Surrey Border Film and Video Makers

and        The OddBods

I joined the video club in July 2002, as I had been editing films on computer since the previous February, and had learnt enough to know I needed some help. The club has 80 members and meets monthly. Probably about 60 members are active, and they make some very impressive films, either as individuals, or as part of fairly fixed groups. Click here to visit the club website.

A frequent, well every 2-3 years, club competition is to take about 45 minutes of random footage supplied by Committee members, and attempt to make a story from it, by adding your own soundtrack to such visuals as you need. You can also slow down or speed up the clips you choose. This year the choice of clips ranged from various holidays, to an old Farnborough Air Show, some Red Nose Day antics, a members film of the anti Iraq war demo, country craft fairs, and I have absolutely no idea where our opening clip came from.

Most of the members who joined in the previous year, including myself,  were drafted by Paul, a long standing member, into a group we decided to name 'The OddBods'. The film we made in 2003 was 'Breaking News'.

The Club annually has a competition where various film making groups, both long term groups and those created for the competition, make a film around a central 'theme', this year 'Unexpected Guests'. Although planning and rehearsals take place in advance,  the film shown to members has to have been made entirely on the same evening. This means that the film has to be edited 'in camera'.  Filming takes place between 7.00 PM and 9.00 PM, and the films are watched at the club house from 9.30 onwards. The OddBods came together again, with a few extra members, to make the film to the Theme of 'Unexpected Guests'. Our film was called Itchin' a Lift.   A second camera was used for additional footage, and to take a few shots of us filming, and I subsequently took both the original film and the second camera's film and remade it with the advantage of computer editing, plus also made another version including the out takes, to show some of the problems that can arise, this version being called 'Not quite Itching a Lift'. Click the pictures below to watch them.

In 2006 the club had another editing exercise, as before, from totally miscellaneous footage, and this is what I came up with, with some help from fellow members.

As time went on the membership of the OddBods changed a bit, lost a few, gained a few, and our Films In An Evening got more ambitious. As laptops got more powerful we were able to edit on the spot, using our normal editing software. The Film in an Evening theme is always the same as that years IAC North v South competition, and we put the following films into the respective years southern heat. Here they are, The First Woman, Rooks on the Roof, and Just in Case. 

All of these films were chosen to go forward to the NvS final in the year they were entered, although none were placed. Still, considering that they were made in a couple of hours, a great result.

The ladies amongst us decided, in 2008, to make a ladies only film, so that we had a chance to be involved with the more 'techy' aspects, and formed a group we called the Golden Girls. So far only one film has been made, Home Alone. The lady whose idea it was specifically wanted to create atmosphere using music. We won the club prize 2008 for 'Best use of Sound'. 

There are a couple more films I have been involved with, in a minor way, but as these are still going through the 2009 competitions, they won't appear on the web until later. Keep checking back.

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© 2004 Gillian Gatland

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