Here are some items of interest from the November / December issue:

SERIAC Council is proposing an afternoon of vintage films from all member clubs in the summer of 2012. Can we support this? Do we have some older films that deserve a wider airing? The location is likely to be the Oast Theatre in Tonbridge.

AV (audio visual) sequences are being suggested as a new film category. We learned from our speaker John Staples earlier in the year that camera clubs use slide shows set to music, as a way to display their photographs. Why shouldn't we also have a go?

I was interested in a snippet from Judith Kenny of Southdowns Moviemakers, describing a workshop evening where members were split into teams and sent out to capture video at locations within five minutes of the club room. At least one of the teams, apparently 'came up with an excellent one-minute scenario, conceived, constructed, acted and filmed all in the space of an hour!' Perhaps we could take some tips from them about how they organised it!

Dates for your diary:

Sunday 27th November 2011: North v South Southern Heat, Village Hall, Farnborough, Kent  contact mcoad@n-v-s.co.uk
Sunday 29th January 2012: North v South Grand Final, Village Hall, Farnborough, Kent   contact mcoad@n-v-s.co.uk
Saturdaay 10th March 2012: SERIAC Film & Video Festival, Oast Theatre, Tonbridge  contact adgp@blueyonder.co.uk
13th-15th April 2012 BIAFF 2012, Hotel Rembreandt, Weymouth    contact David Martin, 14 Mandeville Rd, DT14 9HW

If you missed the last meeting, here's a resume: John showed us the titles from all our recent entries in our one-minute-movie competition. We watched them several times and noticed what worked and what didn't.  Sometimes a title was lost in the background video, or seemed out of proportion, or unnecessarily long. The most impressive was David Hillebrand's title for his movie of the Red Arrows, which started with a logo flying off in the shape of an arrow, leading into a shot of the Arrows flying in the same formation. Very eyecatching!

I wished I hadn't already completed my entries for the Annual Film Competition next meeting. I realise now, that I didn't pay enough attention to the titles! In fact, the tips were so useful that I'm going to create a page for tips on this website.

I was recently contacted by Steve Hopper who runs video-making courses at Sussex Downs College. I have been making videos for some years, but never actually had anyone show me how to do it - which probably means I'm limiting myself by going about things the long way round! So I'm going to enrol on a course and see what improvements I can make to my technique. You never know, it may also provide some new ideas for the club. Steve has also kindly agreed to come and give a talk to the club next year on 18th January, which is exciting.

Various members have been active doing their own projects this year. The club programme has included talks by members and guests, an indoor videoing exercise with a flower arranging demonstration, a location shoot, and assorted competitions. We are quite a small group and it seems hard to get a team together to make a club video. We have considered various ideas, one of which is in progress in the background. As always, it would be nice to get some more new members to bring fresh ideas and enthusiasm.