New start 2021

October 25th “Video to Music”

Six videos were entered in the “Video to Music” competition and they were viewed and judged by club members.

1st place “Where Do They Make Balloons” by John Bartlett

2nd place “Catch Me if You Can” by Steve Hull

3rd place “A Garden In The Rain” by Mike Collinson

The first meeting after two years took place on Monday 13th September. This was a chance to catch up with old friends and make new ones. The seven entries from the Ron Palmer Documentary Competition (which took place at the beginning of 2020) were shown. The results, which had been previously judged by Felicity Fair Thompson, were 1st place “The Old Workshop” by Mel Dennett, 2nd place “Train Story Tales” by John Bartlett and joint 3rd, “Humphry Repton, landscape designer” by John Whatley and “Lockdown Walks” by Chris Offer.

September 27th “Reel Films”

The second meeting of our new season was a presentation of 16mm Cine by John Bartlett, including two tourist board films, “An Island For All Seasons” and “Sunshine Isle”.

150 years ago, before cinema was ever dreamed of, people met in Church halls and their living rooms to enjoy ‘Magic Lantern Shows. Who would have ever thought that from these small beginnings a vast film industry would have sprung up and the magic lantern would lead to making movies on smartphones. The Magic Lantern’s main drawback was that the pictures did not move. However many children at the time were playing with toys that showed moving pictures. One of these was the Zoetrope, but this could only be viewed by a few people at a time. The search was on to try and combine the magic lantern with the Zoetrope to be able to show a projected moving image to a larger audience. The first flexible transparent film base was made by George Eastman in1889. He was the founder of Eastman Kodak. This film base was 35mm wide and by 1909 it had become the industry standard. The early acceptance of 35mm meant that cinema spread world-wide as films could be shown in every country in the world. Unfortunately early 35mm film stock was made from Nitrate and highly inflammable. In 1910 it became law that films could only be shipped in metal cans of 1000 foot reels, and projectors could only take 2000 feet of film in a fireproof spool box. There also had to be a bucket of water, a bucket of sand and an asbestos blanket in the projection box, as fire precautions. The spread of amateur use was restricted to a few who could afford it. An attempt at making a cheaper format for amateurs was made by slitting 35mm in half to 17.5mm. By the early 1920s there were several formats for amateur use, with 16mm and 8mm film, made by Kodak, being the most popular. Amateur movie making really took off after the war with cine clubs forming all over the country. The first, and only, amateur cine society on the Island was formed on the 12^th September 1945. The Isle of Wight Amateur Cine Society was very successful for over 45 years. Membership reached a peak in the 1960s with over 80 attending on film nights. As the 80s approached, with the arrival of the VHS video tape recorder, a few members embraced this new film making medium. Cine was on the decline and membership dropped to 15 regulars by the late 1980s. In an effort to recruit new members the club changed its name to ‘The Isle of Wight Cine and Video Club’. But, despite the name change a few club members who were interested in video decided to start another club, solely for video camera users. The Isle of Wight Camcorder Club was formed in 1989 and is now called the Isle of Wight Film and Video Club.

OCTOBER 11th GREEN SCREEN PROJECT, “HERE IS THE NEWS”