Holiday films - more than family records

Right now I'm exposed! Our cold cold visit to Beijing and Zi'an in December has remained with me as an extraordinary experience. I shot four hours of film; I'm preparing a China evening in October to be an entertainment and education with several 5-minute focus films, readings and discussion on China - a major work for me, so I'll be putting my ideas here to the test:

So, you're off to Siberia! the Sahara the Seychelles/ to Soho? Uh-huh. And when you get home you'll be showing YOUR HOLIDAY FILM to whom exactly? Is it just for the family or is it to entertain/inform friends and club members?

If as you leave your front door you set out to make a film by recording all the interesting moments, you won't have a holiday till you see your trip on the film you make; by which time your spouse may have left. Why so?

You said we were going to spend that nest egg on a celebration of our 30 years together. But you spent most of the trips behind the viewfinder and each evening on grunt-response while you edited in your camera and worked out the schedule for tomorrow. No wonder even your mother says you are selfish! Do you hear me??

'Sorry' I had my headphones on, checking the sound level. Did you say lunch was ready??

How do members organize their days on holiday to avoid these problems and get good film material? It would be interesting to hear, even if you lost your spouse... Do tell Sally, she will perhaps print your story in Border Post (the club's newspaper)!

We need to design our films if we want to show them in public. We know this with our dramas and comedies, less so with holiday films. Families are remarkably long-suffering; their reaction is no guide as to whether a film's OK.

Holiday films edited for the club or the competition should be nothing like the original footage.

* All holiday films are made from arbitrary, serendipitous footage, which mostly chance and propinquity let us shoot.

* Our unedited material won't tell a story unless we plan our holiday as a careful movie exercise, a marriage-killer.

* Our complete material is always too long and tedious, with hand-held, focus, exposure and sound problems.

* How can we learn to edit out the clearly inappropriate for public showing? Working in careful critical pairs?

* How can those of us who just like taking holiday flicks feel encouraged to make a fine film out of their footage?

* This will come with the gratification of making a carefully edited film, and its warm reception by Surrey Border Film & Video Makers.

* How can Surrey Border Film & Video Makers help members who can't see a story or aspect to bring focus or humour or style to the final film?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The voice-over by Mike Sanders

I was taught when doing documentary and programs on local radio not to give audiences lists of facts, as after fact 3 they forget the first one. Tease the facts out as you go through, try to give the audience a visual way to remember the fact by something you are showing them, don't let them just tumble out of the speaker. Let some emotion come through on the voice-overs. A holiday movie is personal to you; you need to enthuse me about the place you have been to to make it sexy! I think we still have some way to go on voice-overs: between those of us not so good at it and microphone batteries dying, so its well worth club members selecting some amongst us to do voice-overs who are good at it. Don't forget I have a proper recording booth.
I do hope that members, who had all that superb effort in terms of written comments from the Wattersons, will in a couple of months time be badgering the Chairman to show their re-edited films.