IAC DISCUSSION FORUMS

The last few weeks I was not on the discussion forum. The reason : I had to
organize our local film competition. I am the President. My wife Vera is
the secretary. We have a fantastic group. All the members are very helpful,
but I cannot find anybody to be my successor. They all hate filling in entry
forms, making lists, contacting friends from other clubs, writing letters,
etc... etc... I think we should move to another town to feel free. On the
other hand I do not want my club to collapse. "We cannot miss our club",
my friends always say.

So yesterday we screened 24 films. I mean 16 documentaries, scenario films,
travelogues, etc... (first category) and 8 one minute films (second category).
The judges were very pleased with the show. They enjoyed the "one minute
films" very much. Of course, humour is something very subjective, but they
all laughed quite a lot. The last few months I tried to make some. Have you
ever tried ? It's not easy you know. I always make a scenario first. Then
a screenplay. On a sheet of paper I write about 20 to 25 shots. I write things
like : "Shot 1 : long shot ... Lady is entering a toilet ... Shot 2 : one
of the toilet doors is ajar. It is closed. Close up. Shot 3 : lady enters
the other toilet. long shot. Shot 4 : Lady is sitting on the toilet and she
is listening to the strange noise "next door". You can hear explosions. It
seems to be war "next door". Shot 20 : 4 years letter the toilet is still
occupied and the lady is listening to the German anthem. She's wearing something
different now. The German anthem changes into "God Save the King" and then
into anthem of the USA. Shot 21 : close up face lady. She is surprised. Shot
22 : the door is ajar again and a rifle appears with a white vest on it.
Shot 23 : close face lady again. Shot 24 : Surprise ... a tired German soldier
appears in the door opening ... End of the occupation !

Everybody seemed to enjoy this film and the other ones very much also because
the actors and actresses are members of the club. I think that making "one
minute films" is good to encourage members to make Ken Wilson films. I mean
longer films with quite a lot of humour in them. One member intended to make
a "one minute film" but he could not shorten it. He didn't want to spil the
atmosphere by shortening it. Eventually it was a bit longer than 2 minutes.
Therefore I added his film to the first category. The judges appreciated
his short film very much. The film was selected by them for the regional
competition.

"Willy Van der Linden" <forums@theiac.org.uk> wrote:

The last few weeks I was not on the discussion forum. The reason : I had
to
organize our local film competition. I am the President. My wife Vera is
the secretary. We have a fantastic group. All the members are very helpful,
but I cannot find anybody to be my successor. They all hate filling in entry
forms, making lists, contacting friends from other clubs, writing letters,
etc... etc... I think we should move to another town to feel free. On
the
other hand I do not want my club to collapse. "We cannot miss our club",
my friends always say.

So yesterday we screened 24 films. I mean 16 documentaries, scenario films,
travelogues, etc... (first category) and 8 one minute films (second category).

Dear Willy,

I like your short film. I found it funny.
As to the one minute competition. I would have disqualified it! Sorry. Funny
as it may have been. The idea is to have one minute films. THis takes talent
and very good hard editing. Thats the point of it. It`s also very hard to
build a relationship with the character, get into the story or make sence
of it all in one minute. Having two minutes would have got people used to
the character and made the other films a bit better. So in my book. Rules
are their to be broken in terms of filming technics, but the timing rule
is one of the most inportant one. (In the real world) If a television studio
wanted you to produce a 27 minute production, and you produced a 31 minute
one. Your name would be crud. They would say that your editing is no good
etc,etc and that the adverts would not fit into the 30 minute programme.
I know that this is an ameature film but rules are rules and should not
be different for different people. Those other film makers would have been
shouting under their breath. They would say it`s not fair! I know I would.
Even 1 second over in my books is bad editing! With all our digital editing
programmes like premiere etc, theres no excuse!

Sorry Willy, Thats my view. I`m glad that the festival and competitions when
well. You may have to look further afield for a club secretary!

Ian (a video club secretary but has too much work already) Gardner

"Ian Gardner" <ian@gardner44.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:

I like your short film. I found it funny.
As to the one minute competition. I would have disqualified it! Sorry.
Funny
as it may have been. The idea is to have one minute films. This takes talent
and very good hard editing. That's the point of it. It`s also very hard
to
build a relationship with the character, get into the story or make sense
of it all in one minute. Having two minutes would have got people used to
the character and made the other films a bit better. So in my book. Rules
are their to be broken in terms of filming technics, but the timing rule
is one of the most inportant one.

In FVM you can read an article about the "one minute UNICA film festival"
in Belgium. ("Do Belgians have a sense of humour ?") Everybody seemed to
have enjoyed that part of the world festival. Indeed, Ian, making a "one
minute film" means very good editing. But that's just the challenge ! The
rules are different here. In 60 seconds you should try to tell a story with
a surprising end.
Last weekend all people laughed quite a lot when watching our one minute
films. They found them very funny. That's very important, isn't it ?
Willy

"Willy Van der Linden" <vanderlindenhig@telenet.be> wrote:

"Ian Gardner" <ian@gardner44.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:


I like your short film. I found it funny.
As to the one minute competition. I would have disqualified it! Sorry.
Funny
as it may have been. The idea is to have one minute films. This takes talent
and very good hard editing. That's the point of it. It`s also very hard
to
build a relationship with the character, get into the story or make sense
of it all in one minute. Having two minutes would have got people used
to
the character and made the other films a bit better. So in my book. Rules
are their to be broken in terms of filming technics, but the timing rule
is one of the most inportant one.

In FVM you can read an article about the "one minute UNICA film festival"
in Belgium. ("Do Belgians have a sense of humour ?") Everybody seemed to
have enjoyed that part of the world festival. Indeed, Ian, making a "one
minute film" means very good editing. But that's just the challenge ! The
rules are different here. In 60 seconds you should try to tell a story with
a surprising end.
Last weekend all people laughed quite a lot when watching our one minute
films. They found them very funny. That's very important, isn't it ?
Willy

I know. That was my point. I think everyone should do them as they tend to
need alot of skill in trying to get lots of stuff and a sort of story into
a minute.
The person who had to take 2 minutes had more of an advantage over the others
as he had longer to get his point across. I my view. The other editors had
more skill because they did it in a minute.
You can really do funny things in a minutes worth of film.
I`m all for being funny. Everyone laughs at my work. Mostly for the right
reasons!
Have fun.

Ian Gardner