OVFM Newsreel Request – Orpington May Queen 2014

Posted on April 25, 2014January 30, 2022 by Lee Relph

As you know, we’re keen for members to get involved in filming events for the Newsreel. Anything that’s visual and of interest to the local population would be very welcome. If nothing else, it gives your camera an outing and you some practice in using it.

To start you thinking you might like to consider outings to film the Mayor as he crowns this year’s May Queens.

The dates are:

Orpington Priory Gardens on Saturday 3^rd May where the Mayor arrives at 1.55pm.

Green Street Green on the same day arriving at 3.20.

The Petts Wood Queen is being crowned in the Memorial Gardens Hall on Monday 5^th May, arriving at 10.50am.

Members living a little further away are also invited to send events going on in their immediate area so long as they are of general interest.

It will be up to this year’s editor (not yet appointed!) to select the most suitable shots for inclusion and he/she would just love to be spoilt for choice, so please do have a go!

Annabelle Lancaster

OVFM Club Meeting Tuesday April 29th 2014

Posted on April 24, 2014January 30, 2022 by Lee Relph

Okay folks it’s deadline time! The night has finally arrived where the fruits of your labours are shared with the rest of the club for our latest project evening and our first one for 2014 on the theme of GREEN!

Since we gave you notice about this topic many months ago hopefully you have all been busy in that time, pondering your take on”Green” and translating those thoughts onto film. We all know what a creative and inventive bunch we have among our ranks so I’m sure we can expect a varied and esoteric selection of films! to behold!

If you do have a film then please reply to this post below, letting us know the runtime and format, as this helps with planning out the evening’s activities.

Also, our chairman Simon “Snapper” Earwicker is unable to join us this week so the hosting duties will be undertaken by someone else. Who could possibly fill Simon’s illustrious shoes? A Hollywood star? A major TV presenter? A talking rabbit? None of the Above? You’ll have to come along and find out, won’t you?

See you all on Tuesday!

OVFM Member Wins Big at SERIAC 2014

Posted on April 9, 2014December 18, 2020 by Lee Relph

Congrats to our very own Professor Mike Shaw and his partners in Footprints Productions for their recent big win at this year’s SERIAC Film Festival .

The film in question was Enid Blyton – The Beckenham Years , a seven year labour of love for Mike and his collaborators from Spring Park which received a record four awards!

You can read the full story on the Orpington Community Website HERE

Once again our congratulations to Mike and everyone on the Footprints Productions team!

OVFM Club Meeting Tuesday April 15th 2014 – Triangle Competition

Posted on April 9, 2014December 24, 2020 by Lee Relph

This week’s meeting is a little different for OVFM as it has nothing to do with us!

Okay that is a little glib but on this occasion we are playing host to the 2014 Triangle competition, while three other clubs will put their films up for judging while drinking our tea and eating our biscuits!

The Triangle competition, for those who don’t know, is contested between four clubs (yes I know that would make it a square but bear with me) – OVFM, Epsom Movie Makers, Shooters Hill Camcorder Club and Spring Park – and each year one club takes it in turn to host the actual competition screening of the films from the other three. Again, it’s still technically a square but only three clubs submit a 30 minute programme of their films for judging on an annual basis while one sits back and put their feet up. This year it is OVFM’s turn to sit back and put our feet up. Sort of.

At stake is the Triangle Trophy which is awards to the club who provides the best programme of the evening while a second trophy is awards to Best Film which doesn’t have to be a part of the club’s main programme of films. Last year Spring Park won both awards – can they win again this year (since we’re not competing)?

As hosts we are obliged to provide judges so Reg “Bomber” Lancaster, Sam “Choo Choo” Brown and Brenda “Spot The Ball” Wheatley have stepped up to take on this role on our behalf. Also there will be a raffle on the night too.

Because the expected size of the turnout is larger than normal this meeting will be held once again at All Saints Church in Orpington (home to the AGM on the 1^st April).

We hope you will all be there to welcome our visitors and don’t forget to bring some rotten fruit and veg to throw at anyone who makes a bad film – not that they will of course… 😉

Coaching Evening April 8th

Posted on April 2, 2014January 5, 2022 by Lee Relph

As you know, I have tried to arrange something different each year, to test your reactions of interest, which is why these evenings have changed from around Christmas to now..

On 25^th March at the first evening of this session Simon showed us the different basic aspects of lighting and how to use reflectors to improve shadows etc. Sam was a willing model and also a presenter. This could have run and run, but we then had Lee’s presentation of the Celtx free programme for screenplays etc. There was a good discussion on the pros and cons of it. Thanks to those who contributed and spent time on their presentations, very useful and entertaining. You can see Simon’s notes HERE an I urge you to at least glance through it.

The members who attended appreciated the evening, the rest of you missed it!

The next on April 8^th will see Mike Shaw on an evening of Music – in films, moods and sources for us to use. Should be entertaining and I might even film it for posterity, or whatever we choose to call our Archives.

Then, on April 22^nd we’ll try what we haven’t before and have four members demonstrating their editing and other programmes in the four corners of the hall, to only 3 or 4 members each, with questions and answers, as follows:

David Laker will be using Pinnacle Studio for those who want to see a basic demo in action;

John Epton will show multi cam editing on Serif MoviePlus, plus the very useful (and cheap) noise reduction software Music & Speech Cleaner. Why not bring along a troublesome audio on a USB stick and he could try to fix it? May also include Animations on Serif Draw Plus, if time allows

Andy Watson will also be using Serif;

I’ll show Edius and the stabilisation software Mercalli – bring some shaky clips!

Naturally, numbers are limited for this event (as they say for all the best raves), so let me know if you wish to come.

Ian Menage

Frome Five Minute Festival 2014

Posted on March 31, 2014November 20, 2020 by Lee Relph

Frome Five Minute Festival 2014

Report by

Mike Coad

On Saturday, Jo and I went down to Somerset for the annual Frome Five Minute Festival organised by Frome Film & Video Makers. It is now almost as old as I am, being in its 23rd year and is an annual pilgrimage for us.

It began as an internal club competition but soon grew into the ‘open to all’ Festival it has now become. This year, there were even two entries from Australia. There were a total of 29 entries and, no matter how many are entered, they are always all shown.

The entries were projected using ‘Media Player’ and the resulting films looked stunning on the screen.

There are winners and runners up for each category of film as well as an overall winner and runner up. The overall winner was, believe it or not, a Western, and very well done it was too. In the 30 years I have been involved in this hobby, I only remember seeing 2 other Westerns by amateur film makers.

As always, excellent refreshments were provided and we were made to feel very welcome by the Frome club members.

Last Friday was our own Spring Show, next weekend is SERIAC and the weekend after that is BIAFF. The film season has well and truly begun.

OVFM Club Meeting Tuesday April 1st 2014 – The AGM

Posted on March 24, 2014April 26, 2015 by Lee Relph

The next club meeting on Tuesday April 1^st is no joke as we hold the annual OVFM AGM including Member’s Voices.

In a slight change, the meeting will take place at All Saints Church in Bark Hart Road, Orpington (where we have held previous meetings including the 2011 Oscars). If you need a reminder of how to get there please consult this map:

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For the uninitiated the purpose of this meeting is twofold: first, after we’ve heard the reports for the year 2013-14, we elect our committee members (aka the Legion Of Doom), be it via re-election of the current members or the election of new members as nominated by YOU. Remember the committee is not a self-serving body as some people may think; they operate on YOUR behalf so if you think it is time for a change then now is the time to step up or suggest someone who is willing to join. Hopefully you all made use of the nomination forms included in the last issue of the Viewfinder.

The current committee as it stands is as follows:

Chairman – Simon Earwicker

Vice Chairman – Sam Brown

Treasurer – David Laker

Secretary – Freddy Beard

Competitions Officer – Brenda Wheatley

Ordinary Members:

Reg Lancaster

Annabelle Lancaster

Ian Menage

Lee Relph

Andy Watson

*NB: Mike Shaw is our Press officer but is not a committee member as per the new rule added to the constitution in an EGM last year.

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Then we open the meeting up to the club members to air their views, grievances or make suggestions regarding OVFM. This is an equally important exercise as it gives you the opportunity to be heard. Whether you are unhappy about something, unsure about certain procedures or protocols, or you have an idea that would benefit the running of the club this is the time where you are encouraged to speak up.

I’m sure many of you have had a private moan either to your spouses at home or even to a fellow club member during the coffee break or away from the club gatherings but this helps no-one. If there is a problem or a concern the committee needs to know about it otherwise how can it be addressed and resolved? So please make the most of this opportunity to make YOUR voice heard; whether you are a new or a long time member, all opinions are valid!

To download the agenda in full for the meeting please click HERE.

Thanks for reading and see you on Tuesday.

OVFM 2014 Spring Show a huge success!

Posted on March 24, 2014July 6, 2022 by Lee Relph

Thanks to our press officer Mike Shaw, the world (well in Orpington at least) has heard the good news about the success of our Spring Show:

“Orpington Video & Film Makers Spring Show – held at the Methodist Hall Orpington on Friday 21st March – attracted close on 200 people – one of their largest crowds ever!”

Link to the complete story: http://orpingtoncommunity.weebly.com/1/post/2014/03/orpington-video-film-makers-springshow-attracts-huge-crowd.htm l

With thanks to Orpington Community website for posting the story and Mike for writing it!

OVFM Club Meeting Tuesday March 18th 2014

Posted on March 13, 2014January 5, 2022 by Lee Relph

When I was very young, my Dad once said to me “If you don’t ask, you don’t learn”, which confused me because when I asked him where babies came from he clipped me round the ear and told me to mind my own business! Of course as we get older we learn the right questions to ask for minimum embarrassment and maximum reward on the knowledge front. Unless it’s Prime Minister’s Question Time in which you get procrastination, evasion and bullplop!

What has this got to do with OFVM? We are always learning new things in the world of filmmaking and some of us have knowledge and experience in various where others may lack. So each year we gather together those with the mightiest databanks of filmmaking information, tips and helpful hints stored away inside their craniums and crack them open to ensure we all benefit from this imparted wisdom en route to applying them in our future film making endeavours.

So, if you have a burning question about filmmaking you’ve always wanted an answer to then I’m sure you will get it when we get together this Tuesday and you get your chance to pick the brains of OVFM’s finest – or whoever turns up on the night. Beggars can’t be choosers you know!

OVFM Top Ten Competition 2014

Posted on March 10, 2014April 26, 2015 by Lee Relph

“Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends”

A new year means a new start for the annual Top Ten competition aka the “Barbara Darby Hands Off That’s Mine” award!

Once again the names of all OVFM club members have been put into the hat belonging to our competitions organiser Brenda Wheatley and drawn in random to make up the participants for each of the five rounds that will take place between now and the end of the year, leading to the final in January 2015.

Remember that each film has a 20 minute time limit but can be on any subject and in any style. If you have a film from the past which has undergone a significant revamp (perhaps a new soundtrack, remixed sound, improved titling, tighter editing, extended or redacted cut etc. you are also welcome to re-submit these as your official entry.

And you can team up with your fellow club members if you need help on the technical or casting front, it will be the author of the script/concept who gets the entry credit.

The breakdown of the rounds and the selected members for each date is thus:

ROUND 1 – 27^th May

Colin Jones

Bob Wyeth

John Bunce

Ann & John Epton

Peggy Parmenter

Peter Mitchell

Frank Hyde

Mike & Jo Coad

Barbara Darby

Alan Smith

ROUND 2 – 8^th July

Mike Shaw

Richard & Jess Pugh

Sylvia Snipp

Malcolm Goodwin

Mike Bishop

Anna Littler

Pat Palmer

Basil Doody

Brian Pfeiffer

John Alford

ROUND 3 – 19^th August

Tony Faller

Bob Vine

Jenny Tucker

Roger & Brenda Wheatley

Tony Keable

Nellie Caseley

Freddy Beard

Reg Lancaster

Cherie Hamlet-Smith

Chris Coulson

ROUND 4 – 16^th September

Nick Kasper

Andy & Marian Watson

Mo & Peter Lodge

Sam Brown

Jim Morton Robertson

Hugh Darrington

Harold & Maisie Trill

Simon Earwicker

Lee Relph

Barbara Walker

ROUND 5 – 14^th October

Annabelle Lancaster

Mike Graham

Leo Staggs

David Laker

John Ransley

Pamela Webb

Ian Menage

Susan Ward

Barbara J. Darby

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.

So, get filming and we look forward to seeing what gems you have in store for us in 2014.