Lee Relph

ABOUT THE OVFM TOP 10 COMPETITION

Posted on May 26, 2011June 2, 2022 by Lee Relph

The OVFM’s main annual competition has been running since 1985 under its original moniker “The Knockout” until 2003 when it became the Top 10.

The concept is fairly straightforward – club members submit their films for scrutiny and critique by their peers (well, the other club members) then points are awarded for the various technical aspects – Titles, Visuals, Structure, Sound, Editing and General Appeal, all marked out of 10 points. After each qualifying round has taken place the top ten rated films (see what we did there?) then face off in the final – with any amendments made from the comments in the preliminary rounds – before the highest scoring film is finally revealed at the OVFM Oscars the following year.

The films can be on any subject, in any style, covering any genre and can range from one minute to twenty minutes! the only enforceable stipulation is that your films must NOT have won any prizes in other OVFM competitions in previous years eg: Kath Jones Cup, Mike Turner Plate or Vic Treen Trophy. Any comments or criticisms proffered are completely constructive so no feelings are hurt (as far as we know!) and one can usually expect expert opinion and advice in order to address any issues raised.

Members can find more details on the rules and guidelines along with a downloadable scoring form HERE.

And speaking of Top Tens, we are currently listing the OVFM members’ Top 10 favourite films, the results of which you can find HERE!

Here is the list of winners from 1985 to present:

1985 The Grey Team by Annabelle Lancaster

1986 Fathers and Sons by Derek Butler

1987 Barry Marries by Derek Butler

1988 Witness by Reg Lancaster

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1989 Fete by Reg Lancaster

1990 Final 4 Star by Reg Lancaster

1991 Water in the Streets By Reg Lancaster

1992 Hampden P1344 by Jim Morton-Robertson

1993 Charles Henry Robinson by Mike Turner

1994 Curious Kent by Mike Coad

1995 Trinidad Carnival by Mike Bishop

1996 The Rehearsal by Rin Goose

1997 Elephant Orphanage by Jennifer Morton-Robertson

1998 Whitefella Dreaming by Jim & Jennifer Morton- Robertson

1999 Early Risers by Annabelle Lancaster

2000 Sights and sounds of London by Night By Barbara Walker / joint with Pipes in the Park by Reg Lancaster

2001 The Cheesemaker by Reg Lancaster

2002 Otford Village Sign by Barbara Darby

2003 Squatters In My Garage by Barbara Darby

2004 Sleepy Head by Chris Coulson

2005 The Strange Case of the Doctor’s Journal by Mike & Pam Graham

2006 Grumpy Old Men of Orpington by Hugh Darrington

2007 The Invisible Man by Hugh Darrington

2008 Talking Pictures by Mike Shaw

2009 Clappers by Mike Shaw

2010 Otford Pond Makeover by Barbara Darby

2011 Picture Picture by Mike Shaw Full results for 2011 HERE.

2012 Master Craftsman by Barbara Darby Full results for 2012 HERE

2013 The Village Mosaic by Barbara Darby Full results for 2013 HERE

2014 Illusions by Mike Shaw Full results for 2014 HERE

2015 Commute by Barbara Walker Full results for 2015 HERE

2016 Reconstruction Of H4 by Barbara Darby Full results for 2016 HERE

2017 Orpington In The 1840s by David Laker Full results for 2017 HERE

2018 Beyond the Sunset by Sam Brown Full results for 2018 HERE

2019 Distance by Mandy Carr Full results for 2019 HERE

2021 Lanzarote – A Different View by Brian Pfeiffer Full results for 2021 HERE

(with thanks to Brenda Wheatley for compiling this list and Freddy Beard for additional information)

OVFM Club Meeting May 24th 2011

Posted on May 24, 2011 by Lee Relph

Just a reminder that tonight’s meeting will feature guest speaker, radio & TV comedy scriptwriter Nick Thomas, who should provide us with an insight into the dos and don’ts of scriptwriting for us budding scribes!

More info on Nick can be found on his website here: http://www.nickrthomas.co.uk/

Usual time and place! See you then!! 😛

The Write Stuff

Posted on April 24, 2011August 24, 2020 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.

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.

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