hhhhhIn
early 2006 the Lake Area Society for the Moving Image (LASMI),
was initiated in an attempt to bring to together local individuals
interested in the production of motion pictures. Monthly
meetings at the Camdenton library brought out a wide variety
of people, from the simply curious, to a few with years of
experience in various areas of production. These early meetings
served mainly as networking opportunities for people hoping
to find talent and crew to get projects together. Things
were very loosely managed and generally unstructured, there
were no official members, and as a result (I believe), few
people came to more than one meeting. Fortunately, even given
the inconsistent attendance and apparent lack of overall
direction, there were instances of people being introduced
at meetings and collaborating independently, just as intended.
The absence of encouragement for collective action was intentional.
hhhhhIt
was originally assumed that it would be more efficient to
merely gather contact information and brief descriptions
of skills and creative aspirations in a sort of database
for future dispersal to parties producing projects. Through
experience, however, it has become clear that while this
technique may save some time and effort, it leaves much to
be desired. Attendees were frequently less enthusiastic about
using their supposed skills than they were about writing
them down for reference, and there is no way to gauge skill
levels, specialties or preferences on the printed page. The
initial conception that a focus on group projects would interfere
catastrophically with personal projects seems to be flawed.
Workshops and/or group projects would much better reveal
(and to some extent, develop) passions and proficiencies
that would otherwise, very likely, be overlooked. In addition
to this benefit, working together should also help in beginning
to build the synergistic relationships necessary for this
sort of work. It wouldn't be surprising if fresh enthusiasm
and perspectives from unexperienced newcomers serves to energize
and inspire more technically advanced members as well.
hhhhhA
new direction LASMI explored in late 2006 and early 2007
was specifically geared toward presentation of collected
material in a public place, for a general audience. The LASMI
Showcase was a monthly event at which locally produced videos
and other submissions from around the state were shown. Something
like this would certainly still be integral to the organization,
though hopefully with increased interest, support, and production
of material, improvements in venue and display equipment
will be possible and (more widely considered) warranted.
hhhhhThe
motion picture is probably the most inclusive of the arts.
Cooperation between performers of both drama and music, writers,
photographers - and others with a sense of composition (for
instance: painters who've made movies include David Lynch
and Salvador Dali) - are all necessary for the process to
come together. LASMI has been established in an effort to
bring artists in these often disparate fields together, and
to create something greater than the sum of its parts.