I'm very excited to announce that I was recently voted the new Chair of Rochester Movie Makers (www.rochestermoviemakers.org) aka RMM. RMM has been a non-profit educational collective focusing on amateur film production in the local Rochester area for over 8 years. However, it has grown, shifted and adapted to the community needs since its original inception. The Boards first task with me in the Chair is to restructure the Organizations operational structure to answer what we have discovered to be the "actual" needs of the Rochester production community. To be specific, expanded educational resources, information in the way of what's being shot, when and by who, and who is available to work on projects and when, and to further cultivate the Production Community at large by recruiting some industry professionals in advisory roles to both assist with funding and liaise with key community individuals. I believe this is a potentially strong working model and to be frank about it, just what Rochester needs.
For the last 3-4 years I've been really impressed with my return to Film as a hobby and just how many like minded and talented individuals are here in Rochester, actively pursuing their hobby and thirsty for completing quality projects. What's been missing? The resources, and the details. As a Film student at RIT, I longed to break away from the structured curriculum and shoot the type of projects I wanted to do. Not to down play the standard of RIT's program, quite the contrary - its an incredible program and very well regarded. But even though each of the assignments given were of great value in building ones craft, they are also within someone else's guidelines. For those that graduate on and pursue the Hollywood career path, they will find that trajectory more of the same. So it is a very poignant lesson to learn. Know the walls and produce a quality result within those walls. But this is where Rochester offers sanctuary to real artists of Film.
The term "Film" is an interesting one, as it is generically used to define just about anything that is projected onto a screen these days. But to me, FILM = ART = EXPRESSION. I tend to be a follower of "good" Indie and Art House films and find my resulting experience just as satisfying as solid Hollywood blockbusters. It's all about the viewers experience, as designed by the creator - in this case the "filmmaker". Some people himm and haww about that term since just about everything is shot digitally these days and all the various cast, crew and administrative details of creating a film are not technically referred to as "filmmaking". But none-the-less Rochester offers filmmakers in the broad sense that truly open canvas. The complete freedom to dream, write, shoot, create, display and enjoy that areas like Hollywood do not so easily encourage. In Rochester Film is about love of the craft and its people about the enjoyment and pride of something created. I mean Rochester IS the birthplace of Film, that legacy has not been forgotten or abandoned. Especially with the resent multi-billion dollar deal Kodak signed with major production companies to continue producing large format traditional film for IMAX, 3D and other modern UHD compatible formats.
So what is the future of film in Rochester? I think it's a wide open actively increasing landscape. I think working together with all the local enthusiasts and professionals and bringing them together as a team to build the scaffolding necessary to support a growing production community is both realistic and exciting. We have all the necessary pieces: creatives, talent, resources, capital, and audience. We just need to all step up and help make it happen. Who knows, if we're successful than driving around town we can periodically see various productions in action. If we can start producing high quality content, than we can attract the attention of other Film mecca's around the country possibly the world. If we work together I think the future of film in Rochester is a definite tidal wave waiting to take the production community by storm, if even one good short film at a time.
If you would like to get involved please do contact me at zachary@rochestermoviemakers.org, I will need a lot of help and I cannot do it alone. Happy Filmmaking!
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