Bob Hawk

It was very exciting to have Bob Hawk as a guest. He spoke to us as if we were already creating our own independent films. A lot of the film festival stuff he discussed, I feel that I was well aware of, but can't hurt to hear again. I think most of all I took away the 3 'P's he talked about- most importantly Patience. This is something I'll need to take with me to LA. It is scary that I'm going out there all by myself. Yes I'll have my sister a couple drives away, but I'll need to make my own way. Finding a job seems like a difficult task and I know it won't be easy, but as long as I have Patience and put it as much work as I can. I'm hopeful that something good will come. It was a bit hard for me to relate with Bob Hawk because what field I'm trying to go into. I'm not about to start making my own films and just see how that goes- I'm trying to work my way up in LA so that some day I can help on films such as that. He clearly wasn't a big fan of LA- but I'm glad. He said you have to be strong since the competition is insane. I know I need to be prepared for whatever comes my way or doesn't, so I'll have to hold my own:) Ahh can't believe its so soon!

Visions

I was lucky enough to be apart of Visions Film Festival and Conference! It was such a successful event and really opened my eyes to how much talent undergraduates can create. The whole day went so smooth. I felt that we were a true Film Festival and I really respected the way that we respected our filmmakers and guests. Everyone seemed to be having a really good time. I was the Awards Coordinator and it was a pretty good turn out that night. The event was just so much fun and I'm so proud of everyone on the team:)

Festival Roll Out

Festivals we will submit to!

Film Festival List

1. Full Frame (2015)- “The Full Frame  Documentary Film Festival is an annual international event dedicated to the theatrical exhibition of non-fiction cinema.” We believe that our film would fit well in Full Frame for a couple reasons. 1. Our film is made locally in North Carolina by a local North Carolinian. 2. Our film fits under the description of non-fiction and therefore Documentary. 3. They are not only looking for work from established filmmakers but also “emerging” filmmakers (which is us). Although many of the selections for this past year have more of a serious and darker tone, we feel that our film could fit in with some of the light hearted portrait documentaries.

2. Indie Grits Film festival- “Creating exhibition opportunities for work often overlooked elsewhere.” We believe our film would be a good fit for Indie Grits because of the laid back feel the festival emits. The staff seem like a group that know how to have a good time and are not just absorbed with pretentiously putting down others films. It seems the festival itself is very accepting of short docs, as they make up over a quarter of the short films scheduled for this year. The docs, although none completely similar to ours, fit aesthetically and tonally with our film. Not many informative pieces, but our film can fit with the quirky, portrait pieces, while offering knowledge and comedy as well, making it standout.

3. Twin Rivers Media Festival- Held regionally in Asheville, NC. Considered the beer capitol of the east coast, and arguably the country. Twin Rivers has selected films on the same and similar topics in years past, including a doc on beer drinkers in space. The whole vibe of the festival seems to fit our film very well. More focus on the “festival” and less on being film snobs. By this I don’t mean they accept any old crap, but there is a fun-natured, “come and watch good films and have a good time” feel to it.

4. Visions Film Festival- “Visions Film Festival and Conference provides a platform for undergraduate filmmakers and film scholars to discover their voices and expand their artistic perspectives.” We believe that, as an undergraduate production, we will fit right in at Visions. Past films such as Another Man’s Treasure, selected in 2013, is similar to ours, as it is a short doc focusing on a local, quirky, entrepreneur. Not only would our film offer entertainment, but also our well-spoken director could offer a great panel on how to create a doc while being an undergraduate. Also, the Visions has the best festival director in all the land

5. Food Film Festival (Charleston/NYC/Chicago/Sacramento)- “Through documentaries, features and short films, the Festival showcases the best, and the most memorable, of the world’s favorite foods.” These festivals don’t only focus on food but also everything surrounding it…including beer. We feel like our film would fit perfectly into a block of the festivals in any of the cities. The atmosphere of the festival is very fun and lighthearted. Some of the films focus strictly on food, but many of them provide narrative with interesting characters that create the cuisine. Also, they have selected many beer and alcohol films including Beer: A Beautiful, Artistic Symphony in Charleston’s upcoming festival and Prohibition Bakery in last years NYC festival.

6. Cucalorus (Regional)- As filmmakers from Wilmington making a doc based in Wilmington, submitting to Cucalorus is a must. As a festival they screen a wide range of films, especially in the medium of documentary. From docudrama’s to quirky portraits to activist pieces, they select a little bit of everything. For this reason we believe our film would have no trouble fitting in a block of short docs. Also, our director had a film, also about beer, selected in this past years festival.
7. Texas Independent film festival (free)- Zach wants to go to texas

Additional Festivals:

8. IFF Boston- Boston is a big beer city. 4 blocks of documentary shorts
9. Barossa Film Festival- In Australia. Films are screened at breweries and wineries.
10. SXSW- Wide variety of short documentaries
11. SNOB Film Festival- Have a whole block dedicated to indie beer films, complimented with beer tastings.

Nevada City Film Festival- Diverse, grassroots and accepting of short docs.

Week 11

This week we worked on our 10 min. edit. It was a bit of a struggle because we finally went through all of our b-roll. We had so much so it was a big overwhelming- definitely a good problem to have but very time consuming. We were able to get a good arc together for our film. It was important for us to know how to start off the film and how to close it- regardless if the breweries open in time or not. We have also been social broadcasting our indiegogo and I hope that, as we have more updates coming up, that amount will go up. I've really enjoyed working with my crew members and am excited to spend 2 week coming up- really looking at all the footage and spending quality time to see how we can tell this story in a fun and entertaining way :)

Week 10

This week I have done a lot of editing. We have gone live with our Indiegogo and have $160 out of $1,00 as of now. I'm hoping that we will get more and more as we get more footage and updates to show. We were going to do $1,500 but I'm glad we just stayed at $1,000. It was difficult to decide since the demographic we are going after does have money. You don't go into the home brew business if you don't have cash to spare.

I have also been editing a lot- trying to get ready for the 10 min. edit. The amount of B-roll we have is insane. We have filmed a lot and although we have great audio from interviews, most of our footage is b-roll. Zach and I were able to meet and discuss our story for the film and it sounded great on the wall- but tying it all together during editing may be a bit more difficult. Looking forward to getting feedback from this week. So proud of everyone's projects! Its really exciting.

Week 9

After spring break, Its been good to get back in the swing of things. This past weekend we filmed at the Wilmington Home Brew Supply in the backyard where people were clearing the parking area. It was so fun, everyone was in such a great mood, ready to help. Kids and even a pregnant mother was there clearing bushes. We got some editing done as well and are focusing this week on really editing our story, making sure we have the B-roll we need. We have a tone of B-roll but if there is anything we are missing. We will be interviewing Mike & Emily together coming up so that it can be parallel with John and Michelle's interview. We also got our trailer and poster up and everyone is getting really excited about our film which is great! The energy is there and its going to be a lot of fun coming up!

Week 7

This week we took a little bit of a break from filming since we have already gotten a tone of footage. It is important at this time to let the owners continue to work on their stores so that when we do film again, there will be a sizable difference in the locations from where they began. We did get a chance to get a few photos for a poster idea we have. We are in communication with our graphic designer and she will be creating the image for us that we will use as soon as we can for marketing purposes! I have attached the best photos below so you can get a sense of this. We do plan on filming as soon as we get back from Spring break so that we can get even more interviews and start to see it all come together. Editing will be a big factor coming up for sure.

Week 6

This week has gone well. Our team has decided to switch to Adobe instead of Final Cut. This way both of us (Zach & I) can work on the edit and not have any issues uploading MTS files. We have a tone of footage already- so this week we are focussing on getting a sold edit and piecing together our footage to make sure we have what we need which will help us going forward. We are also focussing on getting a 30 second teaser trailer ready so we can promote our film even more. We plan to go live with our Indiegogo campaign as soon as we return from Spring Break so we are gearing up for that too!

Week 5

This week has been very production based. We were able to put together a complete budget last week, which made us realize that it is in our best interest to get going on an Indiegogo Campaign. We have started on that and plan to go Live March 13th with our final date on May 12th.


This week we were able to visit both breweries- Wilmington Home Brewery & Flytrap Brewery. We also got the chance to interview both John & Michelle as well as Mike. The interviews went really well and we were able to learn a lot about each brewery and the process they have gone to get to where they are today.

We also got the chance to sneak in a dinner date with both couples, John & Michelle and Mike & Emily. With anyone else this would have been an awkward encounter but it wasn't at all! They of course had full beers throughout the process, but were really great with us there filming them having dinner. It was a wonderful experience. I'm so glad that we get to capture this exciting time in their lives.

It is too bad we cannot show our B-roll for this week but we are excited to show it next week!

Budget & Schedule

I have so enjoyed using google docs this week! It is so nice to have all of our documents in one place where we all can comment and share ideas. We are very excited about creating and Indiegogo campaign for our documentary. Although our grand total of our budget is $3,350.00, our goal is not to cover all of this in our campaign. Most of that money is due to cameras or hard drives that we already previously own. We are placing a $600 goal for our Indiegogo- with the focus being on getting money that we can use for film festival submissions. If we are able to make enough, we will also be able to cover some marketing fees of merchandise we are planning to make. We would love to know your thoughts on our incentives for our Indiegogo campgain. The 2 breweries are already on board with the free beer coupons and donating of T-shirts. It has been so nice to have their complete and enthusiastic support while we make this documentary.

Here are the Incentives we have come up with:

1$ - Cheers to your support!

$5 - A personalized beer koozie/coaster!

$10 - 1 free beer from either brewery of your choice (Wilmington Homebrew Supply or Flytrap Brewing) plus all the above!

$ 25 - T-shirt from either brewery of your choice (Wilmington Homebrew Supply or Flytrap Brewing) plus all the above!

$ 50 - Signed DVD $ poster from the cast and crew plus all the above!

$ 100 - Mac & Juice CD and a special thanks in the credits plus all the above!

$ 500 - A growler of custom homebrew to chug down with our crew!- Plus all the above of course!

$ 1,000 - Executive Producer credit and Zach will personally show and make your own homebrew with you, plus all of the above!

 

Interview Questions

John Savard

Background and Biography’s:

Wilmington Homebrew Supply is owned and operated by John and Michelle Savard. They are Wilmington natives that have fallen in love with the craft beer and wine culture. They both went to the University of North Carolina at Asheville. The unexpected education that came from living in Asheville was the knowledge gained by being surrounded by professional breweries and home brewers. Quickly they began to brew beer and wine for themselves. Living in Asheville, which has been awarded, “Beer City USA” inspired their passion for home brewing and teaching how to home brew to all of their family and friends.

            They once took a trip to Europe touring many different breweries in 7 different countries. One of their favorite experiences was touring the Cantilion Brewery in Belgium and meeting the head brewer. They also took a private tour in a German regional brewery named Farny.

            At this time, John decided he wanted to be a professional brewer. He started working at a packaging brewery in Asheville, but quickly figured out he wanted to brew more varieties than a professional was capable. While working at the brewery, he had an opportunity arise that led to a great opportunity for both John and Michelle.

            John was offered a job at the local homebrew supply store in Asheville, which is one of the best homebrew supply stores on the east coast. He was working and learning about the industry as fast as he could. He gained a great deal of knowledge about home brewing and what was important in order to succeed as a homebrew shop.

            John graduated from the University of North Carolina at Asheville with a degree in Business Administration and Michelle with a degree in Mass Communication, but most importantly a passion for brewing.

            They moved back to their home in Wilmington and opened up their dream: Wilmington Homebrew Supply. The home brewing community in the Wilmington area is one of a kind, and they offer all levels of brewers the very best supplies. Now John and Michelle are in the final few months of opening Wilmington Brewing Company.  

1. What is your favorite type of beer and why?

2. When did you know you wanted to open up a brewery?

3. How difficult was it for you to secure this location?

4. What do you find the most difficult about opening up a brewery in today’s society?

5. What are the biggest struggles you have had to overcome through the process?

6. How vital has community support been to you in opening this brewery?

7. Why do you believe so many people are willing to support you in opening this brewery?

8. How important is a college presence to you for your brewery?

9. What is your relationship with Mike Barlas?

9. How are you managing your current business as well as focusing on opening a brewery?

10. Why do you feel microbreweries are important in a city?

Michelle Savard

1. What is your favorite type of beer and why?

2. How did you and John meet?

3. How long have you owned the old brewery?

4. What made you want to open up a brewery when you already had a store?

5. What have been the most struggles in opening a business?

6. How important has a community effort been in your success so far with the brewery?

7. How have you managed keeping your current store open, while trying to open the new brewery?

8. What has surprised you about the difficulty in opening a business in Wilmington?

9. Why should people support microbreweries?

10. Was the college university an important factor in deciding on the location of the brewery?

History & Growth of Craft Breweries

Below are articles I've found about the history and evolution of craft beers in the United States. I went ahead and highlighted some of the key quotes from each article so that you can understand the basics!

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101124259

“The Brewers Association reported mid-year 2013 growth of 15 percent in dollar sales and 13 percent in volume for craft beer. If these trends hold up, it will mark the fourth-straight year of double-digit growth.”

“There are breweries opening somewhere in America every day, and to me that's good," he said. "Competition makes you strive to improve everything you do and to innovate and push the envelope to make better beer. I think that's a great thing.”

http://allaboutbeer.com/article/nanobrewing-does-size-matter/

“This generation tends to seek out ways of personal expression and creativity,” he said, “and, people are looking to do things more locally in terms of beer, and you can’t get any more local than brewing at home.”

“Nanobrewing on this scale is just one step up from homebrewing.”

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/09/21/craft-beer-movement-comes-to-a-head/2847217/

“There is a craft beer movement afoot, one that cultivates a culture of independence and — at least for now — a spirit of bearded idealism.”

“Today, there are more breweries in the United States than at any point in the country's history. And this year, more than 1,600 are in the planning stages.”

“Through the first half of this year, American craft brewers accounted for about 6 percent of the beer produced in the United States, according to a recent report by the Brewers Association, a not-for-profit organization representing much of the U.S. beer industry.”

“Currently, more than 2,500 breweries are operating in the U.S., the most since 2,011 were recorded in 1887. All but about 100 of those are craft brewers.”

“The number of breweries hit a low point — fewer than 100 — in 1980 before seeing a steady rise, with a sharp increase from 1990 to 2000 when more than 1,000 breweries were operating.”

“The craft industry is a unique collection of entrepreneurs who are competing but embrace a collective effort.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/13/craft-beer-breweries_n_2287906.html

-Photo showing history and beginning of microbrewery’s

http://www.brewersassociation.org/pages/about-us/history-of-craft-brewing

“Up until the early-1980s the popular image of beer in America was simply that of a mass-produced commodity with little or no character, tradition or culture worth mentioning.”

“The 1980s marked the decade of the microbrewing pioneers. In a time when industry experts flat out refused to recognize their existence as anything serious, the pioneering companies emerged with their passion and a vision, serving their local communities a taste of full flavored beer and old world European traditions; all with what was to become a uniquely American character.”

“The number of craft brewers has gone from 8 in 1980 to 537 in 1994 to over 2300 in 2012.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tRJ3o0QnDeU

-Video about small brewerys

http://www.californiacraftbeer.com/the-history-of-craft-beer-in-california/

“From those humble beginnings, small California breweries continued to open, first concentrated in the north and then spreading throughout the state. Today there are over 400 breweries in the state.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-27/four-milestones-made-u-s-the-world-s-craft-beer-champ.html

“The Brewers Association, the main trade group for U.S. beer-makers, announced June 20 that the number of American breweries had surpassed 2,500, more than at any time since at least the 1880s and more than in any other nation.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/13/craft-beer-breweries_n_2287906.html

-See video at the bottom which explains what a Craft Brewery is.