Author: Lee Relph

NEXT OVFM CLUB MEETING – Tuesday February 5th

Posted on by Lee Relph

IF ONLY I COULD REMEMBER

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HOLIDAY FILMS

Time sure flies, doesn’t it? It was only two months ago we first announced this Film To A Theme topic and here we are already for the screening evening. It’s not the easiest subject to come up with something but this is OVFM and we usually find a way to make these projects work.

As well as getting to share you hard work and creativity with the rest of the club in response to this project, this is a double header meeting if you will, as we also invite members to submit their holiday films for screening as per the annual start of the year tradition. We also ask that these films are no longer than 5 minutes in length which should be ample to show off how good a time you had and to remind us of what sunshine looks like during this cold winter months!

Remember, this is not a competition evening so these films won’t be judged but if you want feedback or constructive criticism, we will happily oblige, time permitting of course.

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, MKV, AVI, etc.) 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 heading and we look forward to seeing your latest gems on Tuesday!

OVFM CLUB MEETING – Tuesday January 22nd

Posted on by Lee Relph

 

For this week’s meeting we are please to welcome Andrew Bishop back to give us another talk on his favourite subject of animation.

As you might recall, Andrew from Darkside Animations last gave a talk back in October where he showed us the latest software he and his team have been using in making the many TV shows, promos and commercials. This proved to be of such interest to club members that this time, Andrew will be holding a workshop introducing us to the basics of creating an animation.

Some of us have dabbled with animation in the past but this will be an opportunity to learn from a  professional. Don’t feel too daunted by this if you’ve ever thought animation was way out of your grasp, Andrew has promised to go easy on us and stick to the fundamentals to get any neophyte started.   

You never know, this might be the start of a new direction for you and inspire you to try something different for Film to a Theme projects, Top 10 or other competitions.

For a sample of the work Darkside Animations have done, check out THESE SHOWREEL VIDEOS on their Vimeo page.

So, bring your notebooks and a pen because animation class will be in session this coming Tuesday!

OVFM CLUB MEETING TUESDAY January 8th

Posted on by Lee Relph

 

2019 already? I’m afraid so but whilst we always like to look forward here at OVFM, we still have to finish some of the business we started in 2018, namely the TOP TEN competition!

The three individual qualifying rounds were held over the latter half of the year and from that the ten films with the highest scores from those rounds will be screened again in this final. The complete scores from all three rounds can be found HERE.

The ten films which will be screened and voted on in this session are as follows:

 

1. Beyond the Sunset – Sam Brown

2. When Orpington Was Still A Village – David Laker

3. Aristotle – Hugh Darrington

4. …104! – Ian Menage

5. Our Lizzie – Barbara Darby

6. Season’s Blessings – Jane Oliver

7. Walkers – Barbara Walker

8. Dream Visitor – John Bunce

9. Dino Invasion Of London – Lee Relph

10. Church Room – Bob Wyeth

 

It is imperative we have a high turnout to make the scoring as fair and representative as possible so each film is given a fair assessment from a a high a pool of voters.  The film with the most votes will be crowned the 2018 Top Ten Winner at the OVFM Oscars on March 19th.

Also, this meeting is your last chance to enter the Annual Competition, so please ensure you have your film, £2 entry fee and ENTRY FORM  (this is in the Members’ Only section so make sure you are logged in to access it) to hand to competition manager Ian Menage, whilst anyone who has yet to return their trophies from last year please bring them along too.

To download the Entry Form from the above link, roll your cursor over the top of the window to reveal the menu bar then click the download icon, or you can print the form off directly from the page by clicking the printer icon which is to the right of the download icon.

 

We hope to see everybody bright and fit for this important evening on Tuesday as we kickstart a new year here at OVFM!

OVFM CLUB MEETING TUESDAY DECEMBER 18TH

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2018 is almost at an end and as usual OVFM likes to wrap things up with by making our final club meeting for the year the annual Christmas Social, and let’s face it, holding it in July would be a bit silly not to mention late (or early depending on your point of view).

For the sake of any newcomers to the club or long serving members with failing memories the social is still at our usual venue but in the larger GARDEN ROOM. If we can’t access the room via its own doors be prepared to take the long way round through the usual hall first.

By now you all should have seen the e-mail from Ron Williams regarding the food, which everyone is asked to contribute to if they so wish, having expressed what specifically they would like to bring. Teas and coffees will be served as per normal but if you wish to bring something a little more “spicy” then you are free to do so at your own discretion and expense.

There is also some form of entertainment to keep everyone busy, often in the form of a game or quiz but what will be is being kept secret by the committee for the time being.

Dressing up is optional as is festive attire but the important thing is everyone who attends enjoys the evening.

Merry Christmas!

FILM TO A THEME – NOTICE

Posted on by Lee Relph

 

IF ONLY I COULD REMEMBER

Alright folks it’s time to set another Film To A Theme project challenge for you.

As we get older our memories begin to play tricks with us from forgetting birthdays to forgetting why entered a room. We also forget things we said or have written in the past. As we get older our memories begin to play tricks with us….wait, didn’t I write that already?

See, it’s easy to forget things and there is plenty of comic capital to mined from this but it is not always a pleasant experience either. Forgetting to pick up a birthday cake could ruin someone’s special day, or remembering to collect someone from a train station or from a night out could have saved their life.

Maybe you have a moment in your life that is precious but has become so faded in your mind that you wish you could relive it one more time and get that memory back. or is there a song of film or TV show or actor/actress you are having trouble remembering the name of and need some help?

These are just some suggestions of what you could do but the important thing is you get your thinking caps on, your cameras out and make a film on this topic.

Now, here is the important bit you NEED to remember – the date of the screening for your films is FEBRUARY 5th 2019

Happy filming and we look forward to seeing your efforts in two months time!

 

OVFM CLUB MEETING TUESDAY NOVEMBER 27TH

Posted on by Lee Relph

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2018 has gone quickly hasn’t it? It’s hard to believe we have arrived at the last round of our annual club competition films already!

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 saw a record 17 entries submitted but with a loss of members and a noticeable drop off in response to projects and the Top Ten means we may not repeat this impressive high this year but we do hope that having three different categories will ensure a healthy selection of films to enjoy.

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 film’s run time, format (DVD, Blu-ray, USB Stick), 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 affording us this courtesy will help get you into Santa’s good books just in time Christmas.

Also, members are reminded to submit their entries to the Annual Competition to Ian Menage at this meeting. The entry forms can be downloaded HERE (this is a Members’ Only page so be sure you are logged in).

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

OVFM CLUB MEETING TUESDAY NOVEMBER 13TH

Posted on by Lee Relph

 

For our first meeting of November we take another wander down memory lane to visit some old friends that reside within the OVFM archive, which has recently been updated by our archivist Andy Watson. Be sure to check the listings in the Members Only section (make sure you are logged in) to discover what is new there.

Unfortunately I don’t have any information to hand as to what this evening will entail, other than the programme is being curated and hosted by Sam Brown and Ron Williams. I suppose that makes this night a bit of a mystery so if you like to be surprised then come along on Tuesday evening and see what treats from yesteryear will be resurrected for our entertainment.

*EDIT**– After this original post, I received word that the programme will be split into two parts: one comprising of Sam’s picks from the archive and one comprising of Ron’s, with his selection spanning 1986-2011. 

OVFM CLUB MEETING TUESDAY OCTOBER 30TH

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Coming hot on the heels of our Diamond Anniversary Show where we looked back over 60 years worth of film from OVFM, we have another film show lined up for this meeting, only this time we’re seeing what other UK film clubs are getting up to.

UNICA is an international film festival for amatuer filmmakers where each country submits a programme of films representing the work from clubs and individual filmmakers in friendly competition for judges awards. This year’s event took place in Blankso in the Czech Republic and the UK did well in a number of categories, including Best Young UNICA Film, although Sweden took home the prize for Most Interesting Programme.  You can read the full results HERE.

On this night, Reg & Annabelle Lancaster will be sharing with us some of the films that made it onto the UK programme from the 2017 UNICA festival (presumably because the 2018 disc is still in the post) which is an hour long collection of the cream of British amatuer  filmmaking. And to top off the evening they will be screening a few films from Croatia’s programme, to give us  flavour of what filmmakers are up to from other parts of the globe.

Presumably this will entail having to read subtitles. Cool people, like me, who watch tons of foreign language films (or hard of hearing people, like me, who have to have subtitles on everything they watch) will be okay – the rest of you’ll will just have to get used to it! 😛

There will be room for discussion about the films seen, which I hope will be as inspiring as  they are entertaining for you.

See you on Tuesday!

OVFM CLUB MEETING TUESDAY OCTOBER 16th

Posted on by Lee Relph

We have reached the third and final qualifying round for the TOP TEN 2018 competition. The ongoing results can be found HERE.

The Top Ten is open to everyone in OVFM to submit a film, no longer than 20 minutes on any subject, style or genre, which will be judged and graded by their peers. The ten films that have accrued the highest scores by the end of the five individual rounds will be entered into the final in January 2019 and the winner will be announced at the Oscars in March.

We had four entries submitted for round one last month so we are hoping that we can equal or perhaps top that number for this session. Also please note that the scoring system has changed and now ALL categories are scored out of 10 points.  

Here are the club members who have been selected at random to participate in this final round:

 

John Bunce

Jo Coad

John & Ann Epton

Mike Graham

David Laker

Jim Morton-Robertson

Jenny Tucker

Barbara Walker

Andy & Marian Watson

Maria Alexander

 

The following people missed their earlier rounds but have a final chance to enter a film in this session:

 

Gordon Beales

Kuldip Kaur

Annabelle Lancaster

Walter McKenna

Peter Mitchell

Brian Pfeiffer

Mike Shaw

Bob Vine

Ron Williams

John Alford

Charlie & Nellie Caseley

Colin Jones

Anna Littler

Ian Menage

Peggy Parmenter

Trevor Rogers

Roger & Brenda Wheatley

As always we ask you to PLEASE reply to this post in the comments/reply section below, if you have a film ready and letting us know the following information:

 

Run time

Format (DVD, Blu-ray, USB)

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

 

It is very important and helpful to know these things ahead of time to ensure we have the right equipment for playing your films and for planning the time allotment of the evening.  It’s a simple courtesy we are asking of you and it only takes a few seconds to comply.

And that is it. Join us on Tuesday for the final qualifying round of the 2018 Top Ten!

Thank you for reading and good luck to everyone who enters a film!