Spring is almost upon us… and that means we’re almost done the Canadian portion of our ‘Discover Your Passion’ Tour! It’s been an incredible journey: we’ve experienced the beauty of the road, the inspiration of hearing your stories, and plenty more.

There’s still a few dates to go… in the meantime, here’s a small gallery from the trip:

Maybe photography itself is your passion in life. Seeing photographs like this might spark something in you. Online photography classes are available when you are looking to pursue that passion.

This is your chance to see the inspiring film “One Week Job” along with the film’s director Ian MacKenzie, and star Sean Aiken. We’re very fortunate and grateful to be having the event at The Steam Whistle Brewery, an awesome space, and Sean’s employer “Week #19″ of ‘The One-Week Job Project’.

TICKETS:

$8 Advance – BUY NOW
or $10 at the door

SCHEDULE:

BEER 7pm ~ 9
Film (75 mins) starts at 7:30pm

After the film, Sean and Ian will give a brief talk and Q&A. We sold out our Vancouver screening, and we’d love to do the same in Toronto!

Hope to see you there! Please help spread the word!

Sean & Ian

SUPPORTERS

From Here To Career
Pandor
Steam Whistle

Check out a sneak peek at the Discover Your Passion event in Calgary last week. I pulled together some quick clips, and interviews with David Aplin Recruiting reps Kathryn Farrell and Jeff Aplin. They share their thoughts on why they joined up with One Week Job and how much they enjoy helping you find your passion!

Check out David Aplin Recruiting’s new resource site for grads ‘From Here To Career.”

Yesterday, Sean and I were featured on the Vancouver lifestyle program ‘The Express‘, sharing the evolution of the original journey up until the ‘Discover Your Passion Tour‘

The piece was shot at the Capilano College event last week. Enjoy!

View gallery on Facebook

On the drive out to the theatre on Saturday morning, with the churning anxiety in my stomach that comes from throwing any large event, I remarked to Sean, “You know… it’s so much easier not to do things.”

Of course, the appropriate answer came soon after. “But then, it’s more fun to actually do them.” And with that, we proceeded into the afternoon flurry of activity that was the Vancouver premiere of One Week Job.

Thanks to you, dear supporter, we SOLD OUT the event entirely, even having to turn a few people away at the door. It was more than we could have hoped for, and even more fulfilling than expected. We raised $500 to donate towards Steps Over Swaziland, an upcoming project aimed at helping orphans in Africa.

Sean and I would also like to give a huge THANK YOU to the sponsors and partners that made the event possible:

• Pacific Cinémathèque
• Steam Whistle
• Pixstar Photo Booth
• David Aplin Recruiting

Also thanks to Karly Warkentin and musical guests who played to the audience before the show.

Missed the film? You can buy your own spankin’ copy of the One Week Job film right here!

The premiere was the kick-off for our cross-Canada “Discover Your Passion” Tour hitting campuses across the country from Jan-April.

We’ll be posting video updates, photos, and blogs during the tour, so stay in touch via the Facebook Page, or signup to our newsletter on the top-right.

Hot off the press… the first run of the One Week Job film is out! After 3 years… 52 jobs… hundreds of hours of editing…thousands of dollars in post-production… it’s good to have the DVD in our hands.

And soon, you will too! If you were one of our funding supporters, your DVD is likely already in the mail. We hope you like it!

For everyone else, the “official” retail version of the film will be released in Feb 2011. But don’t worry, if you can’t wait that long, you can buy a supporter copy right now.

After watching the film…what next? Here’s a few ideas we’d really appreciate:

Blog about the film
Email us your review
Host a screening in your hometown
Rate the film on IMDB
Tweet about it
Buy your friends and family a copy!

Thanks again for all your support. And we’re just getting started… did someone say North American Tour?

Still sizzling from the post-production room, the One Week Job documentary is hitting its first US festival: Hatchfest.

The festival runs Sept 22-26, and includes music, film, and mentor workshops with groundbreaking filmmakers.

Sean and I are thrilled to be in the company of other passionate productions like Waiting For Superman, and Playing For Change.

Check out the full schedule.

I’ll be live-tweeting from the event via @ianmack and keeping you updated on the One Week Job Facebook group.

Stay tuned!

You may remember a few weeks ago when Amanda Lowe (during her week at Reframe Marketing) helped set up a pop-up event in downtown Vancouver.

For your viewing pleasure, here’s the video of the event:

Greetings all! You may (or may not) know that we’re in the midst of fundraising for the last phase of the One Week Job documentary. Our goal: $4500 in 17 more days. Learn more and donate here.

In this latest update, I share the philosophy behind using “crowdsourcing” as a viable funding model for creative projects. While it may seem simple at first, it actually represents a much larger shift in how our society funds and creates content.

Enjoy! And if you know someone who’d be interested, please Facebook/Tweet to them all!

One week jobber Amanda Lowe is in Vancouver this week, working with Reframe Marketing. As part of her tasks, she figured it would be great to promote an event about One Week Job!

So here’s the deal:

We’re holding a “pop-up” event just outside the Vancouver Art Gallery in downtown Vancouver. We’ll have a booth to meet Sean Aiken, and a roaming guerrilla film crew (myself + Amanda) that will roam the streets and interview locals on topics like jobs and passion.

Check out the Facebook Event

Full Details:

• Vancouver Art Gallery at 750 Hornby St (view map)
• Thursday, July 29th 2010
• 11am – 1pm

We will be starting in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery at 750 Hornby St, and moving around the core.

Hope to see you there!

- Ian

Earlier this month at the One-Week Job book launch, we showed an advance screening of the documentary.

For me, as the director, it was a treat to watch the audience react to the first viewing of the film. I also felt it was an opportunity to share my thoughts on the meaning of the project.

Here’s my final speech:

Here’s the full text:

At the beginning of the film, you probably noticed a quote from the Buddha.
I’ll read it again

From the bottom of our hearts, Sean and I thank you for coming tonight.

On May 13, 2010, we held the official book launch for The One-Week Job Project. The evening consisted of a meet and mingle in the Port Moody galleria:

Photo: Elaine ‘Bayley’ Happer

Photo: Matt Procopation

Photo: Elaine ‘Bayley’ Happer

Photo: Elaine ‘Bayley’ Happer

Around 8pm we moved into the adjacent theater for a short book reading with Sean and I. We ended the night with a special advance screening of the documentary One Week Job.

Special thanks to Sean’s sister Natalie for organizing the event, and to Steam Whistle for providing the beers!

Thanks to everyone for coming out!

Since we’re now in the final leg of the One Week Job documentary, it struck me that the film still didn’t have an official poster.

To fix the situation, I tapped the skills of Vancouver graphic artist and illustrator Amanda McCuaig.

After approx 2 weeks of back and forth collaboration, the final result is, in a word, awesome. So awesome that I wanted to share with you the step-by-step process we took to make the vision a reality.

The Evolution of a Movie Poster

The first step was coming up with the general concept. I knew we needed to hint at all the jobs Sean tried over the year, but it had to be in a way that was still visually pleasing (without being overly complex). Amanda sketched her ideas out first:

Starting today, we’ll be periodically releasing outtake clips from the upcoming One Week Job documentary. The first is an interview shot with Kyle MacDonald, better known as the guy who traded a paperclip for a house.

Filmed in Sept 2007 in Montreal, Kyle talks about the importance of finding a job, higher education, and how to take care of your little place in the world.

You may have noticed it around the site already, but in case you missed it, here’s the brand new documentary trailer. (Thanks to Erin Cumming for her editing help).

Feel free to share the trailer far and wide.

The trailer features a number of elements not seen before, including the post-project interviews I conducted with Sean’s parents, girlfriend, and even… me! Also showcases a sneak peek of the awesome animations done by Vividus FX.

You can learn more about the film and meet the crew here.

Enjoy!