Judgement Day

Surrey Border Film & Video Makers win first round

Nine members of SBFVM attended the Southern Heat of the North v South Festival presented by Orpington Video & Film Makers on Sunday 20^th November 2005 in Farnborough, Kent (3 of whom also representing Heron Productions). A packed audience watched all of the 24 southern entries from 16 clubs on the theme of ‘Tell Me About It’. Epsom Cine & Video Club excelled themselves with 5 entries and according to the audience vote made top spot with their entry “999”, an amusing story-line of a young boy whose reluctance to put other people on the phone during his call to the emergency service was finally revealed when he was seen stepping out of an under stairs cupboard!

Our club entered A Bright Thread by WriteAngle and our Film-in-a-Day production Judgement Day. Heron submitted Gertrude. These films all went down very well, A Bright Thread having the distinction of being voted into 3^rd place by the audience and Gertrude 4th. However, the judges had other ideas and their results count when it comes to the films in The Grand Final. This took place in January 2006 where the film that carried the North to victory was produced by Tynemouth Video Society and was awarded the ‘John Wright’ trophy. This film called ‘TELL US ABOUT IT’ was a comedy about a con-trick cleverly played on the members of an appreciation society.

Judges comments concerning Judgement Day were as follows:

DAN RICHARDS – “I am a big fan of ITV’s ‘Midsummer Murders’ and also Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Reservoir Dogs’ and your film is the nearest you’re ever going to get to mixing the two together. I LOVED IT! I must admit after watching your film, I then judged the remaining films a little more kindly! Your film was fun, thrilling and ambitious, and looked great fun to make. The film was very well made, your camera, lighting, music and acting all seamlessly put together. Some parts of the piece felt a little staged and unbelievable with hand guns lying around, but by the end I realized it was all part of the fun of this wicked dark comedy. The film’s finale was so unexpected that it was the highlight for me of my day’s judging and was easily the most enjoyable film I watched that day. Please, please, please keep making films like this. I would love a copy of this film and would love to come along and see you all in production. The Major was my favourite character, a real trooper which was just one of the many spices which tantalized my taste buds while viewing. Thank you for entering your film. I feel a happier person for viewing it and hope to see another crazy dark comedy from you very very soon. Good luck!” This sounds like a challenge to Margaret Firmston to come up with another good story line.

MARK BLACKMAN – “Possibly featuring the highest body count of any of the films, this cheeky piece targets amateur film festival judges – literally! As a disgruntled film-maker extracts vengeance in true Agatha Christie style, the irreverent blood-letting and carnage becomes increasingly enjoyable, surpassing its questionable acting and resulting in a blood-soaked conclusion that even manages to throw its audience for a loop with an unexpected revelation. Featuring some well intended effects and camera work, Judgement Day scores for its irreverent tone and willingness to not take itself too seriously – even if the last two shots do invoke a twinge of guilt within the audience”.