Hey,
I’ve just returned from South by Southwest; it was interestingly awesome.
There’s a lot on my mind – from films I really liked to new developments and terms I’ve learned about – but I wanted to write a bit about what I heard/saw related to producing.
The MEIM program invited the ETC students who were also at SxSW to join them for breakfast panels that they had arranged, and it was very interesting to learn about the areas that they focus on. MEIM students were interested in film development, production, marketing, acquisition, distribution. There were definitely many other aspects of producing in there that I was not familiar with and I realized that I really was interested in the physical production, and felt uncomfortable with a lot of the other stuff due to lack of familiarity. They all seem like things that a good producer should know about, and I wonder if what I’m interested in is the whole production career path or just line producing.
I also participated in the Production/Producers mentor sessions and spoke with Brian Yang and Yvoone Boudreaux. The sessions were only 10 min. long so it was very introductory but I hope to speak with them more later this semester. Otherwise, the time I did spend with them was very encouraging.
Finally, something that I thought was very interesting was a music panel that I sat in on despite not having a music badge (it wasn’t very full so the door volunteer didn’t mind). In this panel, the speakers talked about the difficulties of producing music scores for film and television, specifically the trials and tribulations of having to work to a client’s demands and not on your music as pure, expressive art. They mentioned things such as clients tend to not know what they want or only realize it when they hear what you’ve begun to make and moreover the importance of communicating as much information as possible; on top of that, they also talked about constant revision. I thought this was all very fascinating because these types of issues are things that I’ve already had first-hand experience with at the ETC, and it was interesting to hear artists talk about it as something that can be unexpected to their preferred work flow in music.
In the end, I wish I had spoken to even more people at SxSW. At the same time, my mind is still overwhelmed with all the events that were occurring and all the panels, films, and parties that I did attend, and I am still reflecting on this experience. Perhaps I will write more when I have thought about it even more.
Albert C Gea 