SFTL2Ep8 - Vimeo Staff Picks - Sam Morrill
Channel: Short Films Teachers Love
Date: 2017-07-24

Sam Morrill is the Director of Curation at Vimeo who oversees a team of people who choose the best short films in the world to watch online. Sam discusses how Staff Picks works, the ups & downs of watching short films for a living, and how videos are probably THE most efficient way to learn.

FULL AUDIO podcast:
Soundcloud- https://soundcloud.com/shortfilmsteacherslove/s2ep8

Links to short films loved:
3:17 Daniel Mulloy: Home | https://vimeo.com/217149413 (Full online release expected in September on iTunes/Amazon)
5:27 Mac Premo: The Function of Music with Jad Abumrad | https://vimeo.com/172016440
7:03 Egmont Mayer: Red Rabbit | https://vimeo.com/channels/kidproof/4949853

Disclosure statement:
Sam Morrill works for the Vimeo as the Director of Curation. Short films chosen were those discussed during interview and deemed most relevant to the audience of this podcast by host Richard Leigh. Richard Leigh received no payment for interviewing Sam Morrill.

Other notes from the show:

Vimeo’s Staff Picks are chosen by a combination of the following techniques:
1. Vimeo community - everyone on the curation team follows creators who produce excellent quality work
2. Trending feed - on the main page (https://vimeo.com) this feed is partly algorithmic (plays/likes) modified by human insight
3. Third-party curators - keeping up with channels on Vimeo and on other sites like Booooooom, Motionographer, Short of the Week, Nowness, Director’s Notes, The Curious Brain
4. Film Festival - attending and working with festivals around the world

Filmmakers should note that if your film has screened at an Oscar-qualifying event, you can notify Vimeo by emailing premieres@vimeo.com

Other tips for getting your short film in the running for a Staff Pick badge:
- make great films
- drive engagement with family, friends and online communities who are interested in the subject of your film
- share with other curators and channels (like those above) which automatically get noticed by Vimeo staff curators


This recent post from Indiewire gives a handy run-down on getting your film chosen by Sam and his team:
http://www.indiewire.com/2017/06/vimeo-staff-picks-how-to-get-your-film-chosen-curators-1201844894

Also, it’s worth reading the Vimeo blog which outlines the different types of Staff Picks:
https://vimeo.com/blog/post/taking-vimeo-staff-picks-to-the-next-level

Other videos recommended by Sam:
The Giant - https://vimeo.com/222545163 - the first 360 video launched in conjunction with South by Southwest Film Festival. An animation that successfully made use of 360 video in a linear narrative form.

12 Angry Men - https://itunes.apple.com/tj/movie/12-angry-men/id299020164 - one of the most striking films that impacted Sam at age 12

Sesame Street: How Crayons are made - one of Sam’s earliest moving image memories:
https://youtu.be/PoM0p02KGcM

Staff Pick Refugee films:
Refuge - https://vimeo.com/195306938
Home - http://www.homefilm.org/trailer
4.1 Miles - https://vimeo.com/185717440 (in ‘Best of the Year’)

On Language learning, Sam refers to Telenovelas and a TV variety show called “Sabado Gigante”

Others of educational interest, noted by Richard:
https://vimeo.com/blog/post/father-s-day-the-best-way-dad-approved-videos, especially ‘Forms of nature’. Interesting because it’s NOT real, yet it opens up the world of shape & form to young minds. Vimeo staff member Stephen Niebauer said this “has everything my son Felix absolutely loves: space & animals. We’ve watched it well over 25 times.

Hyper-reality
https://vimeo.com/channels/staffpicks/166807261 - of interest in presenting a vision of the world of the future where augmented reality becomes commonplace.

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This show is a proud member of the Education Podcast Network
http://www.edupodcastnetwork.com

Recorded using Zencastr
https://zencastr.com
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