IAC DISCUSSION FORUMS

Regarding the recruitment of young people into clubs there is one important fact to consider and that is their age. I'm not familiar with the legal position in England, though I imagine it is similar to Scotland, but here the situation is that if anyone under 18 wishes to join a club they have to be accompanied by a parent or guardian. I know this because the camera club that I'm in checked this out with Disclosure Scotland after receiving an enquiry from a potential new member and this is what we were told. I'm afraid this is one of those very sad facts of modern life. Our experience has been that the accompanying adults soon get tired of having to turn up every week and sit through a meeting that may hold no interest for them. For groups specifically aimed at youngsters where adults will be working with the children said adults have to go through Disclosure Scotland checks first and I think they may have to pay to have that done.

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Brian Saberton

Same down here Brian. We have had parents with their young offspring at the club - in one case I believe the parent also joined! Not all doom and gloom! I believe there are also all sorts of form that need filling in.

I'm not sure I agree with a 'special section' for the young ones as suggested earlier in this thread though: sounds a bit segregationist to me - my feeling is it is probably better that everyone mixes in especially on the communal projects: they can still make their own films, as indeed will then oldies. But if they want oldies in their films - and likewise the oldies want a bit of youth, there's nothing like the 'communal club spirit'. Our young film makers enter the club competitions with their movies and do very well - and everyone enjoys the results and the 'mixed bag'.

We had 'visitors' to the club this week - to see one of the films that had been made I believe - and speaking with one of them, she remarked how wonderfully friendly everyone was and what a great atmosphere and feeling of camaraderie there was in the clubroom, lots of banter and laughter and so on. That may be the secret of success ...??!!

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Mike
(Tips for Pinnacle Studio and Avid Liquid)

This has turned out to be a very important thread and something that I think the IAC should pursue and offer guidance to members and affiliated clubs.

If we have or targeting young people to join our clubs then precisely what is the legal implications?

If a club has under 18's what should the proceedures be if they attend meetings or get involved in location shooting or post production?

In other activities people working with under 18's have to have CRB checks undertaken prior to contact, I had to have one carried out on myself when I was a driving instructor as the vast majority of my clients were just 17.

In a previous job my Secretary and her husband ran a football team and they both had to have CRB checks and also as they went around in their people carrier picking the children up they had to vary the pick up and drop offs so that they always had different boys in the car first and last, its a sad world but that is how things are now.

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Col Lamb
Preston, Lancashire.
Edius 6.02 and Premiere CS 5.5 user.

Particularly when you consider that the only thing which has actually changed (in relation to dodgy characters running clubs for youngsters) is the level of suspicion.

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Tim
Proud to be an amateur film maker - I do it for the love of it

I think it's spineless for a club to run for the hills scared at allowing young people to join their club, or to insist that every member is CRB checked fiorst or whatever

OVFM's Young people's policy:
When we decided we needed one, we came up with this.:

1. Young persons aged 14 to 17 are welcome to join but a parent/guardian must complete a form (copy attached) giving their permission.
2. A parent or guardian is welcome to attend occasional meetings to assess the suitability of the club. He/she may also join at the Country Members’ rate if he/she wishes to accompany the young person to meetings.
3. The parent/guardian is responsible for the young person’s means of getting to and from club meetings.
4. Young members (14 – 17) or members aged 18 or over in full-time education will pay the Student Members’ rate.

a. responsibility is the parent's, and we don't allow anyone under 14 to join. (theoretically, this could have gone against our non discrimination policy, but If I remember right, we removed age, as now technically, we do discriminate against age!)
b. Parents are welcome to check us out occasionally. The last parent that accompanied their child joined as a member and does more filmmaking than their child does!
c. There is no need for CRB checking, as at no point is any child alone with another adult, except coming or going, and that's the parent's responsibility.
d. Child protection laws are not to be afraid of, in the unlikely event of anything going strange, you just need to be able and prepared to demonstrate and prove that you took all reasonable steps to keep everyone safe. We have the minutes of our committee meetings and our policy for that purpose now.

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I like to make films, this is- my Youtube account. What's yours?

"all of the above is nothing more than nonsensical ramblings, and definately should NOT be misconstrued as anyone's official policy"

Thanks for posting that Chris. Very simple. Very clear. Should be part of all clubs policies as a matter of course.

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Tim
Proud to be an amateur film maker - I do it for the love of it

I haven't read everything above but has the club tried reaching out to kids in local school and maybe doing some promotional events at a local cinema?

--- Clubs old and New!.........

With reference to Chris' post dated 02nd. June 2012, under the heading "OVFM's Young People's Policy". Sentence No: 1 includes the words ...."complete a form, (copy attached)...." - There wasn't any copy as far as I could discern.

May I please ask Chris if you would post the form you refer to and so that it can be downloaded / printed - with your permission of course....

The reason I ask is a simple one - (following on my earlier posts releveant to Young People). Resulting from the implosion of the now defunct Stroud Club, certain of us have got together and we have set up an entirely new operation here and we have already had
discussions with the Head of the local secondary school concerning the involvement of Students there.

Apart from anything else, I / we thought that your form could prove most useful and helpful.

Best wishes and many thanks --- in advance.

Lee.

This is the form we use - Of course, it's laid out a little nicer than this, but the content is all here.

Hope it helps!
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Parental Consent Form

Details of Club
Name: Orpington Video and Film Makers (OVFM)

Event:
Club Meetings

Dates/Times:
Meetings are normally held in the Barnard Room, St. Augustine’s Church Hall, Southborough Lane, Bromley BR2 8AT between 20:00 and 22:00 on alternate Tuesdays.
Occasional extra meetings are arranged, and the venue may change if the regular venue is unavailable or unsuitable.

Leaders in charge:
Mr C. Coulson (Chairman), Mr. M. Turner (Vice-Chairman), Mrs F. Beard (Secretary)

Details of the Child/Young Person
Full Name:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Home Address:

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Date of Birth: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Contact Telephone No. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Medical Details of the Child/Young Person
Please give details of any medical condition or medicament of which the club should be aware:


Parental Consent
I give my permission for the child/young person named above to attend and take part in the activities of OVFM as named above.

Signed:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Date:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Print Name:

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Parent/Guardian
Note:
A Parent/Guardian is welcome to attend occasional meetings to assess the suitability of the club. He/she may also join OVFM at the Country Members rate (currently £10) if he/she wishes to accompany the child/young person to club meetings.
The Parent/Guardian is responsible for the child/young person’s means of getting to and from club meetings.

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I like to make films, this is- my Youtube account. What's yours?

"all of the above is nothing more than nonsensical ramblings, and definately should NOT be misconstrued as anyone's official policy"

Re Parental Form: Many thanks Chris. Looks like it will probably be of
help to us.

Cheers....Lee.

Hi All,

This has been a fantastic and very interesting thread to read. Thanks to all the contributors.

Reading the journals, the issue of 'new' and 'young' members, appears to go right back to the 60s/70s with articles in Movie Maker discussing the topic on a semi-regular basis. I suppose what I'm trying to suggest is that this isn't, by any means, a 'new' problem.

One of the possible reasons for poor youth membership, in my opinion, is that young people who are interested in film nowadays will tend to go into film school/film studies programmes at university, rather than framing it in terms of a 'hobby'.

Interestingly, one can chart the decline in amateur film-making from the late 60s onwards, with the rise of Film and Media Studies as a legitimate academic subject.

I don't think there are any clear or obvious solutions to these issues, their continuing reappearance is suggestive of this, however I do think links and liasons with Universitiy Film Departments could be a fruitful way of both advertising clubs, increasing membership, increasing 'visibility' and gaining more entries to film competitions.

The international cinema journal Screen, has a yearly conference in Glasgow. This years topic was 'Other Cinemas' and there was a large amount of interest in film and cinema at the 'periphery'. A few of the presentations, even referenced amateur cine culture and discussed clubs. So I think there are definitely opportunities for relations here, which could help both the IAC and individual clubs.

Graeme.

I have been saying this for years, film schools should be our target for members of clubs, especially the IAC. Imagine a BIAFF entry containing film school entries just as the old Movie Maker Ten Best had many wonderful films from the Southern California film school. The films would be good (and probably innovative) and the producers young enough to bring down the average age considerably. They may not join local clubs however, but may well want to join the IAC and attend their regional festivals.

Yes, you are right Graeme. The decline in amateur filmmaking already started in the late 60's with the rise of film studies as a legimate academic subject. In the late 70's I was the secretary of a local brass band. I remember it was difficult to find young musicians. They preferred to join the new local "music academy" to become professional musicians. So it also happened in music. Not only in filmmaking.

I watched quite a lot of film school entries at BIAFF the last ten years, Michael. I enjoyed them. Most of them were German. Also some Belgian ones that were made by my clubmates Douglas and Samuel. Perhaps I have already told you this. These young friends won diamond awards. Unfortunately they were not "diamonds forever". It is a pity that we don't see them anymore. But it is true. We should do our utmost and encourage them to join the IAC and... hope that we can see more innovating films made by them.

By the way, the Olympics were great. I enjoyed every minute. The Belgians only won only one silver and two bronze medals (one in Weymouth), ... but the British were fantastic! You must be proud!

On TV I could see our B&B and Chinese restaurant with view on the bay in Weymouth. Of course in the far distance. At that moment he Olympics reminded me of the British International Amateur Festival in April.

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Willy Van der Linden

I agree that film school students should be encouraged to enter the BIAFF but in a separate category specifically for students and with a judging panel made up of film teachers/professionals. Most of them will be lost to the amateur movement but may be interested in categories for non-commercial movies as they move through their career. Howto attract them? Worthwhile prizes will help and advertising to all the film schools by mail, Facebook etc.
Go for it!!

ned c