It’s new project time and the subject for this one is “Guess Where This Was Filmed”. I would elaborate but there doesn’t really seem to be much need since the title says it all.
The date for the screening of your efforts is November 22nd – which incidentally is the same night for the entries of the Mike Turner Plate competition (rules for that are HERE). So, grab your cameras, do some filming and see if you can baffle your fellow club members with the location of said opus.
As the toilet of time is preparing to flush away the last fetid remnants of 2011 for good before the Domestos of destiny freshens the bowl ready for the arrival of 2012, we here at OVFM still have a few competitions to hold.
Taking place in the month of November will be three of our annual contests in which club members are encouraged to enter films to meet a specific criteria. The films will be judged by a panel of esteemed experts once the pub closes and the winners will be announced at the Oscars in March 2012.
The contests and the dates on which the films need to be ready for screening by are as follows:
Kath Jones Cup – Held on 8th November 2011
Vic Treen Trophy – Held on 8th November 2011
Mike Turner Plate – Held on 22nd November 2011
The rules for these competitions can be found HERE
Good luck and we all look forward to seeing your entries!
Rules. You’ve got to have them otherwise we’d all be living in a world to total anarchy and here at OVFM we don’t want that. Anyone who has been to our regular meetings knows what a rambunctious lot our members can be, especially when it is time to resume the meeting after the tea break!
But rules do have a purpose, never more so when it comes to our competitions. Listed below are the guidelines for the three categories that make up the part our major annual competition which is voted for by club members. So avail yourselves with these before making your film and you could be a big winner come the Oscars!
Kath Jones Cup
Members are invited to make joke films not exceeding 5 minutes, either individually or with others; a film which illustrates a joke with the main punch- line at the end.
Vic Treen Trophy
This rewards the bringing together of images and music. There are two distinct options open to members for this category:
A Film Cut To Music – This entails editing your images to match the beat and tempo of your selected musical piece. In other words, the images should change in syncopation with beat of the track and not at random points to ensure a smoother flow.
A Film Set To Music –This involves having suitable music that matches the imagery. You do NOT have to be strict with matching the changes to the beat but there must be a reflection of the mood and tempos of the music in your visuals to create some sort of narrative.
N.B. – If you use a piece of original artist music (eg: a pop/rock song) you are solely responsible for the clearance of its usage per the copyright usage laws. The best way around this is to be a member of the IACand have your ownMCPS Copyright Clearance licenceas the club’s licence only covers films produced and presented as a club effort.
Mike Turner Plate
Any type of film, be it comedy, drama, musical, etc. as long as the total length does not exceed 60 seconds.
Annual Competition
The Annual Competition is open to all members and the films, judged by an external panel, are eligible for technical merit awards as well as general entertainment credits.
A £2 entry fee is normally required unless circumstances dictate otherwise. You can enter as many films as you like, to be accompanied by their own separate official entry form, as long as they don’t exceed 30 minutes in length and have not already been entered or won an award in the AC before. You can enter your film if it has also been submitted for the Top Ten or any of the above categories either the same year or in prior years.
The winners of these competitions are revealed at the OVFM OSCARS every March.
This week’s club meeting will see OVFM welcoming ITV cameraman Gary Mullins who will be regaling us with tales and anecdotes from his career as a TV cameraman.
Unfortunately I don’t have any further information on Mr. Mullins or a picture to share with you; in fact when I did a Google search for “Gary Mullins TV Cameraman” the first site to appear on the results list was this one!!
Either way I hope this doesn’t put you off from joining us at the usual venue at the usual time for what should be an entertaining evening.
Tuesday the 18th October marked the opening salvo in the barrage of six evenings devoted to improving camera and film making skills in all those ready, willing and eager to learn, and what an evening it was!
If I press this Shooters Hill disappears
With Ian as Compere, Master of Ceremony, Big Honcho and to labour my artillery metaphor even more, the man who’s job it is eh…to direct the guns eh…to fire in the right direction. Anyway I think you get the point, Ian is like an important cog or perhaps hub in the coaching evening machine, a well oiled machine that runs like clockwork, a clockwork machine that fires shells of useful information…into the OVFM target area. Phew! For a minute there I was worried I might mix my metaphors, but I think I’ve got away with it!
Computer, make it so.
Colin kicked off the night with his informative exposition of video cameras. How they work, why they work, how you can make them work better, what their buttons do, which ones you should press, what for and why, and how when all else fails it’s sometimes okay to step away from the buttons and let the camera do it’s thing…gulp automatically!
Yes These hands are Insured
As if this wasn’t enough Colin shared his knowledge about filters, especially close-up filters which are a cheap and highly effective way to get up close and personal with your subject…please no blushing in the ranks.
We call this the Vulcan Death Grip
John supplemented Colin’s talk with information and tips from his own super techy knowledge to enlighten us all to the mystery of colour balance and how to adjust your camera to get the very best colour in your films. To illustrate the point we were treated to several glimpses of Ann on screen as ‘walk on with grey card under different lighting conditions’, a small and largely unappreciated role that I for one think she really took to new heights. Go Ann go! I’m hoping that a sequel might see Ann develop her role, perhaps a talking part?
And then you Jab him with your knuckles till he stops
Arise Sir Roger
After tea break (more about that later) it was Chris’s turn to whisper some gems of knowledge into our collective lug ‘oles on the sticky subject of sound recording. If Chris has told us once he’s told us a dozen times ‘a cheap microphone close-up always trumps an expensive mic far away’. With the assistance of several volunteers Chris was able to prove this claim and bring it to life in before our very own ears.
How Much is that doggy in the window
With Pat and Bob doing sterling service as Paul Daniels and Debbie McGee or should I say Bruce Forsyth and Anthea Turner (am I showing my age?) by delivering scintillating line after scintillating line of witty repartee while Ian worked the boom mic and Roger filmed the whole thing, Chris was able to demonstrate different mics and the ins and outs of sound levels to great effect.
I think Ive caught a live One
I must say Pat and Bob really brought the words alive, I’ll not forget Bob’s countdown from ten to one in a hurry I can tell you! Give these two their own show!
Sing along a ChrisI See no Chips
I wont mention Chris’s explanation of zebra pattern…I don’t think the world’s quiet ready yet! But I will mention the tireless work of Two Camcorder Andy who bravely took up the challenge of filming the evening for posterity. How are you suppose to get well framed and steady shots if people will insist on moving around!
So This is Lady Ga GaConcentrate Barbara this is Serious
Laughter and tears? Well needless to say all the speakers liberally dusted their fascinating talks with jokes, japes, gags, humorous anecdotes and a bit of slapstick too so there was plenty of laughter. The tears you ask? Well they were mine…ahh. You see the inimitable, incomparable, insouciant, and dare I say? Lovely, Freddy, who was head of catering on this occasion took it upon herself to substitute ginger biscuits for chocolate!!!! I wept, inwardly I grant you, after all I am a man, but I was gutted! But do not fear I forgive you Freddy.
Go On Freddy Give him the Look
Is Anybody Listening
So if you missed out on Coaching Week One but like the sound of it do, do, do get along to the next one. It’s Fun, Educational and only occasionally (I hope) bereft of chocolate biscuits.
And so the final round of this year’s competition is upon us. We’ve seen some interesting films thus far although it is fair to say that the response has been little underwhelming, with the highest number of films submitted for one session being just five (in the last round, the results for which can be found HERE).
Of course this may be because people are leaving it to the last minute before making their films which would suggest, if this is the case, that this closing round could break the record for films shown in one evening!
So, who out of the following will be marking their mark on this year’s competition with their submissions?
Ann and John Epton
Susan Ward,
Annabelle Lancaster
Chris Coulson (I bet it’s about cats…)
Bob Vine
Zoe Taylor
Mike Turner
Jim Morton-Robertson
Mike Bishop
Steve Wheeler
Christine Collings
Harold and Maisie Trill
We also have an updated list of members who have yet to participate in any of the previous which can be found HERE If your name is on it and you have a film then please bring it along and make the most of your last chance to enter the contest.
As always it would be greatly appreciated if you could reply to this post and kindly let us know is you are going to be submitting a film or not, as this is a great help for planning out the evening, especially for our resident master of the media players Simon “Snapper” Earwicker.
See you on Tuesday and good luck to all who enter a film!
As Chairman of the Kent Film Festival, I was delighted that so many OVFM members attended this event and I would like to thank you for your support especially if you also entered a film
We always try to show as many films as possible and this year we projected 70% of all entries. It could have been a few more but my co-presenter, who shall be nameless, hit the wrong item on the computer screen resulting in the large silver screen disappearing into the ceiling of the theatre. Fortunately, order was quickly restored and the audience appeared to be highly entertained by this unexpected event.
The trophy for the best film in the festival was won by Spring Park Film Makers with their film “Unfounded Rumours” about the development and demise of the Dunton Green to Westerham Railway. OVFM also had winners as follows:-
Best One Minute Film: Garden Tips by Colin Jones
Best Documentary:Finnish Foibles by Reg Lancaster
Best Editing: Engine Turning by Barbara Darby
Best “Other”: Dungeness by Mike Coad
Best Kent Subject: The New Romney Story by Gwen and Alan Whippy
Commended Certificate: Connoisseur by Barbara Walker.
Congratulations to all the winners!
Why not join us for Kent Film Festival 2012 for a fun day and you may even win a trophy!!
More information is available on the Kent Film Festival website HERE
