IAC DISCUSSION FORUMS

Brian has got me scratching my head because I too have a vague recollection of one competition having that rule about maximum percentage of archive/stock footage but I cannot place it. One of the many bees in my bonnet is the worship of numbers when it replaces common sense or judgement. In a movie ...

In my country pure amateurs should be more respected. Judges and organizers of festivals can do something about it. Of course, a judge does not always know whether a film has been made without commercial intentions. If organizers are only eager to show films with famous TV-stars ... to attract more...

Let's go off-topic, then! It was my topic and I don't mind. As most of you know I'm not a film maker but a film enthusiast, so I have not had to face the amateur/professional issue in that arena. I do face it in other areas. I run or assist with several websites on a voluntary basis. As a profession...

Hi Ian Best wishes to your daughter and congratulations to mum and dad. Now, face it Ian, who is going to watch a 128 minute wedding video - even with your trade-mark touches? The happy couple and two sets of parents - that's who. Give yourself a few weeks to get over the excitement, then set about ...

May I endorse Ned's comments? The Americans are very open and welcoming to the work of film makers from the UK and other countries. Part of the prizes in the AMPS festival is being granted membership of the organisation for a year ... and its occasional newsletter is one of the best I've seen with m...

Do any of you use your computer to watch DVDs - not just to check that they have recorded properly, but to watch for pleasure? Or come to that do you watch downloaded movies for pleasure - not just a few minutes of YouTube fun? I ask because a friend has been exploring the world of open-source and s...

The results for all three major amateur film festivals in the British Isles are now on the main IAC website. Each chose a different film as its top prize winner. I am interested to see that in the last few years all of them have added extra award categories near the top of the results: BIAFF added G...

Our French friend, Jean-Claude Lejosne, who is known as "Mr. Unica" because he does all the formal translation for the organisation, was on the phone today. His home town of Metz is twinned with Gloucester and they have been following the flooding news avidly. He says they find it amazing ...

Many of you will know that this year's UNICA Festival - the festival where nations compete rather than individuals - is coming up from 1-9th September. It takes places in the lower Tatras area of Slovakia in a town called Liptovsky-Mikulas. Many Britons are going, most of them arriving a few days ea...

I am told that the IAC scheme does NOT include internet use of music. Some - but not all - of the "royalty free" music publishers do allow the use of their music on the web. Check the licence terms on their websites. Haven't we all become very lazy about music? If we wanted a shot of a cas...

Great minds think alike ! I was wondering about that this afternoon, Ian. I suspect those in the worst areas are too busy worrying about drinking water, heating and what is happening to their homes, carpets, furniture and so on. Picking up a camcorder would not be the first thing on my mind in those...

The Cotswold International Film & Video Festival results are now on its website at www.cotswoldfilmvideofest.co.uk Among the UK winners were: Amateur Gold went to Darren Cyples for "Candlelight". I think Darren is a member of Stoke CVS. Amateur Silver went to Daniel & Simon Griggs ...

No doubt I'm the last person to hear about it ... but those of us who enjoy movies should try http://www.angryalien.com/ where you get 30-second movies with animated bunnies doing abbreviated versions of great films.

I gather that the IAC 75th anniversary film did the forum proud so that might garner us a few more participants. The Chairman asked me to write about it for 'Film & Video Maker' magazine so that may help too. Oddly enough there is no IAC secretary ... not in the normal sense. There is/was a lawy...

Peter Travers is the film critic for Rolling Stone magazine and prior to that for People magazine. I think this is from a set of interviews he made for the 40th anniversary issue of Rolling Stone . It is usually said that George Lucas started some of the "blockbuster" trend by imitating th...