News

Hi friends,

Recently, things have been very hectic in our club. We’ve gone from not really much in the way of creative content to several decent size film projects. Our new club secretary Charlie has got things underway with his project “A Tale of Two Witches”. For those unfamiliar with the story, it’s the tale of two witches that once caused a stir in the town of Shepton Mallet in Somerset. One of the stories is about a real woman that was hanged for allegedly practicing the dark arts and one of legend that was alleged to have been carried off by the Devil during a terrible storm. A few days ago, new member Jack Malkin, (a warm welcome to Jack) Charlie and myself went on a recce trip to the Mendips where we explored the caves associated with the stories. I can report that it was a very interesting and exciting experience to be probing into the depths of the Earth on a feasibility study for a film, I hope it all works out and we all get to see the results.

Treasurer Alan, having worked very hard completing an in-depth course teaching the use of AI in filmmaking, has been able to put his newly found skill to great use. This has now resulted in the completion of his project “Echoes of the Past.” As most of you will know this project started with our former much missed member Dr. Jim Anderson who sadly passed away before it had been completed. Alan was determined to try and finish what he started by recreating our former friend with AI enabling him to finish the movie.  The result is truly astonishing.

My project of trying to make a documentary about a small but remarkable area of Rustington got underway on June 14^thwhen I was accompanied on a walk around the area by members who filmed the occasion. We had a bit of fun as we walked around culminating with some lunch and a pint in The Lamb Inn. There is still much to do on this project as the three institutions from which I gained a lot of the information from have agreed to be interviewed to add to the project. Chris Morgan in the meantime has put together a short film from the walk which highlighted one or two issues. One lesson for me was to lay off the doughnuts. Another showed the importance of scripting in producing a documentary and rehearsing before you shoot. I wasn’t afforded the time to do that at the time, but I’ll keep working on it, there’s much to do. 

Jason has meanwhile continued to work on the website which has wonderful resources now built into it and I encourage everyone to use it. Please try the knowledge base section that has much useful information that can benefit it all. Jason has also been busy producing films about the behind-the-scenes activities that keep the world famous Bluebell Railway running. You don’t have to be a railway enthusiast to appreciate the results of his efforts in showing how this beautiful heritage line is run. I hope to be joining Jason shortly in continuing to make films with normally unobtainable access to the line.

Recently we bought a new projector, sourced by Alan at a very good price of under £500, I have used it once and was delighted at the performance. The need to buy a new projector was twofold. Firstly, the old one failed back in March leaving me in the embarrassing situation of being unable to even start a show for a new customer in Brighton. I could only apologise as I was floundering around trying to get it working, which I failed to do. However, they were very understanding and rebooked. Ian and I returned in triumph with the new BenQ projector (same make as the one in the hall) and the resulting show went down very well, with the assurance that we’ll be invited back. The projector also contains a dongle which gives us the ability to stream live tv or apps like YouTube. This gives us a back up facility should there be a problem with the media player that we use to show our films. The media player has replaced the old DVD/ Blu Ray player and is a great success, enabling less kit to be transported around. Switching around our library of films is now a doddle thanks to Howard show has uploaded a lot of our stuff onto it. You will of course remember Howard, he is Jacquis assistant in many of her films that she makes. What would she do with out him?

The old projector proved difficult to get repaired, but Mike Shepherd is currently having a look at it. We’ll decide what to do with it eventually.

We have now produced flyers for the club to promote the clubs’ external shows and to recruit new members. Of course, that’s not all we’re doing with promotions but the very attractive flyers that Alan designed will help enormously. You may find them in all kinds of places when we get the time to distribute properly.

Several of us visited the SERIAC event at the Oast Theatre in Tonbridge recently and I’m happy to report that club came away with a trophy for an old film made some time back by John Lovell. So, congratulation to the club and John for winning another award. Of course, he’ll never see this because he doesn’t read his emails but maybe someone can pass it on?

See you all soon at Howard’s Party in August

Ray