Chairman’s Chat
Thank you for your votes in electing me as your Club Chairman at the AGM.
These are the thoughts and ideas that I wish to bring to the club. With the help and guidance of the committee and club officers, as we near our 30th anniversary, I will endeavour to build on the club’s foundation and ensure membership grows whilst not losing sight of the needs and aspirations of existing members.
Although I have only been a member of the video club for just over 18 months, I have had an interest in all aspects of Film making for over 50 years. I started when I was a teenager with the purchase of a home movie projector. I was so inspired by the images on the screen that, in 1973, I joined the Isle of Wight Cine Club to further my interest and learn how movies were made.
During my time with the Cine Club I dabbled in the making of various types of Film; Family, Holiday, Fiction, Documentary and Animation. I was particularly interested in animation and one of my animated attempts was placed in the top ten in an international competition, the Australian “Ten Best On 8”. A couple of my films also gained 2nd place in the SoCo competitions.
Over my 20 years as a member of the Cine Club I played an active part on the committee and was involved in the organization of many club activities and programme nights. I also fulfilled various officer roles, Secretary, Practical Chairman, Vice Chairman and Chairman.
Unfortunately, in the early 90s, the onslaught of video led to the demise of the Cine Club and, in 1993, as I was not happy with the video quality at that time, compared with cine film, I reluctantly gave up film making and did not pick up a camera for another ten years.
When Digital Video finally emerged I decided to take the plunge and in 2003 I purchased my first DV camera, joined the Video Club and started making films again.
For various reasons I did not stay with the club for long, but continued my film making activities and eventually obtained an HD camera with the intention of producing Blu-ray disks. The ease of computer editing, and the various new ways of showing the finished production, soon revived my lifelong interest in the creative side of film-making.
I believe film-making as a hobby should be fun, and a Video Club should be a sociable place where like minded individuals can get together, share their common interest, ideas and knowledge, whatever their experience or abilities.
Whilst basic technical skills are needed to operate video cameras, I think too much emphasis is placed on this side of things and not enough time spent making simple movies to enable us to learn by our mistakes. I firmly believe it is how you use the equipment you have that makes a good film maker. Just having the most expensive camera or the latest gadget does not help you make better movies.
John Bartlett
PLEASE USE FORM BELOW TO ADD YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS
Wight Film & Video Club 