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 60
members and
meets monthly. Probably about 45 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.
Who are the OddBods?
Once
or twice a year, the club splits into groups to complete a project in a
semi competitive spirit. I joined the club in 2002, and the
year after
all the recent new members were put together with a long standing
member as mentor, and we decided to call ourselves 'The
OddBods'. This is the first film we made.
Film
in
an Evening
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' Although planning and rehearsals take place in
advance, the film shown
to members has to have been made entirely on the same evening. This
originally
meant that the film had 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.
It was based on the theme for the
following years IAC North v South competition, 'unexpected guests'.
The
film aside was made for film in an evening, and the video below is made
from some film I took of us in action, plus a few out takes.
Another
time the club splits into groups is an editing exercise, although
individual entries are also allowed. These exercises vary from year to
year, but on a couple of occasions we have been given an hour or so of
totally random footage, usually supplied by the club committee, and
have to make some sort of story out of it. We can add soundtrack and
narrative, music etc and speed up or slow down the clips chosen.
The first one, Breaking News, was vey much a group effort
with our mentor Paul doing the edit, the second 'A Crowded World' was
my edit, after a meeting of some of the group for ideas, after which we
all went away and did our own from the ideas that took our fancy or
that we came up with ourselves.
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. We put the following films into the southern
heat of the respective years NvS competition. Here they are, The First
Woman, Rooks on the Roof, and Just in Case.All
got through the southern heat, ie top 5 of the southern entries,
although none were placed in the final, but considering that they were
made in a couple of hours (plus some preparation), a great result. I
was Director of The First Woman, and camera operator on the other two.
This
next film was more tongue in cheek, and therefore not entered into
any competitions - other than Film in an Evening itself. This version
has been tweaked a bit - not much - from the version made in the
evening, by adding some rehearsal footage which flowed better. I was
the editor on this occasion, using a borrowed laptop, tapes being
passed to me at regular intervals.
Our most
ambitious Film in an Evening yet, 'Office
of Special Interest', made in 2011, in which we invited
some Amateur Dramatic (and semi professional) actors along, and this
required very little polishing after the night itself, mostly due to
the actors getting it right every time. This film has made the rounds
of IAC competitions with very creditable results. I was camera
operator, using a 'prosumer' Hi Def camera and tripod supplied by
another member of the team, who edited it as we went along on his very
powerful laptop, using Edius 6.
The
Golden Girls
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'
Surrey
Border has recently started to enter a competition run by a number of
South Coast clubs, the Albany
Competition, and this was our entry in 2011, made by
volunteers from the whole club. It won 1st prize and we 'hosted' the
competition in 2012, although using the usual south coast venue, for
the convenience of the majority of the clubs. I was merely a 'gofer'
for this film, mostly running alongside the cameraman holding an
umbrella, to protect him - or more importantly, the camera - from the
rain. However, I did drive my maroon Polo which.........well, watch the
film. I even appear briefly. The actors were a similar team to those
used in Office of Special Interest.
A
couple of years ago, another group of members decided to make a film
using a well known joke, and I asked to help out as this group included
two retired professional cameramen, and they know all about placing the
camera, interesting angles, and lighting, and I thought being a gofer
would give me a chance to learn a few things. Well.......the director
accepted my help gladly, but then asked if I would do a couple of
scenes where 'Grandad' and 'Grandma' suffer accidental deaths. The
whole thing, planning, filming, editing, location,
even cast, was down to me. I could picture what I wanted to do, and
invited a couple of friends (anyone who's seen my holiday videos
will recognise them) to play the roles, and duly made the two
scenes. Very
short, literally, blink and you'll miss them. The director and I did
have some amusing emails where he was checking up how I was getting on
'Have you killed them yet?' 'I've killed off Grandad, still working on
Grandma', but luckily GCHQ didn't intercept them and I'm still here to
tell the tale.
