12th January 2012
Sound Evening.
Alan Moore led us into the new year with a discussion about sound, and especially the use of microphones during the first half of this evening. He had prepared a DVD of some his own microphones in use.
He began by reminding us of the importance of actually listening to the sound being captured by using earphones - best of all closed back earphones.
He compared the effectiveness of his camcorder's onboard and an external shotgun mic by walking to the bottom of the garden, talking as he went. The shotgun mic picked up the distant sound much better.
Alan's presentation was very wide-ranging, including the use of a hand held mic for interviewing, how to reduce obtrusive background noise by using the speaker's body as a sound barrier, understand the pattern of a mic by turning it in a complete horizontal circle as someone speaks into it and the disadvantages of speaking directly into the mic.
After the outdoor work, Alan read poetry into various mics each placed in a variety of positions.
Alan's message was that exactly which microphone you use and where you place it will depend on what effect you want to achieve.
After the break, the evening was opened out to other club members to show examples of their own equipment in use. This included Grahame playing sound captured by his Zoom Handy Recorder, for use as a soundtrack for cine film. Jill showed how she used her Zoom Handy Recorder with a tie clip mic for picking up the voice when the speaker was far from the camera. It can be used rather like a radio mic except that of course it has to be synchronised with the video in post production. Gordon showed clips from our Midsummer Madness film in a day video which was filmed by two different camcorders and he edited it so that it was easy to judge the difference between the two microphones. Most notable was the usefulness of a directional mic (on a boom pole) pointing downwards towards the speakers, compared with a shotgun mic pointing horizontally at the speakers. The latter picked up a considerable amount of ambient, but quite distant noise from cars.
8th December 2011
Clips Bits and Chips
Members brought along films or bits of equipment to show to other members. Grahame Tench showed us a number of his old Super 8 films on a period projector. It was a dual gauge Eumig DL projector (which can show Super 8mm and Standard 8mm films) which, in its time, was stated to be one of the three top projectors for light output, showing a bright image from the 8mm gauges. It had a revolutionary low wattage bulb with only 100 watts but with the reflector and an f1 lens produced a bright image. Grahame showed Standard 8mm films 'Traction Engine Rally', 'Sutton Carnival 1971', 'Spring and Summer' and 'Biggleswade' (veteran and vintage aircraft).
It was a good reminder of the quality of actual cine film compared with digital video. Several members brought films to entertain us, including a festive Christmas film from Dave Kinnaird showing members of his family decorating a Christmas tree. Alan Moore produced a huge display of old 16mm film on big reels. Roger had a short holder rather like a mini monopod, for holding a camcorder. He says it gives him more versatility for camera height and camera angles.
We enjoyed a celebratory meal of fish and chips kindly organised by Mike Gutowski.
24th November 2011
Video to Music competition + Mike's Music Challenge
This year we tried a new challenge, which was suggested by Mike Gutowski. Mike chose two pieces of music ("Memories" and "(I've had) The Time of My Life"), and members were invited to make videos to one or both of those pieces of music. The idea was to have fun comparing different people's interpretations of the same musical pieces. It was not intended to be competitive - just a bit of fun.
The event was held on the same evening as the regular Video to Music competition, and films which had actually been prepared for Mike's Music Challenge were eligible for the Video to Music competition. Indeed almost all the films were entered in the competition.
The Music to Video Competition was judged by the members of the Club. No one was allowed to vote for their own entry. In order to provide some feedback to film makers, members were invited to write a sentence each about what they liked about each film and what they thought could be improved.
The following were the entries and results:
| Poldark Mine to Music | Tim Easton | |
| Time for Love | Dave Kinnaird | 3rd |
| (I've Had) The Time of My life | Tim Easton and Jill Lampert | |
| Memories | Doug Hemmings | |
| If You're Irish Come Into the Parlour | Jill Lampert | 2nd |
| Charlestown | Roger Lawrie | |
| La Serenissima | Mike Gutowski | |
| Father and Son | Dave Kinnaird | 1st |
10th November 2011
"Twelve Good Men and True" + "The Story so far Challenge"
Gordon Hunt's evening of filming something live at the club. He had held a 'committee meeting' at his house the previous week, and it had been filmed. He brought along the edited film, and showed the members that during that committee meeting his 'oscar' statuette had gone missing. He invited members to speculate on what had happened to the statuette, and their suggestions were filmed for future editing.
The evening was very successful, with all the members present making suggestions about what could have happened to the oscar.
Eventually they were shown a second clip, which showed that in fact it had been stolen by the whole committee to award as a prize. The audience made suggestions about what they thought the prize was for, and they got very close to the truth, which was that it was stolen in order to award it to Gordon Hunt for the "Maddest Idea for A Sutton Coldfield Movie Makers Meeting". It was then presented to Gordon.
All this was filmed, and will one day be edited into a fun Club Film with mass participation.
After the tea break, members had the opportunity to show what they had done with the "Story So Far" challenge. At the beginning of the year, Roger Lawrie had provided members with the first twenty minutes from a television programme. Members were invited to edit this down to a short clip showing what had happened during the twenty minute clip. The idea was that the finished clip would show someone who hadn't seen the full twenty minutes 'the story so far' so that they would be able to follow the story from that point onwards.
This challenge was taken by eight members. It was not a competition: just a bit of fun. It was fascinating to see so many different styles of editing and different interpretations of the challenge. Many chose to do something which was more of a 'trailer' to whet the appetite of potential viewers. There was time for the editors to say something about their approach, and to answer a few questions. This challenge really demonstrated what a creative lot the Sutton Coldfield Movie Makers are!
A great evening.
27th October 2011
BIAFF films
A selection of films from BIAFF 2010 and 2011 were shown. During the first half of the evening we watched:
Bus Baby by Jason Hasford and Gino EvansDays Away by Circle Eight Film Group
Between by Michal Stenzel & Anna Kasperska
Clint by Florian Gregor & Philipp Scholz
There was plenty of time for a discussion about the merits of each of these films, and it was inspiring to see such quality work.
During the second half of the evening we watched Michael Slowe's very beautiful film The Hounds and the Huntsman.
13th October 2011
Mini + Micro film competitions
Geoff Caudwell kindly came all the way from Derby to judge our Mini and Micro Film competitions.
The results were as follows:
| Mini Video - Maximum length 5 minutes | ||
| Primate Paradise | Roger Lawrie | |
| Let Me Have a Go | Dave Kinnaird | 1st |
| Wood Hall - An Architectural History | Jill Lampert | 3rd |
| Together | Dave Kinnaird and Trevor Mall | 2nd |
| Mallard | Alan Eades | |
| Served with Good Food | Alan Moore | |
| Wildlife | Phil Walker |
| Micro Video - Maximum length 60 seconds | ||
| Newbury Coat in a Minute | ,Jill Lampert | 2nd |
| Bollards | Jill Lampert | 1st |
| GCR Mail Drop | Tim Easton | |
| The Dragons are coming | Grahame Tench | |
| Practical Pranks | Alan Moore | 3rd |
| Drummer | Trevor Mall |
22nd September 2011
Bob Lorrimer Visit
Our guest speaker Bob Lorrimer came all the way from Yorkshire. We were pleased to welcome a number of visitors from other clubs in the region including Lichfield, Nuneaton and Worcester.
Bob is well known for his very successful and very short films which often feature himself in the central part.
He brought along a good selection of his films including The Drill and Rock Bottom and his latest films "There's Something about Archie" and "The Steps".
Bob is a tremendous enthusiast for the use of Digital SLR cameras for HD video. He brought along his Canon 7D and his Panasonic Gh2 and gave us a lot of interesting information about their merits.
He also brought his Glidetrack. He uses Vimeo to display his films on the internet, and he encouraged us to do the same because he said that the quality of picture on Vimeo is infinitely superior to the quality on YouTube.
Bob also uses Magic Bullet Looks which he find very useful.
We showed Bob's films, which were in HD on Blu-Ray discs, on our new dvd/blu-ray player, using our excellent projector and Trevor's lovely screen. The films looked marvellous.
Bob was an entertaining speaker whose enthusiasm is infectious and inspiring.
8th September 2011
Introductory Meeting
The highlight of the first meeting this season was Gordon Hunt's film of the Royal Wedding. Previously he had handed out tapes to members, asking them to film themselves on Royal Wedding day. Eight members had done so and handed their tapes to Gordon. Gordon had then edited the Sutton Coldfield Movie Makers' video clips into a shortened version of the public footage of the Royal Wedding. He did a brilliant job, cleverly weaving in each person's contribution at the time when it happened in real time, and showing the stage that the Royal Wedding had got to by then.
It was a masterpiece of editing, and enormous fun for the viewers.
The Club entry to the annual Midland Movie Makers Midsummer Madness film in a day competition was also shown. This year the title was 'Mastermind'. Eight club members took part - a record. Our finished film was placed third in the competition, which was the best result we have had so far.
Dave Kinnaird also entertained us with a showing of his film about the Midsummer Madness Day. A sort of 'making of' film, but also with the purpose of showing how the competition works.
Members were also invited to bring along their own films for showing.
Jill Lampert explained that there are two external competitions which invite entries of films to a certain theme (the same theme) and she encouraged the club to enter these competitions. The theme this year for both the Tony Rose competition and the North vs South competition is "Easier Said than Done". Jill's film "Fleece to Coat" was shown and members were asked their opinion on whether or not it fitted the theme. It was agreed that it did fit the theme.
26th May 2011
AGM and Awards Presentations
The AGM was held and the new committee, chairman and president were voted for. The Chairman continues to be Gordon Hunt who has done such a good job for us, and was willing to stand for re-election. The committee members voted in were: Tim Easton, Patrick Sprague, Jill Lampert, Roger Lawrie and Mike Gutowski. Mike continues to be the treasurer. We are very grateful to him for that. Trevor Mall was voted President. He has since been co-opted as a committee member and has agreed to be the Secretary.
Some minor amendments to the Club Rules were made. The purpose of these was to bring the rules into line with the practice of the club.
The following Trophies were awarded:
| Entertainment Award: | Short Cut - Gordon Hunt |
| Best Sound | Shared between The Eccentric Accountant - Phil Walker |
| and Shardas - Patrick Sprague | |
| Best Photography | Jack and Grandad - Alan Moore |
| Best Editing | Running Together - Jill Lampert |
| Chairman's Cup | Roger Lawrie for his outstanding contribution to the Club. |
There was time left over to be entertained by a few films brought in by members.
12th May 2011
Video Cup and Technical Awards Judging
We were fortunate to have David Newman come all the way from Derby to judge our Video Cup competition.
The results were:
| Buther's Mere | Phil Walker | 3rd |
| Dreamy Knight | Jill Lampert | |
| Frozen in Time | Roger Lawrie | |
| Jack and Grandad | Alan Moore | |
| Music Builds Bridges | Jill Lampert | |
| Running Together | Jill Lampert | 1st |
| Short Cut | Gordon Hunt | 2nd |
| Tallylin Railway | Tim Easton | |
| The Eccentric Accountant | Phil Walker | |
| Raining in Baltimore | Joe Meehan and Joel Felles |
Members also scored each film from all the competitions held over the year for the Entertainment award, and he committee members scored the films for the technical awards (best photography, best sound and best editing).
28th April 2011
Making Thrillers Howard-Smith way
Howard-Smith from Wyre Forest Movie Makers was our special guest on 28th April. He is a very successful film maker who specialises in fiction and in particular thrillers.
By the time members arrived Howard and his friend Vaughan Williams had prepared the room for us. It looked wonderful. There were posters of Howard's productions all around the room, and a display of his dvds laid out on a table. DVDs were available to be taken freely by club members.
Howard entertained us with some of his films. Perhaps the highlight was his latest film CASHBACK. He has made two versions. One for audiences who are quite comfortable with rough language and explicit violence and another one for those who might be uncomfortable with such things. He asked which one we would prefer, and the audience voted overwhelmingly for the uncut version.
It was much enjoyed by the audience. We were fascinated by the special effects, and Howard gave us plenty of time of ask questions which he answered in detail.
Howard uses many professional actors in his films. They are happy to play parts in his films for expenses only, if they are not busy on another production at the time. The result of this is that the standard of acting in his films is considerably higher than in the average amateur fiction film.
A very good evening.
14th April 2011
Commemorating John Foster
This was a special evening devoted to the memory of John Foster who died in December 2010. John was a much loved member of Sutton Coldfield Movie Makers for many years. He was hugely influential in the running of the club, and his contribution was outstanding.
We were very pleased to welcome some members of John's family who came to share the show with the Sutton Coldfield Movie Makers club members and visitors from Lichfield Movie Makers.
The evening was introduced by Stuart Mann who spoke warmly and eloquently about his memories of John as a film maker.
The rest of the evening was a showing of some of John's films. Grahame Tench projected some of John's earlier films on cine film, and Alan Eades projected a selection of the later digital video films.
John was a very accomplished film maker and so the evening was most entertaining. He had galvanised the club into making a number of club films which he edited and directed, and several of these were included in the programme.
The pre digital films shown were "One Man Metre", "BMX Action", "What about the Gardens" and the film which perhaps drew the most laughter, which was "Up The Garden Path". A very original comedy. Other films that were shown included "Alhambra Palace", "Yellow", "Car 67", "For One Year Only", "Coming Shortly", "Revenge", "Memories" and "Team Guinot".
John was a prolific film maker and members would very much like to see more of his films, especially his early films, but unfortunately at the time of this commemorative evening very few of his cine films could be found. If they are ever found, then the Club would like to screen them.
24th March 2011
Advanced Camcorder Techniques
Roger Lawrie hosted an evening on advanced camcorder techniques. He had prepared a comprehensive PowerPoint presentation in which he reminded us of all the basic points which he'd gone through at the beginning of the year, and explained to us how we could extend the use of our camcorders beyond the basics.
His talk included such things as the use of filters, the use of wide angled lenses, telephoto lenses and fish eye lenses. He talked about pans, tilts and zooming, stressing that generally zooming is used for only as an aid to focussing. He covered the use of accessories such as items which would assist in movement e.g. dollies. And the use of external microphones. There was some discussion of a digital recorder called a Zoom which is a compact and relatively affordable external sound recording device.
The presentation inspired lively discussion and I think everyone went away feeling they'd learnt something.
10th March 2011
Michael Gough Visit
Burning the midnight oil
Not literally, but our guest speaker, Michael Gough, was not averse to getting up from his hotel bed at midnight when he had a Eureka moment. It was the last night of his holiday when he realised he needed some night time shots of the Welsh village he was staying in. He explained that fortunately he has an understanding wife who understood his need to leave their hotel bed in the early hours!
The film that resulted was one of several shown to us on the theme of holidays and travel. A packed audience included members of neighbouring clubs, Derby, Lichfield, Nuneaton and Wulfrun. However, none of them had travelled as far as our speaker who had trekked all the way from Newcastle upon Tyne. He came to us fresh from his success at BIAFF where the two films he entered were both awarded four stars.
Michael kept everyone's attention as he showed us a selection of his holiday films from around the globe and explained the thinking behind them. Most people would be surprised at how 'last minute' his decision is, as to subject or theme of the film. Michael also shared many of his techniques for filming and editing. Of particular interest was his demonstration of how to take an acceptable tracking shot by bending your knees as you walk. It looks strange but it works! He also addressed the often overlooked importance of the commentary and the benefits of making it the first part of the editing process on the timeline.
The evening passed very quickly but we all left full of the enthusiasm generated by our proficient and entertaining speaker.
24th February 2011
On this occasion Sutton Coldfield Movie Makers hosted a Trivention. Geoff Bates-Jones, our longest serving member, who joined the club in 1957, was able to remind us of how a Trivention works. Basically two clubs are invited to present a show of films each with a running time of approximately 40 minutes. The host club judges which is the winning programme. An honour is also awarded to the film that is voted the best film from the losing team.
Our guest clubs were Wulfrun Camcorder Club and Reading Film and Video Makers. Reading Film and Video Makers had very kindly stepped in at very short notice to offer a programme of films. Because of the short notice, and also the distance between Reading and Sutton Coldfield, it was not possible for Reading club members to attend. Wulfrun on the other hand brought along quite a few of their members to watch the show, and we were delighted to welcome them.
10th February 2011
This was our Holiday Competition slot. We were very lucky to have Simon Sumner from Derby to judge the competition. It was particularly kind of him to come all the way as we only had 3 entries:
"Holiday in Erdington" - a tongue in cheek invitation to a holiday in Erdington by Joe Meehan and Joel Felles - 2nd Place
"Home of the Lotus Eaters" - a holiday in Capri with a quotation from Somerset Maugham by Roger Lawrie - 3rd Place
"Catalan Adventure" - a walking holiday in Catalonia, Spain by Jill Lampert - 1st Place
In the time left over, Simon entertained us with two Derby Movie Makers' productions which he had edited. He had also assisted with the camera work. The films were both dramas: "Situation Vacant" and "Locked In".
27th January 2011
The script competition went really well. The best it's been since I've been a member!
• Six Days Sober - Pop video - by Dave Kinneard
• Interview with Death - The death penalty is re-intoduced and we talk to a convicted killer on death row - by Doug Hemmings.
• Two Little Boys - A magic stone shrinks two boys so they can play train divers on their model railway and end up capturing a thief - by Tim Easton.
• Survival of the Fittest - A visit to the post is needed to ensure survival - by Alan Moore.
• Ring, Ring - A couple miss out on a luxury holiday by arguing over who will answer the phone - by Alan Moore.
• And What Did You Have for Christmas? - Some are pleased with their special present - by Alan Moore.
• For The Love of money - A long lost son returns home to shop his drug dealing Dad - by Alan Moore.
• Intervention on Good Intention - A potential kidney donor gets mugged as he thinks about the donor recipient - by Joe & Joel.
• Tangled Conversation - An almost identical phone conversation takes place as the previous day, with cut backs - by Joe & Joel.
• Coffee Shop - A man meets a new woman in a coffe shop. He asks her to meet for a drink, she turns him down but asks him to walk her to the station (you decide an ending!) - by Alan Eades.
• I can help - Accident Claim salesman leaves to the office to see a car accident as an opportunity. It's not what he thinks! - by Roger Lawrie.
It was very informal. There weren't any full scripts. Most entrants just read out or described their idea for a film. Some were basic structures where further research would be needed to fill out the script. One was a music video with a particular band who had indicated a willingness to be filmed in rehearsal. There were pitches for science fiction, crime, comedy, family drama etc.
The judging was done by a show of hands, and the result was:
Joint first place went to - Interview with Death - Doug Hemmings
- I Can Help - Roger Lawrie.
after that we had a rather extended tea break, because people were so caught up in discussion about all the ideas they'd been presented with.
That meant that there was just a little time for consideration of which film or films we as a club might want to make. There was plenty of enthusiasm for working on club productions. Both the films that we've agreed to have a go at require outdoor shooting, and so we'll wait for warmer weather.
The evening was rounded off with viewing some of the footage from the previous meeting
13th January 2011
This was a practical evening with a very immediate purpose. The idea was to produce one or more little videos to promote our club - the finished results could perhaps be put on YouTube.
Some members brought along their camcorders and tripods and filmed the goings on and interviewed each other. Gordon had prepared some useful blue screen props.
Our numbers were increased by some members of Lichfield Movie Makers. It was an enjoyable evening, with plenty of opportunity to talk about film making matters as well as working on the project.
At the next meeting we hope to view some of these promo films.
9th December 2010 - Bits, Clips and Chips
Despite snow and ice still lying on the ground, many members managed to get to the meeting, and brought an array of interesting clips and bits.
Equipment brought along included Alan Moore's new Panasonic HD camcorder which he demonstrated to us. It certainly produces exceptionally good pictures in his capable hands. The camcorder was from the 700 series. It has an internal memory and can take a memory card. It can only take High Definition video, not Standard Definition. The manual controls are via a menu on the LCD screen. Unusually for consumer level camcorders these days, this one has a proper viewfinder as well as an LCD screen. Alan finds that on the whole the camcorder works very successfully without using manual controls.
Taking us back in time, Graeme Tench brought along his Standard 8 cine camera with various lenses. He demonstrated how the cassette works, to those of us who had no experience of such things. It seems extraordinary to think that the maximum running time for each little reel was 4 minutes.
Roger Lawrie showed us a fishing rod he had acquired and adapted to become a microphone boom pole. It is very light, being made of fibreglass, and very much cheaper than the type of pole which is sold commercially for that purpose.
A wide variety of films were brought along - though there was a bit of a theme of transport running through them. Rally cars, a motor show, 1920s/30s aeroplanes in East Africa (taken with a 16mm cine camera) and Trains from Sir Robert McAlpine's private railway. We were also treated to an episode of Morph, snippets from The Thomas Crown Affair, a BBC advert for the Barcelona Olympics, contrasting trailers for the two versions of "Trons" and a humorous film made by Roger called 'Hmmm…'.
And all this was punctuated with a delicious meal of Fish 'n Chips which Mike Gutowski kindly organised.
25th November 2010
This year our Video to Music competition was judged by those club members who were at the competition. Each person was given a voting slip. On the slip was a list of the names of the films, and for each film there were two questions with spaces for short answers. The questions were: "What did you like best about this film?" and "How could this film be improved?"
This method was suggested by Patrick Sprague as a way of getting feedback on our films when we don't use an outside judge.
After each film we were given time to fill in our answers to the questions, and at the end we were given time to write down our choices for which films should come 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Entrants were not allowed to select their own films.
Roger then collected the papers and worked out the results. After the tea break he read out the comments on each film and then announced the results of the competition.
The films were:
|
Night Ride |
Alan Moore |
A funfair at night. |
2 |
Heavy Weather |
Roger Lawrie |
Montage of weather films with a message to reduce Carbon Dioxide. |
3 |
|
Bicycle Race |
Jill Lampert |
Montage of shots if a Sky Ride cycling event. |
1 |
|
Splish Splash |
Stuart Mann |
A fountain show at Versailles. |
|
|
First Sail |
Alan Moore |
A boat being launched for its first sail. |
|
|
Get it on |
Gordon Hunt |
A live show of a band singing and playing. |
In the time that was left over after the competition and we watched an entertaining programme of prize winning music videos from Geof Caudwell (Derby Movie Makers), John Fox (Chesterfield Movie Makers) and Ian McDougall (Reading Film and Video Makers Club).
11th November 2010
3D or not 3D?. That is the question.
Should we all be jumping on the 3D bandwagon? That was one of the many questions answered by Adam from the Sony Centre. Adam came to give us the lowdown on Sony products, in particular camcorders and tv's. He brought 2 camcorders which we were encouraged to try. One was a high definition model and the detail it revealed when focused on a twenty pound note, was astounding.
As for 3D, according to Adam, 3D sales are soaring. However, despite this I think it will turn out to be an interesting fad which will plateau, then fade away.
However, it is a reminder of just how quickly technology advances and depressingly, just how quickly our equipment becomes dated. However, I consoled myself with the thought that there is many a good tune played on an old fiddle!
The second half of the evening featured a documentary film about Sutton Arts Theatre made by Roger Lawrie. The film included an interview with longstanding member of the theatre, Hilary Dorman, and provided some fascinating stories about the early days of the theatre and footage of a dress rehearsal of the Wizard of Oz directed by Nick Barnes.
A varied evening for members with something for everyone.
28th October 2010
Gordon Hunt was the speaker for a very instructive session on editing.
He began the evening by explaining to us what he considers to be the key to good editing, which is that the camera should look where we would want to look if we were there. To illustrate this he demonstrated that if we looked at him in the centre of the room and then turned our heads to face the clock on a wall on our left, what we would actually register would be two images: one would be him and the other would be the clock. We would not register the pan which takes place in between. He explained that the brain automatically cuts out the insignificant data in between the two significant images, and so that is what we should be doing on screen. He discouraged the use of the pan except when following the movement of a person or an animal or some other moving thing.
Gordon lucidly explained that film is about illusion. He pointed out that provided we use footage with appropriate directions and head turnings to lead us to things, we can create the illusion of things being there when in reality they are somewhere quite else. He provided a wonderful example of this which was a film of himself driving a car. There were shots of him speaking to camera and of him looking out of the window. The passing scenery included shots of suburban Birmingham, but also exotic places such as an Austrian tunnel or a mountain covered in snow.
In the end we were shown that Gordon had actually just been sitting stationary in his car all the time. The passing scenery was made up of clips from other journeys.
Gordon had also prepared a short film set in an office. He allowed us to watch it through and then he explained to us some of the difficulties he'd come across, when he was editing it, and how he overcame those difficulties. Examples included cutting together two versions of the same speech to make a more satisfactory whole, and dealing with a shot which was too short for his requirements.
He showed us two versions of the film 'Trouble' which a few members of the club had made for the Midland Movie Makers Midsummer Madness competition earlier in the year. Gordon was able to point out the improvements he'd made in the second editing, and to demonstrate the power of inter-cutting parallel action.
The evening was rounded off with a delightful example of the power of illusion in film. Trevor Mall's film "China Break" purports to be a holiday film of his trip to China. The shots are of oriental looking scenes. The twist is that they were all actually shot in Birmingham.
Our numbers were swelled by some visitors from Lichfield Movie Makers, who we were very pleased to see.
14th October 2010
The first two of our annual club competitions took place on 14thOctober 2010. Each competition was judged by those members who had no entry in that competition.
Micro Movie - Maximum running time: 1 minute
Leave Me Alone |
A. Moore |
Sleepy man goaded into action by his other self |
2 |
Jersey in Just a Minute |
R. Lawrie |
Documentary about Jersey Island |
3 |
I'm Bored |
J. Lampert |
Drama about a magic coat |
1 |
Mini Movie - Maximum running time: 5 minutes
Houghton Mill |
A. Eades |
A brief tour of a working watermill on the Great Ouse near Huntingdon, Cambs |
|
Shardas |
P. Sprague |
A violin recital |
3 |
Hell International Station (a newsreel report) |
G. Hunt |
A newsreel reporting from hell as a trainload of condemned souls arrives. |
|
Climate Change Festival |
J. Lampert |
Documentary about a Climate Change Festival in Birmingham |
1 |
Without Words |
A. Moore |
Portrait of Harvesting without commentary |
|
Men of Harlech |
P. Walker |
Documentary about Harlech Castle and the song "Men of Harlech" |
2 |
Chairman's Cup
Trevor Mall, former Chairman of the club, presented the Chairman's Cup to Jill Lampert for 'When I'm 64'. The Chairman's Cup is an annual award made at the discretion of the chairman. This presentation was for last year's award.
23rd September 2010
Manual or Automatic?
No, we weren't debating the merits of car transmissions but rather our speaker, Roger Lawrie, was reminding us that camcorders have manual settings which we can and should use to great effect. This was just one aspect of a comprehensive session Roger presented on camcorder and filming techniques. There was something there for everyone, from the beginner to the more seasoned film maker. Preparation, camcorder support, use of zoom, sound, exposure and white balance and much more were covered.
'Can you ever have too many cutaways?' Roger asked. We all nodded in agreement that they were vital to smooth over those dodgy shots and accidental jump cuts. Could a gorilla help you? Possibly if it is a gorillapod camcorder support that can be attached to just about anything.
By the end of the evening Roger had provided us with a wealth of information and reminded us of all the techniques we know we should use but are often too lazy to do so. The next competition will reveal just who took his advice to heart.
9th September 2010
This meeting was well attended for the start of the season especially as some members were still on holiday.
During the Summer break the club entered the-
"Midland Moviemakers Midsummer Movie Madness" competition.
This involves making a film with a title which is only announced on the day.
Each club team has to plan, script, shoot and edit their film ready for viewing the same day.
All participating clubs then converge for a evening dinner and film show. The audience chooses the winner.
Our entry was shown at tonight's meeting and those members who had taken part in making it explained the process, problems and fun to those who hadn't.
We had hoped to show several of the other club's entries but it proved almost impossible to obtain them, we did however watch several from previous years.
Members also brought various videos of their own choosing to show, Tim Easton showed a video of an extraordinary garden railway, and Alan Eades showed a video of Kings College Chapel which he made on a tiny 'Flip Ultra HD' card recorder, he also edited it with 'Flip's own on-board edit package. Results were amazingly good.
The evening was rounded off by a showing of the Out Takes from our Midsummer Madness entry, which gave us all an opportunity to look stupid, It's interesting to note that the out-takes video ran twice as long as the real video.
28th January 2010
This meeting took place after a long break. The meal on 14th December was cancelled because there was general agreement that we weren't in the mood for celebrating Christmas so soon after the death of John Foster, who was a much loved and very important member and former chairman of the club. The meeting on 14th January was cancelled because there was snow and ice and the weather conditions made it impossible for most members to get to the club.
So it was good to get together again and have a sociable evening. It is a tradition to have an evening with 'chips 'n clips'. The idea is that members bring along some of their old movies or clips they have enjoyed taken from YouTube or television. In between watching these, we eat fish 'n chips (or sausage 'n chips… or just chips) and have a good time catching up with each other.
This year we had the theme of 'hot clips'. The idea was that we would bring along our archive holiday movies from hot countries - hopefully this would cheer us up after the cold winter. And indeed it was most enjoyable to see the variety of films that were shown. The evening began with Roger Lawrie's film "The Birthplace of Modern Civilisation" which was about Crete and the Minoanne culture and Greek mythology. Keith Lewis entertained us with his film about Ayers Rock. Alan Moore brought along an interesting drama called "Dream Lover" - nothing to do with hot weather holidays - but well worth watching. He had made it with Bob Harper who was once a member of Sutton Coldfield Movie Makers. It was remarkable for its use of a wide range of different camera angles. I brought a little film about the Athens Olympics featuring Paula Radcliffe. I also brought a holiday film of Contamines, (which is a skiing resort) in the summer. Mike Gutowski brought some films on VHS, but sadly we weren't able to get the equipment to play them. Hopefully he will get them converted to DVD or mini DV tape so that we can see them another time.
The Script competition, which was scheduled for 14th January, was postponed until 28th January. Surprisingly it had to be abandoned because of lack of entries. We'll have to think about whether we want to hold the competition again next year, and if so, whether there's anything we can do to encourage people to bring along script ideas.
Trevor is still trying to round up members' contributions towards Sutton Spotlight. This is a project which was inspired by John Foster. His idea was that each of us would produce a short film about some aspect of Sutton Coldfield, and then the films would be gathered together and made into a DVD which would be of interest to the local community.
Jill Lampert
26th Nov 2009
MUSIC VIDEO COMPETITION |
26TH NOV 2009 |
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Judge: Rob Day of Lichfield MM |
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TITLE |
MAKER |
TIME |
PLACE |
1 |
WHEN I'M 64 |
J Lampert |
2.5 |
1ST |
2 |
O FORTUNA |
S Mann |
2.5 |
|
3 |
UNDER COVER |
S Mann |
4.5 |
|
4 |
MONEY |
R Lawrie |
2.5 |
2ND |
5 |
KOPPANGEN |
P Walker |
3.5 |
3RD |
12th November 2009
On Thursday 12th November Gordon Hunt gave us an entertaining and informative presentation on the subject of editing. Gordon has extensive experience as a professional editor working on such programs as Auf Wiedersehen Pet and the Teletubbies.
Gordon's presentation, fully illustrated with suitable clips, covered a wide range of editing problems and points to watch. These included the importance of reaction shots, the difficulty of editing a conversation if all the shots include both speakers, the importance of ensuring that music doesn't drown out speech, checking for continuity errors, the use of chromakey and split screen and even making the eyes of a statue move.
He demonstrated the importance of not becoming too attached to any one particular shot. If it holds up the action, or doesn't fit it must be cut out!
Gordon also discussed some aspects of making a music video. This was particularly pertinent as our music video competition was due to be held at the next meeting. He pointed out that you can quite easily cut a bar from music or a whole verse or chorus from a song to suit your needs. The important thing is to start with the bed of music, and place visuals over it.
Most of the special effects that Gordon showed us can now be done relatively easily by anyone with a digital camera and a fairly basic computer editing system. This includes delightful effects like editing together two shots taken from the same angle, to give the effect of showing someone in two different parts of the same room at the same time.
It was interesting to contrast the availability of these special effects now compared with only twenty or thirty years ago. Gordon described a trip to London that he made in the 1980s to arrange for some simple wipes and a four way split screen effect to be included in the opening sequence for an Auf Weidesein Pet series. It involved a huge amount of work, and a visit to a London editing company who had special facilities. The total cost was £3,000.
Jill Lampert
22nd October 2009
We held a special evening of films by the late John Seedhouse. John died of cancer shortly before Christmas last year. He had been a longstanding member of the club and an outstanding film maker. John's daughter and other members of his family made it a very special occasion by bringing along a great display of photographs of John and certificates of awards he had won for his films. They also kindly produced a wonderful spread of refreshments.
John's daughter Josephine introduced the films by recalling the pleasure John got from film making. She described the joy he felt when his cine film came back after it was developed and then getting down to the business of editing. Once digital video took over from cine film, John rather lost interest in film making, and turned his attentions elsewhere.
Having planned an evening of short films made by John Seedhouse, the show was nearly cancelled due to projector failure. Few own working cine gear as digital now rules. But Bill Green of the film watchers group Birmingham Cinema Appreciation Society brought his luxury lantern, so everyone could enjoy the show.
Over 20 years Mr Seedhouse had won regional & national competitions, and his variety of subjects was ably demonstrated. It included drama, documentary and animation. The full list shown on Thursday was:
Off The Rails: Playing on the tracks proves dangerous.
Head In The Clouds: Disabled lady becomes a flier.
Gramalkin: Witchcraft thrives in the country.
Behind Bars: Old lag escapes from prison in cartoon.
Vanishing Heritage: History & restoration of the canals.
Silent Sands: WWII mystery of drowned Americans.
The Sherrif: Cartoon tale of a lawman.
The Deadly Game: A boy discovers life's values.
Rattle In The Streets: An artist's passion for trams.
Made on a shoestring, his films were endowed with all the emotion of "Up", and they are still relevant today. Some could move you to tears.
Next meeting 12th November Tips Slips and Clips with Auf Wiedersehen Pet's first editor Gordon Hunt.
Trevor Mall
8th October 2009
Tonight was the evening of competitions for short films at the club. The Mini-Video Competition was restricted to 5 minutes and our judges, Bob Wood and Doug Butler from Derby Moviemakers, were presented with seven very different films to look at. Roger Lawrie managed two entries; his "First Light" showing the glorious pictorial aspects of Mousehole in Cornwall (at least when you get up early) but his second film "I can Fly" was much more active with him paragliding off the Long Mynd in Shropshire.
Patrick Sprague found solace from the credit crunch in his "Peaceful Garden" but Jill Lampert was busy "Grappling With Greenhouse Gases" a struggle which earned her second place.
Trevor Mall put his "Best Foot Forward" to come third, with coverage of a pantomime-horse race but Tim Easton preferred to let the train take the strain as he shared a trip on the "Welsh Highland Railway, Portmadoc" with us.
Railways figured too in Mike Gutowski's video "Big Boys' Toys", about a friend having a train driving experience. This won him first place, but it's a pity he didn't get the fireman's breakfast in the end.
The judges were not finished yet, however, because they then had to watch the Sixty Second Competition, which had four entries this year. John Foster entered a film about the bridge at Avignon called "Over or Under" trying to solve the age-old problem of why people danced on the bridge there, while Gordon Hunt's second prize winner asked "Where Am I?" The answer was the Minack theatre in Cornwall, so I hope this doesn't spoil the suspense for you. Trevor Mall achieved another third place with his brief portrait of Newhall Mill, while Jill Lampert's winner "Who's Singing?" defied easy description.
For those who couldn't make it there's the two film listings included. Most of you'll need them for reminding of the movies come the Entertainment Awards later in the season.
Mini Video Competition.
First Light: Beautiful Cornwall scenery with time lapse clips by R. Lawrie
Peaceful Garden: Monetary gloom versus beautiful garden by P. Sprague
I Can Fly: Paragliding in Shropshire (Re-Edited recently) by R. Lawrie
Grappling with Greenhouse Gasses: Dilemma of procedure between Husband & Wife by J. Lampert
Best Foot Forward: City centre chaos at a Pantomime Horse Race by T. Mall
West Highland Railway (at Portmadoc): Small scale train ride by T. Easton
Big Boy's Toys: Restored Steam Railway System by M. Gutowski
60 Second Competition.
Who's Singing?: A strange voice at the zoo, but whose ? by J. Lampert
New Hall Mill: The activities at a restored local Water Mill by T. Mall
Where Am I ? : Clues reveal beautiful Cornish Minack Theatre by G. Hunt
Over or Under: Snaps & clips of French Avion Bridge by J. Foster
John Foster / Trevor Mall
24th September 2009
At our last club night we had a fascinating talk from High Definition enthusiast Alan Moore. He took us through possible pitfalls when moving to HD. No one likes nasty surprises, especially when buying expensive equipment. We looked at the camera, solid state is here and how the rolling shutters that CMOS cameras have now can give some weird results. Is your editor up to it and will the camera talk to it? What do you play your edited HD video on? What is meant by HD and are you really seeing 1080i resolution? Alan gave us an informative and entertaining evening, covering all these issues. He illustrated what he was saying with a helpful and well structured powerpoint presentation.
Jill Lampert
10th September 2009
On 10th September we held our first meeting after the summer break. Members were invited to bring along old films/videos for us all to watch. It was great fun to see such a huge variety of subjects, for example: an outdoor circus, a view of Ireland, trains at Porthmadog, a skiing holiday in France, a car rally, a music video, a film about an evening at the club from the early 1990s, and a film called "Mother", which was a sort of 'homage' to Psycho.
The "Mother" film also had a very interesting history. It had originally been shot by Patrick Sprague in about 1984 using Super 8 film. The editing was done manually with splicing and glue. Over 15 years ago it was transferred to VHS, and more recently he converted it from VHS to DV by means of a video to FireWire DV converter. Patrick then re-encoded the DV file to an MP4 file known as H.264, and then loaded it into iTunes and from there put it onto his iPhone. It was projected from his iPhone by our wonderful new projector.
The next meeting will be on 24th September and Alan Moore will be a talking about "Buying and using Hi Def".
Jill Lampert