Author: Lee Relph

OVFM Club Meeting Tuesday July 22nd 2014

Posted on by Lee Relph

garden_party

 

To the tune of “Day Trip To Bangor” By Fiddler’s Dram

 

Didn’t we have a terrible time

The night we went to Mike Shaw’s

It was that time of year

The one we all fear

The annual club garden party

 

The fish when arrived

It was still alive

And the chips were still potatoes

And Mike felt a fool when he fell in the pool

Still fully clothed

And Annabelle cried when she realised

She had left Reg at home!

 

 

Or maybe it went well, who knows? That is down to you and of course the weather!

Yes in case you had missed the e-mails, announcement, notices, carrier pigeon messages, newspaper ads, Internet memes and door to door reminders from Mike himself, this year’s garden party makes its return to Mike Shaw’s palatial abode (address is in the members section) after a two year break which conveniently sees the expiry date of the ASBO Mike received from the last time he hosted it!

A quick note before we get onto the dos and don’ts regarding parking – there will be limited prearranged priority only parking on the main drive and those people who should already have been notified about this. Everyone else will have to try the luck on the road instead. Perhaps some of you could carpool to avoid having the whole street occupied by OVFM?

On to the specifics of the evening and the arrival start time is a little earlier than usual with a 7:00pm for 7:15pm start. If you arrive late you will be locked out and Mike will set the hamsters onto you.

By now you all should have filled in the forms Pat Palmer sent round at the last few club meetings with your choice of meal and dessert. As ever if you have your own dietary needs or wish to provide your own alternatives and dessert that is fine. Drinks are to be provided by you while teas and coffees will be served later in the evening.

As Mike has given the servants the night off, you will be responsible for bringing your own chairs, table, cutlery, glasses and condiments, while it is encouraged you pack an umbrella or a jacket in case the weather decides to be unfair and swerve towards being inclement. Also anyone in possession a gazebo is kindly requested to bring it along it with them. Those of you not attending the party do not need to bring anything.

While there will be fun and games throughout the evening to liven things up a bit, those of you who attended the last party held at Chez Shaw will know that Mike has a heated swimming pool and the invitation has once again been extended to anyone who wishes to make use of it can do, on the proviso that you wear regulated swimming attire. The good thing about this is that if it rains and you get cold and wet you can dry off in the warm pool!

Finally this meeting marks the deadline for the Create a Poster Competition so if you have a last minute entry, please bring it along with you. I don’t know if the judging will be done by a public vote there and then but if it does, may I just point out that people who vote for my entry will have a longer life expectancy than those who don’t.

Anyway that’s pretty much all the bases covered so all that remains is for me to say everyone have a good time. Go on – I dare you!

OVFM Club Meeting Tuesday July 8th 2014

Posted on by Lee Relph

topten14_R2

 

This week’s meeting sees us entering the second round of the annual Top Ten competition aka the “Barbara Darby Hands Off That’s Mine” award!

In Round One we received just THREE entries so if anything one objective for this round is to see if we can beat that! You can find the results of that round HERE!

As ever you asked to bring in your best film to be judged by your peers in OVFM and the ten films that receives the highest votes over the course of the five rounds that will take place between now and November (see this post for the full list of dates).

The members who have been drafted to provide a film for this opening round are as follows:

 

Mike Shaw

Richard & Jess Pugh

Sylvia Snipp

Malcolm Goodwin

Mike Bishop

Anna Littler

Pat Palmer

Basil Doody

Brian Pfeiffer

John Alford

 

As ever if you can’t make your designated round be sure to either reply to this post below saying so or let Brenda know ahead of time – conversely if you DO have a film ready early, please bring it along as chances are it will be welcomed for screening time permitting.

And if you are bringing a film this week then PLEASE reply to this post in the comments/reply section below, letting us know the film’s run time, format (DVD, Mini DV) and picture ratio (4:3 or 16:9). This is a great help for us when planning the evening out and if you could accommodate us on this it is greatly appreciated.

Good luck to everyone who enters a film.

OVFM Top 10 Competition 2014 Results

Posted on by Lee Relph

topten14

 

OVFM Top 10 Competition 2014 Results

 

Here are the ongoing results of the 2014 Top Ten Competition!

 

Round One – Held May 27th 2014

1. “The Bells Of St. Barthomolew’s” by Barbara Darby       53.63

2. “Anti-Gravity” by Hugh Darrington      49.26

3. “High Street Fun” by Ann & John Epton      45.83

 

Round Two – Held July 8th 2014

1. “Illusions” by Mike Shaw     59.21

2.  “Hamilton Landscapes” by Mike & Jo Coad     51.03

3. “Arctic Adventure” by Tony Keable    41.43

 

Round Three – To be held August 19th 2014

1. “Census ” by Bob Vine     53.19

2. “Round The Horn” by David Laker    50.25

3. “A Day Out At Beamish” by Richard Pugh     49.85

4. “Carmen’s Pylon”  by John Bunce    49.32

= “Olympic Winner” by Ian Menage    49.32

6. “Croxy” by Bob Wyeth    36.81

 

Round Four – Held September 16th 2014

1. “RAIN” by Simon Earwicker    56.00

2. “One Small Job” by Colin Jones   55.44

3.  “OCD” by Lee Relph    48.22

 

Round Five – Held on October 14th 2014

1. “Streaming Back To Metroland” by Sam Brown    57.16

2. “Lakeside Weekend” by Reg & Annabelle Lancaster   53.74

3.  “Ship Ahoy” by Pat Palmer    48.22

4. “Ski Fun Day” by Andy Watson   46.10

5. “Sue’s Sheep” by Jim Morton-Robertson   40.68

 

So, lest my calculations have failed me, the final top ten are thus:

 

1. “Illusions” by Mike Shaw     59.21

2. “Streaming Back To Metroland” by Sam Brown    57.16

3. “RAIN” by Simon Earwicker    56.00

4. “One Small Job” by Colin Jones   55.44

5. “Lakeside Weekend” by Reg & Annabelle Lancaster   53.74

6.  “The Bells Of St. Barthomolew’s” by Barbara Darby       53.63

7. “Census ” by Bob Vine     53.19

8.  “Hamilton Landscapes” by Mike & Jo Coad     51.03

9.  “Round The Horn” by David Laker    50.25

10.  “A Day Out At Beamish” by Richard Pugh     49.85

 

Congratulations to those ten. The final takes place on January 6th 2015 and the winner will be announced at the Oscars on March 17th.

OVFM Club Meeting Tuesday June 24th 2014

Posted on by Lee Relph

ovfmarchives

Once again we devote an evening to the wonders that lay tucked away in the club archive.

Hopefully you’ve all had a look through the current archive lists (in the members’ only section) and sent your request to Andy “Elementary My Dear” Watson and picked the films made by OVFM members past and present that you wish to see again.

I personally have nominated our North vs South entry from last year “Power Corrupts” since it has never been shown to the club before. Since most of us all sweated away a few stone during its making last summer I think we should see the fruits of our labours, don’t you (even if it didn’t win)? 😉

Andy won’t be with us on Tuesday as he’l be watching the World Cup instead but he has agreed to compile a programme for us based on our requests so if you haven’t done so already please, have a quick trawl through the archive lists and send Andy your choice to him ASAP! *

OVFM archive evenings are always a rich source of interest from both a technical and historical point of view, so I hope you will forgo watching a bunch of overpaid, illiterate, thuggish prima donnas kicking a bit of leather about to join us for what promises to be an entertaining evening!

**EDIT**

As you can see from Andy’s reply below the deadline has now expired for making requests so if you missed out, please don’t contact Andy but do keep it in mind for our next archive session! Thanks!

OVFM Club Meeting Tuesday June 10th 2014

Posted on by Lee Relph

nvs14

 

One of the many annual traditions for OVFM is the North vs South competition where film clubs from this side of the river do (friendly) battle with film clubs from the other side. While the organising of the event in the north is handled by Altrincham Movie Makers, OVFM are responsible for the south end, mostly through the hard work of Mike Coad thus we are somewhat duty bound to have an entry every year.

Over the past two years it has befallen to David “Offshore Account” Laker to provide and oversee the OVFM entries with his films “Disastermind” and “Power Corrupts”. This year David understandably wants to step back and let someone else have a go – which brings us to this week’s club meeting.

OVFM hasn’t won the competition in a good few years now – the last time was with a film called “Attack Of The Killer Tripod” by a then 17 year old Reg “Bomber” Lancaster – so we really need to up our game for this year.

The theme is “If” which covers a multitude of possibilities. The announcement of this was made to the club after the conclusion of the 2013 final so there has been plenty of time to think of something. The purpose therefore of this meeting is to see what ideas you may have, be there a germination of a concept, a story outline, a treatment or even a full script. You may even have a film completed or in production (either as a group effort or individually; they can be entered on behalf of the club – see rule 2 via the link below) in which case bring it along and we’ll have a look at it.

Of course if no-one has any ideas or prepared scripts we can also brainstorm to see if we can’t come up with an idea or two to get the ball rolling. Then if you wish you can either set about making it in individual groups or by enlisting the help of the club as a whole (or however many are willing to help).

All the relevant information including the rules can be found HERE but I can tell you now that the entry deadline is Friday 31st October with the final to be held on Sunday December 7th !

So get your thinking caps on and we’ll see you on Tuesday with your ideas so we can make sure OVFM has their hands raised in victory at the end of North vs South 2014!

air max 180

British Film Council Comp – Then & Now

Posted on by Lee Relph

then_now

Hello all

This BBC news story about how archived footage of Britain from the 30’s and 40’s has been updated for online use caught my eye along with the link to a competition being held by the British Film Council which you can read about HERE.

The idea is to make a film (no more than 3 minuets) using their archive footage to create a “then and now” look at Britain.

I figured this might be a fun opportunity for OVFM members who are able, to participate in. If not how about adopting the theme for your own film for the Top 10 or as a general film project?

Over to you! 🙂

Cheers

Coaching Evenings – Your Opinions Please!!

Posted on by Lee Relph

ovfm coaching

 

Your Opinions Please!!

 

Coaching Evenings 2014

The five evenings have now completed and the numbers attending each ranged from 3 to 17. Most of those who came seemed to get something from the variety which was provided. Mike Shaw’s film music and sources presentation was particularly welcome.

The club owes a vote of thanks to all the stalwarts who contributed as speakers and demonstrators, without which the evenings wouldn’t be possible. Thanks also to all members for having supported the cost of the sessions through their subscriptions.

Your ideas for possible future coaching evenings will ensure that there are some!

Ian

 

Please use the comments facility below to leave your feedback on the evenings held so far – positive and negative – and what YOU want to see in future coaching evenings or let Ian or a member of the committee know directly.

Thank you!

OVFM Club Meeting Tuesday May 27th 2014

Posted on by Lee Relph

topten14_R1

 

This week’s meeting sees the first round of the annual Top Ten competition aka the “Barbara Darby Hands Off That’s Mine” award!

As ever you asked to bring in your best film to be judged by your peers in OVFM and the ten films that receives the highest votes over the course of the five rounds that will take place between now and November (see this post for the full list of dates).

The members who have been drafted to provide a film for this opening round are as follows:

 

Colin Jones

Bob Wyeth

John Bunce

Ann & John Epton

Peggy Parmenter

Peter Mitchell

Frank Hyde

Mike & Jo Coad

Barbara Darby

Alan Smith

 

As ever if you can’t make your designated round be sure to let Brenda know ahead of time or you have a film ready early, please bring it along as chances are it will be welcomed for screening time permitting.

And if you are bringing a film this week then PLEASE reply to this post in the comments/reply section below, letting us know the film’s run time, format (DVD, Mini DV) and picture ratio (4:3 or 16:9). This is a great help for us when planning the evening out and if you could accommodate us on this it is greatly appreciated.

Good luck to everyone who enters a film!

OVFM Club Meeting Tuesday May 13th 2014

Posted on by Lee Relph

judge2

 

You Be The Judge:

Trivention Competition 2014

 

For this week’s meeting we get to play judge for films from other clubs this time under the guise of the 2014 Trivention competition.

 

Similar to the Triangle Competition – except this one understands the concept of “tri” being a derivation of three and not four – two clubs will submit a programme of films to be judged by the third, which this year is us!

 

The other two participating clubs are Preston Movie Makers and Newscastle ACA Film& Video.

 

The judging procedure will be similar to our own Top Ten competition, in which we we all have a sheet to fill in, awarding each film with points before the totals are collected at the end to discern a winner. In the past OVFM has come second twice although with just two clubs competing that means we’ve lost TWICE! But don’t take this as an opportunity to extract revenge against the other clubs, we are better than that. Besides, Freddy already took care of that last year when she firebombed the Preston club room!

 

So we hope that you will all show up on Tuesday night and share your opinions on this films to present our fellow clubs with a rounded and balanced score card rather than the usual preferences of a few, which I’m sure will be appreciated in turn by our Northern friends.

 

As it is always of interest to see the work of other clubs and their own unique take on filmmaking, it should be an entertaining and eye opening evening.

 

See you then!

Coaching Evening May 6th 2014

Posted on by Lee Relph

 

ovfm coaching

 

Following the last successful editing evening, as announced the next one will be outdoors. I confirm that we will meet on Tuesday 6th May at 7.30pm at the gates of Priory Gardens, Orpington on the corner of Ramsden Road just before it meets Church Road/Bark Hart Road. Park on the Road.

 

There you’ll receive, probably in small groups, a short assignment to film in the gardens whilst the light lasts.

 

I will be there at 7pm, so if anyone can come earlier they can start off immediately.

 

Bring your cameras and, if you wish, any portable lights for the darker places!

 

If you do some research on the features of the gardens, it may help you decide where to go.

 

See you there.

 

Ian

 

P.S.  In the event of forecast bad weather, I’ll email you on Tuesday morning to move the evening to the Barnard Room at 8pm instead, where we’ll have the opportunity to have another editing session. Given the filthy weather today, watch this space!