Obviously my spell checker has been spreading red herrings to make Midsomer Murders more challenging. It did the same thing last week with Murder of the Oriental Empress.
Here's a funny thing. As you know I was one of the Saturday Projectionists so I had already seen all the films I was showing when I checked to make sure that everything was working ok. The funny thing was that I actually found myself enjoying the films better on the day. Maybe something to do with the fact that there was an audience present?
As to the Sunday show I thought it was excellent. My favourite was "Mia", the overall winner, which I thought was a terrific production. I also very much liked "CUIB" (excellent black and white photography). I'm afraid I didn't find the winner of the comedy award to be particularly funny, but perhaps the makers were following the current trend in TV comedies. Tim and Tom had far more laughs, as did the brilliant animated film "Not the End of the World" which I thought was very well observed. In terms of story telling some of the films, for me, lacked clarity but nevertheless the whole weekend was a thoroughly enjoyable experience and it's good to be able to see such a wide variety of films as well as meeting up with everyone for a chat. Good also that the number of entries was up on last year which is very encouraging. Thanks also for the lunchtime drink on Saturday which was very welcome, though I had to be a bit abstemious as I still had two more programmes to run in the afternoon!
Thank you Brian for those kind words about Mia Rapture 2 which I did work on. They were the most professional crew I have ever worked with although it was an amateur film as no-one was paid. I even had my own monitor to check boom in shot, and although we never used timecode although we could have, as I can sync with it; we instead used clapperboard, and all was well. At least the story had a beginning, a middle and an end which says it all. I was really chuffed when it made the final grade. The DOP Steve knew exactly what he was doing, and I know it was shot in 6K with a Dragon Camera and prime lenses, but did that make the storyline any better? To make a film of that quality you need quite a big crew which know exactly what they are doing and a good script and cast. To make a film on your own of this calibre is quite impossible.
Martin Evans wrote:I write as a first timer at BIAFF with a brand new login...
I must have missed this. How very poor of us not to have welcomed you and your comments, Martin, with a great big hug!
Delighted you enjoyed your first BIAFF and hope to see you at many more. Also, please use this forum to air your views about all things film and IAC - especially if you have any suggestions - as with all things in life, it's so easy to moan about the current state of affairs, less easy to come up with constructive ideas to improve the future.
Tim
Proud to be an amateur film maker - I do it for the love of it
Yes, thank you for those words Tim; I agree we should all welcome Martin Evans on board. It was due to me that Martin found out about the IAC and BIAFF and he had several entries at BIAFF including a 4 star award winner. I found out about him via his former piano teacher who is a friend of mine. Martin is a very distinctive filmmaker with his own style and many of his films are on his Vimeo page. Some are serious films but they are mainly very amusing subtle comedies and spoofs. My favourite is THE POLE LINER which Jill Lampert mentioned in an earlier message on this forum and it’s an absolute hoot. Also check out NUISANCE and THE CURIOUS CASE OF AN IDIOT IN THE NIGHT-TIME which I know you’ve already seen, Tim, as it was one of the films you judged at the CEMRIAC Spring Movie Festival recently. Martin and his wife Keri were there at BIAFF and I managed to meet them for the first time. Their films are well worth seeking out.
I met Martin and Keri as they signed in ... I knew his name from proof-reading the web pages about the results and the festival timetable.
You are absolutely right about THE POLE LINER, whose dry humour tickled me greatly. I am delighted to say he has kindly agreed to trim NUISANCE down to one minute so that it can represent the UK at UNICA2018 in Blankso in September.
Thanks all for your kind words about my film The Pole Liner, and Howard for being such a generous gentleman anyway.
Actually, this won best film at Aber Shorts last Friday so now to work on the sequel for BIAFF 2019.
Meanwhile, I have now cut Nuisance to 60secs and it's actually better for it. I'm totally thrilled and honoured that it would be seen in UNICA. So who now do I need to speak to about submitting the re-cut version please?
Send the film to me and/or Alan Atkinson. I will email you contact details.
At UNICA each country's national organisation for amateur/non-commercial film chooses the films and send them to UNICA. IAC is the national organisation for Britain (Sorry no separate options for Wales, Northern Ireland or Scotland !)
For longer films each country submits a programme of up to 60 minutes length. For the WMMC (World Minute Movie Cup) some countries are allowed one entry others are allowed two entries. (It depends on the country's success in the previous year. This year Britain gets two.)
The longer films are judged by an international jury, who discuss each film and at the end of the week-long festival vote for the awards.
The WMMC is judged by the audience in a knockout style.
First a selection jury picks 16 of the 30 or so entries. (Those which are not selected are shown at the start of the contest.)
For round one, those 16 are drawn in pairs. After each pair has been shown, the audience vote which goes forward to the next round.
Round two has 8 films. Again a draw decides which pairs compete. 4 films go through to the final.
and so on.
The whole UNICA festival this year is 1st - 8th September in Blansko, a town in the Czech Republic near Brno. (It moves to a different country each year, so 2019 it is in the Netherlands and 2020 is in Birmingham.) The WMMC is on the evening of Friday 7th September.
If you fancy a week away from Aber let me know and I can send lots more information.
Martin Evans wrote:I write as a first timer at BIAFF with a brand new login...
I must have missed this. How very poor of us not to have welcomed you and your comments, Martin, with a great big hug!
Delighted you enjoyed your first BIAFF and hope to see you at many more. Also, please use this forum to air your views about all things film and IAC - especially if you have any suggestions - as with all things in life, it's so easy to moan about the current state of affairs, less easy to come up with constructive ideas to improve the future.
Thanks Tim, Rest assured I felt completely welcomed within the IAC fold. I certainly have some ideas for consideration. Will post in due course. Kind Regards Martin
Just watched The Pole Liner. Wonderful, such droll, understated humour is so rare in the amateur film world. Brilliant performance by the character, so convincing that you really start to wonder is this fact or fiction?
Michael Slowe wrote:Just watched The Pole Liner. Wonderful, such droll, understated humour is so rare in the amateur film world. Brilliant performance by the character, so convincing that you really start to wonder is this fact or fiction?
Thank you for your kind words, Michael - and from such an esteemed film maker. The danger in keeping the viewer guessing is that not everyone gets it. With our modest kit and sub £100 budget we are though, very proud of this film.