Alpha Phi 2012 - Montage

Alright folks, here it is....

...Alpha Phi 2012 Montage!

For four years before I started CreComm, I was an active member of Alpha Phi (female) Fraternity. It was quite a big chunk of my young adult life, and so I decided to make my montage about the current members of Alpha Phi. I struggled with the idea of shooting this concept for a long list of reasons, and had a few backup plans in case I changed my mind. But after seeing the finished product, I’m happy with my decision. 

I started shooting in late February, which meant I had over a whopping 300 clips to sort through while editing. Note to self, shoot shorter clips. 

Are some of the shots shaky? Kinda. Is the white balance off in a few clips? Perhaps. Did I put a lot of time and hard work into creating this video? You bet! There are a number of things I would’ve done differently, now looking back on my footage. But this is my first major video project, and I look forward to taking what I’ve learned, and using those things to my advantage in the future. I loved the shooting and editing process, and I’m happy to be doing a lot more next year.

Until then...

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you...a Charmaine J. Jennings production!

Comments and feedback are strongly encouraged :D

Dionysus in Stony Mountain Review

Last week I saw Steven Ratzlaff’s Dionysus in Stony Mountain play at the Rachel Browne Theatre. A few of my classmates had gone to a show the night before, and so they talked about their own experiences in regards to the play. From what I heard, religion was a strong element in the production, which worried me because often things that heavily rely on religion as a theme, don’t seem to hold my attention for very long…

…and I was right to be worried.

Nestled into my seat, my eyes were on the clock waiting for the play to begin. It started about 10 minutes late, which doesn’t seem like a long time, but I was already beginning to get antsy.

The first act finally started with actor Sarah Constible on set, portraying the role of prisoner psychiatrist, Heidi Prober. She was quickly joined on stage by Ross McMillan, aka, James Hiebert, a prisoner of Stony Mountain seemingly obsessed with the ideals of philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche.

I heard a lot about Nietzsche when I took philosophy of history at The University of Winnipeg; I didn’t pay too much attention then, and didn’t pay too much attention during the monologues about his theory during this play. Don’t get me wrong…Constible and McMillan did an excellent job committing to their roles, and it was certainly interesting to see their characters interact. But the dialogue lacked interest for me, which isn’t necessarily anyone’s fault.

Aside from the fellow CreComm students who filled the back row, most people in the audience seemed to be in their mid-fifties to late-eighties, which tells me that I was not the target audience for this play. So why would I be engaged?

Although I did fall asleep for a fair chunk of the first act, I managed to stay awake all the way through act two. Like the students who saw the play the night before said, the second act was a lot more interesting. Constible played the same character, but in this act she had decided to retire from her position as a prisoner psychologist. McMillan however, switched roles from the prisoner, to Prober’s uncle Eric.

The relationship these two characters portrayed was interesting to watch. Although they spent the majority of the scene arguing with each other, you could tell they once had many similarities between them.

I commend McMillan for his acting chops, because he found a way to make sure his two characters were complete opposites, right down to the way he carried himself. In the first act he was walking around with his arms flailing, and sat in a slouched position when he decided to take a seat. As uncle Eric, he walked tall, straight, and with swag.

Constible also did a great job with the different sides of Prober she played. She had a lot more energy in the second act (a requirement of her character of course), and she delivered her lines with such heart.

So, what did I think of the play in a nutshell? The dialogue wasn’t as intriguing as I would’ve liked, but I give a big round of applause to Constible and McMillan for delivering great performances.

Magazine Fair

On March 30^th, us first-year CreComm students hosted a Magazine Fair, or tradeshow, if you will. We’d been working on creating our very own magazines since January, and the fair was the last component to completing the 3-month long project. In order to produce these magazines we had to pitch our topic idea, write feature articles, do our own photography, design a variety of advertisements, come up with filler content, write creative and publicity proposals, perfect the layout, and everything in between. 

There was a ton of different magazine topics created this year. Topics included blogging, Jets fans, sushi, candy, hip-hop, technology for women, and so on.  Our group decided to create a magazine about sex, Undressed Winnipeg. Undressed Winnipeg is not Playboy, it’s not Cosmo; it’s about sexuality in Winnipeg and how different people choose to express it. We talked about BDSM in the community, male erotic dancers, and so much more. 

 *Would you like to read Undressed Winnipeg? Leave a comment with your email, and I'll send you a FREE PDF

I’ve always wanted to create a magazine, and every time I hold the finished product in my hands, I can’t believe I’ve actually had the opportunity to do so. I learned so many things with this project. I’ve learned a lot about the magazine world, but I also learned a lot about myself. I learned more about my work ethic as it relates to working in a group, and I learned the list of things I want to do with my life is getting longer by the minute. 

But we’ll talk more about that another day...for now...back to the magazine fair.

At our booth we gave away a ton of goodies. We had chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate cookies filled with cayenne pepper (an aphrodisiac), stickers, bottled water, lubricant samples, and hand massages....all fun stuff! Since the cover of our magazine incorporated different shades of green, we decided to dress up our booth to match that theme. And of course, we had to have two blowouts of our magazine cover, featuring the beautiful Kimiya Yussuf. 

But among our booth, was a bunch of other really amazing works of art. We were right next to Umami magazine and they had definitely gone all out with their Japanese theme. They were giving out free sushi all day, and of course I snuck in a piece or two. I tried BBQ’d eel for the first time....and it was delicious.

I made my way down to Kaendi (candy) magazine and they had some candy trivia going on. People who answered their questions correctly got to fill up a Kaendi-branded bag with all the candy they could fit. Definitely a crowd pleaser!

Chip was a magazine created for kids, and so of course the creators had cute little kids helping them out with their booth. They invited people to join them in Twister, hoola hoop contests, and other fun games. And their tie-dye shirts were pretty awesome! 

  

Swig magazine also had a really impressive booth. They weren’t allowed to serve real alcohol, but they made a good mix of virgin beverages. And instead of having a typical table set-up, their section was filled with lounge style couches, which was definitely in keeping with the theme of their magazine.

I was really excited to see the Black Tutu booth. Although it wasn’t a project requirement, they did a lot of promotion for their magazine, which really got everyone pumped about checking it out. I didn’t snag a picture of it, but they brought in a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, and people who visited their booth had a chance to take pictures on it. If I didn’t have to hurry back to my own booth, I definitely would’ve gotten my picture taken, too. 

Overall, all of the booth were really good, and you could tell a lot of hard work went into creating them 

Want some tradeshow tips?

1.       Design your booth and it’s functionality to be consistent with the brand of your product.

2.       People LOVE free food. But cookies and cupcakes tend to get over done, and people often get overwhelmed with all of the sugar. Take notes from Umami magazine, and try handing out sushi, or something equally delicious.

3.       Being in a standstill behind your booth makes it hard for you to engage with your audience, and makes it look like you’re not interested in your product. Come to the side or the front of the table, so people get the chance to learn more about your product, and why it would be of interest to them.

4.       Know your product! Believe it or not, people are going to want to know more about what you’re presenting to them. Be prepared to answer any and all questions about what you’re trying to sell, or advocate.

5.       Have fun! If you’re having fun, you’re audience will want to have fun with you.

Cupcake Girls

I was watching Cupcake Girls earlier today, and they ran into an interesting situation. They have four franchises across Canada, and in this episode they were visiting each one. While visiting their stores they realized that different locations had introduced cupcakes that weren’t listed on the official menu. At the first location the store owner had passion fruit cupcakes as a feature flavour for the week. One of the cupcake girls was okay with it, but the other one saw it as problematic. 

She was worried about franchises making too many different cupcakes that interfered with the business’s brand, and didn’t appreciate the fact that the new flavour was introduced without their knowledge or consent. The next location they went to had at least five different cupcake flavours that weren’t on the menu.

After the cupcake girls realized that nearly every location had been creating their own cupcakes, they both agreed this was a problem that needed immediate attention. They wanted their employees to chance to have a say in the product they sell, but didn’t want too many flavours contradicting their brand they worked hard to establish. 

Instead of telling their bakers to stop inventing cupcakes, or letting them create and sell whatever they wanted to, they came up with a pretty sweet compromise. The bakers of all four franchise locations came together and brought samples of the different cupcakes they’ve been making, or have wanted to make. The cupcake girls sampled all of them, and picked the top six that would be sold in all of their stores. This helped them regain control of their brand and their business, and made it so that each location would have a consistent menu.  

Sweet!

Want to learn more about the Cupcake Girls? Well then check out their website, silly!

*Tip: Your cupcakes will bake better if all of your ingredients are at room temperature before mixing them together. This helps them to turn out smooth on top and not overly round or bumpy.

IPP Ups & Downs

Friday morning I had a breakfast meeting with a woman from one of the hotels I’ve been in contact with for my Red Dress Gala. She wanted to meet in person to further discuss what I had envisioned for my event, and to fill me in on what they could offer me as a potential sponsor. P.S. I had fresh squeezed orange juice and Eggs Royale, which is basically eggs Benedict with salmon….it was the most delicious breakfast I’ve ever tasted! 

I started off the meal by telling her my idea for a red dress themed fashion show and sit down dinner, but I didn’t deliver my idea with too much enthusiasm. She asked me why I seemed unsure of myself and my idea and I explained to her how the IPP process works. She politely asked me to explain my ideal event details again and I did. After I finished she put down her fork, folded her hands on top of the table, leaned in and said “this seems like it’s important to you, and so I’m going to do everything I can to help you out. We can make this work, I promise!” 

Now I know I’m not supposed rely too much on the help of others, but this woman seems very convincing. She added to the many ideas I already had, and told me how she and the sales and marketing team of her hotel can play a role in all of these ideas. She even made a few phone calls during our meeting to give me as many immediate details and information to put me more at ease.

I told her that in order to stick with the original IPP I had proposed earlier in the week, I would need that mighty powerful  letter stating what their establishment was willing to contribute to this event. As I’m sure I’ve said in an earlier post, it’s hard to say what they can do exactly, because it depends on what angle I decide to approach my event from.  Sit down dinner? Fashion show? Appetizers? Cash bar? Decorations? All of the above? None of the above? We have bounced around many ideas, but I’m learning it’s not a good idea to release too much information too early. 

We met for about an hour and a half and by the end of breakfast, I was feeling really good about everything. She could tell my mood had greatly improved and once again, reassured me that she was available when I needed help or had questions or concerns. She gave me a hug which was really cute, and told me things will work out. 

Less than an hour after I had left, I already had emails from her with potential dates, quotes for different event scenarios, and even other possible venues owned by their hotel that might work even better for what I wanted to do. But she still had to get more information from other people in her marketing team, to send my way. 

Early this afternoon I took a cab to one of the venues we both thought might be best, and it was absolutely beautiful. It was being set up for an Italian dinner happening this evening, which was great for me to see. The woman there took me for a walk through of the establishment and described all of the possible set-up we could work with. We then discussed different menu options and prices, and she listed a few prices and fees that are already in the works of being waved. But she did say that an actual list will be emailed to me by the end of the week of exact prices, and how their sponsorship will play a role. 

When I got back to school I met with an instructor to confirm that I understood what was expected of me in regards to submitting a new IPP proposal and or a letter from a sponsor. Now, from what I understand, even if I get all the things in the world donated, it is suggested that I still propose a scaled down version of my original event idea. 

I understand why this is suggested. It’s okay for me to propose a small event and make it bigger if I find that certain things happen down the road to make that possible, but if I propose a big event and I find that it doesn’t seem to be within my capabilities, I would fail IPP “class” if I make my event smaller or different.  

Re-submission of our proposals are due tomorrow at noon, and I need to be careful with what I choose to hand in, assuming I choose to hand anything in at all. I’ve been talking to a lot of people in the last few days that have to re-propose an idea, and it’s sad to say that a handful of students I’ve talked to are proposing projects they are less passionate about than their original, but at this point they just want to pitch something that will be accepted so they can avoid facing a third round of panels. This doesn’t mean they won’t do well with their project, or be happy with the final project, or have a project that will turn out better than the original idea would have, but it always sucks to start off something with a bit of a disconnect. 

Tomorrow is fast approaching…what to do?

Journey for Justice

This post is listed on my CreComm Assignments page!

Confidence Retraction

 (Sorry folks, I'm going to have to retract my high horse rant wriiten in Monday's IPP Panel post)

APPROVED! Wait no, REJECTED! Ah, that’s not right. CONDITIONED? 

Okay...conditioned. That’s the only word I was supposed to focus on during my IPP panel on Monday.

Apparently hearing the word “approved” threw me off because I seemed to have stopped retaining information after that point because I was too excited. I misunderstood the panel’s decision and found out that the condition was not that I have to follow everything in my proposal to the letter (which is still true for everyone), but that I provide the panel with an official letter or document stating that I have made arrangements to receive a venue and catering service for my gala for free, by the next panel day. I’m happy I was told this yesterday because I would have missed the next panel and who knows what would’ve have happened then. Thank goodness for my blogging ways.

Now, what I said in my panel when they asked if I had any new developments in my project was “I have a venue and free catering donations in the works.”  I’ve been going over this portion of the panel all day and figured that I must have said the words “in the works” in a whisper, through a mumble, or in my head...all of which are entirely possible. However I said it (or didn’t say it) the word “guaranteed” must have snuck its way in there...also possible. (I’m not being sarcastic, just to clear that up) 

Anyway, this doesn’t seem like too big a setback, all I need to do is get this letter, right? However, the thing about CreComm is that some of the projects we do are mixed with “real-life” and “school-related” elements. Why is this a problem? Even though I’m planning this gala as a very real fundraiser event, it is still a school project. What I’m learning as I speak with those on the other end of my pitch letters, is that the more eager I am to receive quick responses and quick confirmations to meet school deadlines, the more sponsoring a charity event looks more like sponsoring a “school project.”

Without the letter I have to re-propose the project idea to something I can “actually do,” meaning something smaller. If I want to keep the same event idea I would need to take out the dinner, or the fashion show, or something along those lines. Lucky for me, instead of writing one IPP proposal...I wrote two! The reason I wrote two is because I had a strong feeling that if I proposed the one I really wanted to do, it would seem like too much for one person. I had a smaller version written up, but decided to go big or go home.

My way of thinking about things like this can be described in this musical number from High School Musical 3.

Didn’t watch the video? My favourite lyrics of the number are: “bigger is better, and better is bigger, a little bit is never enough. No, no, nooo.”

Even though I still have my second proposal, I’m not ready to pull it out just yet. Getting this letter in time is still a possibility. I have two meetings this weekend with venues I’ve been speaking with to discuss what we can do with this gala. Even though this is impossible and has never been done before I have my fingers crossed that things will work out in my favour.

Let’s see how this turns out...