The digital film festival ResFest, hit Chicago in early November.
Jonathan Wells still thinks of ResFest as an underground digital film festival that started in his basement, when in reality it is now a well–established and critically–acclaimed festival.
“I remember seven years ago when we were in my basement in San Francisco watching desktop films and getting really into them,” he said. “Now we are touring through the United States and the world featuring films from directors like Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry.”
The festival kicked off its tour this year mid–September in San Francisco and just recently made its last U.S. stop in Chicago in early November. From Chicago, the show will go to cities such as Melbourne, London and Barcelona among others.
“We have been adding new cities every year,” Wells said. “In fact we came back to Chicago, after not coming last year. We had an overwhelming amount of letters and emails from attendees asking why we weren’t there.”
ResFest is much more than just a random compilation of short films and music videos. Wells said over the year and up until their deadline in May, Res Company gets a plethora of submissions.
“Once the deadline hits we spend most of June and July watching movies and picking out the ones we think will be good for the upcoming festival,” he said.
He said as he and his colleagues wade through upwards of 1500 submissions they find themes and similarities. Little by little they put together different programs for the three-day festival. Some of these programs include Cinema Electronica, a compilation of electronic music videos, By Design, a collection of motion graphic short films; and Res Shorts, which features a wide array of short films.
Throughout the year, as films are being sought out and viewed, Res Company puts out a bi-monthly magazine called Res which features interviews and reviews of upcoming films. Subscribers also get a DVD with every issue that has some of the movies that end up being featured at ResFest.
Wells said the goal of the festival is to both entertain and inspire viewers to make their own movies and submit them for the following year.
“We have both new directors and directors who have been with us from the beginning, such as, Ben Stokes who has a music video he did for DJ Shadow in this year’s “Cinema Electronica show,” Wells said.
Stokes, who is a graduate of SAIC, has worked with many artists such as Nine Inch Nails, The Orb and Meat Beat Manifesto, said he has had a music video in ResFest almost every year since the beginning.
| Related online resources: |
The music video he has in the festival this year called “Mashin’ on the Motorway” came after filming all of DJ Shadow’s tour videos. Stokes said for the tour he was given the task of coming up with a film for each song on the tour, which was about two hours long. “After that we decided to do a movie on the single ‘Mashin’ on the Motorway.’”
The video was loosely based off hours and hours of playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Once Stokes and others working on the video decided to base it off Vice City, they went into programs such as Maya and Poser and created their own city and characters to go along with the music.
“It was my first time using Maya,” he said. “I am really happy with the end product. It’s one of my projects that I am most happy with.”
Stokes said having his work in ResFest over the years has helped him especially more recently since he has noticed a decline in the profitability of music videos.
Since MTV is playing less and less music videos and technology is cheaper meaning artists aren’t handing out $100,000 dollars to make a music video, ResFest has been a good place to get innovative work recognized and seen all over the world.
“It’s really an issue of supply and demand,” Stokes said. “Right now there is an abundance of supplies and not a decline in demand. All this means is that directors like me have to adapt.”
|
Top Row: �Mashin� on the Motoway: DJ Shadow,� a music video by Ben Stokes and Doug Carney, featured in Cinema Electronica. �Interstella 5555,� a feature-length DVD by french duo Daft Punk and anime experts. �Exquisite Corpse,� by MTV International, featured in By Design. . |
|
 |
||
|
Bottom Row: �Pin: Yeah Yeah Yeah�s,� a music video by Tunde Adebimpe, featured in Videos that Rock. Amon Tobin was the featured musical artist in Chicago, performing at the Empty Bottle. The Michel Gondry Retrospective was a compilation of 15 years of Gondry�s work |
|
Stokes believes that things like piggy-backing music videos onto new album releases is a way that video creators are able to adapt. He said he thinks things like that will become more and more common especially as the music industry tries to fight the Internet and file sharing.
“I really think ResFest fills a void in the world of music videos that MTV and VH1 have dropped the ball in,” he said. “It’s truly a growing festival and company with a working model magazine to promote the festival. It’s a great thing.”
Wells said the magazine helps to get the festival into the hands of a lot of people. It is a way for viewers to get a sneak peak at what’s going on in the world of DV (digital video).
While the festival has grown over the years; Wells’ role in it has not changed very much. He is still involved in everything from the selection process to talking to sponsors and explaining upcoming ideas.
“There are definitely more people working on ResFest than there were in the beginning, but it’s still a relatively intimate company,” he said.
The newest thing the festival has started is to add a music component to the program. This year in Chicago ResFest sponsored a concert by Amon Tobin. Other concerts around the country included Meat Beat Manifesto and The Dandy Warhols. Wells said adding these music events, after parties and studio tours is a way to promote the festival and give attendees a broader scope of programming.
Wells said he hopes that ResFest will continue to inspire new filmmakers and continue to influence the way DV is made. “We want people to walk out of the theatre wanting to make movies,” he said.
Images courtesy of Res Fest