Judging-FVM June

[ned c]

Judging amateur films is a 90% lose/lose situation. The letter in FVM from Mr. Chalmers should deter anyone who contemplates stepping up for judging duties, but accept that there are really no rules for film making; just some conventions. We like to see the images; hear the sound; feel a sense of commitment to the adventure the film maker is taking us on. .

I like to think that film is an art form where the artist creates and and hopes for a supportive audience reaction; which may or may not be the case. If a painter faces a storm of criticism should that cause a change of style/approach? Should Picasso have painted water color landscapes to avoid the critics? No; if by our standards we have done a good job then comments should not change our work.

Read the judges comments with a large dose of salt; they don't really know any more than you do. The object of entering films into Festivals is to get a screening where a real audience will certainly have a range of reactions.

To Mr. Chalmers and his colleagues; don't give up.

Ned Cordery
one star film maker

[Roger Fowles]

"..don't give up" - Amen to that Ned!

It's a tricky business - comments about judges invariably run the risk of being seen as sour grapes.

I admit I was disappointed with the "scores" for the 2 animated films I submitted this year.

The judges comments made me feel a bit better - but not in the way they might imagine..

For one film the judge clearly didn't get the overarching joke. I wondered briefly if I could have done more, but explaining a joke is like letting the air out of a balloon. So I comforted myself that a different judge on a different day might have liked it more.

The comments for the other film came across as a bit grumpy and a bit strange. Apparently the film would have been better without both the opening and closing scenes - perhaps the overall film length of 8 minutes was too long for them They ended by saying they "enjoyed the film" ( which felt a bit like a statement they'd been told to put at the end of all their reviews)

You can't please all of the people all of the time. The films were better received in a different competition, but at the end of the day I'm going to continue making films that I like to watch - and hope that at least occasionally other people will enjoy them as well. Submitting them to competitions is one way of expanding the viewing figures!

[Dave Watterson]

One of the hardest things for any film maker to accept is that there is not necessarily a correlation between how hard they worked to make it and how well the film succeeds.

Something of that sort is behind the "kill your darlings" advice so often give.

Long ago, Ken Wilson taught me, that the best thing to do with written crits is skim them, then lock them away for at least a week, before reading them more closely. Then you may be calm enough to choose which sentences to accept and which to ignore.

[Albert Noble]

There's two aspects of film.
Technical excellence or otherwise.
And for want of a better word, artistic excellence.

I would tend to take much more notice of the first
rather than the second, as the taste of the viewer
comes into play and doesn't always reflect sufficiency on the film's
qualities.

[Michael Slowe]

There seems to have been more discussion (and criticism) this year about 'scores' and judges comments than I can remember over the last fifty years. Quite apart from this Forum I have been involved in private exchanges between three or four entrants to this year's Festival.

People have been asked to view, judge and comment on our films. We have to accept what they decide and not publicly berate any grade or comment because we all know that there can be a multitude of opinions on any given production. Here is a good example. My last year's entry, Danny's Red Box, given Four Stars, has just been screened at a professional Festival and awarded Best Documentary. So what? Different people like different things, there is no magic yardstick. I do wish that people would understand and accept this.

[Howard-Smith]

Albert Noble, for the record your clever animation film FOR TWO PINS went down very well with the audience this evening at the Wolverhampton Film Festival! It’s a very good film.

[Albert Noble]

Albert Noble, for the record your clever animation film FOR TWO PINS went down very well with the audience this evening at the Wolverhampton Film Festival! It’s a very good film.

Thanks for that Howard.
Interestingly, other judges in other festivals this year thought differently.
As I said, it's largely a matter of personal taste bearing in on
all judgements.
Find out what the 'tastes' are of a judge and if they match yours
you are a winner
Just carry on making films that please the maker.

[Michael Slowe]

Good point Albert. Both of us, many years ago, caught the fancy of Tony Rose, the Editor of the much missed magazine Movie Maker. I was lucky enough to get quite a few Ten Bests from him and his team, as I seem to remember did you. We made audience friendly, easily viewed films and once they latched on to our style we were winners. It all comes down to personal choices as we have been saying, nobody can be totally dispassionate as far as art goes.

[Dave Watterson]

To judge by his letter in FVM how much of James Chalmer's ire is caused by the writing skills of the judges rather than the score he got?

Are we asking too much of judges to assess and also to write well?

[Michael Slowe]

Dave, you managed that quite well as a Judge!

[Albert Noble]

I am working on an X cert animated film using solely the
Greek symbols for male and female. I shall put a
warning notice at the start, that this film contains
images of a sexual nature !

In view of the discussion on judges maybe a notice too that
it should only be judged by randy people !

It will be in few judges 'taste,' but the film
has to be made in my book.

[John Simpson]

What do people think of "Dig" getting three trophies: Best in Festival, Best British entry and Diamond? I feel it would be better to make a rule that one film gets one trophy. Did the makers really want three trophies gathering dust? Could the three awards be engraved one trophy? My feeling is that it would have been nice to share the awards around. As a fan of Feel Good Films, Dig was not my cup of tea. and the ending became more and more predictable as t-i-m-e went on! Yes, I felt it did go on and on. Was the plot just one main sad idea with no let-ups. Sadly not the sort of film you could have any humour. I'm not saying it did not deserve awards, but for me to give it three awards was an anti-climax to the festival.

[Dave Watterson]

The first part of judging sorts out films into 1-star, 2-star, 3-star, 4-star, 5-star and Diamond categories.

The final judges then have to sort out the prizes - which often means getting advice from other judging teams if the best animation happens to be 5-star or best club film a 4-star ... those films are then watched by the final judges, who may or may not agree.

The BEST IN FESTIVAL and BEST BRITISH awards are usually taken from the films that have won Diamonds.

We may all have different opinions, but I also prefer those top two prizes to go to different films. Some people suggested as best of the festival: THE APARTMENT for example.
-------------
But I don't agree about humour. Recently Jan and I watched TAR starring Cate Blanchett - which is gripping, dramatic and totally engrossing but almost devoid of humour.

[John Simpson]

Some people suggested as best of the festival: THE APARTMENT for example.

As I don't remember watching that film and it's not on the watch list, I cannot pass opinion.

[Michael Slowe]

Totally agree with Big Dave, I thought that The Apartment (not the one with (Walter Matttau & Jack Lemmon), was a better film than The Dig. The latter had a good gag but was very limited.