Capel Curig AV Day April 20th

A good size audience from both North Wales and Wirral converged on the Community Centre at Capel Curig last Sunday, 20th April for the fourth meeting of the North Wales & Wirral Audio Visual Group. The day started with attendees sequences. Then a selection of sequences from the recent Geoffrey Round International Competition were shown (with the Authors’ permission). This proved to be very inspirational, especially for the newcomers and some interesting discussions into what makes a good AV took place.

After lunch Marion Waine showed how she had made ‘It’s All Down to The Packaging’, with particular emphasis on choosing appropriate images.

This was followed by another selection from the Geoffrey Round with further discussions, particularly regarding humour in AV.

The day ended with ‘any questions?’ and a summary of ‘what we’d learnt’ during the day, one of which was the importance of a good ending…….!

The RPS/IAC Geoffrey Round

Digital AV Competition

In Association with The Leeds AV Group -  FIAP Patronage No 2008/027

GEOFFREY ROUND FESTIVAL AV

5 & 6 April 2008 by Jean-Pierre Simon

When Peter Coles contacted me in 2007 to become a member of the Geoffrey Round Digital Festival jury, I felt very honoured by this request, but at the same time slightly embarrassed, for I have some difficulties mastering the English language. In spite of this apprehension, I accepted Peter’s proposal, expressing the wish to be escorted by my wife, who has been sharing with me over the past 30 years, a strong interest for AV expression. We were warmly welcomed at Leeds-Bradford airport by Eddie Spence, who was an excellent guide all through our stay and introduced us to the Leeds Victorian style and other attracting features of the region. We were accomodated in a very pleasant hotel just outside of Leeds, where we had the pleasure to meet our Dutch polyglot friend Willem Van den Berg.

The festival took place ten miles away, in Bradford at The National Media Museum, a large modern and functional building.

Although the museum is quite large, the size of the projection room which was booked for us was quite modest, comparable to a classroom where the screen had replaced the blackboard. This was however sufficient, as the audience was composed of the authors and a few friends, i.e. approximately 50 persons.Though it was small, the audience paid a lot of attention and was very receptive over the two days of projection. The festival gathered 64 sequences, mainly from  Britain (70%).  Nineteen sequences from various European countries completed the programme (Italy, Holland, Switzerland, Belgium, Ireland and

France) The organisation managed by Peter Coles was excellent. The schedules were respected, meals served at the Museum restaurant which reduced the transfers and no major problem occurred during the presentation of digital sequences. To make the communication easier between Linda Gough, Keith Scott and myself, members of the jury, the organisers had requested the presence of Joyce Newton, a  French teacher in Brighouse, to make all the translations.  This initiative was very much appreciated by all of us as it turned out indispensable during the discussions. A big ”thank you” to Joyce for her efficiency, her availability and her kindness. In addition to this, and upon my request, Peter had sent me at home the majority of the texts in English to enable me read them first for a better understanding. The sequences were of good quality and the variety of the subjects treated offered a very pleasant show. Some older, recently digitalised sequences were also presented, as allowed by the regulations, but the majority of the sequences were quite recent creations. Having observed, over the past 30 years, the evolution of sequence making in Europe, I must say English authors have improved their work a lot, trained by quality leaders.  In opposition to this, other nations such as Germany and

Spain have totally disappeared from international festivals. We can also regret the absence of Australian, Romanian and Polish authors whose respective nations still organise international festivals.  Unfortunately, we can deplore the scarcity of international festivals. The cost requested by FIAP patronage is often judged too excessive by organisers who are not supported by sponsors. The list of prize winners in a festival is often appreciated by authors whose work is rewarded. Those not appearing in the list of winners are unfortunately very disappointed. Being an author myself, I know the situation well and the 50% rule of accepted works which sometimes excludes good sequences. The time granted to establish the final list of winners was rather short (75 minutes) as we depended upon the museum’s times of opening and closure.  But we had luckily conducted a pre-sorting discussion after each projection. The restrictions with the museum’s times of opening did not allow organising a gala evening open to the general public. The rewards were fairly granted by the 2008 jury: An artistic work was granted the First prize (One Day One Life by Pier Luigi Montali)  A creation and animation sequence was awarded the Second prize (The Colour Thief by Jill K Bunting) A very good documentary was awarded the Third prize (Talbot House by Linda & Edgar Gibbs). Quality sequences form very varied categories were amongst the other prizes (information documentary, humour, nature, essay and themes). The jury is often composed of people with different sensitivities and arbitration is necessary to present a fair list of winners. Another jury at another time could probably present a very different list of winners. We will keep our excellent fond memories of the Geoffrey Round International AV 2008 and hope that the encouragements showed to the authors will allow organising a very successful Geoffrey Round Trophy next year. Many thanks to you all.

Jean-Pierre Simon

The Results are shown under Results of Competitions

The Programme

Session 1 Saturday April 5th 10.00am

01 Dali’s Dream of Passion by André W Hartensvelt  (Netherlands) 5’35″

02 Day and Night by Carol Tipping (UK) 2’55″

03 Suicide Note (Digital) by Sheilah Peel & Peter Coles (Ireland/UK) 8’21″

04 Delightful Dancers by Joan Horne (UK) 4’40″

05 Endurance by Lee Broderick (UK) 7’42″

06 Mera Peak, Nepal by Andrew Wood (UK) 11’00″

07 The Gathering by Ian Bateman (UK) 3’21″

08 Haworth Past and Present by Peter Brown (UK) 6’50″

09 Bogs, Hills and Water by Cliff Colreavy (Ireland) 9’12″

10 Rain Beneath Pinewood by Lorenzo de Francesco (Italy) 8’30″

11 La Festa de Saint Ronald by Paul-Francois Béziat (France) 3’42″

12 Night Visitor by David and Carol Gillow (UK) 3’19”

13 The Kissing Gate by Maggie Imhoff (UK) 4’00

14 The Colour Thief by Jill K Bunting (UK) 6’36″

15 Stand Proud Brother by Robert Albright (UK) 7’30″

16 The Survivors by Ron Davies (UK) 8’55″

Session 2 Saturday April 5th 2.00pm

17 Impressions, Reflections and Flights of Fancy by Len Deeley (UK) 3’30″

18 Raising The Spirit of The Horse by Carol Tipping (UK) 4’30″

19 The Red Shoes by David and Carol Gillow (UK) 4’57″

20 Your Star by Peter Coles (UK) 7’57″

21 The Messiah by John Smith (UK)4’40”

22 Honda by Marion Waine (UK) 9’50″

23 Peril in the Snow by Malcolm Imhoff (UK) 9’00″

24 Griot Talk by Jean-Marie Coupriaux (France) 5’29″

25 One Day One Life by PierLuigi Montali (Italy) 6’10″

26 A Time to Learn by Eddie Spence (UK) 6’30″

27 Us Two by Valerie Rawlins (UK|) 2’45″

28 Chasing Rainbows by Paul Searle (UK) 4’48″

29 Shop Window Dummy by Piet Huÿgens (Netherlands) 10’55

30 I Must Get Fit by Ann Owens (UK) 2’22″

31 Les Six de Rodin by Jacques van de Weerdt & Paul Guislain (Belgium) 8’00″

32 Come on Tim by Bryan Stubbs (UK) 5’42″

Session 3 Sunday April 6th 10.00am

33 The Forest of Tane Mahuta by Erhard Hobrecker (Switzerland) 8’48″

34 Underwater Interlude by Len Deeley (UK) 3’30″

35 What Women Want by Maureen Albright (UK) 1’56″

36 Essence by Sheilah Peel & Peter Coles (Ireland/UK) 3’20″

37 Lucas by Ricardo Zarate (France) 2’20”

38 1 in 3.7 by Howard Gregory (UK) 7’40″

39 Te Deshojé como una Rosa by Lorenzo de Francesco (Italy) 3’30″

40 A bit of a Do by Valerie Rawlins (UK) 3’36″

41 Glen of Weeping by David Morland (UK) 6’04″

42 Red and Gold by Paul Searle (UK) 4’40″

43 It’s All Down To The Packagingby Marion Waine (UK) 9’22“

44 Scottish Reflections by Howard Bagshaw (UK) 6’27″

45 The Spiritual World by Cliff Colreavy (Ireland) 8’03″

46 Fear No More by Robert Albright (UK) 1’30″

47 Timepassages by Tommy Kelly (Ireland) 2’00″

48 Simon by Gilles Lucas-Leclin and Ricardo Zarate (France) 6’12”

49 In The Corners of My Mind by Mike Kersting (UK) 4’05″

50 Hotel Dieu by Howard Bagshaw (UK) 4’22″

Session 4 Sunday April 6th 2.00pm

51 La Femme aux bas blancs by Jean-Paul Petit (France) 4’15”

52 The Way Forward by Peter Coles (UK) 6’01″

53 Talbot House by Linda and Edgar Gibbs (UK) 8’08″

54 The Beach on The Wall by James Hamill (UK) 4’00″

55 Above The Clouds by Trevor Barlow (UK) 3’42″

56 A Face in The Crowd by David Pickford (UK) 7’55″

57 All Stations To … by Philip Barker (UK) 2’00″

58 The Kiss by Bryan Stubbs (UK) 7’54″

59 Destiny bt Brian Harvey (UK) 5′56″

60 Minérale Eternité by Jean-Paul Guibal (France) 6’45″61Steam by Ken Biggs (UK) 2’30”62 This Native Land of Mine by Eddie Spence (UK) 6′58″63 L’ilot Martin by Ricardo Zarate (France) 1’39”64 A Particular Day by PierLuigi Montali (Italy) 8′58″Approx 5.00pm Geoffrey Round Digital AV Competition 2008 Awards

Last Friday May 9th, I was picked up by Berbard Longley and Keith Fisher and taken for an airing in Sheffield, and very good it was too! We witnessed about 20 Sequences and I enjoyed the whole Show.

Today, May 11th I was picked up and taken to the YPU AV learning session in Huddersfield, where I was “on show”. It was all quite good because there were only about a dozen there so we could really get down to discusing what it was all about. I still managed to show about 20 or so Sequences, mostly of my own. Very enjoyable.

May Day (1st May 2008)

This morning my vicar, Howard Pask, brought down a couple of dozen not-so-brilliant jpgs of the London Marathon in which he took part a week ago last Sunday! He is raising funds for Menigitis (well agin it, not for it - if y know wot I mean!) He expected an instant AV for a fund-raising event next Saturday, so I have spent today making this instead of backing my Lib Dem colleague in the local election (well she is going to get by a mile in anyway!) Now, don’t expect too much but it can be dowloaded from:  http://download.yousendit.com/F02B33A50E4352A3  Latest News is that my colleague got in by half a mile (278 vote majority so that was not too bad and now Lib Dems have overtaken Labour as the 2nd Party in the UK ! Wow! Whatever next? ! )

And yes, in case you were a wondering, yes that is a nun coming in just behind Howard, chasing him home or was it trying to catch up with him, lucky fellow ! ? If you watch the full PTE she also has a nice pair of legs, which arrive just before Howard finishes !!!

And since then I have now made another Sequence based on sonnet I wrote called “Howard’s Marathon”, which is shown under Peter’s Latest Poems. The Sequence can be downloaded from: http://download.yousendit.com/D86F2B4541F42428

Easter Monday

I have been encouraging my granddaughter Alicia to use PTE and we took some images this afternoon to make into a Sequence for the RPS -25 Competetion. I’ll put the result at the end of this little bit, but I would just like to say how impressed I was at the ease with which the young can take to this medium. I’m putting a bit about this in Film and Video Maker. Ally is coming up here again in a couple of weeks time because she is well aware that, like most of us, she is a bit shy of the microphone! I hope she gets it better with her second attempt. To view her first version of “PTE & ME”: http://download.yousendit.com/334B17031C66C91B

 Easter Day

I thought that, as it was Easter, I would put up on this site “As A Cloud”, which is supposed to be about Easter. It is a few years old now but Easter is a lot older than that - and yet still new every year. It (the Sequence that is)  can be downloaded from:  http://download.yousendit.com/F02B33A50E4352A3

However, come to think of it, downloading Easter is much easier than that!

Geoffrey Round International AV Competition 5th & 5th April 2008

The 2008 Awards were announced:

1st FIAP Gold   One Day One Life by PierLuigi Montali  (Italy)

2nd  FIAP Silver  The Colour Thief by Jill K Bunting (UK)

3rd FIAP Bronze    Talbot House by Linda and Edgar Gibbs (UK)

6 FIAP Honourable Mentions (not in order) 

1 in 3.7 by Howard Gregory (UK)

Us Two by Valerie Rawlins (UK)

The Forest of Tane Mahuta by Erhard Hobrecker (Switz)

Peril in The Snow by Malcom Imhoff (UK)

Red Shoes by David and Carol Gillow (UK)

Scottish Reflections by Howard Bagshaw (UK)

Pollock Medal (Best First Time Entrant): Endurance by Lee Broderick (UK)

The Audience Vote: In Harrogate alone the vote went to Howard Bagshaw with  his Scottish Reflections but when the Bradford votes were added the three Medal winners were equal first.

There were far fewer this year at the Show as it was an alternative to three other film collections. Next year it returns to the usual Friday Evening Show where up to two hundred attend.

The following (in order of appearance) were Awarded FIAP Acceptances:

The Gathering by Ian Bateman (UK)

Night Visitor by David and Carol Gillow (UK)

Stand Proud Brother by Robert Albright (UK)

The Survivors by Ron Davies (UK)

The Messiah by John Smith (UK)

Honda by Marion Waine (UK)

A Time to Learn by Eddie Spence (UK)

Shop Window Dummy by Piet Huÿgens (Netherlands) What Women Want by Maureen Albright (UK)

A bit of a Do by Valerie Rawlins (UK)

Glen of Weeping by David Morland (UK)

Simon by Gilles Lucas-Leclin and Ricardo Zarate (France)

Hotel Dieu by Howard Bagshaw (UK)

La Femme aux bas blancs by Jean-Paul Petite (France)

The Way Forward by Peter Coles (UK)

The Beach on The Wall by James Hamill (UK)

A Face in The Crowd by David Pickford (UK)

All Stations To … by Philip Barker (UK)

The Kiss by Bryan Stubbs (UK)

Destiny by Brian Harvey (UK)

Minérale  Eternité by Jean-Paul Guibal (France)

Steam by Ken Biggs (UK)

This Native Land of Mine by Eddie Spence (UK)

All others are awarded a participation certificate within this FIAP Patronised International Event.

29th September 2007

I gave a chat in Wilmslow last night and one person asked, “Is there a good book on this?”. That’s always a sign that what you have been rabbiting on about is missing its mark! So I said that I did’nt think there was one, as I certainly had not used one, but Jill Bunting put me right; she knew of the excellent work available via the PTE site which I reach via www.beechbrook.com.

So, I have now downloaded and printed all 127 pages of it! It is really good as a reference work. However if I spent time reading and digesting it all I would not be able to make the Sequences I have in mind, so my basic (and for me most important) motto comes into play “Just do it!”

I am sure some combination of these two very different philosophies will suit you and I look forward to seeing many more Sequences from those who have given  this excellent tome more attention.

I also look forward to a series of articles from some clever AV worker which can explain the essence of how we may use PTE v5 rather than spend time reading all about it, or worse still, talking all about what we would do if only we better understood all the latest the techniques.

Don’t forget that PTE v5.1 is now available for download. I always do this via www.beechbrook.com

3rd May

I wrote this one to help raise money to fight Meningitis

Howard’s Marathon

 

Heptonstall and Hebden Bridge left behind,

Parishioners still in his memory,

Their images linger here, to remind

Him of support from the church family.

His preparation has been quite thorough;

He’s done hundreds of miles in practice runs;

But now’s not yesterday or tomorrow,

Today it’s one of London’s Marathons.

As over fifty thousand run the race,

The waiting seems like an eternity,

But soon he jogs within his chosen pace,

Selecting times for his pre-destiny.

The aim, beyond the end-now-in-sight, is

Raising more cash to fight Meningitis.

Howard has so far raised over £2,000 following his charity run. Any wishing to make contributions could do so through this site.

The Sequence can be downloaded from "Peter's Latest Sequences"

 

15 Jan 2008 

In The Image of Love

In the beginning there was nowt at all,

Not even owt for t’Spirit to move on;

But then God decided summut should fall

Into His vacuum and so this was done..

All the sea and land stuff came out of Light;

Equations could show how much was needed;

But life on our Earth was still out of sight

Till this light energised the brew it fed.

And so we evolved from initial slime,

To find God in His Garden of Eden.

But we get fed up with just passing time

As our atoms flow for three score and ten.

So what’s this creation of man made of?

God made us all in the image of Love.

 

 

 

In October 2007 I had just been reading "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins. Those who know me well will maybe understand why I found most of the book predictable and boring, but toward the end there were some excellent ideas: he quotes from another book by Steve Grand: "Creation: Life and How to Make It"

"Steve Grand invites his reader to think ....

... of an experience from your childhood. Something you remember clearly, something you can see, feel, maybe even smell, as if you were really there. After all you really were there at the time, weren’t you/ How else could you remember it? But here is the bombshell: you weren’t there. Not a single atom that is in your body today was there when that event took place .... Matter flows from place to place and momentarily comes together to be you. Whatever you are, therefore, you are not the stuff of which you are made. If that does not make the hair stand up on the back of your neck, read it again until it does, because it is important."

I was impressed by  thoughts expressed here so I ended up spending an hour or so today writing the following sonnet:

Your Star

"I think therefore I am"; a quotation

From Descartes in the sixteenth century;

Philosophies from his generation

Have now already almost ceased to be.

We recognize the atoms which made us,

When we played around as little children,

Have all been gradually replaced and thus

We’re not now the same stuff that formed us then.

If we are more than these mobile millions

Space waves continue through their replacement

If faith, hope and love are more than bygones

New thoughts evolve from those which Descartes meant.

To begin to imagine who you are,

Know you’re from God, not just part of your star.

For details of the latest French and other International Festivals visit http://www.espacevision.org/agenda.htm

for Diaporamatour http://www.diaporamatour.com/

for Trophee de Paris http://site.voila.fr/tropheedeparis/index.html

for Romanian Festival (Closing Date 15th August 2007) www.uafbucovina.org

For Interesting information and tutorials visit www.beckamdigital.co.uk

For PTE information and forum visit www.beechbrook.com

http://www.maureenalbright.com is always worth a visit. She has a special site dealing with AV as well as other sites to do with other digital matters.

Do make sure you know about Iris - 25 on this site. Or you could go yo the RPS site about this topic direct from this site by clicking on

MAureen Albright | maureen@maureenalbright.com | iris-25.rps.org | IP: 82.153.64.81

The Curious World of AV Competitions

It is quite amazing what differences are achieved through the employment of different Juries.

Congratulations to all those who scored well in Adelaide, particularly to our friend from Belgium, Johan Werbrouck, who won the Grand Prix; he must have been less well pleased with the reception that the same Sequence, that same weekend, received in TrÉlazÉ, where apparently, it was eliminated at the Pre-selection stage!

I went to Chelles, on the edge of Paris, this same weekend to an event which seems less well known in the UK; “The International Festival of the Projected Image” is an annual event which shows professional work as well as “The Challenge” for Sequences like the ones with which we are more familiar. The professional sessions usually use at least two or three projectors with quite complex programming and they can show us the sorts of progress to which we can aspire, even with more “basic” equipment. The ideas within this professional work, where attention has to be grabbed and retained, can give lessons to us all. I went there with Willem van den Berg and Henk Tulp, our two friends from Netherlands. Henk”s Sequence made with Albert Slack “The Bridge is Safe” was on the menu and played well on the superb sound system employed in this big theatre. I had a particular interest in two Sequences, “Flutterings” and “Striped Pyjamas”, the later being made recently with Ron Davies and, this version, performed in French, with the help of a young relative of Jacques van de Weerdt. These two Sequences, apparently, were in contention during the Juries” final deliberations for the Award (There only is one winner!) but eventually they decided on “Différent” by Denys Quélever, made, I believe, with the considerable help of our Parisian friend, Jean-Paul Petit. An English version is currently under construction, so I expect we shall witness this shortly. However, the same fate was received for “Différent” in Trélazé where it failed to get through their Pre-selection! The audience vote in Chelles went to “L’Oubli” by Christian Hendricks from Belgium.

The audiences in Chelles are drawn from two different sources: quite a few Diaporamists decide it is well worth watching the latest works and the local community has become expectant of a good Show each night of the Festival. Local musicians also take part; on this occasion we were entertained by a local group of Gospel singers, accompanied with Audio-visual projections on translucent screen between them and the audience. The audience is expanded with their admirers and supporters. So AV is exposed to a wider audience.

Meanwhile, Ron Davies was in TrÉlazÉ where, much to his personal delight, our “Striped Pyjamas” won the Grand Prix. The full results are shown elsewhere but just one or two of our British AV workers had some success there. As I write these notes, over two weeks after the event took place, I have still received no communication from the organisers of the Competition. I have no programme and no idea of which British Sequences were entered for the event. The results were gleaned from Ron Davies who was there. It also seems curious that so few FIAP Acceptances were awarded when there were so many more very worthy Sequences. Another eight Acceptences would have been usual under the 50% rule. I do know, from what Ron told me, that one of my own Sequences, “Reincarnation”, was included in the Gala Evening but was not “Accepted”! There may well be other “foreigners” who feel equally agrieved. Are the Organisers or All-French Jury trying to discourage entries from countries other than France? (Just over three weeks after the event, the Programme and Prize List did eventually arrive via post. 80% of the 15 Awards were French and 73% of FIAP Acceptances were French.)

In Chelles I met up with an AV acquaintance going back a long while, Bernard Sanch. He was a member of the Jury and I had not seen him for several years. He has not taken to working with digits, but if we look at his record of achievement, we may care to note that he had made more analogue Sequences than almost anyone in the world: 2 Grand Prix; 111 other Prizes and 45 other FIAP Acceptances, from a total of 47 Sequences. His first recorded work was in 1965, so Bernard has been making Diaporamas for over 40 years!

At the end of the Festival in Chelles there was a discussion and conversations in English and French ranged over many topics: What was the place of movement within the ways we work in AV? Were most recent alternative transitions just passing gimmicks? How do we encourage more young people to take part in our art? How do we encourage a greater involvement within our normal communities? How can we gain sponsorship for Festivals. Some of these topics deserve our attention in future issues of AV News or on any of the web sites making this possible and more immediate.

The 321 event held in ten different venues provided us with quite a few surprises. The full results may be seen elsewhere but here are a few comments from Ian Bateman who ran the Aldbourne Session.

Highlights are:

a.. 1st went to Ricardo Zarate with “Memoria” (came 5th at Aldbourne)

b.. 2nd was “Eugene le Gene” (the one about GMO in processed foods) (6th at Aldbourne)

c.. 3rd was “Striped Pyjamas” (2nd at Aldbourne) well done Ron and Peter!

d.. Val Rawlins came 11th with “Trois heures” (3rd at Aldbourne)

e.. I came 12th with “Hampden Pye” (10th at Aldbourne)

f.. The UK winner (La Forma della Musica) came 29th overall.

g.. “Frauen Power” came 6th overall despite not being played at all events

h.. Only one sequence (La Semaine Sainte - the one with the naked breast and easter eggs) failed get any points in any country and therefore scored just 12 out of a theoretical maximum of 24,000)

i.. Just 4 UK sequences made it to the Top 20, and only 1 in the Top 10!!!

This variation phenomenon is not restricted to the anomolies within International events; we can spot these throughout all occasions where the same Sequences are graded by different Judges. Essex judges differently from Leeds who are again different from Leicester in those delightful friendly wars that take place between our AV Groups. As long as we don’t take such judgements too seriously they can be good fun; any surprise Award can then be regarded as a sort of bonus in addition to the main joy of taking part.

On Saturday 10th March, I went to Leeds to their “Spectacular”. Here the Judge, Ray Brightman, singled out “Mary Myfanwy Evans”, by Eddie Spence, as the winner, chosen from 17 Sequences by 17 different authors. I am sure that Eddie will forgive me for reporting that the real winner, however, was Ralph Smith! Ralph started this event some 32 years ago and the audience in Leeds for this occasion must rank as the biggest in the world. We should all recoginise these remarkable achievements and try to learn from them.

On saturday 17th March I was one of the Judges in Rayleigh of the East Anglian AV Competition. The results of this event are posted elswhere on this site.

These two events gave me considerable pleasure not just for the priviledge of witnessing 55 excellent Sequences, but in particular in learning that there are new AV workers making serious progress.

In Leeds we find Madge Gibson with her first Sequence “Swaledale in Autumn” showing that here is a new talent who can find beautiful light and play with this before our eyes.

In Essex I find Barbie Lindsay, some may recall her “Changing Faces”, seen at recent national events, is not just a one-off; two more excellent Sequences, “Life is Like a Bowl of Fruit” and “Impurrfect” graced the day. This lady is certainly different and so are her Sequences. Once I have mastered the skills required to ornate this site with more images and Sequences, I will show you more clearly what I mean! Whilst commenting on my days in Essex, I must report that this Competition must rate as the best Regional AV Competiton I have witnessed so far. 38 First-Class

Sequenecs none of which would have been out of place in our IAC Geoffrey Round event on 24th & 25th March in Capel Curig.

The saga continues, following the IAC Geoffrey Round event; one or two well recognised distintinguished Sequences failed to be “Accepted”; these included both of Eddie Spence’s works, “Mary Myfanwy Evans” and “Conquest of Paradise”; I was more surprised by the first of these decisions than the second, but this remake of Eddie’s Tape Slide Sequence of the same name still seems more than “Acceptable”! Keith Scott’s “A Little Place in the Country” just failed to make the top nine and received a special mention by the Chair of the Jury, Keith Brown, but personally, I was more surprised that “If Only …” missed out on even an “Acceptance” by the Jury’s decisions; quite a few of the audience were surprised too, as they voted this Sequence into second place. I suppose that it is easy to point to Sequences like “Venice Clandestine” by Jean-Pierre Simon, “The Brooke” by Julie England and “A Love Affair” by Maggie and Malcom Imhoff which might well have at least been “Accepted” and to note, in doing so, that all of them have done much better elsewhere, like in Australia. However, it is certainly much more difficult to nominate Sequences which would need to be demoted in order for this to happen. It has seemed to me for many years that the real remedy would be to allow any well-qualified and experienced Jury more discretion and less restriction through such inapproriate crude statistical embargos, imposed on them by an apparently inflexible set of FIAP regulations. I am aware of several more-than-competant AV workers who have stopped sending their work to FIAP-Patronised International events because of the “slight” they regard has been handed out to them, by rules imposed on well-meaning Juries. I, personally, who have done so well in so many Internationals, have come to resent most Awards Sessions, finding them the least enjoyable part of such events. I often feel I would rather not be there when the results are declared. They seem to generate more pain than joy. It is that joy element of AV production and performance which keeps me in the game. I enjoy the deadline element of Competition; I do not enjoy the sense of “failure” it sometimes generates. It rarely gives much room for the encouragement of new workers’s productions. There are exceptions of course and, for example it is really good to see Geraldine Malthouse’s work being appreciated by our Geoffrey Round Jury. Let’s hope this may give encouragement to others to take part.

I would be particularly interested in others’ comments on this issue.

  Trophée de Paris 15th 16th June 2007

So, as I know M Coles is waiting for a long message about my impressions during this large week end dedicated to audiovisual slideshows at the Trophée de Paris, what should I say?

I came  as a  friend supporter to Stéphane Bidouze work, and I really enjoyed being there. First of all, I do think that the kindness, sense of humour, and very welcoming attitude of the organizers has to be underlined. They really made their best to make everybody feel both comfortable and moved by what was shown….

There were so many good “diaporamas” that  I really felt myself  many times like  deeply diving into movies, forgetting that it was not film making, as the stories were genuine screenplays, as the sound was fitting perfectly, as I was strongly  carried away.

I thought it might be slightly boring, as I’m not any of a “diaporamist”, and It was not boring at all.

Friday evening and Saturday until 20pm, there were kind of a discussion after each projection and people were all very passionate, very accurate in their questioning, very demanding too…

I found that interesting, even if technical arguments wouldn’t convince me about the opportunity of using “proshow” or PTE, or even “la lanterne magique”…..I somehow listened carefully every word refering to the  screenplay,  or music, sound,  diction, emotion, depth of feelings, sensitiveness, message, etc ……

During that week end I was more and more persuaded that audiovisual slideshow making is a real tough work and a masterpiece of art.
Let me tell you M Coles, that I loved your highly poetical and imaginative story about this Bruno the son of a german officer who shares the destiny of a jewish child through the mediation of “striped pyjamas”…..

Some say in the audience that’s it’s hard to believe, but who cares?

I liked very much the  “essai sur ma haine”, found the diction extremely moving, describing perfectly well different complex feelings one can go through, from  shock to anger, hate, leading to the keeping down and to the  acceptance of “what happened” for not being ourselves on the revengeful side of life.

I thought “l’oubli”, Nementcha,  Collins were beautiful, too.
I forgot plenty of them, the humourous “chariots of fire” (as clever as a Peter Greenway demonstrative movie, mixed with  a Terry Gillian one)  and others, and ask you to apology for that “distraction” of mine.
Be sure that I enjoyed being there…..
I wish you plenty of success with your AV slideshows, the one about “opera hip hop” and others
Yours faithfully

Sophie Bardinet

The Following 14 Sequences were placed and shown during the Public Performance during the evening of 16th June 2007

1         Sirja Lamia by Johan Werbrouck (Belgique)

2         La passion de Manon by Denis Gelin (France)

3         Different by Denys Quelever (France)

4         L’Oubli by Christian Hendrickx (Belgique)

5         Derrière la barrière by Philippe de Lachèze-Murel  (France)

6         Ding Ding! by Cécile Friset (France)

7         Urban Art  by Jean-Claude Desmonts et José Amezcua (France)

8         Essai sur ma haine by Jacques Van De Weerdt (Belgique)

9         Striped Pyjamas  by Ron Davies& Peters Coles Grande Bretagne)

10       Alma by Robert Albright (Grande Bretagne)

11       J’adore t’ecrire by Stephane Bidouze (France)

12       Une journée à Roquebillière by Jean-Marie Lafont-Delpit (France)

13       Chariots of fire by Ian Bateman (Grande Bretagne)                                                          

14       Terre d’accueil by Brigitte Richir (France)

FULL RESULTS ON 

http://site.voila.fr/tropheedeparis/index.html

 DIAPORAMATOUR results

The Full results for the four events and the Overall results are available on:

http://www.diaporamatour.com/

The Global Results for the top few are given below:

1 La Passion de Manon by Denys Gelin (Fr)

2 L’attaché-case by Michele et Michel Paret (Fr)

3 La Legend  de Magnus Olafsson by Jean-Pierre Simon (Fr)

4 Lacheté by Jean Zuchet (Fr)

5 Striped Pyjamas by Peter Coles & Ron Davies (UK)

6 Le saignement de la pierre by Jean-Marie Béziat

7= JFK by Coretin Le Gall (Fr)

7= Memoria by Ricardo Zarate (Fr)

7= Maria Fil Noir

Different

Pictures to EXE version 5

is now downloadable from

www.beechbrook.com

 

FANTA DIA

I have just returned from an excellent FANTADIA event held in Asolo, just north of

Venice in the foothills of The Italian Dolomites. This is the place where Robert Browning used to hide away and meet up with several of his poet friends. It’s a most beautiful venue; we stayed in a hostel run by nuns who were most kind and helpful. The events took place in a theatre and most evening there was an audience of just over one hundred. The local folk had become used to the first-class entertainment provided on these occasions and so quite a few joined in with the authors and producers, most of which were professional workers who had travelled from countries all over the world.One regular contributor to these occasions, Mal Padgett decided to get married here this year and so the Friday was devoted to his wedding to Gabbie during the day from midday followed by a reception, then a Show of his work during the evening, followed by more food, ending up back at the hostel about 3-o-clock on Saturday morning! One or two ‘amateur’ works were shown: my own “Flutterings” was in the programme. However, even though I had sent a couple of disks with it on many moons beforehand, they did not seem to be able to find one of them! No problem, we just substituted it with “Five Beers” which Willem van den Berg happened to have with him on his laptop. This Sequence was actually made during my visit to Asolo two years previously, so it seemed appropriate that this was the substitute rather than nay of the other Sequences I had on a memory stick in my own pocket! Other highlights for me included a homage to Asolo made by Todd and Marcia Gipstein from

USA, made from images gathered during two previous stays in this area for Fantadia events. “Lasciami Essere” was an excellent report on Alzheimers patients, locally made by Moria de Zen who lives in Asolo. There were two works by Johan Werbrouck, “Leda and The Swan” and “The Vanishing Race” and “The Bridge is Safe” by Henk Tulp and Albert Slack and “Different” by Denys Quélever (winner of the Fantadia event in Chelles, Paris, earlier this year) but these were shown before I arrived on the Thursday.Maybe the most impressive for me was a Sequence by Claudio Tuti, “In Fruili the land shook” constructed from archive images of an major earthquake in 1976. This was a very sensitive production.Bruce Hornstein (

USA) showed us his “The Power of an Idea” which was produced for Areva, a French owned nuclear power services company. It explores the power that is inherent in man’s imagination. It traces the development of big solutions that have started with simple ideas. In short, it invites us to consider the power that resides in all of us to create. This is a superb professional Sequence; I had seen it in

Paris and I was looking forward to witnessing it again. I was not disappointed. It did somehow remind me of one of the first Sequences I saw in Manchester, way back when I had just begun on this 3-decade AV trail; the Sequence of that particular day was “The Mind of Man” by Adrian Battersby; I can still quote from it: “Whatever the Mind of Man can conceive of and believe in, it can achieve!”

ROMANIAN FESTIVAL - ENTRIES BY - 15th August 2007

Details on  www.uafbucovina.org  

  

The IAC Challenge

Make a Movie/Sequence Are you willing to accept the IAC 75th Anniversary Challenge? This is a very special competition for IAC-members only … and it will be like no other we have held before! Entries from our movie makers and digital A/V producers will, for the first time ever, compete with each other on a level playing field. Our two methods of production are getting closer all the time and this will be a great opportunity to draw us all even closer. prize maximum length entry fee theme closing date £75 7.5 minutes £5 ( You were expecting £7.50?!) The Way Forward Tuesday 28 August 2007 The competition will be judged and shown at the 2007 Autumn Convention and AGM weekend. Download the rules and entry form

Master of Audio-Visual Arts

The Master Movie-Maker Fellowsip of the IAC - FACI (M) is awarded for outstanding attainment in Film-making and audio-visual arts. IAC Council  has recently decided to implement a new sytem of application for this Award.

The aim is partly to encourage more A-V workers to apply for the distinction.

To qualify, applicants must have accumulated at least five points as follows:

Two AV Sequences which  have each won two FIAP-Recognised International Awards  will be worth one point provided that one of these International Awards was via the Geoffrey Round Competition.

In addition at least one of these Sequences must have been overall winner of the Geoffrey Round AV Competition.

Applicanst must, of course, have been a full member of the IAC for at least five years.

Applications need to be ratified by Council and to cover administrative costs there is a £25 application fee.

Each AV Sequence must have been made in the name of the applicant in the role of Director. Club entries will not count. Each Sequence may be used by one applicant only.

Any believing they may qualify, please contact David Newman, 78 The Common Quarndon Derbyshire DE22 5JY e-mail david.newman@boltblue.com

Winners of the Geoffrey Round AV Competition (a necessary qualifying condition) include:

Richard Brown with “The Story of a Hymn”, 1994;

Sid Pearce with “Oblivion”, 1995;

Norman Veale with “Monsieur Maurice”, 1996;

Malcolm Imhoff with “Carnival in Venice”, 1997;

Harry Duckmanton with “Are You Arkin” 1998;

Jean & Reg Royle with “Not I Surely” 2000;

Ron Davies with “Idwal Bach” 2001;

Gabriele Pinardi with “Il Ladro di Recordi”, 2002;

Peter Coles with “City of Flowers” 2003;

Johan Werbrouck and Freddy Adam with “The Vanishing Race” 2004;

Ron Davies with “Hedd Wyn”, 2005;

Johan Werbrouck with “Room 17″ 2006;

Jacques van de Weerdt with “Essai sur Ma Haine” 2007.

All these potential FACI (M) Distiction holders need now is another nine International Awardwinning Sequences four of which need to have gained Awards in the Geoffrey Round event! That’s a tall order !!!!!

 

Master of Audio-Visual Arts

The Master Movie-Maker Fellowsip of the IAC - FACI (M) is awarded for outstanding attainment in Film-making and audio-visual arts. IAC Council  has recently decided to implementa new sytem of application for this Award. The aim is partly to e