Guest blog by Kirsty Ware
I was first introduced to Leeds International Film Festival only a few years ago, shortly after moving to Leeds. Flicking through the brochure I picked out a couple of likely-looking films, bought my tickets like you would to go and see the latest blockbuster, watched them and went home. I’d never even taken advantage of the 6 for 5 offer. Then last year I did something that was going to change my film-going life – I bought a LIFF pass.
All of a sudden I felt I needed to see as many films as possible to get my money’s worth. First I tried to pick out interesting films, then ones I’d never normally go and see until I had a brochure covered in crossed out notes and highlights of many colours. I needed a better system, and so the spreadsheet was born. This year has seen the routine perfected and my spreadsheet take wings and fly to other filmgoers.
First I read every single entry, cross-referencing with Google for more indepth descriptions of films I’m 100% sure about. I prefer fun, quirky films over horror, and rarely look at where a film is from (apart from Scandinavia – I always try to see Scandinavian comedies). I never read reviews or synopses of film festival films, but I will listen to people who have seen them ahead of the festival. Each film that gets a ‘would like to see’ star goes into a spreadsheet, along with all the dates and times they are being shown, which I usually use the website for, colourcoded to venue and crosschecked with other people that want to see certain things at certain times – for example my partner only tends to see 3 or 4 films, so they get a special symbol on the spreadsheet so I can try to include as many as possible (this year it’s a film reel). Then I go through the brochure again, rereading every entry I’ve marked to pick out my ‘must-sees’, which are films I’m particularly interested in. They also get a special symbol on the spreadsheet (this year a clapperboard). This usually totals around 70 films.
Once all this is inputted, I timetable in those films that are only being shown once, and my ‘must-sees’. This gives me my bare bones schedule. Then I get out my brochure again and go through every day, cross-referencing the diary timetable at the back with my spreadsheet, and slowly begin to work up a schedule, taking note of things like the fact I don’t take time off work and I have to sometimes see my partner. This year the schedule at this point had around 50 films, with about a dozen clashes. These then get transferred to a timetable list, with clear boxes for each day and a symbol for films that clash.
This timetable then gets sent out to people, who let me know what films they’re seeing. Based on this, and details like venue (if I’m at Vue at 4pm then again at 9pm, can I really be bothered to go to HPPH at 7pm when it’s between that and something at the Town Hall?), I go through my clashes and come up with the definitive timetable. This then gets printed out, stapled in the front of my brochure, and I go and collect my tickets. It would be really useful if the brochure had card covers so it was a bit more durable (from the start of October to the end of the festival is a long time to be carried around in a bag, pulled out and thumbed through), with pockets on the inside (one for tickets for films seen, one for tickets for films to see) to make things a bit more organised and to avoid losing tickets (I’m sure it’s a prohibitive cost to add in more pages, but space for notes by each film would also be brilliant, not just for scheduling but for keeping notes of the films I’ve seen and my thoughts on them).
Of course as soon as I see the previews (oh LIFF why do you always launch on Light Night when I am involved in other things? Why don’t you have your own special night to launch when people aren’t torn between 100 events?) I have to juggle things around for that one film I didn’t tick but now really want to see; and there’s always times where it’s just easier to stay at the same venue rather than battling the rain to get across town to see that film I wasn’t particularly bothered about. I also find myself adding to my timetable as I schedule in breaks but friends convince me to “just see this one, it’s only 80 minutes”, or as I come out of one film I’ve really enjoyed and feel buoyed up to go and see another. This year I’ve got 45 films to see, not counting any late additions/changes. Then it’s just sitting in the dark reading subtitles for three weeks, until at the closing film I look at my brochure and realise that despite all my planning, it’s covered in crossed out notes and highlights of many colours.
Kirsty for Prime Minister please. Amazing.
*jealous sigh*
I wish I had this much free time.
Planning the film festival (and then seeing the films) fills the gap after Light Night but before Christmas. It’s not free time as such, it’s empty time. Usually while I’m waiting for the bus, or for the kettle to boil! I rarely sit down and spend a chunk of time on anything other than work – everything is two minutes here and there. You can get a lot done that way!
We both go to the pub and spend an evening scoring every film in the programme between 1 and 5 in terms of anticipation. This is primarily done from the programme synopsis, but occasionally supplemented by reference to IMDB or reviews from previous festivals.
All of the scores are then transposed onto a clean copy of the festival calendar, from which we both choose our daily viewings. Any four or five star films that clash with each other are cross-referenced back to the synopsis to find alternative viewing times.
We both try and attend all of our 4 or 5 star rated film individually. Where there are any gaps where we are free to watch a film, we’ll just choose the film with the highest combined score from both of us and go together.
I’ve managed to schedule 41 films this year, Clare 36. The excellent schedule means that there is barely a film that either of us wanted to see that we can’t get to. Cannot wait.
I have a similar system, although I generally go with the brief description from the brochure only and try to avoid any trailers, reviews and synopses. Once I’ve finished time-tabling, I don’t even look at the brochure again, so I just end up with a list of films, many of which have just become names and I’m often a little unsure of what I’m about to see. Talk about living on the edge…
If a film catches my eye, all of its screenings get placed in to a Yahoo! Calendar (other calendars are available). Films which are only screening once get asterisked, as their screenings are a higher priority. This data entry is quite labour intensive, but necessary.
Once you have input all your films, you need to start trimming away what you cannot see, bearing in mind walking distances between venues and what is manageable. A few films get bumped, then a film or two gets added because, hey, you’re seeing two screenings in the Picture House before and one after, so why not?
This data then gets exported to a nice document, which gives you a day-by-day breakdown of what you’re seeing where; last year’s edition to the document was a column showing the numbers of minutes between screenings, which is recommended.
I have been served well by this system, although I don’t think I’ll beat last years’ 51 screenings. I currently have a pile of 48 tickets and hope some of the things I bumped will be shown again on the final weekend…