2016 Triangle Competition

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Another annual inter-club competition is upon us, this time it is the Triangle Competition in which three of four clubs – OVFM, Spring Park, Shooters Hill and Epsom – enter films in a three-way contest to be judged by the fourth, with the judging role alternating each year.

This year’s event take place on  Thursday, March 17th  and the judging will be handled by Spring Park Film Makers thus will be held on their turf at Emmanuel Church, West Wickham BR4 9JS at 8 pm (doors usually open 7.30 – 7.45).

OVFM has done well in the past in this competition so let’s see if we can add another win to our score card. For more information or if you want tickets in order to represent OVFM in person on the night please get in touch with our esteemed secretary Freddy Beard.

OVFM CLUB MEETING TUESDAY MARCH 15th 2016

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If you’re blue

And you don’t know where to go to

There’s always OVFM’s one night of glitz

Puttin’ on the Ritz

 

I must confess I’ve never put on a Ritz, I wouldn’t actually know where to start – I couldn’t find any instructions on the Internet (at least not on sites which haven’t been blocked by my ISP) – but I do know that we will be putting on the 2016 OVFM Oscars!

This is the one night of the year where we ditch our jeans and t-shirts and dig our best clobber out from the back of the mothball ridden wardrobe for its annual airing as we celebrate the hard work of club members by handing out bits of old scrap metal in recognition of their creative genius.

Of course the smart dress code is optional but if you do come in regular attire expect to be jeered, teased and have rotten vegetables thrown at you when we force you to sit outside in the car park for being a Kiljoy.

Last year saw Professor Mike Shaw crowned the big winner walking away with four awards and a sprained wrist. Will Mike reign supreme again this year or will someone else take all the glory?

As ever among the main prizes being contested are:

 

Ian Dunbar Cup

Orpington Trophy

Jubilee Shield

Vincent Pons Trophy

Mike Turner Plate

Kath Jones Cup

Bette Davis Eyes

 

Along with some new categories added by the Legion Of Doom which include:

 

Tallest Club Member

Best Club Member Over 30 But Under 50

Best Beard (natural hair colour only)

Outstanding Contribution To Putting Out Chairs

 

This year we are indebted to Kevin Doyle, secretary of AVS Movie Makers in Altrincham, for judging the entries and for his comments on said films, which he described as “very good”. Apparently “bloody brilliant” is not in his vocabulary so I guess we have to take what we can get but we do thank Kevin for giving up his time for us.

Aside from dressing up our stalwart refreshments commander Peggy “One Lump Or Two?” Parmenter will have some extra treats to compliment the teas and coffees to mark this special occasion – and when I say “will have” I obviously mean “Peggy didn’t give it a single thought before I brought it up”. You can thank me later.

Don’t forget that plus 1s are welcome (or in my case minus 1) while plus fours are prohibited as this isn’t a golf club. A 3-Iron is a golf club and is also the title of a film by South Korean auteur Kim Ki-Duk who also made a film called Time which I am now going to call on this post.

The Oscars is the most prestigious and fun filled evening of the year in the OVFM calendar so we do hope you can make the effort to join us at our regular meeting venue, the Barnard Room in St Augustine’s Church this coming Tuesday March 15th for this special annual event.

OVFM CLUB MEETING TUESDAY March 1st 2016

The guest speaker lined up for this week’s club meeting should be familiar to everyone at OVFM as it is our very own Professor Mike Shaw!

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Before he picked up the camera and became the club’s resident special effects whizz, Mike spent many years working in advertising and was responsible for masterminding a number of campaigns for many top name companies and businesses of the time.

So what does this have to do with filmmaking? Both films and adverts, or indeed any creative process, begin the same way – with an idea. Certainly there are differences in that ads need to be short, to the point and within a specific remit of the company or product requirements (and we at OVFM are not adverse to making short films under a minute either) but there needs to be a starting point and it is that common thread which will be one feature of Mike’s presentation.

Mike will be talking us through some of the campaigns he was responsible for, explaining the various stages of creative process and sharing the end results with us, which saw Mike rub shoulders with some the showbiz elite of the era – not that Mike is a name dropper so don’t expect to hear the name Sammy Davis Jr. mentioned at any time during the course of the evening!

It might be a different tact from our usual film related guest speakers but I’m sure it won’t be any less interesting to us as creative types. And who knows – we may see an ad campaign already familiar to us unaware it was actually one of Mike’s.

Only one way to find out and that is to join us this coming Tuesday evening where you are Shaw to be in for a fascinating evening!

Ahem. I’ll get my coat….

OVFM Spring Film Show 2016

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OVFM Spring Film Show 2016

It is hard to believe that twelve months have passed already since the last Spring Film Show from OVFM but here we are ready to do it all over again!

Now the days are getting brighter, the weather (hopefully) is getting warmer and the colour is returning to the leaves on the trees, we will be to marking this occasion by sharing with everyone the best of the many films made by our club members over the past twelve months along with a few delights unearthed from our extensive archive. And the local events of 2015 will be revisited in the annual Newsreel!

As ever refreshments will be on hand as well as our raffle where great prizes can be won!

The 2016 Spring Show will take place on FRIDAY 8th April at 7.30 pm

VENUE – Methodist Church, 19 Sevenoaks Road, Orpington BR6 9JH

DIRECTIONS – GOOGLE MAP

WEBSITE – http://www.orpingtonmethodist.org.uk/welcome.htm

Club members get in free but for others the tickets are £5 – which includes refreshments – and are available from our secretary Freddy Beard or by email at info@ovfm.org.uk.

A poster for the event can be downloaded (for best printing results) from HERE (right click on the image then select “Save Image As”) so please print a copy off and spread the word around your neighbourhood!

For an entertaining and sociable evening of drama, comedy, documentary, music, travelogue and more get your tickets a.s.a.p. and bring along your friends and family!

See you then!

OVFM CLUB MEETING TUESDAY FEBRUARY 16TH 2016

MOBILE

The next club meeting is dedicated to sharing the results from you, our dear OVFM members, of the latest project entitled “Mobile”.

For anyone who may have forgotten the full details of what is required can be found HERE but I am sure you have all been hard at work putting ideas together and giving your camera another workout to produce some prime gems for us to enjoy this coming Tuesday evening..

As always could we ask that you PLEASE reply to this post below if you are bringing a film, listing the format, run time and picture ratio. This is crucial in helping us to plan the evening time wise and to ensure we have sufficient material for the whole session, so your co-operation is very much appreciated.

Project evenings are a fun way to see just how inventive club members can be in interpreting a certain theme or topic, resulting in a variety of films and ideas being put forward and this one should be no different.

Join us this coming Tuesday to see what delights await!

OVFM CLUB MEETING TUESDAY FEBRUARY 2nd 2016

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Brian Pfeiffer is one of long standing and prolific club members with quite a catalogue of films shot around the globe. Wherever he goes on his international trips, Brian is never without his camera (police permission withstanding natch – Brian still swears he “accidentally” walked into the women’s changing room in that swim resort in Italy) and has captured many sights and sounds from places many of us would never think to go for our holidays.

Brian’s holidaying ventures include such destinations as China, Norway, Egypt, South Africa, America, Peru, the Arctic, Canada and  Southend-on-Sea (no, me neither). A complete list of countries Brian has visited is at the bottom of this post.

So, the Legion of Doom has given Brian an evening to share a selection of his most memorable films with the the rest of the club, some of which are hitherto unseen in OVFM.

Brian’s programme is as follows:

Part One

Introduction

Film 1 – Moholoholo Rehabilitation Centre

40 minutes – including some chat breaks

(POSSIBLE special guest appearance of a star of ‘Paul O’Grady’s TV programme ‘Animal Orphans!) *

(Tea/Coffee break)

Part Two 

Film 2 – Tang Dynasty Show – Beijing

10 Minutes

Film 3 – Arctic Expedition

18 minutes 

Film 4 – Wait and see

 (I have learned something!)

4 minutes

*Hint – Not Paul O’Grady

There may be a change to the programme in order to facilitate a Q&A discussion for Brian (like where does he find the time to edit his films when he is always on holiday?).

Here is the complete list of locations Brian has filmed at:

 

1997America: – San Juan Islands and The Orcas; Mt St Helens; Lake Tahoe; Yosemite; Big Sur; San Francisco and Alcatraz

2000America: – Death Valley; Colorado; Durango Railway; Four Corners; Arizona & Hot Air Balloon flight; Mesa Verde; Lake Powell; Las Vegas; Palm Springs; Los Angeles and the Queen Mary

2001Norway:-  Tyjsford and The Orcas, 400 miles north of the Arctic Circle

2002South Africa: – Three day Safari in Botswana; Port Elizabeth; Garden Route; Cape Town with Table Mountain and Cape of Good Hope

2003Norway to Russia Cruise: – Harwich to Murmansk in Russia – following the route of the North Atlantic convoys in WW2 visiting  Fjords and the North Cape

2003Egypt – River Nile Cruise: – Aswan to Luxor visiting Temples including Karnak and Abu Simbel plus a Hot Air Balloon flight

2004Canada, Alaska and America: – Inside Passage cruise to Alaska followed by tour of Wyoming; the Teton, Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks; Montana and Vancouver

2005China:- Forbidden City; Summer Palace; Beijing Opera; Xian; The Great Wall; Terracota Army; Pandas; Yangtse Cruise; Three Gorges Dam

2006Peru & Brazil: – Lima; Arequipa; Colca Canyon and Condors; Lake Titicaca; Uros Islands; Cusco; Machu Picchu; Rio de Janeiro; Iguacu Falls (fantastic!!)

2007The Arctic (Sept):  exploring Greenland and Iceland on a small converted Expedition ship (only 36 passengers) from Spitzbergen, through the pack ice to Greenland then to Iceland

2008 –  South Africa:- two Safari Reserves then Whale Watching at Hermanus

2010 Switzerland: – Glacier Express touring the mountains on the narrow gauge railways.

2012 Austria: – Touring the Austrian Tyrol by narrow gauge Mountain Railways

2014Baltic Capitals: – Cruising to St Petersburg via Copenhagen, Tallin, Stockholm and Helsinki

2015The Nile: – Cairo, Giza Pyramids, the Museum then cruising up river to Luxor

 

Hopefully you will join Brian and the rest of the club members this coming Tuesday for what should be an entertaining and insightful evening!

OVFM At TESCO (again)!

 

Friday 15th of January saw OVFM occupy the ground floor of Tesco’s Orpington branch in a recruitment drive open day to spread awareness of the club name and to hopefully entice budding filmmakers to visit our club and experience the benefits of being an OVFM member.

A dedicated team was on hand throughout the day to explain what OVFM can do for a neophyte filmmaker – among other things, getting the most out of a camera, the wonders of editing or updating old cine footage to the modern mediums of DVD or Blu-ray to ensure those precious memories live on.

Tesco

It was such a successful venture with keen visitors showing up to the last club meeting on the back of this open day, that we shall be doing it all over again this coming Saturday!  So, if you got a new camera for Christmas or an old one gathering dust, or maybe you’ve fancied doing a bit more with you iPhone video function then come see us at Tesco Orpington and have a chat with one of the club members who will be happy to help.

If you are interested or will just be passing by do please drop by the OVFM stand on  Saturday January 23rd from 10:00am to 5:00pm at Tesco Orpington, opposite the Orpington War Memorial.

Hope to see you there!

OVFM CLUB MEETING TUESDAY JANUARY 19TH 2016

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“New York, London, Paris, Munich
Everybody talk about Pop Muzik”

Of course they really should be talking about the fact it is our annual January tradition of the OVFM Holiday Film evening!

When not stuck in front of our computers either scripting our next cinematic masterpiece or editing away at the countless hours of footage we have stored away on our cameras, some club members actually leave the house to explore the big wide world that is around us, camera in hand, naturally.

So it is that we invite members who have captured the sights and sounds of their getaway location for prosperity to cobble the footage together into a coherent narrative and share it with the rest of us, so we too can experience the wonders of that vast unknown quantity we call “abroad”.

Just to remind everyone that there is a FIVE MINUTE time limit on your film so if you have one that runs longer you may want to do some last minute pruning, although time permitting we can show leniency towards those that may exceed this boundary.

We also ask that if you are bringing a film that you PLEASE reply to this post in the comment section below, telling us the run time, format (DVD, blu-ray or Mini DV) and picture ratio (4:3 or 16:9) of your film. This is of tremendous help to our projectionist in timing the evening should we have a healthy supply of films to show.

Thank you for your co-operation and we look forward to seeing your films on Tuesday!

New OVFM Project – Mobile

MOBILE

It’s project time again folks! This is where we throw out a subject matter or theme to you and you can allow your imaginations to run wild in making a short film on that topic.

The suggested theme is “Mobile”, which could mean mobile phones, mobility scooters, mobile homes, mobiles hanging over a baby’s cot, mobility in general – anything you want.

Remember the idea of these projects is not just to help flex your creative muscles but to increase and improve your filmmaking experience. These films are not being assessed like our Top Ten, so there is no pressure to make your version of Citizen Kane to impress your peers, this is about having fun and doing what a film club is supposed to do – make films!

As ever your film can be a solo or group project so don’t be afraid to ask your fellow club members for help or advice and if you need it, club equipment is available on request from our secretary Freddy Beard!

So get you thinking caps on and your cameras out because we will be screening your films at the club meeting on TUESDAY FEBRUARY 16th 2016 giving you just over a month to get your films made.

Good luck!

OVFM Club Meeting Tuesday January 5th 2016

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I can’t believe it is 2016 already!

2015 has flown by in general but the year for OVFM seems to have gone even quicker! Where does the time go? It was barely nine months ago we kick off the annual Top Ten competition and now the final is here!

With the five individual rounds having been contested the top highest scoring films will be shown again on this night, with some having undergone a few changes as per the feedback given following the original screenings. The films will be judged and scored again and the winner and runner up will be revealed and subsequently rewarded at the Oscars in March.

Now, lest my maths is to fail me as usual the Top Ten finalists should be as follows:

 

“Commute” by Barbara Walker

“A Day In The Life Of Kieran Jones” by Lee Relph

“Table Top Whimsy” by John Bunce

“30 Years of Caring” by John & Ann Epton

“Lie Back” by Mike Shaw

“Leaf Cutter Ants” by David Laker

“Yellowstone” by Brian Pfeiffer

“Broken” by Bob Vine

“Central Park New York” by Jim Morton Robertson

“Our Memorable Trip To London” by Barbara Darby

 

Our competitions officer Brenda Wheatley should have been in touch with all the finalists by now notifying them that their films are required for this evening, so please bring them along if you are among that number or if you cannot make it, please contact Brenda to let her know, or if possible perhaps speak to a fellow club member or any member of the Committee to arrange for your film to be brought in by someone else.

This meeting is also the final deadline for the Annual Competition so if you haven’t done so, please download a form HERE and bring it along with your film(s) and entry fee, while hopefully by now you will all have also given Peggy your money and orders for the Annual Dinner.

Good luck to all the Top Ten finalists and we hope to see you all on Tuesday night!