Make a winner from unused films

Probably most people will tell you they have a video or two. But quite often we hear those words. “What words?” I hear you say. When you ask a friend or club member, “What are you entering into the Ambitious Great Western Competition this year?” frequently the answer is, “I’ve got nothing to enter. Can’t think of an idea for a great video, just haven’t an inspiration.”

Well, I’ve often had this apprehension myself, but then I thought of all those piles of tapes, wonderfully interesting stuff shot on holiday, never edited. I was quite surprised how much there was to delve into. Some years ago, Joan and I went through a mass of painting holiday videos and compiled “A Brush with Nature”. It turned out to be a prize winner.

Then more recently I was looking at some video shot in Guernsey and found I had shot over half an hour of some Stock Car Racing, with lots of whizz pans and shaky stuff, from which we were able to make a 2 min. video cut to music. So look in that stock pile, it is surprising what you can do with it, provided you have got enough cutaways to make it flow. Obviously there is little that can be made of a selection of only long shots.

You may be amazed to find good work that you had forgotten about. Who knows, the results could be quite an eye opener, when you put all those new found editing skills into practice. Come to think of it, maybe it’s time I had another look in my stock pile.