NewEnglandFilm.com

Last year Michal Goldman, president of Filmmakers Collaborative, had an idea that seemed so obvious she was surprised no one had thought of it before. Goldman realized that "For years, Boston-area artists have opened their studios to the public once a year. Why shouldn’t filmmakers do the same thing?"

At the time, Goldman was on a committee of independent filmmakers organized by the Boston Film/Video Foundation to develop ancillary events leading up to the 25th anniversary of BF/VF’s New England Film and Video Festival. Goldman thought that a filmmakers’ open studios would complement this celebration by making the community more aware of the range and accomplishments of local filmmakers, while at the same time giving something back to the community-at-large. It would also give the participating filmmakers a chance to introduce the public to their processes and work, and help Boston filmmakers connect with each other.

So, Goldman got to work. Boston’s filmmaking community is large and diverse. As a way to narrow the field, Goldman concentrated on people working mostly as independents. However, she did try to find participants who spanned the different genres of filmmaking in Boston: animation, commercial, corporate, documentary, experimental, feature, and new technology, as well as some technical support and educational facilities.

In addition to thinking holistically, Goldman also had to think geographically. "I tried as much as possible to include two or three studios within any given area, so that visitors could go from one to the other easily." Goldman got 21 studios on board, including BF/VF and her own group, Filmmakers Collaborative. With feature articles and the event schedule published in newspapers such as the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, the Phoenix, local Tab newspapers, and coverage by WBUR and FOX 25 News, last year’s event was well publicized.

When that Sunday in March rolled around, no one was sure what to expect. Amy Santamaria, staff coordinator at Element Productions, "brought a book to read and thought 2 people would show up." She was in for a surprise. "We had a line out the door when I opened it. I was totally overwhelmed by the response. We had a flood of people all day who were interested and inquisitive." According to Santamaria, the visitors were a "really eclectic variety of people ranging from film students from Emerson, BU, and Northeastern to people interested in film as a side hobby to other people involved in the industry checking out other people’s work spaces."

Approximately 1,000 people came to the first Filmmakers Open Studios. Some studios estimated as many as 300 visitors over a four-hour period. It exceeded all expectations.

Cynthia Close, Executive Director of Documentary Educational Resources, was pleased with the response. "Because we spend isolated hours over our Avid and Final Cut Pro systems, this was a really great opportunity for us to have contact with the public which is something we don’t ordinarily do. [When our programs air on PBS] we never know how audiences are reacting, when you can invite audiences in and they can respond to what you’re doing, it’s most gratifying. We’re absolutely looking forward to [this year’s event] and are interested to see who walks in our door and how they found out about it."

But being inundated with visitors wasn’t quite what Jennifer Hall of Do While Studio in Boston expected or wanted. "We don’t have the space for all of the people to walk through; we’re not really a facility. It worked well for people who did that sort of thing, but our product is our intellectual property as artists." Do While is a small organization conceived by artists who ground their work in the development and appraisal of digital technology. Because of the popularity of the event last year and the nature of Do While’s work, Hall was going to opt out of this year’s Open Studios until she learned that this year’s participants had the option of limiting the number of visitors. This appealed to Hall, so this year Do While is offering a presentation to only 15 people who e-mail or call in advance.

For Filmmakers Open Studios 2001, co-sponsors Filmmakers Collaborative and Boston Film/Video Foundation teamed up again to enlist 24 studios, 16 from last year and 8 newcomers. Like last year, venues will be open either all day or only in the afternoon. And unlike last year, there will be two community television stations participating, Boston Neighborhood Network and Cambridge Community Television. BNN will open its access studio and the BNN multimedia center at the Mall of Roxbury and the BNN live studio at City Place. CCTV plans to provide tours of the station, including a look at their two new Final Cut/IMovie II/Premiere Edit Suites and hands-on production time in their studio.

Another Open Studios newcomer is Richard Bock, an 18-year veteran of WGBH where he was post-production sound mixer for Nova, American Playhouse, American Experience, Frontline, and others series. He will be showing his work and talking to visitors about their post audio needs. Other new venues include Blackside Inc., Cityscape Motion Picture Education, and Powderhouse Productions.

Last year’s participants Fine Line Video and Storyville in Waltham found that it worked well to answer questions and give informal demos of equipment. According to Tom Hill, "The main thing I will be doing differently this year is a more focused demonstration on the Avid of how scenes in a dramatic feature film are edited using examples from the recently completed film, ‘The Gentleman From Boston.’"

For the Do While presentation, artist Mike Blockstein, along with three high school students and several community collaborators, will present work from "A Chinatown Banquet," a multimedia community-based public art and education project that explores the forces that shaped and continue to influence Boston Chinatown. Based on the metaphor of a Chinese banquet, it integrates video and design projects created by artists and teens into a web site, an art exhibit, and a multimedia-augmented walking trail of Chinatown. The presentation offers an opportunity to meet project participants and to learn how new media is being applied toward community needs. Those interested in pre-registering can call 617-338-9129. Attendance is free and limited to 15.