OVFM Club Meeting Tuesday March 19th 2013

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Nobody actually wants to be left alone on a desert island do they? Well, the way the government are going it might be a more preferable option….but I digress. In most cases people find themselves in this situation by accident but if this should happen, we would hope to have some kind of useful object or creature comfort with us to make the time a bit more sufferable. Which brings us to this week’s club meeting.

In absolutely no way at all ripped off from the legendary long running radio show Desert Island Discs (just in case the estate of Roy Plumley is reading) OVFM presents Desert Island Films!! In this session, our victim is the irredeemable Cherie Hamlet-Smith who will be sharing with us eight films that mean the most to her or reflect important moments in her short but illustrious life that would be the ones she would most want to have with her, should she be stuck on a desert island. Geddit?

So, what films mean the most to Cherie that she’d have rather have on a desert island instead of her husband Alan? Come to the meeting on Tuesday night and find out!!

OVFM TOP TEN COMPETITION 2013

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And here we go again!!

The annual OVFM Top 10 Competition for 2013 is due to start soon and once again it will be contested over five rounds across the year. Last year 26 entries which was two up on 2011, while we also set a precedent by adding an extra date due to low turnout early – but don”t mistake kindness for weakness – the Legion of Doom may not be so forgiving this year!

Competition organiser Brenda Wheatley has released the line-ups for each round so please check to see in which group your name is included:

 

Round 1  (14th May)

Craig Robinson

Jane Oliver

Harold & Maisie Trill

Alan Whippy

Gwen Whippy

Mike & Jo Coad

Derek Allen

Susan Ward

Anna Littler

Ann Perrin

Mike Shaw

 

Round 2 ( 23rd July)

Barbara Walker

David Laker

Bob Wyeth

John Bunce

Jenny Tucker

Mo & Peter Lodge

Tony Faller

Mike Bishop

Barbara J. Darby

John Alford

 

Round 3  (20th August)

Reg Lancaster

Malcolm Goodwin

Lee Relph

Sylvia Snipp

Basil Doody

Cherie Hamlet-Smith

Frank Hyde

Ann and John Epton

Peter Mitchell

Chris Coulson

 

Round 4  (17th September)

Bob Vine

Annabelle Lancaster

Alan Smith

Jim Morton-Robertson

Sam Brown

Andy Watson

Brenda & Roger Wheatley

Pat Palmer

Brian Pfeiffer

Mike Graham

 

Round 5   (15th October)

Charlie & Nellie Caseley

Richard & Jess Pugh

Ian Menage

Freddy Beard

Simon Earwicker

Hugh Darrington

Peggy Parmenter

John Ransley

Colin Jones

 

It would be hugely appreciated by Brenda if you could all strive to get your films in on the dates you are listed on, but if for some reason you don’t have your film ready by the given date, please let her know via e-mail so that she can try to find someone else to fill the gap in the evening. If your film is ready early please bring it along on a top ten night and if there is time we will show it.

If you miss your given round you can bring your film along to a later one, but it will only be shown after those drawn for that round, if there is time.

Be sure to check the results page (once it is up) as the competition progresses.

Happy filming people! 🙂

2013 OVFM OSCARS – THE RESULTS!!

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THE RESULTS!!

Oh what a night…Early March in 2013

Erm…doesn’t quite work does it? Anyway last night was the Oscars and a good time was had by most – specifically Colin “Fox Whisperer” Jones and Barbara “Cakes” Darby who took home five and three awards respectively. I didn’t win anything but I have the judges names, all I need now is their addresses….

Speaking of the judges the three men from Epsom Film Makers, to whom we are grateful for taking the time to watch, comment and grade our films, are Norman Bull, John Gannaway and Ron Everitt, who were also in attendance last night and presented the top two awards of the evening. So a big thank you to them.

Up first were the three awards voted for internally (i.e within the club).

 

Kath Jones Cup (Joke film under five minutes)–Winner: Legal Tangle by Colin Jones

 

Vic Treen Cup (Film set to music) – Winner: Finger Licking Good by Colin Jones

 

Mike Turner Plate (Film under sixty seconds) – Winner: Traditions by Harold Trill

 

The 2012 Top Ten Competition – Runner Up: More Than Steam by Sam Brown

Winner: Master Craftsman by Barbara Darby

 

We then moved onto the Annual Competition Awards as judged by Epsom Film Makers.

 

Jubilee Shield (Film under five minutes) – Winner: Village Secrets by Sue Ward

 

Raasay Trophy (No special category) – Winner: Autumn In Greenwich by Colin Jones

 

Alice Howe Trophy (Documentary) – Winner: Master Craftsman by Barbara Darby

 

Reg Lancaster Trophy (Funniest Film) – Winner: Legal Tangle by Colin Jones

 

Heyfield Trophy (Sound) – Winner: Fun With The Ancestors by Annabelle Lancaster

 

Rene Morris Penguin Plate (Photography) – Winner: Autumn In Greenwich by Colin Jones

 

Vincent Pons Shield (Fiction) – Winner: Why I Stopped Playing Golf by Hugh Darrington

 

Priory Trophy (Editing) – Winner: Fun With The Ancestors by Annabelle Lancaster

 

Arthur Woolhead Trophy (Animation or Visual Effects) – Winner: Wildfowl Waltz by Mike & Jo Coad

 

Orpington Trophy (Best Film Runner Up): More Than Steam by Sam Brown

 

Ian Dunbar Cup (Best film) – Winner: Master Craftsman by Barbara Darby

 

Commendations: Eastbourne by Mike & Jo Coad

The Second Day by Chris Coulson

 

So there you have it. Congratulations to all the winners and commiserations but a hearty pat on the back to everyone who was nominated or entered a film.

Thanks again to the guys from Epsom Film Makers and perhaps next year we can chose judges who aren’t members of Colin’s family! Just joking Colin! 😉 and of course to Brenda Wheatley for another excellent job as competitions organiser!

Until next year……keeeeeeeep filming!!!

OVFM Club Meeting Tuesday March 5th 2013 – OVFM OSCARS!!

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It’s time to put on make up

It’s time to dress up right

It’s time to raise the curtain on OVFM Oscars night

 

Once again the biggest event in the OVFM calendar is upon us as we hold our very own Oscars! Over the past twelve months we’ve all (well some of us have) been hard at work making films and improving our skills and this is the night where that hard work is recognised and rewarded.

The many trophies and awards contested include the Ian Dunbar Cup, the Orpington trophy, the Jubilee Shield and the Mike Turner Plate and judging by the quality of the films entered these will all be tightly contested categories. We shall also be announcing the winner of the top 10 for 2012, one of the few awards based on club member votes.

Last year Simon “Snapper” Earwicker swept the board with four prizes. Can he do it again this year or will we crown a new King or Queen of OVFM?

As always the Oscar night is meant to be a fun time for the club as much as it is an evening of celebration so members are encouraged to either put on their gladrags or be a bit creative and indulge in a bit of fancy dress. Who can forget last year when our beloved vice chairman Mike Turner dressed up as a banana to help promote Anna Littler’s Blitz & Bananas?

So, let’s hope no-one trips up when going up to receive their award or we don’t have to endure any embarrassing skits or songs about seeing certain parts of the female body as those pretenders in Hollywood did last week. This is the OVFM Oscars – about a classy as you can get (for Orpington anyway…)!!

Hope to see you all then!

OVFM Club Meeting Tuesday February 19th 2013

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OVFM PROJECT EVENING:

SURPRISE SURPRISE

For this week’s club meeting  we look forward to seeing the results of your hard labour in creating a film that fits the theme of “Surprise Surprise”. If you should still need a reminder or what this entails the details can be found HERE Since you are all a creative and devious bunch I am sure we can expect a few unique treats to savour in lieu of the broad spectrum of possibilities this topic suggests.

As always we ask that those you who will be submitting a film to please reply to this post below saying as much so we have a rough idea of how the time allotment for this session will play out.

Also could you please include the following information with your submission:

Film Title

Your Name

Running Time

Aspect Ratio (4:3 or 16:9)

This simple act of cooperation makes all the difference  for our archivists and programme compilers and is greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much and see you on Tuesday!

N vs S – The Final!!

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North v South Competition 2012

THE FINAL

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The Grand Final of the North v South Competition took place on Sunday 27th January in the South at its usual venue of the Village Hall in Farnborough, Kent.

Apart from the 10 Final films, we also showed the remainder of the Northern entries that didn’t quite make the Final.

Around 50 people attended the event and we were particularly delighted to welcome Gordon Hunt and Ian Reed of Sutton Coldfield Movie Makers who made the journey down from the West Midlands.

Our judges were Screen Archive South East, whose Director is Dr. Frank Gray, a man well known to amateur film-makers in the South East.

Following the showing of the films, the audience were asked to fill in their voting slips. ‘Nicely Handeled’ by Tynemouth Video Group won the audience vote by a mile although it didn’t feature in the judges top 3. No surprise there then!

Audience Vote

1st                  Nicely Handeled                                         Tynemouth Video Group

2nd                 Foolproof!                                                    Coast Video Club

3rd                 Operation Black Hat                                  Sutton Coldfield Movie Makers

Official Result

1st                  Operation Black Hat                                  Sutton Coldfield Movie Makers

2nd                 Foolproof!                                                    Coast Video Club

3rd                 Man With Van                                             Rochdale Movie Makers

Needless to say, nobody in the audience matched the judge’s decision but Graham Sinden of Shooters Hill Camcorder Club was closest and took the ‘Audience Vote’ prize.

NvS Winners

Our ‘Guess the Theme’ competition was won by Brenda Wheatley of Orpington Video & Film Makers who correctly guessed that this years theme is………

‘REVOLUTION’

 

Thanks to everyone who attended for their support.

 

Mike Coad

OVFM Coaching Evenings 2013

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Coaching Evenings 2013

 by

Ian Menage

Following the success of last year’s coaching evening sessions, which resulted in the making of The Amazing Healing Machine, we will be running a second group of sessions in 2013.

As already trailed at previous meetings, this time the emphasis will be on a debriefing of the last shoot and of Disastermind, with the intention of putting useful improvements into practice and to make a short film later.

We need members who were directly involved in these shoots to volunteer and to describe any problems they faced and to give their views freely. Also any suggestions for us to take to the next one.

Experienced members can help the Club in the supervising and setting up aspects. This is also what a real (reel?) club is all about, isn’t it?

For your diary, the four Tuesdays will be in the usual Barnard Room at 7.30 for 8pm:

Feb 26th – show the Healing machine, comments and then Disastermind and comments

March 12th  –  follow on with the introduction of the shoot and making arrangements –  who does what.  Also run through the script and it’s requirements.

April 9th   – start the shoot

April 23rd   – finish it!

Please do step forward and offer to take on the various roles. Who’s first to be Director, Clapperboard  etc….?  It will be a bit if fun as well as hard work!  So come along.  I’ll be looking for the first volunteers at the next meeting.

Then as before copies of the footage will be circulated to those who wish to have a go at editing and creating a film for the Club.

Please ring me on 01732 462900 or email ian.menage@gmail.com with any suggestions and offers to help make this a useful and successful event.

Ian

OVFM Club Meeting Tuesday January 22th 2013

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So it’s freezing cold here in old Blighty at the moment and some of us have had some of the old white stuff get up our noses (no not THAT!) but that isn’t the case for other countries around this big old world of ours as some tend to enjoy periods of prolonged sunshine. And some of our OVFM members tend to take their cameras with them whenever they pay a visit to these sun soaked locales to record the sights and sounds of their time spent in these wondrous places.

 

Others of you prefer to traipse around the soggy grounds of our fair countryside or subject yourselves to similarly cold and icy climates for your overseas holiday excursions and film these too – that’s fine too (I guess, it’s not for to judge you bunch of weirdoes!).

 

And the “M” in OVFM wouldn’t stand for “masochists” if we didn’t set aside at least one of our club meetings to view the results of your holiday filming, which is exactly what this week’s meeting is for. So, if you’ve been out and about in the name of leisure and relaxation recently and captured some of your exploits on film/tape/miniDV/whatever then bring them along to the meeting and we’ll do our best to feign interest as always.

 

Please note that films must not exceed 10 minutes in length.

 

If you are bringing a film could you please reply to this post below and could we also ask that when films are submitted you include your name, the title, picture ratio (16:9 or 4:3) and running time somewhere on the discs/cover? It’s a huge help for the club’s film and archive records. And if you have any specific instructions re: sound please let the projectionist know ahead of time. Many thanks.

 

Finally, can any trophy winners in last year’s Annual Competition please bring their trophies with them to this meeting or on February 6th BY THE LATEST as Brenda Wheatley needs them to have the names of this year’s winners engraved on them.

 

See you on Tuesday and we all look forward to sleeping throu….er…seeing your films!*

 

 

* DISCLAIMER – The views and opinions expressed in the post do not reflect or represent those of OVFM as an organisation and shouldn’t be taken literally as it is not in the club’s interest to appear demeaning or derogatory toward its members or their tastes in recreational habits.

 

Then again I am the Webmaster here and thus I can say what I like! MWHAHAHAHAHA!

New OVFM Project – “Surprise Surprise”

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SURPRISE SURPRISE

Our first project for 2013 was suggested by John Ransley.

The theme should be pretty self explanatory but is is really that simple? Surprises come in many forms – a surprise birthday party, a present one didn’t expect, an underdog victory in a sports event, friends or family members being reunited after a number of years – or maybe a film with an ending no-one was expecting….

While I am sure John has his own ideas when he suggested this theme as you can see, the possibilities are wide and fertile.

The closing date – i.e the night we will be screening the completed films – is Tuesday February 19th which gives you just over a month to get something together.

Could we also ask that when films are submitted you include your name, the title, picture ratio (16:9 or 4:3) and running time somewhere on the discs/cover? It’s a huge help for the club’s film and archive records. And if you have any specific instructions re: sound please let the projectionist know ahead of time. Many thanks.

Good luck and we all look forward to seeing your films!

New OVFM Project – “Two Words”

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TWO WORDS

It’s time for another project and this one was suggested by…erm…Me!

The genesis of this was an idea I had for short film many moons ago, when this was all fields and we used to walk twenty miles to school in bare feet through the snow carrying our milk in our hands, about the power and effectiveness of just two simple little words. I then decided that everyone else in the film should have dialogue of just two words as well to get the point across – or drive it home with the subtlety of a sledgehammer, take your pick!

Anyhoo, come the AGM last year and when suggestions were requested I dug this old idea out of the archives and proffered it to the Legion of Doom and the rest of the club. Fast forward to now and this little old idea of mine is now an official OVFM Project theme!

While I had a definite idea of my own as to what I wanted my two word lines for, everyone else is of course free to interpret this as they see fit – as long as the dialogue doesn’t exceed two words naturally. Whether the whole cast is bound by this or you leave it up to just one character is up to you! Drama, comedy, animation, one minute or five minutes long – your decision! Just keep it clean and don’t nick my script idea!!

The closing date – i.e the night we will be screening the completed films – is Tuesday April 30th which gives you just over three months to get something together.

Could we also ask that when films are submitted you include your name, the title, picture ratio (16:9 or 4:3) and running time somewhere on the discs/cover? It’s a huge help for the club’s film and archive records. And if you have any specific instructions re: sound please let the projectionist know ahead of time. Many thanks.

Good luck and we all look forward to seeing your films!