IAC DISCUSSION FORUMS

When were these sent out? Don't seem to have made it to this side of the Atlantic
yet,

Ned C

Willy - thanks for reminding us that it is not usual in most other countries
for competition entrants to get written notes. All three UK International
Festivals (BIAFF, Cotswold and Guernsey) do that. It is a lot of work for
judges and it is good to know that they are appreciated. This year Jan and
I have had a bit of feedback on our notes, most of it positive, all of it
welcome.

Most UK club and often regional competitions do it "continental style" with
the judge/s watching movies at the same time as the audience and then commenting
on them in public afterwards. If the film maker is not present he or she
does not get to know exactly what was said. I find that less satisfactory.
It takes time and effort to write notes and this forces judges to reflect
again on each movie and try to analyse what worked and what did not. A judge
can also be a little more frank in a private communication with the film
maker than they might be in public.

I accept Michael's point that the best moviemakers probably don't need a
note to tell them what is wrong with one of their movies. Sometimes I enjoy
telling them what is right! Occasionally a film maker can discover that
people are missing an important aspect of their movie.

Ned - most crits are given back with the films to film makers present at
the end of the festival. Brian and Alice Dunckley will be posting the others
on. I know that immediately after BIAFF they were looking after the film
maker who attended from Macedonia for a couple of days. I suspect they then
went home to take a well-earned rest before finishing the chores. If nothing
has reached you in another week or so, email me privately and I will chase
it up for you.

The two guys who have probably written more film crits than anyone else I
know are Peter and Richard Rouillard who carefully - and usually separately
- watch every frame of every entry in the Guernsey Lily and write notes for
the makers. How do you feel about the process, chaps?

Dave (McWriters Block) Watterson

I have been on both sides of the fence, both as a judge and as a film maker,
but more usually the latter. I have a large folder full of comments which
I have collected over the years. It is interesting to have a look through
some of these from time to time. Many are very interesting, some controversial
and some (it has to be said) are downright silly. Admittedly, I know my own
films much better than a judge who has only seen it for the first time, but
in such a case, why do some of them challenge me with ludicrous comments.
For an example.. On the critique for one of this years entries, a thriller
where a bomb has been placed under a car, I received a typically silly statement.
I had made up a small metal box which had a green flashing light, a small
switch and some stickers with a serial number on the outside. This was attached
by red sticky "camera tape" to the underside of the car to be filmed. There
are many shots of the "bomb" as the tension builds and these get shorter
and shorter as the pace quickens.
My judges comment was (something like) : "Why does the number seen on the
bomb not change? It would have been better to see this counting down to zero".
As this was clearly a "serial number" or some other such fixed sticker on
the side of the box and looked nothing like a counter, it caused some amusement.

Ken.

"Ken Wilson" wrote:

My judges comment was (something like) : "Why does the number seen on the
bomb not change? It would have been better to see this counting down to
zero".
As this was clearly a "serial number" or some other such fixed sticker on
the side of the box and looked nothing like a counter, it caused some amusement.

One problem for all of us - judges and film makers - is that we don't get
a chance to see a range of crits. Only the competition organisers get to
read all of them. Now and then a film maker shows me what other judges have
written and it amazes me. I am sure others think the same of my notes.

I would not want to publish notes - though some appear here and there on
websites - because they are always written as a personal communication from
judge to film maker. But extracts and anecdotes like this are helpful.

It seems to me the judge in question here may have meant to say that they
would have liked a countdown number on the bomb - though it is a terrible
cliche. Is this poor communication from the judge or poor understanding
of what they saw?

Dave (McDoubtful)Watterson

PS Another great column in the latest FVM from Ken - and some sinister photos
of him behind the camera too!

Today the judges notes and the certificate arrive - the detail of the judges
notes is amazing and greatly appreciated. Thanks to all concerned,

Ned C

"Dave Watterson" <david.filmsocs@virgin.net> wrote:

One problem for all of us - judges and film makers - is that we don't get
a chance to see a range of crits. Only the competition organisers get to
read all of them. Now and then a film maker shows me what other judges
have
written and it amazes me. I am sure others think the same of my notes.

I would not want to publish notes - though some appear here and there on
websites - because they are always written as a personal communication from
judge to film maker. But extracts and anecdotes like this are helpful.

It seems to me the judge in question here may have meant to say that they
would have liked a countdown number on the bomb - though it is a terrible
cliche. Is this poor communication from the judge or poor understanding
of what they saw?

Dave (McDoubtful)Watterson

PS Another great column in the latest FVM from Ken - and some sinister photos
of him behind the camera too!

"Ned C" <ned@ampsvideo.com> wrote:

Today the judges notes and the certificate arrive - the detail of the judges
notes is amazing and greatly appreciated. Thanks to all concerned,

Ned C

"Dave Watterson" <david.filmsocs@virgin.net> wrote:

One problem for all of us - judges and film makers - is that we don't get
a chance to see a range of crits. Only the competition organisers get
to
read all of them. Now and then a film maker shows me what other judges
have
written and it amazes me. I am sure others think the same of my notes.

I would not want to publish notes - though some appear here and there on
websites - because they are always written as a personal communication
from
judge to film maker. But extracts and anecdotes like this are helpful.

Here's a few more then....
"A great little movie that made me laugh."
"Fun!!" (yes, two exclaimation marks printed.)
"A great little movie that made me laugh."
"Really entertaining and sharp."
"The cat was brilliant!"
"Thank you for showing this delightful gem."
etc etc.
And amazingly not a single critical word was said.
But was it shown to anyone else. No.

So I am wondering, what do judges have to say of a film
these days in order for it to be shown? Never mind the bits of
silly paper (certificates) etc, these are of no
interest to me anyway, just bums on seats are.

BTW this film is now showing in Cinema 1 of my new website
where many have already seen it, and when the search engine spiders
pick it up, many more will do too, for my audience is now
"Beyond the blue horizon"
Albert.....beyond redeption.
http://www.retinascope.co.uk/index.html

"Dave Watterson" <david.filmsocs@virgin.net> wrote:

"Ken Wilson" wrote:

My judges comment was (something like) : "Why does the number seen on the
bomb not change? It would have been better to see this counting down to
zero".
As this was clearly a "serial number" or some other such fixed sticker
on
the side of the box and looked nothing like a counter, it caused some amusement.

Dave said:

It seems to me the judge in question here may have meant to say that they
would have liked a countdown number on the bomb - though it is a terrible
cliche. Is this poor communication from the judge or poor understanding
of what they saw?

Ken says: Perhaps I should have also mentioned that the bomb is radio controlled
(as stated in the dialogue) and therefore a counter was not going to be on
such a device.

I have received a number of such silly and baffling comments over the years.
Another example came about in 1995 for a film called "Grave Doubts". I needed
a name for a zany professor. I cast my eyes around the room at newspapers,
magazines, video sleeves etc and came up with Professor Yam. My only explanation
for this odd name was that the script was written in May and Yam is May backwards!

One judge wrote: "Only someone with Yorkshire connections would understand
the hidden joke in the professors name!" I am still baffled what this means
10 years later. Can anyone explain it?
We also went through a spell of handing out comments sheets at our roadshows.
Masochism or what?
We collected a lot of interesting and odd comments.
In the film "Demons" which had a car break down with a puncture on a lonely
road, I had taken my camera and driven down to a local garage. I deflated
the tyre, filmed the tyre totally flat,in a close-up and then re-inflated
it. I always go for realism whenever possible. So how annoying was it when
one audience member wrote (anonymously) "The punctured tyre was wrong as
those sorts of tyre are not fitted to those cars!"
In the same film, we have a few shots of the car radio accompanied by a traffic
announcement. One comment was : "In each shot of the radio, the time doesn`t
alter. Surely a mistake!" ...No not really. It was the radio station wavelength!

Judges comments which come up with similar oddities don`t really matter except
in cases when such things are stated as the reasons why it costs the film
an award.

PS Another great column in the latest FVM from Ken - and some sinister photos
of him behind the camera too!

Thanks Dave (for the first bit!) I don`t know which are the sinister photos
as I have not seen the magazine yet.

Ken.