Wood Buffalo Excellence in the Arts Awards
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
The Wood Buffalo Excellence in Arts Awards (Buffys) is an annual program that recognizes and celebrates excellence in various areas of the arts throughout our region. The program also builds awareness of the incredible contribution artists make to Wood Buffalo. Following the success of 2020, this year’s showcase continues to be a cinematic experience, which will include pre-recorded elements to be broadcast online on October 16, 2021. Arts Council aims to hire up to 7 videographers to collaborate on bringing this year’s project to life. See last year’s Buffys presentation here: Buffys 2020: Midnight Steampunk
ABOUT THE COMMISSION
Artists will be responsible for one (1) of the following components for this year’s event, and will be asked to specify three duties they would like to be considered for in their proposal submission (in order of priority):
- Performance Videos — Record & Edit (1-2 Hires)
- DESCRIPTION: Recording and editing together 6 performance videos. This will involve meeting with lead performers and storyboarding a vision for their performance together, with a strong emphasis on narrative and visual storytelling. Candidate(s) need to be confident in pulling visions together from two or more lead artists to create a unified piece (i.e. dance choreographer and musician). May involve attending a rehearsal and employing some creative direction to ensure that performances translate well on camera.
- RECORDING BEGINS: June 2021
- SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Final edits due October 1, 2021
- EXAMPLES: Performance 1, Performance 2, Performance 3
- Artist Shortlist Videos — Record Only (3 Hires)
- DESCRIPTION: Capturing footage for 12 artist shortlist videos. This will involve meeting with 12 artists in their creative spaces for interviews, and capturing B-Roll footage of their completed works, or works in progress. Raw footage will be passed on to a video editor, who will compile all 36 videos to maintain cohesion. Each video aims to be 1 minute in length.
- RECORDING BEGINS: August 18, 2021
- SUBMISSION DEADLINES: Raw files due September 18, 2021
- EXAMPLE: Video 1
- Editing Shortlist Videos — Edit Only (1 Hire)
- DESCRIPTION: Editing raw files for 36 shortlist videos into 1 minute segments each. Raw footage will be captured by 3 other artists and passed on to this candidate for editing in order to maintain visual/aesthetic cohesion.
- EDITING BEGINS: September 18, 2021
- SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Final edits due October 4, 2021
- Buffys Narrative Presentation — Recording & Editing (1 Hire)
- DESCRIPTION: Working closely with the ACWB Programs Manager, this candidate will record and edit together the Buffys presentation based on a prewritten screenplay. In the past, this was achieved with a multi-camera setup at the Suncor Energy Centre for the Performing Arts black-box theatre. This duty will involve breaking down the screenplay into units, creating a shooting schedule, and co-directing duties with the ACWB Programs Manager. This candidate will need to consider subcontracting such roles as: director of photography, camera-crew, first assistant director, etc. This candidate will also be responsible for editing together the final presentation, weaving in the final cuts of pieces submitted by all hired videographers.
- RECORDING BEGINS: September 10-12, 2021
- EDITING BEGINS: September 13, 2021
- SUBMISSION DEADLINE: October 11, 2021
- EXAMPLE: Buffys 2020 Showcase
- Hired artists will report to Arts Council Wood Buffalo Programs Manager, Luay Eljamal.
- Hired artists will be expected to attend regular Creative Team meetings to ensure that a cohesive vision is maintained for this year’s awards showcase. These meetings will occur monthly, and may increase in frequency closer to the final event.
- Artists will realize this year’s vision by collaborating with others, including videographers, screenwriters, set designers, graphic designers, project managers, performers and nominated artists/artist groups.
- All final submissions must be 100% original, royalty-free and compatible for upload to Facebook and YouTube without risk of being flagged for copyright violations.
SUBMITTING A PROPOSAL
- All submissions must be emailed to Programs Manager, Luay Eljamal at luay@artscouncilwb.ca
- Use the subject heading “Buffys Videography Proposal — [Your or Your Company’s Name]”
- All submissions must be emailed as one (1) compiled PDF, including the following information:
- Your name, contact phone number and home/company address
- Your artistic statement — the philosophy behind how you approach your creative work.
- A summary of previous creative experiences which highlight the expertise you bring to this project, including links to videos of previous work.
- Identification of three of the above-listed roles that you would like to be considered for, in order of priority.
- A budget breakdown for your work (which will serve as your Fee for Service) for each of those roles, including fees for any subcontracted individuals, equipment hires, licenses, travel etc.
- If applicable: a breakdown of any artists that you would subcontract to support with your project, with short biographies. A list of prospective positions you would recruit would also be accepted, if you don’t yet have artists attached to each role.
- Consider also including:
- Any subscriptions that you may have to stock footage, title generators, royalty-free music databases, or similar
- A breakdown of the camera equipment that you would be using for this project
- A breakdown of the video-editing software that you be using for this project
FEE
We ask artists to present their Fee for Service to us as part of their PDF submission (see above).
SUBMISSION DEADLINE
Submissions must be received by 12 PM on March 8, 2021. Late submissions will not be considered for hire.
SELECTIONS PROCESS
Artists may be invited to interview. Selections will be made by the Arts Council Wood Buffalo staff. All selections will be final, and successful artists will be notified by March 20, 2021.
This event is a celebration of the arts and artists in the Wood Buffalo region and preference in hiring is given to artists that reside within the region. In the event that local Wood Buffalo artists are not available or do not respond to this call, artist residing within Alberta will be considered.
Please note that only artists who are successful will be notified.
QUESTIONS AND MORE INFORMATION
For questions or more information, please contact Programs Manager Luay Eljamal at luay@artscouncilwb.ca or 587-674-1625 x.102.
