IAC DISCUSSION FORUMS

My last in-person club show was pre-covid, and as with all such visits there's a ton of preparation involved, a great load of equipment to take, miles to travel, and an expectant audience looking up at you. They're all thinking the same thing: entertain me.

It's an off the cuff presentation that's interspersed with audience interjections and questions, long tea breaks, club news intros and the constant worry that some people in the audience have no interest or understanding, and that others are experts in the subject you're discussing.

Although some shows go off perfectly, it's also very open to all sorts of trip-ups. Traffic holdups that mean you have to set up in 5 minutes flat. Discs that don't play in the host's player, wrinkly projector screens and iffy audio reproduction that you have no control over. It's a problem-solving couple of hours that certainly keeps you on your toes. Tippy-toes at that.

These days it's easy enough to do such a show over Zoom, and the IAC and the VVG group have successfully held a few of these. They're generally still 'live' events so are good for Q&As, but hiccups can still happen. But at least nobody has to make the effort to drive to a club room on a dark and chilly night.

And the reason I'm chatting away like this? I've had a club approach me to say we're still active, miles from you, have a 9 foot screen and can you send us a tom-talk on USB that we can project please?

Well it's been an interesting project. Initially I thought yes, sure. I'll sit in front of my laptop and chat about anything and everything video related, record it all as an MP4 file and WeTransfer it over to the club. But it's turned out to be quite a moviemaking project, and I've ended up making a film. A film with inserts and cut-aways, differing PoVs and covering a multitude of subjects. And as with all films, it's easy to check and edit on the timeline, in my own time.

Tom, that sounds dreadful.

I'm sure the content is great, the production superb and you've done your best to enthuse and criticise. But no matter what you havce put together it lacks one thing - Tom in person.

No, two things - Tom in person and spontaneous feedback.

Film is for film, presentation is live action.

I agree that there is nothing like a live Tom performance!

In general we still seem to be suffering from the long-term effects of lockdown. Too many clubs are meeting only or sometimes on Zoom.

Tim, time was when you used to ask me to talk and show films to your club, that was when we were young men! Other clubs and associations also used to issue requests but I haven't had such an invitation for quite a few years. Of course I'm nowhere near as erudite as dear Tom, nor as technically accomplished, but people did seem to want entertaining with films, both recent and from the days of yore.

Clubs are certainly on the wane, how do we show and talk about films and film making? On line is no substitute for face to face, as has been pointed out here. By the way Tom, now that you live in the 'far north' we rarely meet, are you BIAFF bound in April?

I will indeed be attending BIAFF, Michael. From the Friday walk (avoiding the piled high rubbish and scurrying rats) to the unveiling of the top winners on the Sunday afternoon.

Were any of you on the recent IAC show evening when they were "Zoom bombed"?

Is that going to be a risk for long-distance internet talks?