Surrey Border Film and Video Makers press report for July 2008

At the June meeting of Surrey Border Film and Video Club, Colin Jones from the Orpington video club enthusiastically entertained members with a fascinating talk on filming family and relatives. He started off light-heartedly with a film to a relatively traditional theme of a wife being caught with the milkman. After a hurried exit of said tradesman the closing remark by the irate husband was, ?It's the baker we owe money to!?. The next film was on the more serious subject of how to make a film to remember someone with Alzheimer?s. Fortunately this particular Alzheimer's sufferer was still excellent at the piano and so the introduction was his sitting down at the piano and starting to play. We then heard this playing throughout the film, as he was taken on various visits. In the discussion afterwards the film was complimented on both the piano playing idea and the sympathetic treatment.

Another memorable film was of an old timer who never threw anything away and was a dab hand at mending things. It was full of humour as we saw how the main character had mended his wife's handbag using a nut and bolt, made an umbrella from three faulty ones and made cold frames for the garden from windows thrown out when the house was being double glazed. The tips and humour flowed in equal measure from this charming old guy who seemed blissfully unaware that the audience was laughing as much at him as with him.

The final film was an excellent example of how to present reminiscences. An old man reminding us of his past was out in the park with his grandson in a pushchair feeding the ducks. This provided attractive visuals which were remarkably in harmony with the stories from the past. It was the presence of the youngster which was key to the film, with an excellent choices of expressions and sideways glances superbly cut to give the impression the child was understanding everything that was said. For the child to be asleep as the parting shot was a brilliant touch and produced a chuckle from the audience.