"Michael Slowe" <
michael.slowe@btinternet.com> wrote:
"Michael Slowe" <
michael.slowe@btinternet.com> wrote:
Albert, I too got Bronze at Oslo, two of them in fact but I don't feel
as perky as you. Look at last year's results, there were 37 Bronze Frames,not
to mention Silver and Gold!!!
Congrats on your two. >>That's what I call fierce creative competition,
guaranteed
either to better one's film making output or to entice one to take up stamp
collecting!
Not sure where you cast your wares overseas Michael, but if you enter in
the semi pro festivals you may find that an Oslo amateur bronze does indeed
eventually make you 'perky', like me!
It's the films in these other festivals that we amateurs in this country
are not seeing, hence we are living in a self satisfying, self congratulatory,
creative (or otherwise!) protective cocoon, and that is very bad for the
quality of UK amateur output.
Albert....inputting some gloom.
Albert, I certainly share your gloom at the current standard of our UK
film
output. I have been going on about it for some time. Apart from a very few
home made films it is the foreign, mostly European, ones that catch the
eye
at the IAC International. The standard has hardly changed since I was last
actively involved making films back in the late 70's and early 80's. I then
stopped with the onset of video as the picture quality was so awful and
proper
editing impossible. I only re started four years ago and honestly, I see
the same films around the clubs (with a very few honourable exceptions),
that I might never have been away. Creavity is difficult and we are basically
the same people that we have always been so why expect anything different
- but we do and we see it form overseas. Oh dear, we are a couple of moaners,
tell us off someone!
A note from moaner Number 3! The problem is that the IAC and the UK amateur
scene are not representative of what is happening in the larger world of
independent film making. In much of the film world the advent of DV and NLE
has eroded the technical barriers between professional and amateur film makers
and this is refelected in the entries into festivals. In the old amateur
days it was a miracle if the sound could be made to stay in sync with the
picture and the splices on the camera original which was all that existed
didn't fall apart, it was a wonder to have actually made a film within the
technical limitations and wealthy amateurs worked in 16 mm much to the chagrin
of those working in 8 mm. This is now history and the amateur often uses
exactly the same gear as the professional so the sense of technical achievement
is no longer of much interest. British amateurs have always had difficulty
dealing with really serious themes that are the bread and butter of Continental
and US independent film making, there is very little PASSION in the Brit
films. Many years ago, late 60s early 70s with my UK co-worker Stuart Rumens
(used to write regularly for Film Making and was a Single8 guru)we made a
series of films under the banner of Anglia Film Repertory. These dealt with
such themes as adultery, rape, the effect of the common market on the UK,
a surrealist look at love and abandonment, a Tudoe priest burnt at the stake
etc and very badly receieved they were by the UK cine club circuit. In fact
the "Innocence of Mrs Crabtree", a combination of adultery and rape, caused
so much trouble at one showing we were almost tarred and feathered. We both
gave up on the amateur scene and went into professional film/video production,
but Stuart has been giving talks recently to his local cine club and I have
decided to have another go on the amateur circuit. But like Michael we are
amazed at how little has changed.
It is important for UK clubs to see LOTS of the serious films made by amateurs
in other countries, this may serve to attract younger film makers although
I still believe that no late teen to early 20s film maker would want to be
seen dead at a local video/cine club.
Just my two penn'orth (or perhaps two cents worth)
ps our first amateur effort here made it as on of the "Ten Bset of the West"
obviously some high quality judges out here!
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