Press Release Jan 2003 An Audio Visual Experience + film premiere

Surrey Border Film & Video Makers met on a crisp evening early in January for a talk called ‘An Audio visual experience’, the artistic side of visual presentations. We soon discovered that our speaker, Ron Clements, had been artistically inspired even from his teenage days in the 50’s when slide projectors were first being synchronized to tape recorders to give public presentations. Quite remarkably some of this early material still survives and we had the treat of seeing a short 50 year old example which still had a powerful impact despite its age. The talk quickly moved on to more modern material revealing how powerful the message could be when presented with imaginative use of still photography, with well chosen mood music and a sympathetic narration. Each example lasted for no more than 6 minutes and so a wide variety were shown including one very poignant one about a journey to work. The images of a commuter journey to London 50 years ago could have been taken only yesterday apart from the odd glimpses of roads, which – eat your heart out – were remarkably empty! The talk ended with dramatic modern computer-generated entertainment with startlingly beautifully scenes merging in a dramatic way to sympathetic mood music with narration to match.

The culmination to the evening was the premiere of the film recently made by the club for the Frimley Park Hospital Children’s Ward. This film was made following a request from the hospital for something to supplement the booklet previously handed to patients. It demonstrates to prospective patients what to expect and what the procedures will be when they arrive. The film runs for 11 minutes and charts the progress of a young patient through admission and then procedures both before and after an operation and the final departure home. The star role was taken by a young girl who was a natural actress with a large supporting cast of hospital staff. Shooting for the film involved 7 club members and took two full days, and extensive planning. The editing was entirely on computer and took even more days of intense work. A warm welcome for the film by the ward staff and the films daily use at the hospital to help ease the tension for new patients makes all the effort put into its production worthwhile. This is the second community film made by the club during the year and adds to a long list of previous films made for good causes.