The annual Top Ten competition makes its return and the 2015 instalment kicks off this coming Tuesday night!
The procedure as ever is that we ask you 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 taking place between now and October (see this post for the full list of dates) will be judged again in the final next January.
The members who have been drafted to provide a film for this opening round are as follows:
Basil Doody
Sam Brown
Ian Menage
Colin Jones
Jim Morton Robertson
Ann & John Epton
Harold & Maisie Trill
Reg Lancaster
Simon Earwicker
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 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!
We may not have been at our usual venue and we may have been down on numbers due to health reasons but were we downhearted? Take a look at the photos and you can decide as in a departure from the norm club members were asked to take their own presentation photos – or ‘Selfies’ as I believe the youngsters say!
Last night, March 17th, OVFM held their annual Oscars awards ceremony at the All Saints Church in Orpington. A capacity crowd filled another venue while some of the OVFM faithful showed up to receive their awards and see their peers be rewarded for their creativity and hard work over the past year.
As ever our Competitions Officer Brenda Wheatley put in another sterling effort in arranging a smoothly run night and we thank her and everyone else who helped out, including our esteemed chairman and MC for the evening, Simon “Snapper” Earwicker.
On to the awards, and while some winners were unable to collect their awards in person, those who did show up took “Selfie” photos via Simon’s camera which I am sure we will see in the website gallery soon.
So, to the winners and first the awards as judged by the members of OVFM:
Kath Jones Cup (Joke film under five minutes)–Winner: Par For The Course by John Bunce
Vic Treen Cup (Film set to music) – Winner: Building The Dream Boat by Mike Shaw
Mike Turner Plate (Film under sixty seconds) – Winner: Sam by Mike Shaw
The 2014 Top Ten Competition –
Runner Up: Steaming Back To Metroland by Sam Brown
Winner: Illusions by Mike Shaw
We then moved onto the Annual Competition Awards as judged by Staines Video Makers.
Jubilee Shield (Film under five minutes) – Winner: Hahndorf by Jim Morton-Robertson
Raasay Trophy (No special category) – Winner: Celebrating 30 Years Of Care by Ann & John Epton
Alice Howe Trophy (Documentary) – Winner: Lakeside Weekend by Reg Lancaster
Reg Lancaster Trophy (Funniest Film) – Winner: Bad News For Mrs. Smudge by Hugh Darrington
Heyfield Trophy (Sound) – Winner: Census by Bob Vine
Rene Morris Penguin Plate (Photography) – Winner: Sunday Night In Central Park, New York by Jim Morton-Robertson
Vincent Pons Shield (Fiction) – Winner: Census by Bob Vine
Priory Trophy (Editing) –Winner: The Bells Of St. Barthomolew’s by Barbara Darby
Arthur Woolhead Trophy (Animation or Visual Effects) – Winner: The Gang Broke Up by Ann & John Epton
Orpington Trophy (Best Film Runner Up): Illusions by Mike Shaw
Ian Dunbar Cup (Best film) – Winner: The Bells Of St. Barthomolew’s by Barbara Darby
High Commendations:
Rounding The Horn by David Laker
Hamilton Landscapes by Mike & Jo Coad
Commendations: Valedictionby Colin Jones & John Epton
So there we have it. Congratulations to all the winners and nominees and thanks to everyone who showed up last night!
Those American impostors may have got there first but our annual film awards show is still the best.
Tuesday March 17th sees the biggest event in the OVFM calendar in which the hard work and creativity of OVFM club members are rewarded with polished up bits of shrapnel with the names of previous winners carved into them. As ever club members who entered their film into the Annual Competition will be on tenterhooks as the results are read out while the rest of us will sit on chairs like civilised human beings.
The many awards being contested include:
Ian Dunbar Cup
Orpington Trophy
Jubilee Shield
Vincent Pons Trophy
Mike Turner Plate
Kath Jones Cup
Freddy Beard And Moustache
We’ll also give a hearty slap on the back to whoever was voted the runner up to Barbara “Cakes” Darby in the 2014 Top Ten competition.
This year we are thankful to Tim Stannard of Staines Video Makers for kindly judging the films on our behalf and we believe he might be joining us on the night, so if you don’t know who Tim is, he’ll be the one who is either surrounded by grateful club members or being beaten up by those who didn’t win an award!
And as ever, with this being a special night we expect attendees to dig out their best clobber or be a bit creative with some fancy dress if that floats your boat, either way it would be nice if you do make an effort and not just turn up like the scruffy tyke you usually are.
Last year’s big winner was our extinguishable chairman Simon “Snapper” Earwicker who bagged an impressive six awards! Can he do it again this year or will 2015 be someone else’s year of triumph?
Much like the February 17th meeting this event will take place at All Saints Church in Bark Hart Road, Orpington. If you need a reminder of how to get there please consult this map:
We hope to see you all on Tuesday March 17th for the 2015 OVFM Oscars!! Unless you get a better offer of course…
As we welcome the New Year here at OVFM we kick off as always by taking care of some unfinished business vis-a-vis our annual Top Ten competition!
The qualifying rounds have taken place and the results can be found HERE with the ten highest scoring films from those individual rounds having now earned their spot in the final.
By now the ten finalists will have been notified and ironed out any tweaks based on the comments and feedback given ready to wow us once again on this night, en route to having their name declared the winner at the Oscars on March 17th!
Also club members are reminded that this meetings marks the deadline for the Annual Competition so please have your films and entry forms on hand to give to Brenda Wheatley. If you need an entry form you can download one HERE!
Finally another deadline is looming this week as the footage for the Newsreel is required so John Epton can begin compiling it in time for the Spring Show. So it would be appreciated if you have your footage and a short 20 second clip of you filming or performing “film related” activities ready to hand over to John on Tuesday. if you unsure of what is required then drop John a line and he’ll enlighten you.
The nights are getting darker and colder which means another annual OVFM tradition must be around the corner and surprise surprise it is!
This week’s club meeting will see three of our long standing annual competitions – The Mike Turner Plate, The Kath Jones Cup and The Vic Treen Trophy – being contested and with the criteria for the film being largely being short side we are hoping for the usual healthy response from our club members.
A quick reminder of what is expected for each contest:
The Mike Turner Plate is open to films with a maximum running time of one minute (or 60 seconds for those of you still on dial-up) on any subject, style or genre.
The Vic Treen Trophy is a film set to music. Please consult THIS PAGE for the specifications required for this particular contest.
The Kath Jones Cup requires a comedy film of no longer than five minutes that has a definitive punchline to it; in other words a short comic sketch if you will.
Each film shown will then be scored by the club members with their top three personal favourites ranked in order of preference in their respective categories on the night with the winners to be announced at the Oscars next year.
PLEASE reply to this post below if you will be providing a film for any or all of the competitions (you are not limited to just one, you can enter all of them if you so desire), along with the running time, picture ratio (16:9 or 4:3) and media format (DVD, Mini DV, etc) as well as which competition it applies to. This is a tremendous help in planning out the time allotment of the meeting.
And so we come to round three of the annual Top Ten competition aka the “Barbara Darby Hands Off That’s Mine” award!
In both Round One and Round Two we received just THREE entries each so we are still looking for an improvement on that front although the standard of the films has been high thus far! You can find the results of those rounds 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:
Tony Faller
Bob Vine
Jenny Tucker
Roger & Brenda Wheatley
Tony Keable
Nellie Caseley
Freddy Beard
Reg Lancaster
Cherie Hamlet-Smith
Chris Coulson
As ever if you can’t make your designated round be sure to either reply to this post below saying so or let Brenda or reply to this post 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 can you 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.
“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 – 27th 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 – 8th July
Mike Shaw
Richard & Jess Pugh
Sylvia Snipp
Malcolm Goodwin
Mike Bishop
Anna Littler
Pat Palmer
Basil Doody
Brian Pfeiffer
John Alford
ROUND 3 – 19th 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 – 16th 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 – 14th 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.
Hello and welcome to the annual OVFM Oscars Results report.
The 2014 OVFM Oscars took place in front of a bored audience at the Barnard Room, St Augustine’s Church on a somewhat chilly night but that didn’t stop them dressing up in their best glad rags for the events. Actually it did stop a few of them – names have been noted and the lads will be round later to “have a word”….
We were fortunate enough to be joined by two of the judges from Haywards Heath Movie Makers Ron Prosser and David Fenn while third judge Rod Willerton clearly had something better to do. Hope those toenails are now nice and neat Rod! Ron and David seemed to enjoy themselves – assuming banging your head against the wall screaming “get me out of here” is a Haywards Heath way of expressing pleasure that is!
As is the case in many awards ceremony one film or filmmaker will often dominate the voting usually leading to commensurate rewards. This year it was our chairman Simon “Snapper” Earwicker who was the big winner, taking home almost every award except for Best Hair, Best Costume, Best Use Of A Pineapple and Best Film Not In The Martian Language.
So onto the results which look like this, starting with the awards as voted for by us lot at OVFM:
Kath Jones Cup (Joke film under five minutes)–Winner: ATM Wobbler by John Bunce
Vic Treen Cup (Film set to music) – Winner: Sundays Down The Lane by Basil Doody
Mike Turner Plate (Film under sixty seconds) – Winner: Stop Motion by Simon Earwicker
The 2013 Top Ten Competition – Runner Up: The Artist by Mike Shaw
Winner: The Village Mosaic by Barbara Darby
We then moved onto the Annual Competition Awards as judged by Hayward’s Heath Movie Makers.
Jubilee Shield (Film under five minutes) – Winner: Two Little Words by Lee Relph
Raasay Trophy (No special category) – Winner: Stop Motion by Simon Earwicker
Alice Howe Trophy (Documentary) – Winner: Cakes And Onions by Ann & John Epton
Reg Lancaster Trophy (Funniest Film) – Winner: The Artist by Mike Shaw
Heyfield Trophy (Sound) – Winner: Stop Motion by Simon Earwicker
Rene Morris Penguin Plate (Photography) – Winner: Memories Of Costa Rica by Barbara Darby
Vincent Pons Shield (Fiction) – Winner: Power Corrupts by David Laker
Priory Trophy (Editing) –Winner: Love And War by Simon Earwicker
Arthur Woolhead Trophy (Animation or Visual Effects) – Winner: Stop Motion by Simon Earwicker
Orpington Trophy (Best Film Runner Up): Love And War by Simon Earwicker
Ian Dunbar Cup (Best film) – Winner: Cakes And Onions by Ann & John Epton
High Commendations: Campdowne by David Laker
Killer Hand by Barbara Walker
Commendations: High Street Funby Ann & John Epton
I’m Not A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here” by Hugh Darrington
And that is it for another year. Congratulations to all the nominees and the winners and we’ll be doing it all again in 2015 to see who will reap the rewards for the next twelve months of film making
Well they have nothing compared to the luminescence of the OVFM Oscars, especially those Yanks who are trying to steal our thunder by hosting their thrupenny bit knockoff version two days before ours!
The biggest event in the OVFM calendar arrives on March 4th where the hard work and creativity of OVFM club members are rewarded with fetching little trinkets that have had a load of names and dates scratched into them. With bated breath (or fresh breath if you use mouth wash) many of use are on tenterhooks wondering if our names will be added to those which have already caused a huge devaluation to the resell worth of said trophies!
As ever we have many awards being contested including:
Ian Dunbar Cup
Orpington Trophy
Jubilee Shield
Vincent Pons Trophy
Mike Turner Plate
Kath Jones Cup
Peggy Parmenter Knife & Fork
We’ll also find out who has come second to Barbara “Cakes” Darby in the 2013 Top Ten competition.
This year we are thankful to Rod Willerton, Ron Prosser and David Fenn of Haywards Heath Movie Makers for kindly judging the films on our behalf and we believe Messers Prosser and Fenn might be joining on the night, so we can thank them personally (or beat them up if we don’t anything).
And of course it wouldn’t be an award ceremony without the display of high fashion and glamour so members are encouraged to expel the mothballs from their Sunday finest and dress up for the occasion, or if you are so inclined you can indulge in a bit of fancy dress. Last year long time member John Alford came dressed as an empty chair but was devastated when no-one noticed. The moral of this tale? Choose your costume wisely!
Last year’s big winner was Colin “Colin” Jones who took home seven awards although he only actually won five, followed by Mrs. “Cakes” Darby who won three. Who will be the triumphant winner(s) this year?
The only way to find out is to join us this Tuesday March 4th at the Barnard Room, St Augustine’s Church for the 2014 OVFM Oscars!!