Press report: March 06 |
FUN WITH FILMMAKING
For their March meeting Surrey Border Film & Video Makers were entertained by 4 visitors from South Downs Film and Video makers who showed a remarkable set of films they had made. The first - ‘Rough Luck’, was a sorry tale of 3 inept burglars. South Downs’ Chairman, Brian Meeten, explained how the film had evolved from a competition theme of ‘A piece of cake’. 10 of their members had started with a brainstorming session and from there the story gradually evolved to included a jewel robbery, a grandfather clock, death from a heart attack and, of course, the cake! Not the most obvious basis for a comedy, perhaps, but this was gradually built in and worked well with a beautifully unexpected twist right at the end. We were enthralled as Brian shared some of the problems they had had, starting with the grandfather clock which was in the wrong sort of hallway for the story and so two houses were used for filming, which itself caused problems with lighting. We were all rocking with laughter as Brian described the hilarious problems they had with the safe blowing scene. We were then treated to more humour when privileged to watch some of the out-takes. The second film was ‘For Goodness Sake’ – where a nagging wife gets her come-uppance as she and her car get magically shrunk and dropped down a drain! Members were all agog as secrets of the special effects were revealed and no doubt we may see similar techniques in members own films in the future. The 3rd film ‘The Deadly Game’ stated out as a spine chilling murder plot complete with spooky atmospheric background music which was so well matched to the action that we were all on the edge of our seats. A change of mood right at the end made us all dissolve into laughter. Finally, we were shown two 1 minute films made ‘just for fun’. This in fact is Brian’s philosophy when he leads filmmaking with the South Downs group. He says one should take films seriously, but have fun. The club clearly has some very talented and useful members, including some ex professional and amateur actors. They obviously have a lot of fun filmmaking together and have achieved many successes in competitions. The evening finished with an outline of Surrey Borders’ forthcoming editing competition and then a demonstration of new lights purchased for club use – red heads, barn doors and gels and a dimmer unit. However, as the demonstration started all the club house lights went out. It was rapidly realised that the circuit breaker in the clubhouse must be particularly sensitive resulting in aspects of the demonstration being curtailed. This acted as a warning to the club that venues where the lights are to be used will need to be checked so as not to overload any system. |
