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!
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.
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.
As you can see we are intent on keeping you all very busy this year as we announce another project for you to get your teeth into.
The latest theme is another which has nebulous connotations to it – CURRENT! It could be something to do with electricity, or water flow, a film that focuses on a topical issue or maybe something of great import that is happening in your life at this very moment that you wish to document in film form.
We would also accept variations on the word, such a the alternate spelling of “currant” in relation to the fruit, in keeping with the nation’s ongoing fascination with baking cakes where currants are a popular ingredient. For any cockneys in the club you’ll know that “currant bun” is rhyming slang for “sun”, so you could have some fun with any footage you shot over the summer.
Perhaps a little left-field but it you have a project you are “currently” working on for something else and would like some feedback or suggestions on how to finish it, bring it along and we can accommodate you that way whilst remaining under the remit of the project theme.
The deadline and screening date for all films is the club meeting on October 31st (Hey, that’s Halloween – maybe a “timely” horror film would work?) so better get your thinking caps on!
Thanks for reading and good luck to all who enter a film.
It’s been a while, admittedly, since the idea to make a film about the history of Orpington was proposed, and since the last update but some headway has been made since then which organisers Pat Palmer and David Laker will tell us about this coming Tuesday.
We already know that plenty of research has been undertaken for this project and a couple of films have already been produced by Pat and other club members, as well as some assistance from local history groups but obviously a project of this scale requires a lot of work.
So, to find out how much progress has been made with this project and how YOU can help take it further, make sure you pop along to the club meeting this Tuesday!
And don’t forget that David will also be collecting subs, so bring your cheques or he’ll send the lads round!
**EDIT** – I’ve just been informed that John Epton will deliver a short presentation on video file formats, for the benefit of anyone who doesn’t know their AVI from an MP4.
This week’s meeting is a filming project with a difference and requires participation from you, dear club members.
In order to get people comfortable with filming and to propagate the understanding of what goes into the preparation and making of a film, the concept for this mini-project is to strip the process down to its barest form make a film with a narrative but without any edits!
How will this work? Well, the idea is you film a number of scenes (either prepared and scripted or shot extemporaneously) that accumulate to no longer than 3 minutes in length that tells a story but you are not allowed to edit them in any way shape or form, and that includes using the in camera editing functions to.
If you wish to provide a voice over narration or musical accompaniment then that has be done whilst filming or be diegetic, although the former is rather ambitious, hence this is not compulsory – you know what they say about pictures and the amount of words they paint. It doesn’t have to be shot in the same day or in the same location, just as long as a tangible narrative is present in the footage.
For some of the more experienced filmmakers in the club, this will be a throwback to the old days of shooting holiday films long before the idea of editing and composition was a primary concern, where we would wander about somewhere, capturing whatever we saw then bore our friends and family with the warts and all results afterwards!
Conversely, we hope that this will also reignite the simple joy of filming for some of you and maybe inspire you to start your next big project having got your mojo back so to speak.
We appreciate that the notice for this is rather short (that’s down to the committee not me) so if you don’t have a film ready for us then we will divide the evening into two parts – first we’ll use the last of the evening light (weather permitting) to film outside for anyone short on time or ideas, then in the second part we shall playback all the results of our endeavours.
No need to burn a disc or anything, we shall play straight from the cameras or via an SD card were possible
If you are bringing footage or would like to film at the club meeting then PLEASEreply to this post below, otherwise we shall see you all, cameras in hand, next Tuesday for this exciting project evening!
As you may already be aware by now, the future of the annual North vs. South competition is in doubt after OVFM relinquished the job of running the event and, at the time of posting, there has no been response from other clubs to pick up the mantle. However it has been decide that instead of letting the opportunity pass us by, should there be an 11th hour saviour, OVFM will make a club film to fulfil the chosen topic for the NvS competition, as well a give us a project the whole club can work together on.
The theme is “Moving” and somewhat ironically we shall be “moving” away from the usual brainstorming format which is part of the programme for the next club meeting this coming Tuesday. Dividing the evening into two parts, the first will be the brainstorming session.
Ensuring that everyone is given a chance to be involved and not just left to the same few faces, we will break into small groups to share our ideas for the theme “Moving”. Each group will then decide on the idea that would be best suited to the theme that they could make into a short film for showing on the club meeting at a future date (do check back on the club calendar for updates).
Don’t be discouraged if your idea isn’t taken up by your group, there’s nothing to stop you making a film of your own if you so desire – in fact, the more the merrier! This exercise should ultimately provide us with a variety of films that could also be entered into various other external and IAC related film competitions beyond the N v S, should it be resurrected by another club.
In the second part of the evening we will watch some films from the OVFM archives that fit the theme “Moving” as possible entries to the competition along with of newer efforts to get the numbers up.
So get your thinking caps on and bring your ideas for the them of “Moving” to the club meeting on Tuesday!
It’s project time again at OVFM and this one is a little different from the usual tasks we set you.
This time you don’t have to do a single bit of filming, as this is an editing project. You will be supplied with two pieces of film where the clips have been arranged in a random order. Your task is to reassemble them into a coherent narrative with titles and music too if you wish.
With so many curious and creative minds in the club, the scope for interesting and diverse interpretations to come from such a concept is bound to be wide, and whilst the source material has yet to be disclosed, I am sure it will prove fertile enough to get our artistic juices flowing.
The deadline for this project will be a club meeting to be held on October 31st.
Meanwhile, distribution of the raw footage will be via one of three methods:
DVD
USB Stick
FileZilla
For the first two hard copy options, you can collect them from Ian Menage beginning the next club meeting on Tuesday May 2nd whilst anyone using FileZilla (be sure to follow Mike Shaw’s tutorial on how to set this programme up) can have the file sent directly to their PCs. Whichever of the three formats you prefer it is imperative that you PLEASE reply to this post below stating your preference as soon as possible, in order to ensure everyone is catered for.
Thanks for reading and we look forward to see the results on May 30th!
Sometimes I wish I my mind would switch off when we discuss project ideas or here are calls for a film script to suit a competition theme at our club meetings; it always ends with many sleepless nights and unnecessary stress – for me at least. Yet, rather annoyingly when the end product comes together so well and I realise something pretty good grew from a brief image flashing in my neurologically aberrant brain, perhaps I should cut my fertile imagination some slack.
For the uninitiated or those with short memories, way back in April, our club treasurer David “Offshore Account” Laker was hosting the club meeting and mentioned former OVFM Chairman Chris Coulson has acquired a live(ish) dinosaur which he named Dexter and had kindly offered to allow the club to film his new pet one club evening.
“If it wasn’t for me, he never would have even heard of Oscar Schindler!”
The annual North vs. South competition was also a point of discussion and we needed scripts to fulfil the theme of “Out Of The Blue”. David quipped that if we could combine the two ideas it would save a lot of time. So of course my brain defied all orders to sit quietly and let someone else respond to David’s call to arms, and immediately produced an image of Dexter leaning over two shocked and scared looking people.
My deviant grey matter also decided these people should be parents of a young woman introducing her new boyfriend to them, Dexter being the boyfriend. By the time I got home that night a half-formed scenario occupied my head, and eventually I was forced into submission. A few days later I sat before my PC, opened up Celtx and began to transfer the mini-film playing in my head into script form and within a matter of hours I had the first draft completed.
At the club meeting on June 7th I bravely submitted my script – now entitled MEET DEXTER – to the club for consideration. I’m the world’s worst public orator so heaven knows how my pitch sounded to my fellow club members but I wasn’t confident I had conveyed my idea successfully, yet somehow I was persuaded to keep working on it and begin the storyboarding and blocking.
With MEET DEXTER apparently going ahead after all, we needed to begin securing the vital assets of the production, such as location, crew and cast. Simon “Snapper” Earwicker, our chairman and reigning Hide & Seek champion, suggested we contact Olive Allen, widow of OVFM stalwart Derek, to see if we could use her garden which I was told was “quite big”.
Quite big? Try @!%*$?# HUGE!! It ran on for miles and would divert off into another spacious hideaway which in turn would reveal a verdant labyrinth, shaded by a canopy of towering trees and divided by thick hedges. I actually discovered a tribe of pygmies settled in the undergrowth behind the garden shed, who thought they were in the Amazon, blaming their Sat Nav for not suggesting they turn left at Albuquerque.
Dexter defies all biological reason and precedent by giving birth
But it was the centrepiece of the garden, a stone paved square with surrounding low walls that sold me on this wonderful expanse of land being perfect for the shoot and Olive was gracious enough to confirm her permission for us to use it. So August 16th was marked in the diary, the day OVFM, the actors, Chris and 7 ft dinosaur would descend upon Chez Allen.
At this point it seemed that only I was aware that this was a club film and not a personal project so I was getting a little worried no-one had volunteered to help as per the request on the website. Thankfully David put the word out at the annual garden party and without the use of incriminating photos, managed to secure our crew.
Next was the casting. I had asked a few people that I had worked with on prior films if they would be interested but they were either on holiday on that filming date or were still traumatised from working with me before. I put out casting calls on social media with sadly little response, aside from two women I had to pass on for logistical reasons.
Luckily Anna Littler came to the rescue by referring me to Blitz And Bananas alumna Sue Gray to play Sandra and Hannah Whitehead, a budding actress and model to play Tilly. Rather fortuitously, Hannah has an older sister Beth, also an actress, so that was an extra role fulfilled too. The final piece of the puzzle was our male lead, the call answered by David Wrighton to play Ron after I e-mailed a number of local theatre groups for actors.
This is what happens when you let OVFM into your garden!
How would the shoot go? Find out in part two coming soon!
It’s time to find out just who in the OVFM club members find to be the most fascinating and curious out of their peers to make an ambiguous film about them for the rest of us to guess their identity. As announced back at the beginning of July this unique concept is the basis for the latest club project Who Am I? and the results are now due!
Hopefully this different approach to a film topic will bear much fruit and with the club not short on interesting personalities, we should be in for one of the more esoteric and unpredictable nights of viewing not to mention enlightening and revelatory (in a good way I’m sure).
Reminder – If you are bringing a film this week then PLEASEreply 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.
And further to the recent announcement regarding the special newsreel for the upcoming Autumn film show, please ensure if you have footage to bring it with you to this meeting.
Thank you and good luck to everyone who enters a film!
