Month: April 2011

The Write Stuff

Posted on by Lee Relph

Greetings dear readers (and you less expensive ones). For the benefit of those who don’t know me, as I’m a relative newcomer to OVFM, my name is Lee, the writer/director of the multi-award winning film “Writers Block”, and the big ugly brute in black who is usually blocking the view of short people at the club meetings. For those of you who do know me, I hope the nightmares have stopped now.

Anyhoo, I write this article to raise awareness of a wonderful piece of software that maybe of some benefit to the scriptwriters of OVFM, which enables one to create a professional looking, multifunctional script. This fantastic little programme is called Celtx (pronounced either Kell-tex or Sell-tex as is your wont) and best of all it is FREE!! (that got your attention didn’t it?)

So, what can Celtx do? What can’t it do? Well, it can’t cook, fly to the moon or make you more attractive to women (in my experience at least) but it does make the whole scriptwriting process a much easier one. First off, it automatically formats your script to whichever medium you are writing film (eg: film, TV, radio, stage play, etc.) which spares you the time and agony of setting up indents and markers in Word.

click thumbnail for full sized image
click thumbnail for full sized image

Lengthy character descriptions in your main script can be removed as there is a separate function to create a complete character biography – which also applies to props, scenery, settings, etc. You can create a storyboard which can be viewed as a slideshow, while a newly added sketch feature allows you to lay out the blocking for each shot/scene.

Want to add small computerised Post-It notes to the script? You can do that. Need to work out your shooting schedule or keep a record of your cast and crew? You can do that too. And while you can export your scripts in PDF format for others to read, if they also have Celtx you can share the entire project – storyboards, notes and all – with them.

click thumbnail for full sized image
click thumbnail for full sized image

It may sound too good to be true but trust me it isn’t. Granted, many of projects created by OVFM may not require the use of all of the features Celtx has to offer but they are certainly great to have regardless. And even if it is used solely for scriptwriting this remains an indispensable programme to have at your disposal, which has been endorsed by no less an august organisation than the BBC!

Now the important bit: where to get hold of this miracle software. That’s easy: it’s free to download at www.celtx.com (although you will need to sign up to the site first but that too is FREE!) where you will also find plenty of information about the software and its many functions.

Thanks for reading and I hope this information has been of some use to you.

LEE RELPH

Pinnacle Studio User Group

Posted on by David Laker

The possibility of members working together to share experience and issues with specific cameras or editing software has been mooted for some time. In the discussion after the AGM I offered to set up a group for users of Pinnacle Studio editing software. The idea is that this would be a forum to raise queries, share experience and provide tips. For example, I certainly have issues with Studio where I can’t achieve what I want even though I know it should be possible and I’d welcome the regular opportunity to check whether others have a solution.

I’m not sure exactly how we would communicate but the expectation is that this would be by occasional meetings at each other’s houses so we have direct access to the software and by phone and email, with a log kept of points covered for future reference. It should not matter which specific version of Studio you are using so if you are interested in joining this group please let me know (david.laker@tiscali.co.uk) and I’ll fix an initial meeting.

Funding available for Club Films

Posted on by David Laker

Funding available for Club Films

 

pounds

As announced at the AGM, the committee has decided that we should provide funding to encourage members to make more club films, especially dramas.  Therefore, as long as club finances permit, a grant of up to £100 per film up to a total maximum of £300 per year will be provided for expenses on items such as hire of location or props. This will be available for the club’s financial year March – February and will be on a first come first served basis subject to approval.

To qualify as a club film, at least three members must be involved in the making of the film (not as actors or extras) and a short outline of the film and the purpose of the grant will need to be provided to the committee in advance.

If you would like any further information please contact me.

David Laker

Frome Five Minute Festival

Posted on by Brenda Wheatley

Hi All,
As always, it was a most enjoyable event with an excellent turnout. There were 39 films entered and as is Frome’s policy, all 39 were shown. This was down on last year’s total of 47 so we got out before midnight this time.

Quite a number of natural history and wildlife films but surprisingly few comedies. We will keep you in suspense until the next meeting as to how well or not OVFM did but it was great to meet up with Robin and Brenda Hazelton again and to find out that since moving from Orpington and starting up what is now Tiverton Camcorder Club, that they are doing so well. The club is very active in the area and has 25 members, one of whom won the top prize at the Frome 5 Minute Festival as well as recently winning the Penny Cup and the Vision on Festival, both regional competitions with the same film.

The buffet was fantastic as always and I’m sure helps to swell audience numbers..They charge just £2 admission and all the food and drink is free. Can’t be bad! They even provide tea or coffee on arrival.

Frome are putting on their first ever public show at a theatre in the town in May and that is also free to attend.

We finally got home about 2.45am after a most enjoyable evening. At least the roads were clear!

Chairman’s Report 2011

Posted on by Chris Coulson

view from the chair

This signifies the end of my first year as new Chairman, and I’m still alive! I’m wearing Mike’s Crown Jewels as I speak, but you won’t be able to see them.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me in this incredible job. So many members have been very encouraging with their kind words, and their turning a blind eye when I’ve forgotten to do something important.  I don’t want to sound too gushy, but your committee is outstanding. It is honestly a privilege to work alongside such knowledgeable and wise people, who are always happy to gently guide me back on track, or remind me when I haven’t done something.

Or when diplomacy is required they kindly tie me up and gag me so I can’t say or do anything wrong.

Membership

Membership has stayed around the same as last year, but with an interesting twist. Our average age has gone down, as we’ve had some members leave, and some younger members join. So that’s a fantastic testament to what an inclusive club we are, without alienating particular age groups, or being too cliquey. We need to keep it that way too. Please take a look around you at coffee time, and if you see someone on their own, or looking for someone to talk to, please encourage them and invite them into your group. I’m sure you can remember your first time here and feeling daunted by all the people around you!

Sad News

Sadly, our long standing club funnyman, Dennis Topping died in January, and a group of us attended his memorial celebration, and as a club, we gave a film show that his dear friend Colin had created. Of course, everyone enjoyed it, and there were many laughs!

Blitz and Bananas

This year has been notable for Anna Littler’s sterling work with her club Wartime Drama, Blitz and Bananas. Anna single handedly applied and won a grant of £500 from Bromley Arts Council for this film, and in return has involved almost 50 members either as production crew, story contributors or actors. This is one of the most ambitious films we’ve ever taken on, but I feel that the most important thing for me is that so many club members have learned together and spent time with other members that they might not have previously spoken to. Also, the publicity around the Petts Wood and Bromley area has raised our profile locally, and even attracted some new members!

Archive

This year saw continued work and effort from our incredibly diligent Archive team. Andy Watson, Tony Faller, John Epton, and David Laker all gave their considerable expertise and time, and also Brian Pfiefer who has spent a tremendous amount of time transferring films into the Archive

Volunteers

Thanks also go to Mike Turner, and Simon Earwicker who continue to offer their time to organise and give film shows to other clubs and organisations, and earn significant amounts of money for club funds

Club BBQ

Last Year’s BBQ at Hugh and Anne Darrington’s stately Manor House and grounds went really well, with more food than we could all eat, and my thanks go to Annabelle Lancaster, Freddy Beard, Zoe Taylor, Brenda Wheatley and Barbara Darby for all their help setting up and running the BBQ. The committee have noticed that it’s always the same faces running the BBQ, and it would be really nice if we could have some new faces stepping forward, so that the usual people can enjoy the BBQ for a change without having to work. So if you’d like to contribute, however much or little, please make yourself known any member of the Committee.

Club Dinner

The club dinner at Donnington Manor was very well run, and our issues from the previous year were noted and fixed by the staff. Thanks to Peggy Parmenter for running around collecting the money and organising the whole event.

NvS

I’d like to give thanks to Mike Coad especially for all his work on the North V South competition. It’s a significant competition, and the North has seen some difficulties this year and last, with new management stepping in with some proposed new rules too. The OVFM Committee has put in a lot of time and effort standing up for the rights of the Southern Clubs, and Mike has been an unfortunate buffer in the middle, and we’re proud that he’s handled it all with statesman-like diplomacy.

Viewfinder

Thanks are due to Peter Lodge who edits the viewfinder on time every month, who reliably calls me up every time the day before and says panickingly “Where’s your view from the chair?”

Oscars

Ann & John Epton kindly stepped up at the last minute and offered to make the Oscars tape again this year, and really added to the atmosphere of one of our most important evenings of the year! A very special thank you also goes to Brenda Wheatley who organises everything to do with all of our competitions including the Annual Competition judging and the Oscars, and chased up everyone and bullied and forced them into reluctantly surrendering their trophies ready for the Oscar night. When you do your job well, nobody notices.

Refreshments

Peggy Parmenter, Jo Coad, Barbara Darby, Jane Oliver and Annabelle and Freddy have at various times helped silently in the background with refreshments, and repeatedly bribed me with cake and biscuits whenever possible.

Club Shows

Our autumn and spring shows at the new location of the Methodist Church has been a great success, and gives us almost double the space and scope for the growth of our shows, and I think the refreshments at the interval seem to work much better being in another area out of the main hall.

Tutorials

I must hold my hands up in failing to organise the tutorials this year, and nobody is to blame except me.  Fortunately, Ian Menage and Colin Jones have offered to organise the tutorials in future.

Newsreel

Thanks are also due to Mike Turner for compiling this year’s newsreel, and this year, our Superstar contributors are Mike Turner, John & Ann Epton, Reg and Annabelle Lancaster, Derek Allen, Bob Wyeth, Mike Shaw and myself.

Publicity

The club has enjoyed a significant quantity of positive publicity this year, thanks to Annabelle’s work as press officer. Most committee meetings she’ll have some clippings where we’ve been mentioned in some way in various newspapers. Also the website continues to attract new members, but it is in need of some sprucing up, so I hope we can work on that in the following year..

Vice Chairman

My personal thanks go to Ex-chairman and now Vice Chairman Mike Turner, for leaving me such a stable and well-run club, and also being excellent help whenever I have questions about matters of state or anything else, 24 hours a day. Also personal thanks go to Annabelle, who is always at the end of the phone and always listens to my whining complaints and rants whenever I have things on my mind that are unprintable, and fortunately, persuades me not to print them!

Treasurer

I’d like to thank David Laker, the club treasurer for really “owning” the whole club finances job. He gives us all a real sense of confidence with his hand on the purse, however ladylike that image is.

Secretary

Finally, and in my opinion, most importantly, I’d like to give the biggest thank you to Freddy Beard – The club Secretary. She is the REAL force behind this club, and works more often and harder than any of us could even imagine. She handles every enquiry, she reminds us of every engagement and deadline there is, minutes every meeting, and organises the agenda for the next.

Committee

The OVFM committee do a lot of very hard work for the club, and it’s understandable, as we’re all very passionate about filmmaking AND our club. You’d really be surprised at how little politics goes on for a club of this size, and we’re all to be commended on that! If you have a question, or an idea, you don’t have to wait until the AGM – You can ask any question anytime you like, and all you have to do is tell a member of the committee, It doesn’t even have to be under the Freedom of Information Act! We’ll discuss it, and come back to you with a proper answer. Finally, on matters of the committee, Lets have some more nominations next year from you guys!

Conclusion

To conclude, I would like to thank every member of OVFM, for putting up with my trademark chaotic notices at the beginning of every meeting, my random numbers game with the teas and coffees, and my extra loud Gavel.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this year at the club, and next year has some exciting plans, with a new website, tutorials starting up again, and some exciting new ideas for attracting new members of all ages.  We also have a very exciting new idea coming from David Laker in his Report.

Interview Techniques

Posted on by Chris Coulson

 

news-interview-techniques-800X800

Why do an interview?

 

  • Haven’t got the footage? – If a ship sinks at sea, you can interview the survivors Could be Interesting filler if used sparingly.
  • If it’s a significant person, it can add credibility

Planning

  • Do your research – have a good idea of questions and background about the subject.
  • Consider the finished product.
  • Talk to the interviewee beforehand – Ask if they can, to answer in full questions, to aid editing later if you’re going to remove the interviewer.
  • Mention that they should avoid fidgeting – it makes them look shifty and untrustworthy – if they can’t stop, film a closer shot of their face, so that it’s not so noticeable

Clothing

  • Black is bad – no texture
  • Fine repeating patterns or stripes will move and distract on camera – Strobing

Camera Height

  • A high camera looks down on the subject, belittling them
  • A low camera makes them appear more significant
  • Usually – put the camera at eye height
  • Get Permission before you start
  • Before you start, with the camera running, explain what the interview is for, and get their permission on film – legally acceptable.
  • This also allows a chatty period to get the subject used to the camera
  • The Interview
    If they start to waffle, interrupt with another question, or be prepared to edit lots –
    you’ll need plenty of cutaways.
    Don’t let them use technical words – maybe ask them “what did that word mean” or
    frown and they might notice and explain better
    Assume the audience is an intelligent 15 year old – intelligent, but may not have the
    same life experience as you.
    Listen to what they’re saying – and look for keywords that can be illustrated by
    filming cutaways later – if they’re talking about Motorway noise, afterwards, get
    some shots of a motorway to illustrate the interview, to make it less boring.
    Open Questons
    Open Questions and Closed Questions – Start with the six journalistic W’s – Who
    When, Where, What, Why, and hoW ☺.
    CUT!!
    If you have to cut – or the subject fluffs a line, wait for the subject to finish, stop
    filming, move the camera to a different position, and ask the question again. It’ll look
    fine when you edit it together.
    Body Language
    interviewee rubbing nose – possibly lying
    touching face – Hiding truth
    Avoiding eye contact – about to fib – eyes are the gateway to the soul
    Shut-UP!
    Ask a questions and then shut-up!
    Its easy and natural to say mmmhm and “yes, I see” to try to encourage the
    interviewee to continue but disembodied sounds will seem weird when you edit…
    The Silence
    Use silence – just look serious and maintain eye contact – they’ll feel pressure and feel
    obliged to answer – not a nice technique, so be careful when you use it
    Positioning
    If the interviewer is visible and you’re going to use their voice, put them to the left of
    the camera, out of shot, and place the subject at the right 3rd or the screen looking into
    the empty space on the left, otherwise it’ll look like they’re looking off the screen.
    If someone is presenting to the camera, they should be centre screen, unless they’re
    illustrating something in the background and it’s important to maintain eye contact
    with the camera – the subject will look very shifty if they don’t maintain eye contact.
    Background
    80% of what a viewer takes from an interview is visual information.

 

COMPETITION SCORES 2010/2011

Posted on by Brenda Wheatley

ovfmcompcorn

COMPETITION SCORES 2010/2011

TOP TEN 2010

Final scores – a total of 21 Entries

“Otford Pond” by Barbara Darby           55.69

“Finnish Foibles” by Reg Lancaster        55.60

“Plane,Train and Automobile” by Hugh Darrington         54.79

“Art & Design in fabric” by Jim M-Robertson     52.00

“Greenland Ice Cold Beauty” by Brian Phieffer  51.93

“South Foreland” by Harold Trill         51.88

Welcome to Sydney Aquarium” by Jane Oliver 51.07

“Narrow miss” by John & Ann Epton   50.88

“Writers Block” by Lee Relph               49.98

“About YouTube” by Chris Coulson      47.93

“Miles apart where two rivers meet” by Pat Palmer      49.88

“Alexandra’s Story” by Mike Coad       49.21

“It sure beats the Lord Mayor’s Show” by David Laker            49.15

“Touch Down” by Colin Jones                49.13

“Go to Gdansk” by Annabelle Lancaster49.08

“Yakety Yak” by Ann Perrin                   48.49

“Cows” by Simon Earwicker                   47.79

“Cranford” by Bob Wyeth                     43.40

“Bromley Mayor’s awards” by Derek Allen            42.82

“A day of Knights” by Alan Hamlet-Smith           40.55

“A Wedding in Cyprus” by Susan Ward    39.78

 

Scores for the Vic Treen, Kath Jones and Mike Turner plates are worked out by giving 5 points for a 1st place, 3 points for a second place and 1 point for a 3rd place.

 

Vic Treen Cup (Best film cut to music)

 

Helicopter over the Grand Canyon by John Robertson  1

Guitar Solos by Chris Coulson          27

Autumn to Music by Bob Weyth     34

Lollipop by Jane Oliver                      115

Sweet surprise by Barbara Darby   50

Moon Song by Simon Earwicker       35

Dungeness by Mike Coad                   143

He’s the one by Pat Palmer              5

Rosario by Pat Palmer                       2

 

Kath Jones Cup (Best joke film)

Pleasure Seekers by Mike Turner  218

Out for the count by Tony Fallow 126

Charlie and George by Derek Allen            70

 

Mike Turner Plate (Best film under 1 minute)

 

Rocks in Australia by Barbara Darby        18

All in a days work by Derek Allen   29

Crowning Glories by Pat Palmer         44

Get rich quick by Basil Doody           43

Faces of Asia by Mike Coad              62

I’m a BMW get me out of here by Jane Oliver    58

 

The Oscars

It was great to see so many people at “Oscar Night”. Didn’t our Chairman look good in his dress suit?

Congratulations to all the winners and commiserations to everyone else that entered all the competitions but didn’t quite make first place. Without your entries there would be no competition and probably no OVFM.I hope that you all enjoyed making your films as much as we enjoyed watching them, maybe next year you will be the winner. During the last year 26 members made films which they entered in the competitions, let’s hope that next year we will have even more people making films.

The judge’s comments for the Annual Competition are on the club notice board if anyone would like to read them. I have given all entrants copies of all the competition results and any comments relating to their films. All the competition results are included with this viewfinder for anyone who didn’t enter but is interested in the results .Don’t forget the next project is “My other hobby” on 29th March.

 

Raasay Trophy (Best film in no special category)

Winner           “Yakety Yak” by Ann Perrin

Alice Howe Trophy (Best Documentary)

Winner “Finnish Foibles” by Reg Lancaster

Vincent Pons Sheild (Best Fiction)

Winner           “Writers Block” by Lee Relph

Reg Lancaster Trophy (Funniest Film)

Winner “When Freya met Teego” by Chris Coulson

Jubilee Shield (Best film under 5 minutes)

Winner“Narrow Miss” by John & Ann Epton

Priory Trophy (Best Editing)

Winner “Writers Block” by Lee Relph

Rene Morris Penguin Plate (Best Photography)

Winner            “ABO Darby Creation” by Barbara Darby

Heyfield Trophy (BestSound)

Winner “Finnish Foibles” by Reg Lancaster

Orpington Trophy (Runner up to best film in Annual Competition)

Winner “Finnish Foibles” by Reg Lancaster

Ian Dunbar Cup (Best film in Annual Competition)

Winner           “Writers Block” by Lee Relph

View from The Chair

Posted on by Chris Coulson

view from the chair

It seems like ages since I last wrote a piece for the viewfinder, and I guess that’s because… it is ages! Of course, I’ve left it till the last minute, and my faithful fairy Godmother, Peter Lodge has emailed me saying “Where’s your View from the Chair?” and so I’ve locked myself away, not to emerge till my 1000 words has fully spouted.

I’ve now finished my first Oscar night, and I think it went very well. John Epton stepped in at the last minute to make the Oscar night video, and made a really impressive job of it. I think the film is such an important part of the evening, as it gives a sense of occasion to our most significant evening of the year, and it’s also really helpful to see a selection of the films that were entered into each category. In addition the amount of organisation that Brenda and Freddy did running up to the Evening…  Well, you wouldn’t have wanted to do it, it was so much!

Congratulations to Barbara Darby and Reg Lancaster for their success in the Top Ten, my favourite competition of the year, and congratulations to Lee Relph for winning the Annual competition with, from what I can see, the only drama entered, and absolutely deservedly so.

It’s a fascinating quandary with dramas and documentaries, where they’re judged equally, but from the makers point of view they’re not remotely related! Of course there’s a reason why we only have 1 drama for every 100 other films, and that’s because they’re so much more involved. But OVFM has such a Dream-Team of good filmmakers that anyone wanting to make a drama, has a rich pool of talented crew to pick from and equally, an enthusiastic pool of new-filmmakers who want to come along to a shoot and pick up experience.

Mike Shaw has announced a couple of times about his Singing in the Rain shoot. I think he has enough experienced crew on board now, but if there’s anyone who would like some experience of working with a different team to their usual one, or even someone who’s never made a film before, and wants to see how it all works, then please, please get in touch with Mike, and volunteer your services. You don’t get many opportunities like this to work with experienced filmmakers, so snap them up while there’s a chance!

My first “pet” project since becoming Chairman is now nearing its proving time, and that project is the Club Shows. Historically there’s been a somewhat confusing situation where we always have a Spring Show that includes all the winners from the Annual Competition, and if there’s enough good films left over we put them in an Autumn Show. Now, you may ask why do we put all the winners in the Spring Show? The reason is that a few years ago, we used to present the winners with their trophies at the Spring Show, and so it falls to reason that the Spring Show should show all those films too. However we started to hear grumbles from the audience that the presentations were somewhat boring and irrelevant if you’re not a club member and just an audience member, so we decided to have an Oscar night and present the Trophies there. What a fantastic idea that was too!

However, the idea of the Spring show being the award winners show stuck in the culture of the club, and we struggled a few times with somewhat lacklustre Autumn shows. It was often said that this was because we simply didn’t have enough strong films for two shows, and that we were only left with average films for the Autumn shows. I just want to make it clear that by “average”, I mean films that are still perfectly good and VERY watchable but just not as outstanding as the winning films. We’d already shown most of the strong films at the Spring show, leaving us only a bag of average films for the Autumn Show. My idea was to mix the strong and average films together, as a selection of outstanding and average films which would still hopefully make for an excellent interesting entertaining show

My plan was that at the beginning of the year, we would create a list of all the films made in the previous year and films entered into the Annual Competition and that would give us our bag of films for the Spring and Autumn Shows. Then we would sit down, and plan the Spring AND Autumn Shows at the start of the year, ensuring that we created a good spread of films equally for both shows.

Unfortunately, Committee meetings aren’t videoed or recorded, but to our credit, we hardly ever broke out into fist-fights debating this change. Never ever let it be said that your Committee isn’t passionate about the club, or that they don’t care.

There were a few challenges to this change though. The first problem was the last Autumn show, where we had banned ourselves from using some of the films we might have normally used, as we were saving them for the following year, so Colin and his sub-committee stepped in and created a show from films from the past 5 years that hadn’t been shown before in any show, and older outstanding films that had been discovered as part of our Archive process. This created a show that I hope you’ll agree was a great success if a slightly different format from usual.

With the Autumn show in the can, we waited till the Annual competition had finished, and Mike Turner, David Laker and myself sat down to have a look in our bag of films (is that the correct collective noun?) to see if we had enough quality to make 2 shows, or whether we’d be having just the one show this year.

I don’t know if you’ve ever looked back at a list of film titles, and wondered what a film was about, because you’d forgotten or don’t remember seeing it? Well imagine looking at every film made in the last year, and you can imagine our fear! Fortunately, Mike saved the day. You might not have realised, but six months ago, when we were planning this, Mike had a great idea. Every club night, he would note down the name, the author, and a brief synopsis of what each film was about. I can tell you that without Mike’s list, choosing the two shows would have been an impossible job!

As it turned out, the club members didn’t let us down. We went through the list and extracted any film that we thought was good enough to be in a show. I think by the end, we’d picked enough films to make two and a half excellent shows and actually had to decide which ones to cut to make the shows a decent length!

So when you go to our Spring Show on 25th March, (free to club members), please keep your ears open and feed back to us what people thought. It may be that my master plan didn’t actually work out, and the old format of a prize-winners Spring Show was actually the best way.