The author attended the Aesthetica short film festival and enjoyed most aspects of their experience. They found the opening night screenings and a music video called "Wannabe" to be memorable. The industry marketplace was informative but crowded and noisy. The highlight was a panel event that featured short films and a discussion with their creators, which provided insight into the filmmaking process. However, the Dick Pope masterclass was frustrating and a disappointment due to superficial questions that did not allow the cinematographer to fully share his expertise and career advice. Overall, the author had a positive experience at the festival but would improve the masterclass event on a return visit.

1. My experience at Aesthetica 2019
I went to the aesthetica short film festival on Friday and I enjoyed it for the most part however if I
were to go again there would be some things that I would rather miss.
Once we arrived and got our tickets and passes we all went to the repeat showing of the opening
night and most of the short films we saw there were interesting and covered varying topics although
there were a couple which were great visually but needed stronger writing/performances however I
still found myself enjoying the opening in spite of this. One short film that I found memorable from
the screening was actually a music video called Wannabe which I found interesting mainly because
of its use of comedy as well as some great visuals too, although there wasn’t much of a story to the
video it didn’t feel like it needed one in order to be entertaining. I think the music video used the
idea of doppelgangers to show how people desire to be better than others even though they are
similar but I think the director’s main goal with the video was to entertain and it definitely achieved
that goal.
Once the repeat screening of the opening night had finished we had to go to the industry market
place which I found alright. There were lots of people there from different people there to represent
various film festivals across the country and even from other countries and I thought this was really
cool because it meant that I got to speak with these people and find out a ton about festivals I had
never heard of before. There were also people there from different universities which I also found
helpful as it meant that I could speak with some universities I hadn’t considered, the only issue I
had with the market place was that it was so full that it was difficult to move around and there were
points where I couldn’t hear what people were saying to me as it was too loud.
After the market place me and my friends got some lunch and then we went to the UAL panel:
which stories are worth telling. I found this to be my favourite event of the day as we got to watch a
bunch of short films which were all interesting/entertaining and afterward we got to see the people
that had key roles in making the films and we got to ask them questions about it. I found this event
to be really insightful into the work that goes into making short films and how people play a large
role in shaping their films. The short film I liked most at the panel was Pandamony which was
about a grieving mother having to overcome the death of their son, I think the reason I liked it so
much was because of the music design and the lighting which created a very expressive vibe. The
panel stood out as a highlight for me because of the interaction between the audience and the
creators.
The last event I went to at Aesthetica was the masterclass with cinematographer Dick Pope which I
thought I was going to enjoy however it turned out to be pretty boring and actually quite frustrating.
I think that my main issue with the event was that the cinematographer was being asked pretty
pointless questions that didn’t explore much of his career and this became frustrating when the man
asking him questions would keep stopping Dick Pope whenever he began talking about anything
remotely related to his own career and what advice he’d give to others as the questioner wanted to
finish the event as soon as possible by rushing through all of his questions instead of giving Dick
Pope time to give a useful answer.
I left the masterclass feeling fairly disappointed however I still enjoyed most of my time at
aesthetica this year and I would go again, I just didn’t find the masterclass to be as useful as it could
have been.