MOVIEPAGE

Merry Christmas to one and all!

The voice of the Spring Park Cine and Video Society

Issue No. 444 – 6th December 2007

Visit our website at www.spcvs.freeserve.co.uk

NO CHARITY FOR SPRING PARK

AT NORTH V SOUTH….

A good number of club members turned up at the Farnborough Village Hall on Sunday 18^th November to watch the 18 entries for the Southern Heat of the annual North v South Competition. The theme of this year’s contest was “Faith, Hope and Charity”. Spring Park’s entry “Where There’s a Will” failed to woo the judges from Eastbourne – nor did it score in the top 5 audience vote. Back to the drawing board!

Forthcoming Meetings

13^th December – Christmas Party

Yes its that time again – fish & chips or chicken & chips and all the trimmings. Make sure you have booked your seat and given your £5.50 to Rosemary!

THERE ARE NO MEETINGS ON THE 20^TH OR 27^th DECEMBER

3^rd January – “The Rhythm of Films” – We will show vintage footage of transport including the work of Geoffrey Jones – an innovator who brings excitement to industrial films.

10^th January - Workshop

To be announced

Tea Matters

The tea rota has again been rolled forward for another 6 months. Please indicate that you will be available on the allotted dates by ticking the list at a club meeting. If you are unable to manage a date, please swap with someone further down the list and let Marjorie Davy know

New Programme for January to June 2008

With this edition of Moviepage, you should receive our new programme taking us through to the end of June. Brenda Troughton has again done a splendid job of creating a full and varied programme. As well as films from other clubs and visiting speakers, there are plenty of opportunities to show your own work at theme and Hit or Miss evenings.

 Remember that Workshop evenings are there to help members improve their film making techniques and can be used by members to further this aim by prior arrangement with the Committee.  In particular, we can always arrange to show members films which do not fit into our more formal evenings, or films with which you would like help or advice. Speak to a member of the Committee if you need help on any aspect of film making, or can make a contribution to help others.

New Members

Two new members have enrolled!

Pamela Smith and Dorothy Batten have joined us. They have already made one film together which they hope to show at the club early next year. Moviepage hopes to publish a picture of Pamela and Dorothy in a future issue, once our usual photographer returns to the fold.

The Thoughts of Chairman Graham

It was sad not to do better at the North v South contest last month. A large team of people put a lot of time in to produce a well acted film with authentic settings and costumes. We shot video on location and inside. It is always disappointing not to get recognition but only 5 films can go forward to the final. There is no better practice for actors, directors or camera people than making a film together from scratch. Above all we had fun – and that is the main point of a hobby – enjoying yourself!

Through a Lens Darkly:

Previous Meetings

8^th November – Hit or Miss

No less than 9 movies stood up to be counted by the 3 Just Men (it says ‘ere) – namely Brian Stone, David Hunt and Graham Evans. First out of the traps was Lawrie Simnett with “Luv in Bloom”. A good edit of the exercise we had in an earlier workshop of camera work on the move. However it lacked sufficient story line so was judged not suitable for public show. Doug Ross’ “Feeding Frenzy” suffered the same fate from this evening’s hanging judges. Shots of a fox and bird as well as the mighty Mr Ross eating cooked chicken to the soundtrack of Eve Boswell’s apt song “Pickin’ a Chicken”, were not considered appropriate fare for those of a nervous disposition.

“Rio Douro” by Alan and Mary Hodgson took us to Portugal and included an unusual railway journey. This was voted a “hit” with the proviso that some trimming would make the film even more suitable for a public show.

Marjorie Davy’s “Farming in Ghasri Village” provided some varied footage of a rather dysfunctional farm. But judges noted a lack of commentary to provide background information and a not enough discipline in editing the material. Another “miss”.

“Parish Outing” was mis-interpreted by one of the judges as “Paris Outing”; he was much puzzled when the film took us to Rochester! Once the true geography was established – we saw nicely turned out documentary by “bird-man” Tony Shepherd. A “hit”.

“Dallying with Donkeys” was a “hit”  from the intrepid Francophiles Rosemary and Bill Howlett. This time the pair were involved with an hilarious and shambolic French donkey derby. On this occasion, Rosemary’s tonsils were rested in favour of captions on the screen.

The Howlett’s scored yet another “hit” with their short movie with a long title “A Travelling Baker at a French Fair” which made at least one judge feel extremely hungry..

Finally Helen Cain showed us her first movie at the club. Judges agreed that for a first attempt at a club film “Havana Highlights” was a well produced travelogue, showing a variety of scenes of the Cuban capital with a well delivered commentary. Not many “first-timers” score a “hit” but Helen did!

SIDNEY AND ANDREW

15^th November – the Sidney & Andrew Show

This was an evening to savour. Sidney and Andrew had delayed their show from earlier in the year but boy was it worth waiting for. Both men are avid collectors of old documentary film footage – much of it on great-looking 16mm. We saw Purley in the 1950s shot by Bill Railton and 1930s publicity film for Austin Motors. Then back to 1955 for a colour view of Blackpool with a soundtrack by Chris Barber. Recent acquisitions by Andrew included colour 16mm footage of Henley Regatta and the West Country. Then we saw a film Andrew recently bought for £1 which when shown included a sequence of Queen Mary (yes the present Queen’s Grandmother!) inspecting a RAF outfit. Many other rarities included  film of the local Red Cross simulating a disaster scenario in 1964. We finished with some of Andrew’s own gorgeous colour footage of final moments of various rail services. Another great evening of similar fare is promised. We can’t wait.

22^nd November – Show Reel from the Wimborne Minster Cine & Video Club

As we were unable to screen the advertised show-reel from Reading we watched this alternate reel. It was very watchable with good camera-work to the fore. Starting with an amusing take of the old London to Brighton in 4 minutes film (this time Swanage to Corfe) the programme then took us to the Yosomite Park in California. Next we travelled to Clovelly in the West Country with its very steep streets. 8 mm cine footage was intercut with recent video shots to show what had changed and what hadn’t. “Food for Thought” used visual images to describe various words. Spoof adverts followed. Then we were off again travelling, this time to Nepal before returning to Dorset for a film about autumn and another about changing the course of a river. There followed a movie about real ales with a soundtrack from a live blues band. Next we were in the garden looking at a strange moth that flies like a humming bird plus other such wild life. Arne in November mirrored the earlier film about autumn. “The Circle of Life” reminded us of Mike Shaw’s recent winner (but not so good!). This was followed by “A Wet Day Out” – trains etc in North Wales. The penultimate film we saw from Wimborne was a about a female trampolinist and the final movie was a very unusual one concerning a visit to Peru.  

We also fitted in the first showing at the club of Spring Park’s entry to the North v South Competition. It showed Sidney playing man on his death bed. His son and daughter fantasise (whilst at his bedside) about what they will do with the money they hope to inherit. The scene switches to the reading of the will. Seems the old man has left the money to a relative in Australia called Faith and the rest to his nurse – Miss Charity!

29^th November – Workshop

We watched a “instructional” DVD showing professional film-editors and directors explaining their respective crafts. In discussions afterwards members realized that the sheer scale of the cinema film was way beyond our scope. However, many of the tips were capable of universal application. Most particularly, the importance of including or excluding one frame from each clip was emphasized.

DON’T FORGET WE START ALL OVER AGAIN ON THE EVENING OF JANUARY 3^RD 2008.