Tag: 2017

The 2018 OVFM OSCARS – THE RESULTS!

Posted on by Lee Relph

THE RESULTS

 

The Oscars took place on March 6th 2018 and here is the complete list of winners courtesy of Competition officer Hugh Darrington, who is stepping down after one year in the role, so we thank him for his efforts over the past 12 months. We are also indebted to Pip, Rita and Alan Hayes for judging the Annual Competition for us this year.

So, to the winners:

ANNUAL COMPETITION

Ian Dunbar Cup (Best film) – Devon From A Different Perspective by Jane Oliver

Orpington Trophy (Best Film Runner Up) – Remember by Andy Watson

Arthur Woolhead Trophy (Animation or Visual Effects) – Orpington In The 1840s by David Laker

Priory Trophy (Editing) – Statue Park by James Morton-Robertson

Vincent Pons Shield (Fiction) – Turkey for Christmas by Colin Jones

Rene Morris Penguin Plate (Photography) – Devon From A Different Perspective by Jane Oliver

Heyfield Trophy (Sound) – It’s A Pug’s Life by Lee Relph

Reg Lancaster Trophy (Funniest Film) – It’s A Pug’s Life by Lee Relph

Alice Howe Trophy (Documentary) – But Is It Art? by Hugh Darrington

Raasay Trophy (No special category) – Moving Moments by Barbara Darby

Jubilee Shield (Film under five minutes) – Remember by Andy Watson

 

OVFM COMPETITIONS

The 2017 Top Ten Competition –

WINNER: Orpington In The 1840s by David Laker

RUNNER-UP: 1940’s Showreel by Barbara Darby

 

Kath Jones Cup (Best joke Film) – Oh Dear by John Bunce

Vic Treen Trophy (Best Film Cut To Music) – Colour My World by Lee Relph

Mike Turner Plate (Best Film Under 1 Minute) – Same The Whole World Over by Brian Ffeiffer

 

Highly Commended Certificates

A 1940’s Experience  by Barbara Darby

Turkey For Christmas by Colin Jones (for Chris Crump’s illustrations)

Orpington Picture Palaces by Pat Palmer

 

Commended Certificates

Oh Dear by John Bunce

The Project by Charlie Caseley

The Juggler by Reg Lancaster

 

Final Scores:

Kath Jones Cup

Oh Dear by John Bunce   71

How To Open A Skoda by Graham Sinden  37

 

Vic Treen Trophy

Colour My World by Lee Relph    51

Remember by Andy Watson    33

1940’s Experience by Barbara Darby    32

Blah Blah Blur by Jane Oliver    17

Last Stand by John & Ann Epton   14

Born In Africa by Pat Palmer    10

Katharine’s Palace by Brian Ffeiffer   6

Wheels by Graham Sinden    5

Statue Park by James Morton-Robertson   5

 

Mike Turner Plate

The Same The Whole World Over by Brian Ffeiffer    40

Light Up The Sky by Trevor  Rogers   39

The Juggler by Reg Lancaster    36

Rumble In The Jungle by John Greengrass   23

Gannet Colony by James Morton-Robertson   14

 

Top 10 Results are HERE

 

Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to everyone who entered a film and don’t forget you can see all of the entries in the Annual Competition HERE (make sure you are logged in).

That’s it for the 2018 Oscars, we look forward to doing it all over again in 2019!

 

OVFM CLUB MEETING – TUESDAY DECEMBER 19TH – CHRISTMAS SOCIAL

Posted on by Lee Relph

Oh little club in Orpington

You’ve had a busy year

Now it’s time to let off steam

And revel in festive cheer!

 

Amazingly it has been a whole year since the last Christmas social – doesn’t time fly when you’re getting older? A lot has happened since then, from the club welcoming our first female Chairman in Jane Oliver to the progressive move of adopting files on USB sticks for screening films, with a healthy output behind the camera, especially in the latter half of the year.

But before that we put 2017 away in the filing cabinet of history, there is the small matter of this year’s Christmas Social, which, as ever, will be held at our usual venue but in the GARDEN ROOM. Hopefully we should be able to access the room via its own doors but if not, be prepared to take the long way round through the usual hall first –  you’ll find out soon enough on the night!

It wouldn’t be a social without food and this year we are indebted to Peggy and the handful of volunteers (hopefully you’ve filled in the form that went round) for providing the festive nosh! Entertainment will be courtesy of Brenda Wheatley who will bring a game/quiz, while yours truly will be bringing one of my never-popular movie quizzes to ruin your evening, so don’t forget to bring a pen with you.

Since this is Jane’s first social as Chairman she’ll no doubt want to put her own stamp on the proceedings but given she often has a quirky and esoteric approach to her films, we can only wonder if she has something rather wonderful to pull out of the hat for our amusement. I do have it on authority however that her celebrated snake dance is not on the menu, nor will Basil Doody and his Death Metal band Pancreatic Rust be giving us a tune or two either.

The only way to find out what is going down is to be at the Christmas Social this Tuesday evening!

P.S. – Festive attire is optional but clothing in general is mandatory (that means you, Andy!)

OVFM CLUB MEETING – TUESDAY NOVEMBER 28TH

Posted on by Lee Relph

comp_16

 

As we cannonball towards the end of the year there is just time to fit in one last round of annual club competition films in three separate categories that pay tribute to past club members.

Offering club members a chance to test their creativity under such differing criteria is not as easy as it seems, making this one of the unique and interesting challenges thrown at us. 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 11 entries submitted which is pretty impressive given the dearth of entries in 2015 so anticipation is high for another healthy turn out this year.

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

Speaking of Hugh, we are hoping to receive an update on the status of his moustache that he is growing for Movember to raise money for charity.

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

OVFM CLUB MEETING – TUESDAY NOVEMBER 14th

Posted on by Lee Relph

 

Our first meeting for November sees us once again putting our own activities on hold as we let an outsider host the evening instead. Taking the floor on this occasion are the husband and wife  team of Rita (FACI) and Pip Hayes (not-FACI).

 

Pip (left) and Rita (non-left)

 

Rita should be well known to many of you as the current chair of SERIAC, and hubby Pip is a small nest of tables. Rita is also the guvnor at rival club Sh**ters H*ll where Pip is coincidentally Competition’s Officer. They have a son, also involved in filmmaking, who lives in St Albans which is of little use to us since the meeting will be in Petts Wood, but I digress.

 

The evening will comprise of films from Pip and Rita’s (Pita’s?) extensive catalogue of comedies and dramas made in conjunction with the SERIAC Council (think Freemasons with snazzier aprons). Some of the films being screened have been requested by OVFM members Reg “Bomber” Lancaster and Colin “Colin” Jones, so we know who to blame for that.

 

Since Rita is a member of IAC aristocracy we will need to roll out the red carpet, break out the best paper cups and buy two packets of biscuits to mark the occasion. Genuflecting is optional, especially since most of you probably won’t be able to get back up again, and direct eye contact is only permitted via written permission given ahead of time.

 

That is all to come this Tuesday so make sure to be there for what I am told will be an enjoyable evening for everyone or else!

OVFM CLUB MEETING – TUESDAY OCTOBER 31st

Posted on by Lee Relph

JIGSAW / CURRENT

 

It’s two for the price of one this week at OVFM as we share the results of our hard work in response to TWO themed projects!

The first is “Jigsaw” which was first announced back in April and hopefully you availed yourself of the two sets of jumbled up clips provided by Ian Menage, reassembled them and created a short film with your own narrative and storyline.

You had the option of trying one or both of the challenges, which were segment taken from two classic comedy shorts – “The Dare Devil” from 1923 starring Ben Turpin, in which he plays a hapless stuntman given a chance to shine by an equally hapless director; and a (spits) colourised version of “Busy Bodies”, a Laurel & Hardy talkie from 1933, in which Stan and Ollie play two accident prone carpenters.

Because of the likelihood of repetition this project will incur, we ask that you let us know by replying to this post below which of the two clips you will be bringing to the meeting (if you indeed are) – either “Ben Turpin” or “Laurel & Hardy” – so we can best allocate the screening time and try to avoid showing the same film over and over. If you fail to inform us, there might be strong chance your film may NOT be shown at all.

The second project is “Current”, ironically the more recently announced of the two. This one should provide a more varied set of contributions but again, PLEASE be sure to let us if you have a film for this project as again, too many films on the evening will leave some not being shown, and your efforts will have gone to waste.

Remember to include the following vital information in your reply:  the film’s run time, format (DVD, Blu-ray, USB stick) and picture ratio (4:3 or 16:9).

Join us on Tuesday for what looks to be a fun filled and creative evening!

OVFM Invades Otford!

Posted on by Lee Relph

 

OVFM Invades Otford!

 

OVFM treated friends, family and members of Otford Methodist Church on October 3rd to an evening of entertaining films for the ”SURPRISE”.  This was the first such event put on in the plush new church, kitted out with all the latest technology.  After a whistle stop tour of the impressive facilities including 2 fixed pan tilt and zoom cameras, and lights that could wash the stage wall in any colour you could think of, we settled back to an evening of carefully chosen films, that gave a flavour  of the different styles, genre and capabilities of our members and gave the impression that the club is truly ‘thriving’.  It was also an evening where we once more tried to drum up interest in the upcoming AUTUMN SHOW.

The films were played from a portable hard drive plugged into the church computer and the sound controlled through the sound desk.  Signals were transmitted via broadcast CAT6 cables that run beneath the floor.  This was the first time the screens had been tested ‘after dark’.  The lights remained on during the screening, but the pictures still remained vivid albeit there was colour distortion, ghosting and reflections which we failed to resolve.  Even with the Black Magic ATEM TV Studio switched off, the problems persisted.  Sorry if that tainted your enjoyment of the evening.

James Morton-Robertson made a trailer of Hampden P1344 and Barbara Darby and Jane Oliver made shorter versions of some films.  John Epton produced a film specifically for the event in which he gave a number of examples of special effects.  It is hope that we at least tickled the appetite of some of our audience for pursuing the art filmmaking.  Jane chose the films, many from the archive, which has a wealth of films within thanks to those who set it up and maintain it.  Jane imported them into her Edius software, made fine adjustments where necessary and ran them all into one time line with just enough space between for the computer operator to press the ‘space bar’ during the screening to ‘pause’ and then ‘start’ the next film.  There was an opportunity for film makers to make comments about their films, except for poor old Reg, as time was running short.

During the interval we enjoyed tea,  proper coffee and scrumptious cakes home made by Jane’s church fellowship group and a friendly bunch they proved to be.

Thanks to all of you that took the intrepid journey into the night, to a wee village yonder, without a street light to be seen to support this event. At least the contemporary stained glass window gave a welcoming light on arrival.  Many club members have said how much they enjoyed the evening and friends in the church were both delighted and amazed at the variety and quality of the films shown.  As usual there was a huge thumbs up for our ‘comedy classics’.

Keep them rolling!

 

Text – Jane Oliver

Photo – Trevor Rogers

OVFM CLUB MEETING – TUESDAY OCTOBER 17th

Posted on by Lee Relph

 

Moving Part II

No, you’re not experiencing deja vu, we are seeing more films from our project MOVING but unlike last time, the films being shown in this session will be from other clubs.

If you recall the topic of MOVING was originally to be applied to the North vs South competition which, for the first time in its long history is not taking place this year. However this hasn’t stopped OVFM or other clubs from making films in case someone stepped in and took up the mantle of running the competition at the last minute, and being the nice people that we are we have invited our fellow filmmaking organisations to share their films with us.

There is a possibility that some of the filmmakers and representatives from these clubs will be present on Tuesday, so if you do happen to spot an unfamiliar face, do extend a typical OVFM welcome to them (or just do what I do and scowl at them so they leave you alone – never fails)!

Previous N vs S competitions have shown that any topic can yield a wealth of creative and unique interpretations so we look forward to what should be an interesting evening of films this coming Tuesday.

OVFM CLUB MEETING – TUESDAY OCTOBER 3rd

Posted on by Lee Relph

 

SURPRISE!!!

 

Normally this post is about explaining what is going to be happening for our next club meeting but that isn’t possible this time round. Why? Because it is a surprise! And the thing about surprises is that if you know about them beforehand then it is no longer a surprise.

One thing I can reveal to you though, is that the meeting will be held at a different venue for this surprise to be delivered. It is being held in Otford, a place we all know so well through Barbara Darby’s films, which is located over there somewhere. This may be a bit of a drive for most of us but not for the Kemsing Mafia since this is their manor, so it makes a change for them to not have the long ride home.

The evening will be split into two halves, the first with our chairman-woman Jane Oliver running the show then she’ll hand over the reins to a special guest, whose identity is – you guessed it – a surprise. Rumours that it might be legendary Swedish auteur Ingmar Bergman are unfounded, largely because he died in 2007, so it is more likely to be someone else.

So, get your A to Z’s out, fire up the sat navs and point them towards Otford (the exact address has been e-mailed to everyone and can be found in the latest edition of the Viewfinder) in time for next Tuesday to discover what the big surprise is. And if you aren’t satisfied with it, Jane will personally refund your petrol money!*

 

 

 

 

 

 

* Or she might tell you to get stuffed – I’m not a mind reader!

OVFM Autumn Film Show 2017

Posted on by Lee Relph

OVFM Autumn Film Show 2017

One of the most important dates in the OVFM calendar is our annual Autumn Show where we share the fruits of our labours from a year of busy filmmaking, along with some gems from our archive with the public. As the nights are getting darker and colder you’ll need something to brighten them up so why not join us for another evening of films from the very best local amatuer filmmaking talent.

 

This year’s event will take place on  FRIDAY 27th OCTOBER at 7:00 for 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 guests and non-members the tickets are £5 – which includes refreshments – and are available by making a request via e-mail at info@ovfm.org.uk or by telephone on 01689 813616. Don’t leave it too late as they tend to get snapped up very quickly!

And of course there is our famous raffle where a selection of wonderful prizes are up for grabs provided you have that all important winning ticket!

If any OVFM club members or our external friends wish to help publicise this event please download a printable version of the poster HERE  (open the file, right click and save).

For an entertaining and sociable evening do join us on October 27th and bring along your friends and family!

OVFM CLUB MEETING – TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 19th

Posted on by Lee Relph

 

MOVING

 

This week’s club meeting sees members given the chance to share with us the fruits of their labours in interpreting the theme “Moving”. You’ve had a few months since we first announced this project to think this over and whilst it is a difficult subject to tackle for a drama piece, there should be plenty of scope for observational pieces based on transport, people, animals etc.

Hopefully some of you will have risen to this challenge and have produced something for us to enjoy, but even if you only have a rough edit of a film, or the bare bones of an idea please bring it along and maybe we can offer some input to help you complete it.

As far as this being for the North vs South competition, things aren’t looking too positive at the moment unless a last minute saviour ride in on their white horse to rescue this long running competition from the abyss, but that shouldn’t deter us from making films pertaining to the chosen topic.

If you are bringing a film PLEASE reply to this post below, listing the format (DVD, Blu-ray, USB) run time and picture ratio (16:9. 4:3). The evening runs SO much smoother if we know ahead of time how many films we have to show and how much room to leave for discussion.

Also, don’t forget to get your tickets for the Kent Film Festival (Sept 23rd) from Ian Menage and our Autumn Film Show from Freddy Beard.

Thanks for reading and we look forward to seeing your efforts on Tuesday.