There is a lot to be said for getting together with anyone who shares your enthusiasm - sometimes to learn, sometimes to teach, and always to encourage each other. That's one good reason for movie making clubs.
The catch is sorting out what kind of events could be offered to club members. So for the benefit of all club secretaries and organisers, let's give some ideas, old and new.
* Non-competitive screenings of each other's work for kindly comment and advice. (suggested on another thread)
* Film-in-a-night exercise - to illustrate the need for planning and co-ordination.
* Post-production principles - illustrated talk on how a movie can be tweaked, colour-adjusted etc after shooting, but dealing with what can be done more than how it is done because members may all use different kit.
* Planning a club website - makes members think about what the club is for, how to make it sound attractive to outsiders etc.
More please ...
Dave
IDEAS FOR CLUB MEETINGS
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Dave Watterson
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Re: IDEAS FOR CLUB MEETINGS
Dave Watterson wrote:There is a lot to be said for getting together with anyone who shares your enthusiasm - sometimes to learn, sometimes to teach, and always to encourage each other. That's one good reason for movie making clubs.
More please ...
Dave
Oh Dave, you do not look so kind anymore ! You look like Jack the Killer. I'm afraid of you ! Bluebeard !
"Lesser Gods"
We sometimes invite other clubs. They show their most recent films. Their films have a different style. That's always very interesting. Then we can learn a lot. We discuss about the films that have been shown. The makers come in front of the room. They tell us how they have made their films. I'm the president of the club but also the moderator. I always try to talk about the qualities of the films and to make the producers even more enthusiastic. In a very diplomatic way I make suggestions but the end is always very positive and the filmmaker goes back to his place with a good feeling. Once we had a very prominent filmmaker in our club who often said : "That's rubbish !". Luckily he left our club. Such critical statements are very demotivating. Then it's difficult for the moderator to "steer the conversation in the right direction".
Sometimes our club is invited by an other one. Then I make a programme. I always give "the lesser gods" the opportunity to show their films in other clubs. Also this is very encouraging for the beginners and filmmakers that are not award winners.
A feast !
Such a projection is always a feast. The ladies of our club prepare sandwiches or rolls. Sometimes we offer refreshments. Our guests do not have to pay for their drinks (maximum 3 drinks) and the president of the club that we have invited receives 6 bottles of our best Belgian beer. Do you know "Duvel" ? "Duvel" means "devil". You should try it. It's brewed in a famous brewery in the vicinity of our concentration camp, the Hell of Breendonk. Sometimes our guests stay in our clubhouse till 1 am. Then they drink more than 3 glasses and that's also good for the moneybox of our club.
We do more things, but I'll tell you later on. I'm working on a film now and Dave has kept me from my work. (joking)
Willy Van der Linden
Re: IDEAS FOR CLUB MEETINGS
[quote="Dave Watterson"]There is a lot to be said for getting together with anyone who shares your enthusiasm - sometimes to learn, sometimes to teach, and always to encourage each other. That's one good reason for movie making clubs.
Filmmaking is not for ladies !
I have forgotten to tell you that each time when a club has been invited in our own clubhouse the number of ladies is higher than usual. It's because they don't like making any films. They just enjoy watching films. I have the impression that it is like that everywhere. Filmmaking seems to be a hobby for men. Is it like that in your club ? In Belgium only 20 percent of the amateur filmmakers are ladies.
Subject/theme
I don't remember who it was. Maybe it was not on this thread. He had a good idea to do something in his club. We have already done something similar. For instance a subject or theme is given : "Our Market Square", or "Ladies", or "Our nature park". Groups of 3 or more members work together and try to make a film about that subject.
"Pretty Woman"
I think it's not good to go to the Market Square or Nature Park with all the groups together. First you should prepare everything together with your 2 or more friends. You or one of them must write a scenario (step 2) and you must speak about it. In the club a deadline has been given for the finished version of the film.
You can even take this initiative together with some other clubs. On 10th September there will be an "Inter Club Competition" in our region. The 4 presidents have decided to take "Ladies" as a subject. In each club 3 or 4 films have been made. All together we will have about 14 or 15 new films. Some filmmakers used songs to make their films. Perhaps you know "She" a song sung by a French welknown chansonier or "Pretty Woman" by Roy Orbison. An other friend made a fiction film about a ridiculous "ladykiller".
"Sweetheart"
I myself made the film "Sweetheart" about a middle-aged man who is reading a magazine with artistically minded photographs of naked pretty ladies. His wife is knitting a sock. Then he looks at a photograph of his own wife which is on the matelpiece. At the time that photograph was taken she was in her twenties. He thinks : "At that time my wife was as pretty as the lady in the photograph". Then he turns the page of that book. He sees a young attractive man with macho-look. And then he thinks. Maybe twenty-thirty years ago I was like that and now in 'the autumn' of my life. At the end of the film he smiles at his wife... at his "Sweetheart". It's a very short film. Length about 5 minutes. I enjoyed making it very much. Perhaps I have not focused enough on the theme "Ladies" in that film. In fact the theme is more "Your looks change in the course of years". So we'll see what the judges think about my film "sweetheart".
"The Way Forward"
The system is a bit like "The Way Forward" the competion that was organized by the IAC for the 75th anniversary of the Film and Video Institute. By the way ... I don't know if that competition has been a success.
Quality films
As I told you : don't go to a place together with all your clubmembers in order to make a film about one theme. Two years ago a club, which is not so far from ours, made a coach tour round Flanders Fields. The clubmembers had been asked to make a film. 9 films were made. The contents of these short "travelogues" was very "flat". Hopefully you know what I mean. They had just "registered" everything. There was no emotion in them. Sometimes you could even see the clubmates with cameras in their films. Of course it was a very good exercise to work with a camera and to compare camera work afterwards, but it was not good to make real quality films. I was asked to be a judge in their club. The 9 travelogues were screened. That evening was very boring. Of course there was one very positive thing : the members of that club enjoyed themselves very much that day in Flanders. Of course that's also very important.
Walking in a Flemish beguinage
From time to time you must make a trip with your friends. It's excellent to create a fantastic family atmosphere. At the end of the season (in July) we always visit one of our attractive medieaval town in Flanders. Then we have a walk in the beguinage (almost every Flemish town has a beguinage) and have a drink on the terrace of a tavern. Then we tell jokes and laugh a lot.
Filmmaking is not for ladies !
I have forgotten to tell you that each time when a club has been invited in our own clubhouse the number of ladies is higher than usual. It's because they don't like making any films. They just enjoy watching films. I have the impression that it is like that everywhere. Filmmaking seems to be a hobby for men. Is it like that in your club ? In Belgium only 20 percent of the amateur filmmakers are ladies.
Subject/theme
I don't remember who it was. Maybe it was not on this thread. He had a good idea to do something in his club. We have already done something similar. For instance a subject or theme is given : "Our Market Square", or "Ladies", or "Our nature park". Groups of 3 or more members work together and try to make a film about that subject.
"Pretty Woman"
I think it's not good to go to the Market Square or Nature Park with all the groups together. First you should prepare everything together with your 2 or more friends. You or one of them must write a scenario (step 2) and you must speak about it. In the club a deadline has been given for the finished version of the film.
You can even take this initiative together with some other clubs. On 10th September there will be an "Inter Club Competition" in our region. The 4 presidents have decided to take "Ladies" as a subject. In each club 3 or 4 films have been made. All together we will have about 14 or 15 new films. Some filmmakers used songs to make their films. Perhaps you know "She" a song sung by a French welknown chansonier or "Pretty Woman" by Roy Orbison. An other friend made a fiction film about a ridiculous "ladykiller".
"Sweetheart"
I myself made the film "Sweetheart" about a middle-aged man who is reading a magazine with artistically minded photographs of naked pretty ladies. His wife is knitting a sock. Then he looks at a photograph of his own wife which is on the matelpiece. At the time that photograph was taken she was in her twenties. He thinks : "At that time my wife was as pretty as the lady in the photograph". Then he turns the page of that book. He sees a young attractive man with macho-look. And then he thinks. Maybe twenty-thirty years ago I was like that and now in 'the autumn' of my life. At the end of the film he smiles at his wife... at his "Sweetheart". It's a very short film. Length about 5 minutes. I enjoyed making it very much. Perhaps I have not focused enough on the theme "Ladies" in that film. In fact the theme is more "Your looks change in the course of years". So we'll see what the judges think about my film "sweetheart".
"The Way Forward"
The system is a bit like "The Way Forward" the competion that was organized by the IAC for the 75th anniversary of the Film and Video Institute. By the way ... I don't know if that competition has been a success.
Quality films
As I told you : don't go to a place together with all your clubmembers in order to make a film about one theme. Two years ago a club, which is not so far from ours, made a coach tour round Flanders Fields. The clubmembers had been asked to make a film. 9 films were made. The contents of these short "travelogues" was very "flat". Hopefully you know what I mean. They had just "registered" everything. There was no emotion in them. Sometimes you could even see the clubmates with cameras in their films. Of course it was a very good exercise to work with a camera and to compare camera work afterwards, but it was not good to make real quality films. I was asked to be a judge in their club. The 9 travelogues were screened. That evening was very boring. Of course there was one very positive thing : the members of that club enjoyed themselves very much that day in Flanders. Of course that's also very important.
Walking in a Flemish beguinage
From time to time you must make a trip with your friends. It's excellent to create a fantastic family atmosphere. At the end of the season (in July) we always visit one of our attractive medieaval town in Flanders. Then we have a walk in the beguinage (almost every Flemish town has a beguinage) and have a drink on the terrace of a tavern. Then we tell jokes and laugh a lot.
Willy Van der Linden
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Peter Thomlinson