BIAFF 2008 - The Results

[stingman]

Dear Willy!!

So, my comment to n-c film makers is stop making pale copies of what you see on TV and do something really original!!

ned c

I agree with you Ned c, but not 100%

I would try to do something different but useing the style of what I see in films and on TV.

England has the Best (Sorry ) tv shows for styles and production ways. I just love the way the camera angles work and again (Top Gear - BBC) as an example. Even Panarama - BBC, has a really good style for ALL Documentrys to take note of.

Be good..........

Stingman

[ned c]

Willy, another thought. What is it you object to about film school students having entries in n-c Festivals? Their level of experience, in both film making and life, will be well below yours. Their equipment will, in many cases, be identical to that of many n-c film makers. Their only advantage will be in easier access to experienced/professional actors.

At AMPS we have a student section which is open to all students, won in 2006 by a film school student and in 2007 by a groups of high school students. The reason for the student section is to expand the awards available and to encourage younger and new film makers.
ned c

[stingman]

When is an amateur not an amateur? That is the question!

I have been videoing since 1987. In 1988, I got a bank loan to buy the Panasonic M10B (A full size VHS camera with Very good quality Stereo). It made me feel confident so I filmed Christian Youth events for my friend for £10. I also started to do weddings with my one camera! What if it broke while filming a wedding? You just didn`t think about it! Anyway, I was a fast runner!
I also did a 10 week evening course up the college on filming and how to use one`s equipment. Some of the members on this course started my video club! Fast forward to 2004. I joined my club and started to make films. I won most of my competitions that I entered and Won our clubs `Video Maker of the Year` twice. They then changed the rules!
In Febuary, I went on a Professional Filming Course to learn how to make News reports (VERY intense and my my brain numb!). I film the odd events for my friends for a few quid, and I mean, for a few quid, just to cover the cost of petrol and tapes and blank dvd discs. I also edit very big multi-camera projects for my friend. This take months to do! I`m also involved in HopeNews 08. A sort of charity, but the news I report on, be it me filming or me in front of the camera reporting. This will be shown around the world on television.

Does this make me a Semi-pro. NO, in my opinion. I do it because I like a challenge. It gets me out of the house and it stops me getting rusty. I Enjoy it. I don`t make money from it, I lose money. I LOVE making films.

So in peoples opinions. Am I a Professional or Amateur?

(Almost forgot to sign off !)

Be good.................

Stingman

[Chrisbitz]

you can be both. if you get paid to do something, then you're doing it as a professional, and if you don't get paid, then you're an amateur.

I do both, and have no qualms about entering my films that have been made with £0 budget in amateur film competitions.

[Willy]

Willy, another thought. What is it you object to about film school students having entries in n-c Festivals? Their level of experience, in both film making and life, will be well below yours. Their equipment will, in many cases, be identical to that of many n-c film makers. Their only advantage will be in easier access to experienced/professional actors.

ned c

Hi Ned. In an other message I alreday told you that I am not against film school students having entries in n-c Festivals. I am only in favour of a special category for them. I am sure that I am not so categorical as some organizers of the BIAFF.
I wonder if the judges knew that the film "Life's Little Gaps" was really made for fun and not as a task for school. In Belgium the equipment is not identical at all. In the film "The Making Of Breendonk" you can see how primitive our equipment is. The advantage of easier access to experienced actors is very important, Ned. Some judges at BIAFF told me that some of my actors didn't show any facial expression, for instance the man who fell in front of a vicious dog. However, I had asked him to do this many times. Without any success. Last summer I worked with more experienced actors. What a difference it was.

I understand your feelings, Ned. I understand that maybe you felt a bit irritated when when you my first message about the BIAFF-results. Sorry for that. My apologies. "Life's Little Gaps" is an American film. Maybe it deserved to win the "Daily Mail Trophy" as many friends told me.

[stingman]

Winning, loseing. That is the question!
We all sometimes think that the film we have just finnished is our best yet and deserves to come first! Sometimes we have lost the plot and really our film is rubbish.

It happens to me quite alot. My first Documentry about our local cinema was first class. It took months to do and loads and loads of editing. It would be good to re-edit it as it was made 4 years ago. I have come a very long way since then in my editing! It was (and still is) my biggest project todate. When I compaired it with the other films in the competition, it should have won!

Last monday saw my clubs documentry comp. It has a same money value to first, second and third. It was judged by another club on the mainland. I didn`t enter, I should have.
It had three entrys and they were rubbish. I would have been ashamed to show them, let alone let another club see them.

One was about a festival in Cornwall that has the whole town danceing in a long line all day. It was filmed like a spectator standing at the side of the road behind a crowd. The next film was about a WW2 pilot who dies in the Battle of Britain on the Island while in battle and crash lands in Sandown IOW. It just had newspaper pictures with very little narration and a bit of footage showing the mamorial. The last was taken from an hour long film taken of a play in our local church. It was badly edited with lips moving when no sound was coming out of the mouths. There was bad cuts etc. Utter *rap.

What i`m getting at is that most of us spend alot of time making and editing our films. None of the above films should have won! At least our films are better done and thought about and planned.

In fact i`ve lost the plot abit as usual, a good reson to moan! But be proud of our films, but sometimes they don`t win! Be thankfull that we can make good films. My club members should know better. They have been tault most of the same things as me.

Be good.

Stingman

[ned c]

I see that Willy still wants to relegate film students to a special category and as I mentioned earlier a Student category would take care of that. The student films entered in AMPS are often the most original and daring.

I take Stingman's point re awards to inferior films. The n-c world is in some respects strange, there seems to be a huge gap between the top end and the bottom end and the bottom end get angry when they do not win awards and usually complain the top end are "too professional". I once judged a still photograph contest at a camera club and wow, they could all have been winners. There was absolutely no rubbish on show.

I detect a whiff of this concern about well made films in the comments on Life's Little Gaps, this is a very well made film with a strong story line, the director/writer went to film school but paid for this film out of his own pocket using local resources including non-professional actors. I have worked hard to get the USA n-c film makers involved in the wider world and when they make winning films it is not very encouraging to have their motives questioned.

There is no such thing as a "semi professional" that's a description used to excuse potential failure. When money crosses your hand for services delivered you are a paid person and the word used is "professional" although that has other implications that may not be present.

ned c

[House]

I just wanted to drop a line to say that the cast and crew of Life's Little Gaps are very happy with the results. To be counted among the best, is an honor in itself, one we do not take lightly. The very fact that our humble short was welcomed, judged, and screened overseas has made us all very happy campers. When the cast and crew found out we didn't win the trophy, the most common reply was, "well, we'll get 'em next year." That's why I love the men and women I had the honor of working along side.
Though my cast and crew, and I are amateurs in every sense of the word, we do not strive to make amateur films. We want to tell a story that takes on a life of it's own, a story that will live long after we are gone.
If you were to put on a timeline where we are as apposed to where we want to be.. we've got a long road ahead, but it is a journey we wouldn't trade for anything in this world.
-House

[Stephen]

House

the best post on this thread so far......

you are the passion...

[Dave Watterson]

Hi Scott, welcome to the forum. You and I have been emailing each other as you composed the five-minute-production-primer which accompanies your article about Life's Little Gaps on the main IAC website. I'm glad you are meeting some of the other film loving people on this forum.

Several people did indeed say to me that they would have given the top award to your film. Obviously they do not know you so their comments can be taken as genuine compliments.

In fact the winning film was a documentary - and a superb one - so the final judges were probably faced with the problem of comparing chalk and cheese: drama versus documentary.

At the top level of 5-star and diamond awards the differences between how films rate are tiny. They are all great movies and any one of them could have taken the award.

A nice thing about the amateur film world is that most film makers do, as you have done, rejoice in their success without feeling bitter about not carrying off the top prize. (Of course they all secretly believe their work was better than everyone else's !)

What's next on your schedule?

Dave

[House]

Thanks for the kind words, Stephen.

Hey there, Dave. I appreciate the welcome. Right now I'm working on an animation project I wrote back in school. Now, whereas Life's Little Gaps was a family film, The Zoo certainly is not. It is a very targeted project that was born from the selfish notion of making myself laugh. Oddly, it seemed to pick up a better following than any other of my projects. Apparently, there are a lot more out there with a twisted sense of humor like me.

I actually took a break from it to do "Gaps" as I may do again real soon to shoot another. (If I can work the story out in my head before too long.) In the meantime I just took a break from animating to write out the second episode of The Zoo series. I also just DP'ed and helped edit my girlfriends short student film, Caro Babbo (Dear Dad).
Anyway, I'm keeping myself busy, I just wish there were more hours in the day.
-House

[Willy]

Thanks for the kind words, Stephen.

Hey there, Dave. I appreciate the welcome. Right now I'm working on an animation project I wrote back in school. Now, whereas Life's Little Gaps was a family film, The Zoo certainly is not.

-House

"House" is not your real name I suppose. This message to tell you that I feel that you are someone who really makes films for fun. You have also made this film with a relatively low budget. I appreciate it very much. I have not seen your film yet, but indeed, Dave is right ... many friends told me that yours could also have been the "The Daily Mail Trophy" winner. I have read that you are already extremely happy with your diamond award. 245 films and yours was in gthe final six. Congratulations ! Maybe next time the ultimate top-award !

[Mike Shaw]

I'm one of those who thought 'Life's Little Gaps' had made it to the top award.

As always with these films, I learned a lot from the way it was lit, the camera angles, the storyline progression, the acting ... well worth watching a second time (especially knowing the ending now! Like 'Sixth Sense', all the clues are there - but you need to spot them, they're so cleverly embedded within the plot - hence the desirte for a second viewing!)

[ned c]

Willy, you will get to see "Life's Little Gaps" as the AMPS 2007 winners DVDs are circulating to members in Europe. If you look at your Jan/Feb AMPS newsletter there is a short article by House about the making of the film and his picture in the March/April issue along with other members of Oklahoma Movie Makers.

ned c

[Willy]

Willy, you will get to see "Life's Little Gaps" as the AMPS 2007 winners DVDs are circulating to members in Europe. If you look at your Jan/Feb AMPS newsletter there is a short article by House about the making of the film and his picture in the March/April issue along with other members of Oklahoma Movie Makers.

ned c

Many thanks, Ned. I'm looking forward to seeing "Life's Little Gaps". Yes, I've read the article and I've seen the picture of your six friends Scott, Brian, Joseph, Eddie, Diana and Marc. They seem to be a very sympathetic group of young enthusiasts. They also look very American in their shorts, in their tracksuits and with their caps (Eddie). Such young people must be encouraged to enter our festivals. I also have two of such specimen, such trendies in my Willebroek filmclub. Hopefully they don't fly away. Hopefully I can keep them.