With Puntasic President Pete back at the helm, the meeting saw over 20 members attend despite recent COVID-19 lockdowns. After briefly regaling the attendees of his exploits and the interesting characters he met whilst travelling in Outback Queensland, Peter welcomed our newest member s Stephen and Sally to the BMM family. Well, Peter is a celebrant after all.
Peter acknowledged Jenn Wallace for her supper donations/contributions /flowers , and thanked Glenn for running the ship whilst he was journeying Outback for a biblical 40 days and 40 nights (or thereabouts)
STOP THE PRESS! 'BMM Film Awards' night (incorporating the coveted John Robert's Trophy) is being held this year at a grand location! Read on!
The BMM Film Awards night which incorporates the John Robert's Trophy is on, so reserve 24th November in your calendar NOW noting that it is a WEDNESDAY night. The evening will commence at 6:30 and go until 8:45pm. This evening will be held at 'Elizabeth Cinema' in Brisbane City. We have booked a 60 seat cinema. Tickets will be $30 each, which will include $15 for your movie ticket; and $15 for food. Tickets must be purchased online. As tickets are issued by the cinema; and they can't restrict who buys tickets, it is imperative that you order your tickets ASAP. Preferably by tomorrow if you want to be sure that you will get the tickets that you want. Note: there is a strict limit of 60 tickets. This may sound a lot of seats for us, but some of us may be bringing more than one guest. Here is the link for your tickets: https://fivestarcinemas.com.au/the-elizabeth/movie/bmm-short-film-awards. Please join me in thanking Emily, Glenn, Stephen, Kathleen and David for organising this event.
For more info about the event and judging criteria, refer to the blog at https://www.bmm.org.au/post/john-roberts-trophy-2021
So, have you registered to attend the BMM Short Film Awards night yet?
COMMITTEE BUSINESS
The Committee will be applying for a grant so if any member has a request for gear, please submit it for consideration to Damian or Peter.
The Committee is also contemplating a project documenting the past, present and future of BMM, which is well, about the past, present and future of BMM, its history, activities and many colourful characters/members. Contact Damian or Peter if you would like to participate or be a subject matter expert of the project.
The 48 hour film competition is around the corner https://www.48hourfilm.com/en/brisbane-au running from 6PM on 22 October 2021 until 6PM on 24 October 2021, which is interestingly enough, 48 hours long! The current team is Glenn, Jenn and Emily but we need to know by 2 September 2021 if you would like to take part. Additional victims, errrr, team members are required so contact Glenn if you are interested. Last years team of Peter, Phil Johnathon and Murray had a blast making the hilarious romcom Love Thong.
SANDGATE: Voices from the Past - presented by Catherine Cox
Formalities aside, we then launched into the Main Event of the evening from our talented guest speaker, Catherine Cox
Catherine's first presentation was about Sandgate: Voices from the past, a short historical documentary about Sandgate, as told through the experiences of people who lived in the area during the 1920–1950s. Using 2.5D parallax effects on static images, overlaid with cleverly cropped superimposed and desaturated interviews of the story tellers, Catherine was able to play homage to the people she interviewed by integrating them into story with powerful effect. Catherine cleverly used matte transparency masks, layering, panning and zooming techniques to animate otherwise static images with startling realism. Think the Ken Burns effect on steroids! She also painstakingly digitally selectively colourised black and white images that would have taken tons of patience to execute. All this was done in Adobe Premiere, After Effects and Audition. She tells us she wore out one computer during the project and had to replace it mid-way.
Catherine did pose herself a few challenges throughout this long 'labour of love' project, opting to use a black screen in lieu of a green screen, which made chroma keying that much more interesting and challenging i.e. hard. Whilst she also lamented she could have done with better audio, Nigel the nit-picker couldn't hear anything to say otherwise, and he is pretty picky when it comes to critiquing these things. Whilst she initially did the voice overs herself, she eventually opted to use another narrator whose voice suited the period. It was the right decision in the end, and Catherine agreed.
Commercial Scripting - presented by Catherine Cox
After the supper/social mixer break, we were one again treated to another presentation by Catherine, this time on scripting a commercial. Conceptually, we should start with a two column table using a program such a Microsoft Word. On the left, describe your video elements (shot description, text, graphics , positioning, placement etc ) and on the right, audio (dialogue, music and sound effects ) . The sequence should progress, well, sequentially and chronologically down the page, alternating between dialogue and sound. Having said that, the first few seconds of any commercial should draw your audience in so that they are compelled to watch the rest. Catherine then showed the first of two commercials to illustrate her points.
Joe Greene Coke Ad
One Bet Ad comparing final to the shoot.
The second was a very cleverly planned and continuously shot advertisement in real time with a simultaneous behind the scenes perspective. That concluded Catherine's presentation but formed the basis of a segway to an UGG competition, with the theme being BMM itself in the cinematography category. The 30 or 60 second commercial should advertise what we do. Peter provided a few helpful hints for your UGG entry on 21/10 :Adopt the simple scripting process that Catherine showed us
Make the first few seconds of your commercial count
Highlight what makes our brand (BMM) great - why should your viewers be interested? What makes us stand out from the rest
It MUST be either 30 seconds or 60 seconds long - no more and no less
Make sure you tell your viewers why they should choose your brand, in this case, BMM
Ideally, conclude your commercial with a call to action - it could be a catchy slogan, a phone number or a website to visit
Upcoming BMM Events
2/9 - the long awaited premieres of Lachlan Runs Free and Lies & Love with a behind the scenes peek. 16/9 - UGG Competition - Monochrome with the focus on lighting, and Paul Michaels' exercise on effective Scripting and documentary Voice Overs
7/10 - we will be running the ever popular workshops with the usual 3 x format 21/10 - UGG Competition: BMM Commercial (30 or 60 seconds) with the category being cinematography 4/11 Scripting and Voice overs of documentary films 24/11 (Wednesday) BMM Awards Nite incorporating the John Roberts Trophy The meeting concluded with a showing of the short movie, Yaraka
which was produced by Peter Waterman during his 40 day holiday. Thankfully, he was spared the biblical floods; however, legend has it that he is still waiting for the train to arrive whilst being tormented by Kevin the Ostrich...
Author: Nigel O'Neill (Club Secretary)
Comments