Conference attendees get hands on exposure in DSLR Photography for Filmmakers session.
ATLANTA, Ga. — The Oct. 13-14 Georgia BigPictureCon Film and
Technology Conference has gotten a lot of people excited, including keynote
speaker filmmaker Cory Edwards.
In an
interview with Atlanta Christian radio station 104.7 The Fish, Edwards, the
creator of the hit animated film Hoodwinked,
said the conference is a sign of Atlanta’s growing film industry.
“What’s
so great about this conference is that the city of Atlanta is becoming such a
player in entertainment,” he said. “You don’t have to be in NY or LA to make a
movie.”
Edwards
said he loves traveling to other cities to make movies because New York and Los
Angeles are very condensed, tough cities to work in where everybody is trying
to do what you’re already doing. He said it was very refreshing to come to
Atlanta and see how it’s growing exponentially.
“I’ll
be honest, I’m new to Atlanta, I don’t know a lot about Atlanta, and this
weekend has been my introduction,” he said. “It’s been really exciting to see
the studios that are going up and the work that’s being done. I’ve met a lot of
people that are just starting their careers and there’s a lot of excitement.”
Founder
and producer Nancy Howard said this was the fourth Georgia Big Picture
Conference, with previous conferences taking place in 2005, 2007, and 2009.
“It’s
tough trying to make a comeback after four years away, but clearly the
enthusiasm and positive feedback that we got from the attendees and speakers
has been a good driver that we should continue this,” she said.
Attendees
said the event was very well-organized and professional. The speakers were very
well-received and provided a lot of good information. Highlights of the event
included the opening keynote session Sunday where Edwards and comics stalwart
Paul Jenkins, who has worked with both Marvel and DC Comics, were both keynote
speakers.
“We
had many more people than we anticipated,” Howard said. “We estimated over 100
people were there early on a Sunday morning.”
Jenkins
spoke about the plans he’s made with Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal to bring more
film and post production companies to work in Georgia. Edwards gave event
guests a charge to take advantage of the opportunity to network and strategize
for their developing careers. He also encouraged them to produce—even if
they’re not sure what they need to do or don’t have all their ducks in a row,
at least start “making stuff.”
Another
highlight for Howard was the overall slate of speakers. “Building our speaker list is one of my
favorite parts of the conference,” she shared. “We had over 40 speakers – a
great group, diverse in who they were, the expertise they brought, and their
methods of teaching, but all of them were unified in their love of film, and a
shared commitment to the growth of the Georgia film industry. We even had two sets of twin filmmakers –
DeWayne and Wayne Bontrager of Twiin Media, and Matthew and Jared Young of
Brothers Young Productions. Now how
often do you find a phenomenon like that?”
Indeed!
Howard
plans for the next conference to be in April. One of the conference’s target
demographics is students, so moving it closer to the end of the school year
gives conference organizers more of the school year to promote and prepare.
Future conferences will feature a revamped logo and a new name—the Georgia
BigPictureCon, bringing the event in line with more modern conference naming,
like DragonCon or MediaCon.
“I
think the conference was a great success,” said Big Picture Film & Video
Foundation CFO and Conference Director Joe Howell. “We met our expectations and
even exceeded them.”
The
conference guests gave great feedback. People thought it very informative and
wished they’d known about it earlier.
Howell
thought Jenkins’ speech was one of the highlights.
“He
was an excellent speaker and really advanced some of the areas that relate to
filmmaking in Georgia,” Howell said.
He
can’t wait for next year, in which he hopes the conference will be bigger and
better.
One of
the volunteers who helped make the conference possible was Roshawn Redwine, who
learned about the conference through her friend and fellow volunteer, Victoria
Porter. What she enjoyed most about the conference was the diversity of topics
and speakers.
“It is
a great way to gain so much industry knowledge as well as have an opportunity
to network with so many great industry professionals,” she said.
What
differentiates the GABPC from the other film events she’s attended is how
accessible and hands-on the leadership was and how so many of the topics were
fresh, relevant, and unique. She’s glad to have had the opportunity to
participate.
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