamina on the part of audiences, given that some
of the screenings were over three hours long). To make the screenings
a little easier to sit through, and to help focus the energies
of the directors, a strict 10-minute limit was placed on the
length of the videos.
By the time of the fourth On the Fly, the producers opened
the festival up to anybody who wanted to apply. Good press for
the previous festivals and a strong word of mouth campaign meant
that over 300 people applied for 24 positions. A lottery had
to be instituted to ensure that the people who got to make videos
were chosen fairly. The producers divided up the entrants into
those who had made films before and those who hadn't; 12 positions
were made available for each. The On the Fly philosophy
had expanded to encourage the development of the talents of
people who had never directed before.
They aren't thrown into production blind, however. Before the
shoots, there are six weeks of meetings. Some of these are for
people to get to know each other. There is, however, one meeting
devoted to a camera workshop, and a second meeting devoted to
a digital editing workshop. If the directors require it, they
can also get help with casting and script development (among
his many other talents, McLaren is a wicked story editor).
For On the Fly 3, awards had been designed (including
the much coveted Mouche d'Or, or Golden Fly) and a panel of
celebrity judges was asked to choose the best films. The judges
for On the Fly 4 included Canadian filmmakers Patricia
Rozema, Deepah Mehta and Don McKellar. On the Fly 4 was
also the first year that celebrity filmmakers were invited to
make short videos; they included directors John Greyson and
Clement Virgo, actor Sarah Polley and Toronto Star entertainment
writer, and former film critic, Peter Goddard.
The best 20 videos were shown at two screenings over an evening.
(Those who were brave enough could attend a screening of all
29 completed videos the following Saturday afternoon.) The screenings
took place at the Bloor Cinema in Toronto; although it holds
between 600 and 700 viewers, dozens of people had to be turned
away at the door.
How could the producers top On the Fly 4? Somebody had
a bright idea: why not hold number five in five Canadian cities?
(I wish I could be more specific about who had the bright idea,
but each of the three producers— McLaren, Bee and Angelina
Vaz—have given credit to (blamed it on?) one of the others.)
Twenty individuals and four guests will produce videos in five
cities—120 altogether.
The producers have traveled to Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg
and Montreal, making contacts with local filmmakers and organizations
(such as film and video co-ops, local Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation branches, et al). The national On the Fly
festival will be decentralized: a person from each city will
be chosen to run the festival there. The producers from Toronto
will offer their expertise and collected experience, but each
branch will be run independently.
McLaren has told me that he sees this as a model that he hopes
will spread to any Canadian city where there is enough interest
among videomakers, and those who would like to become videomakers.
In line with this, On the Fly is producing a manual that would
not only advise individuals on how to become guerrilla videographers,
but will contain tips on how to create video festivals.
As of this writing, the dates for On the Fly 5 have yet
to be finalized. According to McLaren, they would like to take
applications until the end of November, with the lottery being
held in December. Prep meetings would happen in January and
February 2002, with shooting and editing taking place over the
following two months, and screenings held in the five cities
in May. When the dates have been confirmed, you can expect to
hear about it.
Anybody can make a short video. What are you waiting for?
URL
To learn more about On the Fly, or to sign up for OTF 5 in your
city, go to: www.onthefly.org.
Copyright © 2001 Ira Nayman. All Rights
Reserved.
By day, Ira Nayman is an Associate Director
of the ByDesign eLab, Managing Editor of the Netizen News
and itinerant professor at an institution to be named at a
later date. By night, he is a comedy writer. He is currently
writing a history of the On the Fly video festival.
And, that's Dr. Beebah to you.
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