Recent News

Sun 20th May 2012

Staines-upon-Thames Day: Sunday May 20th

Members were out in force filming on this historic day when Staines is officially renames Staines-upon-Thames. The Independent caught Tim and Barry videoing an interview with an Ali G supporter. You can view the resultant article that was published here. The picture on the right shows the dynamic duo in full flight!!

We were not the only people recording the event. A team from The Surry Advertiser was also out and about, seen here interviewing Cllr. Colin Davis.

The paper has a website with a page dedicated to video interviews. Sunday's event is not yet available, but watch this space!

Though the weather was cold the rain held off, even for the duck race, and we all had a good day. We are now pooling all our shots and hope to post a short video of proceedings here in the next few days.

See the Spelthorne website for information about the event.

---

Fri 13th April 2012

North Thames Region Triangle Competition 2012

The results for the second stage of the competition hosted by Staines Video makers are as follows.

	NORTH THAMES REGION I.A.C.
	2012 TRIANGLE TROPHY COMPETITION
	Triangle "L"
	JUDGES: 1. Bob Hayward 2. Tania Mathias 3. David Moore
	REFEREE Ron Jones FACI
	"DOCUMENTARY" SECTION						SCORES
	CLUB		TITLE					Judge 1	Judge 2	Judge 3	Total Score
	Staines Video Makers		Fasnacht					3	3	3	9
	St. Albans Movie Makers		The Watermill					1	1	2	4
	Bourne End Video Camera Club		S.S.Great Britain					2	2	1	5
	"OPEN" SECTION
	CLUB		TITLE				Judge 1	Judge 2	Judge 3	B/F Total	Total Score
	St. Albans Movie Makers		Farnborough				2	2	2	4	10
	Bourne End Video Camera Club		My Best Friend				3	3	3	5	14
	Staines Video Makers		Impressions of Mercedes-Benz World				1	1	1	9	12
	"FICTIONAL STORY" SECTION
	CLUB		TITLE				Judge 1	Judge 2	Judge 3	B/F Total	Total Score
	Bourne End Video Camera Club		Down Under				2	2	3	14	21
	Staines Video Makers		Up, Up and Away				3	3	2	12	20
	St. Albans Movie Makers		Drop out				1	1	1	10	13

Congratulations from all of us to the overall winner of this stage: Bourne End Video Camera Club

---

Sat 31st March 2012

BBC Click Technology Channel

We had to get up very early this morning to go to Heathrow, and so by chance saw a programme on BBC 1 in which how to make a movie on a smartphone was explained. This is the perfect follow-up to Chairman Tim's excellent presentation of the night before, so here is the link to 'How to make a movie on a smartphone'. You can find this and more on the BBC's Click website which has now been added to the Audio-Visual Forums Section on our Knowledge Center page.

Webmaster

---

Fri 30st March 2012

Chairman's evening

This Friday Chairman Tim selected and discussed a wide range of videos sourced from the internet, many of which were truly fascinating. By popular request he has provided links to the videos, so we can enjoy them again at leisure. The links are listed below:

PART ONE
Talking Twin Babies	Twin baby boys have a conversation
	The Weir – My first video! – Not Available!
Marc’s Honeymoon	by Marc Peters – admin of Digital Director
Panic Mechanic	Hi Jack From a South African film
Amateur Lasse Gjertsen	Made in 2006. All effects are down to editing. No additional sound was added . Note how it still progresses – becomes more complex as it evolves. Also note humour.
Kitchen Jam	C-van (Kartiv2) Israeli Girl posts every week also collaborates. Not just instruments.
OK Go – End Love	18hr continuous shoot + 200hrs additional footage. Time compressed by 270 times (average) slo mo 32 times . Look at the smooth transition between the time lapse stuff and the slomo.
Rock around the Clock	C-van (Kartiv 2)
Dawlish Warren Airshow
The Magic Ball Man	Shot with Canon DSLR (7D) + Glidecam. Hypnotic images – camera movement adds interest.
LEGO – Top 10 Movie Moments	Harry Bossert 17 y/o Commissioned by Lego
PART TWO
The Boss	Calum Thomson Reminded me of the Shepperton satnav film.
Street Songs	Dave Marris – song to accompany a song from 20 years ago? Wife & daughter act.
Me & My Campervan	Ian Crowther
Lovefield	Mathieu Ratthe – combines elements of horror, suspense and drama. Use of sound.
Clean the House	C-Van (Kartiv2)
The Moon, The Cook, and what I think	Dave Marris

---

Fri 9th March 2012

Shooters Hill wins Silver Salver

Rita Hayes' "A Stopover in London", a film about one 70 year old lady’s overnight stay on the pavement of The Mall and the celebrations the following day for the 2011 Royal Wedding, won this year's Inter-Club Competition for the Silver Salver, held on 9th March.

With a wide variety of films being screened, the judges' job is never going to be an easy one, but Shooters Hill Camcorder Club emerged the victor – Tania Mathias said she thought the coverage of the wedding was better in many ways than the TV coverage, and that this film will be important archive footage in 50 years' time.

The runner up was Potters Bar Ciné & Video Society's "Oveheard on a Saltmarsh" by Ed Kinge - a video dramatization/interpretation of a poem by Harold Monro. Third place went to Bourne End Video Camera Club's drama, "Down Under".

---

Fri 17th February 2012

First Round Triangle Victory

Staines beat Wanstead & Woodford Ciné & Video Club in the first round of this year's North Thames Region IAC Triangle Competition on Friday 17th February. Whilst Staines won all three categories the scores (9-6, 8-7, 9-6) do not reflect the closeness of the tie. Judges were very complimentary about all six films. More details will be revealed at next week's meeting and a full report will be published in the next issue of Storyboard.

Important Diary Change

Due to our success in the first round, we are to host our semi-final of the NTRIAC Triangle Competition on Friday 13th April. This replaces the scheduled guest speaker. Please make a note in your diaries of this change and be sure to come along and support your club.

Fri 27th January 2012

An evening with Bob Foley

On Friday Bob Foley entertained us with a packed evening full of tales of his life as a BBC sound assistant, film sound recordist and finally a BBC sound balance engineer. As well as plenty of amusing and fascinating anecdotes, he played us a number of examples as to how sound effects can be layered and the effect they have the imagination, and showed his own behind the scenes footage from the "Battle of Britain" film and his documentary about the Regal Cinema in Cranleigh (and in particular it's automated projection system) as well as films showing the technology and work involved in putting together such broadcasts as Election 92 and the Beijing Olympics.

---

Fri 3rd December

Staines members win awards at IAC Regional Festival

On Sunday 27th November, Jeremy Holder and Tim Stannard both won awards at the Annual North Thames Region IAC Film Festival. Jeremy's "A Highland Journey" won third place overall and Tim's "Merry Xmas 2010" won the Kenneth Seeger Trophy for Best Editing.

Two other films from Staines Video Makers were also shown - Graham Large's one minute "Language Barrier" and Tim's "Battersea Dogs", both of which were well received by the audience of approximately 60 members from the North Thames region.

---

Fri 21st October

An evening with James Webber of FingerCuff Productions

On Friday 21st October we were entertained by a selection of films made by James Webber - one half of Fingercuff Productions (http://fingercuffproductions.co.uk/). Whilst James's day job is creating corporate and music videos, he is now receiving recognition for the character based dramas which he writes and directs.

We saw a selection of films, beginning with "Commitment" which won "Best British Entry" at BIAFF in 2009 as well as several other awards, through "Dancer" (Best British Entry in BIAF 2011) to "Three", currently on its festival "run". In addition we saw a couple of comedies (again festival prize winners) and music videos. At the end of the evening James (as the writer/director) responded to a Q&A session that provided fascinating insights into his approach to filmmaking. It was an inspiring evening for us all.

---

Fri 14th October

Staines Wins Gateway 2011

Staines Video Makers won the Gateway Trophy in the annual competition against Reading film & Video Makers and Bourne End Video Camera Club. In this event, which has been running since 1971, each club submits one film in each of three categories, Storyline, Documentary and Open and judges from the other two clubs award three or two points in order of preference. Staines won a maximum 6 points in all three categories.

Points were scored in the Storyline, Documentary and Open categories as follows:-

• Storyline:
• Down Under (BEVCC) - 4 points; A Gentle Woman (RFVM) - points; Up, Up and Away (SVM) - 6 points
• Documentary:
• Tyneham - the Lost Village (RFVM) - 4 points; Pump, Pump & Away (SVM) - 6 points; SS Great Britain (BEVCC) - 5 points
• Open:
• The Great Director (SVM) - 6 points; My Best Friend (BEVCC) - 4 points; Days of Whine & poses (RFVM)

The films provided a very varied evening's entertainment but were of a consistently high standard. Congratulations to all involved

---

Fri 2nd September

Staines Video Makers - Inaugural Meeting

Today's meeting was the first of the 2011/12 season. This meeting was special for not only did we celebrate the arrival of two, and possibly three new members, but we also celebrated the society's change of name to Staines Video Makers.

Our president, Ken Ferguson and Chaiman, Tim Stannard proposed a toast to the newly named society's success, and our members joined in the spirit of the occasion too as you can see!

Members can see a short slideshow of the event on the SVM Photogallery page.

---

Tues 9th August

Staines Ciné and Video Society(SVM) name change

From the start of the new season (Fri Sept 2nd 2011) the society's name will be changed from Staines Ciné and Video Society(SVM) to Staines Video Makers(SVM).

This change has been made to ensure the society's name reflects its current activities. In addition to traditional video making these include making short videos specifically for YouTube (and similar platforms).

---