Tag: amateur film making

Mini Autumn Show Newsreel Request

Posted on by Lee Relph

help

If you recall earlier this year that Lady Annabelle of Lancaster requested footage from the Queen’s 90th Birthday celebrations that took place locally for the 2016 Newsreel to be featured as a part of the 2017 Spring Show.

newsreel

However the Legion of Doom have decided that a mini-Showreel dedicated to these events should be a part of the upcoming Autumn show on October 14th. Therefore could we ask anyone who has footage shot during the celebrations – along with anything related to the EU Referendum or the Battle of Somme Remembrance – IN ROUGHLY EDITED FORM ONLY to please contact either Annabelle,  Ian Menage or David Laker to arrange to have your clips included in the final Newsreel programme.

We are a little pressed for time so the next club meeting on Tuesday 30th August is the deadline for providing your footage in person.

Thanks in advance for your cooperation.

OVFM CLUB MEETING – TUESDAY August 2nd 2016

Posted on by Lee Relph

 

Yes folks the Top Ten 2016 competition is finally here!

Our annual Clash of the Camcorders 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 2017 and the winner will be announced at the Oscars in March.

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

 

John Alford

Hugh Darrington

Mike Graham

Andy & Marian Watson

Patrick Campbell

Jo Coad

Reg Lancaster

Walter McKenna,

Alan Smith

Bob Wyeth

Jenny Tucker

 

As ever if you can’t make your designated round be sure to let either Brenda know ahead of time or reply to this post below, 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, Blu-ray) 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.

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

New OVFM Project – Who Am I?

Posted on by Lee Relph

project

WHO AM I?

Time for another project for you all to flex your creative muscles and challenge your creative skills, and this one is a real challenge!

While the title suggests that a the end result is to be a guessing game for the audience, there is a twist to the concept – the film you will be making must be about ANOTHER club member, not yourself!! That would be too easy of course! 😉

The aim for this project is to encourage more interaction within the club members, perhaps bringing together people who wouldn’t normally work together, allowing them to get to know each other a bit better as well as encourage and engender a sense of teamwork which might continue with future projects, a positive boon for anyone who requires a helping hand with their films but is afraid to ask.

So, take a look around the club room when you next attend a meeting and see who you think might make for an interesting and ambiguous biography you can present to and hopefully baffle the rest of the members at the club meeting set for TUESDAY 30TH AUGUST.

Thanks for reading and good luck everyone!

EDIT:

At the August 2nd club meeting Jane expounded a little on her concept for this project. One idea she proffered was to film this like the “Mystery Guest” round on the long running TV quiz show A Question Of Sport, where somebody is filmed from obtuse and awkward angles, with close ups of their hands and extreme close-up of their less unique features like their ears, chin and such for the rest of us to play “Guess who?”.

Sticking with the TV show theme, how about a look round someone’s house a’la Through the Keyhole (with full permission of course)? Further to that, I suspect one could also use the technique they use on news and documentaries to hide someone’s identity – shooting them a a silhouette and distorting their voice. Or maybe you could write a poem or an ambiguous narration set to baby and archive photos or the like (with permission from your subject).

OVFM CLUB MEETING – TUESDAY JULY 5th 2016

Posted on by Lee Relph

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This week’s club meeting sees us welcoming a guest speaker to regale us with tales of their filmmaking career and hopefully share some advice too. Stepping up to the podium is Chris Woollard, an associate of our own John Alford.

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Chris has an impressive CV in the film business – he entered the industry in the early 1990’s, working for an American chap named Steven Spielberg on a film about dinosaurs called Jurassic Park, which I am sure won’t be as good as our Dexter film! He then moved to Boston where he joined the now defunct computer manufacturer Thinking Machines Corporation, earning a Ph.D. in Computer Science.

A member of The British Kinematograph, Sound and Television Society (BKSTS) and British Society of Cinematographers (BSC) Chris has plenty of experience in both making films and teaching the subject to future generations of filmmakers.

Chris will be covering many topics in his talk with us as well as enlightening us on his extensive with the Iraq government, a key feature of his presentation which I am sure will make for a fascinating evening.

So be sure to come along this Tuesday night to hear the amazing stories Chris’s illustrious career!

OVFM CLUB MEETING – TUESDAY JUNE 21st 2016

Posted on by Lee Relph

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THE HISTORY OF ORPINGTON

For this week’s club gathering we had over the podium to Pat Palmer who has kindly stepped up to take the reins as organiser of this special club project as originally reported HERE.

Pat will be giving us an update on the current status of the project, seeking participation from club members and answering any questions we may have, so please do come along and give Pat your full support.

And if you haven’t done so already, those of you managed to attend and film at any of the Queen’s Birthday celebrations over the weekend could provide us with an update of which events you attended and how much footage you took.

Plus, don’t forget to talk to Ian Menage to get your tickets and entry forms for the 2016 Kent Film Festival!

See you then!

OVFM CLUB MEETING – TUESDAY June 7th 2016

Posted on by Lee Relph

NvS_16

 

It’s brain cells at the ready for the next club meeting as we are required to bandy around ideas for films to make and enter for this year’s North vs. South competition!

The theme is “Out of the Blue” which is one of those wonderfully nebulous titles that lends itself to a myriad of possibilities and interpretations. And with the many creative minds we have in OVFM there is plenty of fertile ground to be cultivated into some great film ideas.

Similarly OVFM has the opportunity to work with a living breathing dinosaur! Well sort of… Our former chairmen Chris Coulson is now handler to a T-Rex named Dexter and has offered to allow our cameras to capture Dexter on film! If you haven’t guessed by now this means that we need some script ideas to give Dexter something to do whilst on camera.

Therefore tonight is a double whammy of brainstorming ideas and with two different subjects to ponder – or maybe we could combine them into one? (Hint: perhaps someone already has? 😉 ) – we should be in for a productive night!

See you then!

OVFM Newsreel 2016

Posted on by Lee Relph

newsreel

Per Lady Annabelle of Lancaster:

Hello everybody

This year’s newsreel really should reflect the Queen’s 90th birthday celebrations. Looking around the following events will take place in and around the Orpington area and hope that they can be well covered by a variety of club members. If you think there are others who should be told please do pass on the information

Also, be sure to record anything else you might know of, even if they take place a bit further afield, so long as they are of general interest.

 

Sat. June  4th            Green St Green Wild West Fair – 11am – 4pm

John Bunce has already kindly offered to go along.

 

Sat. June 11th           Chelsfield Street Party organised by the Five Bells Pub Start time – 1pm. 

There will be a craft table for children to make Queen’s Crown.

 

Sat. June 11th         Chislehurst Queen’s Tea Party 2pm – 6pm

Over 1,000 people are expected to enjoy the vintage-style tea party which takes place on Chislehurst Top Common. All tickets are now sold so perhaps some advance planning might be a good idea.

 

Sat. June 11th           St Giles Summer Fete at The Rectory Gardens, High Street, Farnborough between 11.30am and 3.00pm.

A full day of events including a treasure hunt, musical acts, BBQ, cream teas, bouncy castles, karate displays and much more as well as a celebration for the Queen’s birthday. Tickets £1 for adults.

 

Sunday June 12th    Orpington High Street Queen’s Birthday Street Party

The high street will be closed from 12pm-5pm from War Memorial to Knoll Rise to host a Street Party and entertainment.

 

Sunday June 12th      Pratts Bottom Picnic on the Green.

Runs from 2:00pm – 5:00pm

 

Sat. 2nd July              Big O Festival in Priory Gardens   11am – 9pm

Included are a parade of classic cars, scooters, vintage prams and bikes through Orpington High Street to the gardens. There were also be a classic British tea room, Film London’s Cinema Van and the popular vintage and retro market.

 

There’s an entry charge for some of these events so you might have to ‘talk your way in’ and promise not to eat anything!

It would be a help if you could let Annabelle Lancaster know what you might cover so that we can see if there are any gaps.

Many thanks for your support.

Annabelle

OVFM CLUB MEETING – TUESDAY MAY 24th 2016

Posted on by Lee Relph

ovfm_workshop

 

Apologies in advance for the vagueness of this preview but while the theme of the next club meeting is a Workshop evening, where one of our knowledgeable members shares their expertise in a certain area of film making or post-production, I have little else to add to that.

I can tell you that our archivist and head projectionist Andy “Elementary My Dear” Watson will be demonstrating editing with Serif Movie Maker but I cannot share any specific details with you as Andy has sloped off on holiday and won’t be back until just before the meeting! I can only assume that Andy will take us through the basic set-up, explore a few features of the editor and share a few tricks with us he has learned but other than that, the content of his presentation is a mystery.

By the same token that makes the evening a little more enticing and gives it a sense of danger since we don’t know exactly what to expect!

Can you handle the tension until Tuesday?

OVFM CLUB MEETING – Tuesday May 10th 2016

Posted on by Lee Relph

project_EX

 

That’s right folks, the time has come for our club members who accepted this special challenge – first announced back in March – to show us the fruits of their labours in editing the supplied raw footage provided by our vice-chairman Sam “Choo Choo” Brown.

For the rest of us, the contents of that footage will remain a mystery, making the outcome even more exciting. With so many creative individuals in the club we are assured a number of unique interpretations and stories, making for another entertaining night.

As ever if you are bringing a film PLEASE let us know by replying to this post in the comments section below, 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.

And if you haven’t done so already, be sure to speak to Pat Palmer about getting involved in the History Of Orpington club film project.

See you on Tuesday!

Club film Project – History Of Orpington

Posted on by Lee Relph

club_film

 

OVFM will be making a Club film featuring History of Orpington and hope that every member will contribute in some way.

 

Stage 1 is to gather all footage and information that currently exists and Project Co-ordinator David Laker is appealing for:

 

(a) Any clips in member’s films (possibly on other  topics) that may relate to our past

 

(b) If anyone knows an artist who could draw an impression of the area in Anglo Saxon times (the lathe of Helmestrei later named Rokesley consisting of the parishes of Chyselherst, Heyes, Ockolte, Cilesfield, Orpyngtone, St.Mary Cray, St.Pauls Cray, Footscraye, Bexley and parts of Hever and Chiddingstone).

 

(c) suggestions for mini projects to be included in the archive film

 

(d) volunteers to go out capturing current stories  relating to historical documents and stake a claim to whatever topic is of particular interest to you.

 

 

For the purpose of this film the boundary of “Orpington” can be fairly flexible but a guide would be the Urban District Council created in 1934 from parts of Bromley and Chislehurst Rural DC which included all of Chelsfield, Cudham and Knockholt, plus most of Farnborough, St.Mary Cray, St.Paul’s Cray, Keston, West Wickham and Biggin Hill.

 

The Committee will be allocating an evening in the next programme to implement Stage 2 when groups of members can plan a variety of projects to research and film involving everyone – in front or behind the camera –  so please be sure to refer back to this page for all future updates.

 

Thank you!