What happens after Videomaker?

[Graeme Spurr]

Hi All,

Doing a little research into amateur journals and hoping some of the other IAC members can help me out! I'm trying to figure out what happened after Videomaker ? I've been able to trace the changes upto this point but finding it difficult to track any information after this?

Did any of the Videomaker team go onto write for Camcorder User, such as Ivan Watson? Would really love to know what happened!

Thanks for your time.

Best,

Graeme.

[tom hardwick]

Pretty sure Don Mouat and Peter Davison did.

[Brian Saberton]

John Wright wrote for Camcorder User for some time and Tony Rose was also involved while Ian Campbell was the editor. This was around the early 1990's. There was also a guy called Bob Tomalski who was (I think) editor of Video Making for a time and went on to be the group technical editor with Camcorder User.

[Graeme Spurr]

Thanks for the replies

Did you read the magazine Brian? I'm curious as to whether there was there still a dedicated 'cine club' space, or iac affiliated 'newspage' in Camcorder User?

Cheers!

[Brian Saberton]

Camcorder User had a dedicated page for club news called "Club Contact" which was written by John Wright and featured news from clubs around the country, very much in the style of his old Movie Maker column. The magazine also had a page called "Cine Matters" for a time so they were trying to appeal to a wide range of film makers. They ran an annual competition (not unlike the Ten Best) for a few years called BAVA (British Amateur Video Awards) and both Tony Rose and John Wright were involved in this.

[Dave Watterson]

I lived through that era and read the magazine most of the time, but lack your memory Brian!

The IAC Video Library has tapes of winners in the BAVA Awards for the period from 1990 to 1998 - see http://www.theiac.org.uk/iac/video_libr ... _index.htm
The films range from St. Cuthbert's "Cheesecake" to Stoke's "Father's Christmas".

Dave

[Michael Slowe]

Oh, happy old times! I think the peak time was in the days of Amateur Cine World (awful name, great mag) which was replaced by the even better Movie Maker (another awful name) edited by the wonderful Tony Rose and his deputy Alan Cleave. Is Alan still with us I ask? It's a great pity that the tradition did not continue, as these publications concentrated largely on actual film making as opposed to the more equipment orientation of today's commercial magazines. Our own FVM is on the right track but, understandably, veers towards IAC social and personality affairs rather more than those early publications did. If we could get more commercial support (advertising) and a wider audience I still think that there is scope for a 'film making' magazine. Such professional publications as Broadcast come close but that discusses productions mostly beyond our scope, and the kit they feature likewise.

Soon I will feel isolated as one of the few remembering the late 50's, 60's, & 70's film making scene, but today is probably better as regards the film making. It's just those 'rose tinted glasses' distorting my view.

[tom hardwick]

Alan Cleave is indeed still with us Michael and I was chatting to him a couple of months ago. He's stayed away from computers so has missed an awful lot, but he still animates.

[Brian Saberton]

It's a shame there is currently no commercial magazine for amateur movie makers. When you see three mags for model railway enthusiasts, and other publications for things like die cast model collecting, stamp collecting etc, which presumably must be viable or they wouldn't be on the market, it seems all the more inexplicable that there is nothing for the home movie hobbyist.

[ned c]

Here in the US there is a magazine' Videomaker, dominated by product tests and "how to" generic articles. They claim to own the word videomaker and we got a cease and desist letter from them when we used that term in an AMPS promo. There was also a magazine in the UK; Film Making edited by Russel Roworth who were desperate enough to publish a few articles written by me! For many years they carried a regular column by my brother-in-law; Stuart Rumens an advocate of Single 8. How long ago it all seems!

ned c

[Dave Watterson]

The economics of magazine production and distribution means they depend on advertising, not on potential sales. As a group, we do not spend much.

Yes, we may fork out many hundreds for a camera, editing system or even a projector - but how often do we do that? Darned seldom for most of us.

We do buy tapes, cards, discs, batteries, a tripod now and then, maybe an additional lens. Once in a blue moon a club might buy a small crane, some lighting gear ... but in general we are not a market eager to spend on gadgets, supplies and extras. I get the impression that the still photography enthusiasts are rather more willing to buy a lens, a filter, a fancy camera-case, picture frames (basic and electronic) and so on.

Why should this be? A significant part of our group are pensioners who have to be careful with their money. Another sector are young people facing college loans, rents and all the start-up costs of life. Some are those whose families are growing, have mortgages ...

It IS possible to run magazines for enthusiasts by enthusiasts but mainly in electronic form.
It is very rarely possible for such publications to produce printed copies and the problems of distribution are enormous. In a handful of cases it is achieved but seldom for more than a year or so before the founders have to give up.

Dave

[col lamb]

Dave

You are right on the mark, as a group we do not spend enough annually on our activity to warrant a dedicated magazine.

In any case with the internet there is no need, all we require is there it is just a case of finding it.

New kit comes out or something interesting happens or information is requested, it is there and readily accessible to all.

Contrasting with the 3 model railway magazines mentioned earlier, do you know just how costly it is to build even a small system, a set of points cost £10.

I recently built a small N gauge system five foot six long x three foot wide for my Grandson, resultant cost over £1000.

We went to a local exhibition and one display alone had by my quick calculation had about 500 sets of points so that is £5000, overall I would think that the total display would have cost the group making it some £50,000, compared to that spending power we are small potatoes.