Year: 2019

FILM TO A THEME PROJECT – NOTICE

Posted on by Lee Relph

 

RUBBISH

 

We kick off 2020 with our first Film to a Theme project and one we think you can have some fun with.

Rubbish might conjure up what we throw away on a daily basis that ends up stinking the house out and being a eyesore on the landscape. But this is just one interpretation of this rubric – we could ask what happens to the rubbish after we throw it out. Maybe if you have environmental concerns on the impact of how our waste is handled this is something you could discuss in your film.

Most rubbish these days can to be recycled but who does this job? How about a film saluting the unsung heroes who get up in the wee hours to wake us up when they collect our rubbish very week and their colleagues at the rubbish tips who are prepared to get down and dirty to sort everything out and make sure it goes to the right places. Perhaps you have an insight to the whole recycling process you could document.

Ever been to a scrap yard for sundry metals or cars? Share it with us. Is fly tipping ruining your neighbourhood? Share us your rant or make a comedy out of it.  You know the saying “One man’s rubbish is another man’s treasure” (not gender exclusive btw)? There’s an idea for a short film too. People talk a load of rubbish too, how about exposing them for a laugh?

These are just some suggestions but no doubt you can come up with many more of your own and come up with something to share with us on the screening evening set for the club meeting on Tuesday February 18th 2020, giving you plenty of time to work your magic.

Good luck and thanks for reading.

In Memoriam – Mike Shaw

Posted on by Lee Relph

 

In Memory of Mike Shaw

by

Jane Oliver, OVFM Chairman

 

We were sorry to hear that Mike Shaw passed away on 8th December 2019.   Members of OVFM join me in offering condolences to his wife Annie and all the family. Our thoughts and prayers are you sad time.

Many knew Mike much better than I, but I felt an affinity toward him as a fellow ‘creative’ filmmaker who was always up to experimenting.  He was one of the few who understood the importance or ‘story’ to make a film stand out from the crowd and I became fascinated by his work.  He made some beautifully crafted ones where had no need to inject his wonderful humour.  My favourite of these was ‘Turn Around’, where pairs of footwear from baby booties through the years to grandparents slippers and round and round again to show life’s ever turning circle, morphing one pair into the next as they turned round as though hung from a mobile over an infant’s cot.  The idea came to him when he saw pairs of footwear neatly placed in a line in a hallway.  I would watch, absorbed, trying to work out how he’d made it; … what the background? … how did the autumn Maple leaves fall diagonally from the top of the screen to the bottom? … how did the shoes spin in one place? The music, as always, perfectly fitted the story he was silently telling.

The Enid Blyton Film that he made with his friends from Spring Park, Richard and Brenda Troughton, was a very special film and took years to make.  It abounds with special effects many of which you wouldn’t notice or even know existed, where for instance he took intrusive or irrelevant images out of some shots as they were inappropriate to the ‘period’ it was based in.  Many have had the privilege of seeing this film, and it is difficult not to be overwhelmed by its creative beauty.

When it came to his more humorous films, I would find myself reliving those magical moments of my childhood, watching the impossible happen right in front of my eyes; with him starring in most of them, pulling all sorts of faces in front of the camera, I wasn’t the only one who would giggle out loud.  What an artist!  He could paint his story, scene by scene without murmuring a word, such was his ability to tell story through pictures.  His perfect choice of title, font and music, together with his tight cutting to get shot of any unnecessary material, provided  an insight into the work of a master craftsman and the signing off at the end ‘Mike made it’ added that little special personal touch.

Film after film won award after award at club, national and international level and he was involved in all aspects of amateur film.  He served on Committees, held chairmanship posts and wrote in various columns, including the national IAC magazine.  He had a flair for words that made it easy for others to understand his message in a down to earth way.  He was an experienced and fair judge and provided honest constructive feedback to help individuals progress to higher standards.

He was unselfish, often helping others out on a ‘shoot’ or putting together training for the club, answering queries and helping others to resolve issues. He put a huge amount of work and energy into ‘The Viewfinder’ packing every edition with his ‘artistic flair’, colour and humour.

When it came to social events, he was happy to dress up in some bizarre outfit and make a fool of himself and offer his lovely garden to hold our summer get together…. And of course he would be appropriately dressed for the Oscars.

During the last six months, despite not being able to get to the club and frustrated that he was less able to do any editing, he remained in touch and helped me with Resolve and other technical issues.  Mike was a mentor to me and ‘sounding board’ whom I had the greatest respect for.  I am so glad that some of his films were shown in our most recent Autumn Show and although Mike was not able to be with us, he was given his own copy and thoroughly enjoyed watching the show at his leisure.

I was privileged to have known Mike and he will leave a big hole in my affections and that of many a filmmaker, friend or associate.

Rest in peace my friend.    Jane x

OVFM CLUB MEETING TUESDAY DECEMBER 17TH

Posted on by Lee Relph

 

2019 is about to come to an end which means the last club meeting of the year is the annual Christmas Social, a once a year event that only happens every 12 months or every 365 days in old money.

For the benefit of our newcomers and a reminder for the rest of you, the social is still at the usual venue but takes place in the larger GARDEN ROOM, which can be accessed through the Barnyard Room if the doors are locked.

As ever there will be a buffet table and hopefully most of you have signed the list that was passed around at previous meetings to confirm what contributions you’ll be making to the food selection. Anything that isn’t eaten will be used for the traditional food fight at the end of the evening. Teas and coffees will be served as per normal but if you wish to bring something a little more kick to it then you are free to do so at your own discretion and expense.

There is usually some form of entertainment to keep everyone busy, often in the form of a game or quiz but the committee are keeping quiet about it so it is either a surprise, or there isn’t anything and you’ll have to talk to each other instead. Last year, someone brought Hungry Hippos with them and there was drama when one of the hippos escaped and held the caretaker hostage, so if you plan to bring something chose wisely as we don’t want a repeat of this incident.

Dressing up is optional as is the donning of festive attire but the important thing is everyone enjoys the evening – or not, it is entirely up to you.

Merry Christmas!

OVFM CLUB MEETING TUESDAY DECEMBER 3rd

Posted on by Lee Relph

comp_16

 

And so we enter the final stretch of 2019 with our last regular meeting of the year, the final round of our annual club competition films!

Offering club members a chance to test their creativity in three separate categories that pay tribute to past club members, this is one of the more unique and interesting challenges in our programme. As ever, the three prizes up for grabs are:

 

Kath Jones Cup – A joke film with a punchline no longer than 5 minutes in length.

Mike Turner Plate – A film on any subject or style no longer than 60 seconds in length.

Vic Treen Trophy – A film set to music

 

The rules for each of these can be found HERE which we ask you to adhere to, otherwise the subject matter of your film is entirely in your hands, and you can enter a film for one, two or all three categories.

Last year 15 entries submitted, just two below 2017’s record breaking total, but as we have seen the remits of three different categories usually ensures a healthy response from the collective creative hive of OVFM members.

Now the bit everyone seems to ignore – if you are bringing a film this week it would be very much appreciated if you could PLEASE REPLY TO THIS POST in the comments/reply section below, letting us know the following information:

 

Run time

Format (DVD, Blu-ray, USB Stick)

File Format and Resolution (MP4 -1080p etc)

Picture ratio (4:3 or 16:9)

Film Category

 

This is a great help for us when planning the evening out and helping things run smoothly so affording us this courtesy will help get you into Santa’s good books just in time Christmas.

Also, members are reminded to consider their entries to the Annual Competition. We hope the newly updated entry forms will have been approved by the Committee and ready to be handed out at this meeting, whilst the final date for entries is the first meeting of 2020, which is the Top Ten Final on January 7th.

Thanks for reading and good luck to all who enter a film/films.

OVFM CLUB MEETING TUESDAY NOVEMBER 19th

Posted on by Lee Relph

 

No this isn’t a case of deja vu, we have a second week where the theme of the meeting is another practical evening.

No this isn’t a case of deja vu, we have a… hold on didn’t I type that already?

Anyway, the idea behind this week’s session is to follow up what was learned at the last meeting about lighting. Much information was imparted about how to light a scene, what type of light to use and where to position it and now it is time to put it all to good use.

David Laker will be running the evening along with a little help from Andy Watson and Trevor Rogers. They will be bringing the club camera and lights but ask club member attending to bring their own cameras and any lighting gear they may have that will help add to the production.

In lieu of any other ideas, David has come up with a scenario he would like to use which will allow a chance to try out the various ways to alight a scene. If anyone has an idea of their own they are welcome to bring it to the meeting and time permitting we may get to try them as well, and hopefully even get to check the footage on the club PC before we wrap up for the evening.

So, it might be dark outside but it will be anything but when you join us this coming Tuesday for an illuminating evening of filmmaking!

OVFM CLUB MEETING TUESDAY NOVEMBER 5th

Posted on by Lee Relph

 

It’s time to get out hands dirty again by putting what we’ve learned to good use for another OVFM practical evening. This time however, the session will be more of an educational one as we delve into the subject of lighting, one which has proven a perennial thorn in the side for filmmakers the world over, even in professional circles.

With new members recently joining the club looking to improve their skills and learn new techniques, this was a requested topic and a challenge gladly accepted by our chair Jane Oliver on behalf of our resident brains trust (who just happened to be absent last time, so this is their first time hearing about this).

As you are aware, the club has their own set of lights for us to work with, plus many members have either their own lights or helpful accessories like reflectors or filters which we encourage them to bring with them on Tuesday.

So, if lighting is a bug bear for you when making films and you want to learn how to fix or improve it, the the place to be is at the Barnyard Rooms at St Augustine’s in Petts Wood next Tuesday evening!

Spring Park Evening – November 7th

Posted on by Lee Relph

 

 

OVFM members are invited to join Spring Park Film Makers for an evening with one of their prominent filmmakers Peter Macpherson on Thursday November 7th at the Griffiths-Jones Hall, Emmanuel Church, West Wickham, BR4 9JL.

Peter is a prolific filmmaker with a record number of 4 star awards for his films at BIAFF as well as wins in the regional and club competitions. With so much knowledge and experience to draw on, Peter has a busy evening planned featuring filmmaking news, techniques and tutorials interspersed with educational and amusing films which will cover the following topics:

 

1. The pros and cons of today’s camera technology from mobile phones to camcorders.

2. A bit about gimbal stabilizers

3. Tutorials about filmmaking, including composition and staging.

4. An introduction to the principles of screenwriting.

5. Music in filmmaking.

 

If anyone is interested in attending this event, please make this known by either replying to this post below or via e-mail to Jane Oliver or in person at the next club meeting on Tuesday November 5th.

Bit(Rate)s & Pieces

Posted on by Lee Relph

BIT(RATE)S AND PIECES

 

During the recent Top Ten competition Jim Morton-Robertson’s film wouldn’t play on the club’s Blu-ray player. The picture would stutter every few frames as it struggled to process the footage.

 

I noticed that the file size was 1.42Gb which was ludicrously large for a 3 minute film so I asked Jim to check the bitrate of his clip, which was 64582 kbps. Jim changed his export settings, this time producing a file with a much more suitable bitrate of 16055 kbps and a far more appropriate file size of 365Mb.

 

But what does this all mean and why does it matter?

 

To start with a brief explanation of video bitrates.

 

Digital video is made up of bits and bitrate refers to the number of bits processed in a set amount of time, listed in kilobits per second (kbit/s). This usually determines the file size as 1 byte of data is made up of 8 bits, so 1Mb of data = 8 megabits (Mbit/s) or 8000kbit/s. The ultimate file size is therefore decided by the sum of the formula Bitrate x Duration.

 

Jim’s film might have a resolution of 1080p but with a bitrate of 64582kbps (64Mbitp/s) crammed into just 3 minutes, it contained the same data as a 4K file, which our Blu-ray player clearly isn’t capable of handling. As this was a setting oversight that was easily corrected, it is worth sharing this with everyone to be a bit more diligent when exporting your files in the future.

 

 

So why do we need high bitrates?

 

As cameras become increasingly capable of capturing ultra HD images (6K is already here) this needs to be reflected and replicated in the films we produce, so higher bitrates will ensure better quality film clips.

 

However this is more for the benefit of online streaming. Many of these sites, like YouTube, are notorious for compressing the hell out of clips uploaded to their platforms, so users have to export them at a higher bitrate (eg: a 1080p file encoded with a 4K bitrate) to trick them into thinking they are compressing a bigger file, ensuring decent quality post-compression.

 

YouTube suggest the following bitrate settings for uploading to their platform:

 

SD (DVD quality) 480p = 2.5 Mbit/s / 2500kbit/s

HD (Blu-ray quality) 720p = 5 Mbit/s / 5000kbit/s

HD 1080p = 8 Mbit/s / 8000kbit/s

HD 1440p (2K) = 16Mbit/s / 16000kbit/s

HD 2160 (4K) = 35-45 MBit/s / 35000kbit/s / 45000 kbit/s

 

N.B – These targets are based on SDR (Standard Dynamic range) whilst HDR (High Dynamic Range) aka Ultra HD, would require higher target values.

 

What about for playback at home on TV or PC?

 

The truth is you can get a perfectly fine looking HD clip for playback on your TV and PC without needing extremely high bitrates because the files aren’t going to be compressed. The only stumbling block will be the capabilities of the device you play them on, whether they have are able to accommodate current codecs – preferably H.264 for MP4 files.

 

As we mainly use 25fps SD/50fps HD, the following suggested basic bitrate targets are based on these parameters, again based on SDR bitrates:

 

SD (DVD quality) 480p = 1.2 Mbit/s / 1200kbit/s

HD (Blu-ray quality) 720p = 2.5 Mbit/s / 2500kbit/s

HD 1080p = 5 Mbit/s / 5000kbit/s

HD 2160 (4K) = 10 Mbit/s / 10000kbps

 

N.B – The following illustrations are from Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2018. Your editor may have different settings and options.

 

Your editor/encoder should offer a range of different settings and options for exporting your files, to cover all file formats, codecs, devices and streaming platforms. To wit:

 

 

One thing which is standard is suggesting a “target” and “maximum” bitrate depending on which settings you choose. For 1080p HD this will be around 20 Mbit/s (target) and 25 Mbit/s (max) though they will usually come in around 15-18 mbps.

 

 

 

Here you can see there is a preset which will encode the video suitable for uploading to Vimeo, with the following settings:

 

 

However, you could still get a good quality video with bitrates half these sizes. For those unsure of what to select, you can trust the  presets of your editor/exporter and use the “Match Source” option to replicate the project/timeline settings.

 

 

These values are easily adjustable, either manually or by changing the output resolution in your project/timeline, for a higher setting if you want a better quality film. Even with a high bitrate, the output result is still in line with the YouTube suggestions yet won’t produce and excessive bitrate or file size.

 

This example is the automatic setting from the Match Source – High Bitrate option:

 

 

To complicate things further, there are two kinds of bitrates – Variable (VBR), a dynamic setting which only peaks when the video detail requires it to, resulting in a smaller file size, and Constant (CBR), which stays at one rate throughout, but means a larger file size. Both have their benefits and setbacks, but most editors will default to VBR so the choice is made easier for you.

 

 

You’ll notice that there are two VBR options Pass 1 and Pass 2. Pass 1 analyses how much bitrate is required and therefore is a quicker encode, Pass 2 will render the entire video compression thus yields a better quality images but takes considerably longer (many hours!) to encode and export, so most people tend to stick to Pass 1.

 

 

How do I check the bitrates of my files?

 

Very easily. If you are using a Windows PC simply right click on the file and a new window will appear. Scroll to the bottom and select “Properties”:

 

 

 

In the window that opens, select the “Details” tab:

 

 

The main information is the “Video Data Rate” and “Total Bitrate” , the latter being the more crucial one.

 

 

 

For the more advanced user, I can recommend a tool you can download for free called MEDIAINFO which will tell you everything and more in great detail.

 

Once installed, as above, simply right click on the file and select “MediaInfo” from the option window:

 

 

 

Every detail about the file from the video encode to the audio and more is there for your perusal:

 

 

 

Hint – Make sure to go to “Options” then “Preferences” to set the “Tree” view in this illustration as default as this is easiest one to read, but not the default setting, otherwise select View from the top menu then “Tree”.

 

 

I hope you found some of the information here useful. I appreciate the technical side regarding bitrates might not seem easy to comprehend at first (I don’t understand half of it either!) but the message here is more about alerting you to this issue and hopefully avoid any future situations where the club Blu-ray player can’t play your files.

 

Thanks for reading.

OVFM CLUB MEETING TUESDAY OCTOBER 22nd

Posted on by Lee Relph

 

It’s a double header evening for the next meeting, as we’ll be dividing the session into two halves.

In the second half we hope to have a Q & A discussion to people a chance to ask that burning question and get a helpful answer from our knowledgeable experts. Before that we have some unfinished business to attend to.

As you recall, this year’s TOP TEN 2019 competition was originally scheduled for two rounds but with only 13 entries and a combination of technical issues, illnesses, new members joining and laziness, the Committee sanctioned this additional “Last Chance” round for people to submit their films.

Names of club members whose entries are outstanding are:

 

Ron Williams

Andy and Marian Watson

Jim and Fran Morton-Robertson 

Brenda and Roger Wheatley 

Ian Menage

John Alford

Peter Mitchell

Charley Caseley

Sam Brown

Colin Jones

Reg and Annabelle Lancaster

 

Along with new members David Halliday and Mandy Carr.

 

As always we ask you to PLEASE reply to this post in the comments below, if you have a film ready. This is vital if we are going to also hold the Q&A session afterwards, so do please respond below by letting us know the following important information :

 

Run time

Media Format (DVD, Blu-ray, USB stick)

Picture ratio (4:3 or 16:9).

 

It’s a simple courtesy we are asking of you and it only takes a few seconds to comply.

Just a reminder if you are bringing a file on a USB stick, the club’s Blu-ray player does NOT play .avi files or anything encoded at 4K or above. MP4 (h.264 codec) is the best format to brings your films in.

Thank you for reading and good luck to everyone who enters a film and don’t forget to have those questions ready!

OVFM CLUB MEETING TUESDAY OCTOBER 8TH

Posted on by Lee Relph

 

NON-VERBAL

 

We appreciate the fact that we announced this project just last month (don’t look at me, I don’t make the programme) which hasn’t given you much time for everyone to get your creative juices going or your films made but hopefully some of you have been inspired to put something together for this theme of “Non-Verbal”, or have something lurking in your archives that would fit the bill

In the announcement post, I linked to a silent film I made a few years back. I actually filmed and edited the whole thing inside 6 hours, with half the usual filming problems eradicated as there was no dialogue to record! So if I can do it, you can too.

As usual we ask a little cooperation from everyone bringing a film to the meeting to PLEASE REPLY TO THIS POST in the comments/reply section below, letting us know the film’s run time, media format (DVD, Blu-ray, USB/Memory stick), file format if using the latter (MP4 is preferred, 1080p maximum) and picture ratio (4:3 or 16:9). This is a great help for us when planning the evening out and helping things run smoothly so if you could do us this courtesy it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading and we look forward to seeing your films on Tuesday!