Q&A advice?

moonshieldmedia

moonshieldmedia

Has anyone ever done a Q&A, and do you have any advice?

One thing specifically I'm wondering is: When answering questions is it more important to be honest, or to sugar coat things? One example might be that your entire shoot was chaos and everything went wrong and nobody got along on set.

Maybe being honest about that stuff might be more interesting to an audience, rather than just lying and saying "everything went great!"

I think just about every production must have some dark sides, so as long as you don't mention any specific names, I'm wondering if there are drawbacks.
 
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It's all about the phrasing.

Instead of saying it all went to shit, was total chaos, and everyone hated each other you say that "Despite everything, we managed to overcome the enormous challenges we faced." If you managed to finish the film and got it into a festival it is the truth, after all.

Instead of calling someone an a$$hole (or whatever) they are "a most interesting person."

Instead of saying that someone opposed you at every turn "they had some very interesting perspectives."

You get the idea; you phrase everything as positively as you possibly can while doing as much as you can to stay within the truth.
 
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I'm with Alcove Audio on this - be as positive as you can.

Also - try to answer the question without getting too far off topic. Keep your answers brief. Try not to say "ummm" too much. Look at the audience, not your feet. Speak up. enunciate.

Also - don't argue. If someone doesn't like something, explain why you did what you did, then let it go. And if someone doesn't understand something, don't tell them that they're wrong,

Yeah, I've done a lot of them. Some great, some not
 
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Don't sweat it, you'll be fine.

Basic manners apply here. Feel free to air all grievances about all things, but only to your closest friends and family. Total strangers only get the polite sanitized versions of events.
 
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Everyone appreciates some humor, too.

I haven't done a Q&A about a film, but have done several for other things. Being upbeat and adding some humor makes things go so much better (but don't force a joke or anything like that). I always tell the truth, but if the truth is really bad, I find the more positive aspects like others on here have suggested. You'll figure it out on your first one and then after that, you'll know what feels natural for you.
 
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I've done a couple of Q&A's.

Be positive, yes. Don't ever talk about clashes of personalities.

However, audiences do love to hear about on-the-fly changes, or things you had to overcome to get the film made.

One of the best Q&A's I experienced was a director who took 3 years to get the film in the can, and all of the things that kept coming up. He was also very humorous and honest. He pointed out that they shot the film in in sequence over that time and since it was his first film he learned so much. He said: "The film itself is interesting because it becomes a much, much better film as you watch it."

Here is some advice from my years as a festivalgoer. If you are a painfully shy person who has trouble interacting or speaking clearly in these situations, please, please, please, for the love of god,bring somebody from your team (producer, DP, writer, actor,) who is outgoing, extroverted and articulate to complement you during the Q&A.
 
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