Q6

Up until now we have been concentrating on the longer term, but circumstances have changed.

This week, the SoCo Competition Officer advised Chairman David Martin that he had decided to stand down with immediate effect. 

We discovered that no plans have been made for this year’s competitions and there is no infrastructure in place.  Timing is critical as the closing date for entries is end of July, (driven by the IAC competitions) which means that we are 2 months behind here we should be.

 With much burning of the midnight oil, David and I developed a proposal for the 2019 SoCo competitions.

We took into account comments coming from this forum as well as recent experiences. (attendance etc).

The key change is to replace the physical show with a “Show DVD”, copies of which will be sent to all entrants.  So, rather like the OSCARS, each entrant can watch and share the show on our own TV or at individual club meetings.  Hopefully this will go some way to address the “what’s in it for me” and travelling issues”.

We also propose to reintroduce the inter club competition “ Top of the Clubs (responding to BFVS comments) and an AV section, (nearly 50% of our club membership). 

Before submitting the proposal to the SoCo Regional Council for approval, we would really value your input on how the the attached proposals might be improved to help make our 2019 competitions a success and of real benefit to the IAC membership across our region. 

It goes without saying that this is not where I expected or wanted to be, but we are where we are – so, we best get on with it.

Many thanks

On 9 March Pip wrote: The idea is a good one based on the fact that the “events” seem to have a small audience.

I am sure you will have already considered this; In view of issues we have had in the past with entries being made available publicly on the likes of YouTube, I think entrants will need to be aware of and agree to their video going on a disc to other entrants.

 What ever you do someone will find a reason to complain. To which I would say, “If you don’t like the rules, to be critiqued or prepared to accept that your film was not the best, don’t enter the competition.”

On 9th March Tony wrote: Up until now we have been concentrating on the longer term, but
circumstances have changed.
This week, the SoCo Competition Officer advised Chairman David Martin that he had decided to
stand down with immediate effect.
We discovered that no plans have been made for this year’s competitions and there is no infrastructure
in place. Timing is critical as the closing date for entries is end of July, (driven by the IAC
competitions) which means that we are 2 months late in organising and getting the publicity out.
With much burning of the midnight oil, David and I developed a proposal for the 2019 SoCo
competitions.
We took into account comments coming from this forum as well as recent experiences. (attendance
etc).
The key change is to replace the physical show with a “Show DVD”, copies of which will be sent to
all entrants. So, rather like the OSCARS, each entrant can watch and share the show on their own TV
or at individual club meetings. Hopefully this will go some way to address the “what’s in it for me”
and travelling issues”.
We also propose to reintroduce the inter club competition “ Top of the Clubs (responding to BFVS
comments) and an AV section, (nearly 50% of our club membership).
Before submitting the proposal to the SoCo Regional Council for approval, we would really value
your input on how the details contained in the attached document might be improved to help make our
2019 competitions a success and of real benefit to the IAC membership across our region.
It goes without saying that this is not where I expected or wanted to be, but we are where we are – so,
we best get on with it.
Many thanks
Tony
On 9 March Pip wrote: The idea is a good one based on the fact that the “events” seem to have a
small audience.
I am sure you will have already considered this; In view of issues we have had in the past with entries
being made available publicly on the likes of YouTube, I think entrants will need to be aware of and
agree to their video going on a disc to other entrants.
What ever you do someone will find a reason to complain. To which I would say, “If you don’t like
the rules, to be critiqued or prepared to accept that your film was not the best, don’t enter the
competition.”
Keep Smiling, and keep up the great work.
Pip

On 10th March Brian wrote: Sorry to hear of your latest “challenge”.
Your suggestion looks a pragmatic solution in view of the timescale and will be a good test of a new
format.
I have no idea of the normal level of participation so cant really comment on whether you could safely
get all the entries onto a DVD though.
It will need good publicity to explain the changes and to promote participation.
Regards
Brian
On 10th March Lee wrote: Whatever you do someone will find a reason to complain. To which I
would say, “If you don’t like the rules, to be critiqued or prepared to accept that your film was not the
best, don’t enter the competition.””
1
st. up: I / We for once do not agree with Pip’s comment above! People enter competitions, if at all,
not with the expectation of winning but with the hope to win and with the full expectation of being on
a level playing field. “Amateurs” = “None Professionals” probably a much better term (?) and in the
full and complete sense of the words, both current and past.
2
nd. up: As for critiques, there’s no reason and never was for pointed, misplaced, nasty or sarcastic
comments as has occurred often enough in the past in some competitions made usually by self
considered IAC high “falutin’ grandees” / “officials”, being people with an alarming sense of their
own totally misplaced “importance” !
3
rd up: Regarding judges. Any person(s) agreeing to judge should not have had any professional
connections or be professionals. Further and also, any person(s) asked to or agreeing to judge should
not enter the competitions and that goes for any entries from their clubs et al!
( c. Judges to assess each entry on its own merits using numerical scoring).
( d. Entries will not be judged against each other).
4
th. up: Fully agree. Very good and about time too.
For the rest of the information – agreed.
Our thanks for reorganising and for worthwhile success.
Kind regards to all.
LEE. MIKE S. and SSVU Members

On 12 March Ivan wrote:
I think the DVD idea is a good one. A further extension to that would be to set a closing
date, send out the DVDs when collated to ALL clubs and then ask the clubs to view, judge
and make their choices of 1st, 2nd, 3rd and send their results and comments into you ( A bit
like the countries do on Eurovision Song Contest?). The choices and comments could then
be collated from which a winner would emerge. As I am writing this I am realising what a lot
of work this might give someone, so it may not be such as good an idea as I first
thought. However, I will pass the thought on in case it could be modified and be useful. The
idea of sending out DVDs is a good one though and in my view should be persued.
I circulated your email (below) to TFMC Committee and got some responses. Peter Hiner,
our vice chair, made the comments below which he has asked me to share with you.
I have been thinking about my reluctance to spend £45 on IAC membership plus
licences. At one time I was a member but stopped because I couldn’t see the
justification. My main reason for joining had been to get the licences – but when I
didn’t have any films worth entering into regional competitions, there wasn’t much
point in continuing. I didn’t find anything else really valuable enough to make me
continue. Actually the only tangible thing apart from the licences was the
magazine, and I could always read one of the club copies. Anyway the magazine
was not closely relevant to my life – the SoCo newsletter seems much more
relevant and interesting – and to cap it all, I was paying the subscription to IAC, not
to SoCo. By the way, though I have not checked the detail of this, I suspect that I
could enter films into some/all regional competitions without being an IAC
member, provided that I use copyright-free music – in which case would there be
any remaining reason for IAC membership?
So it seems to me that SoCo (on behalf of IAC) needs to make membership seem
more worthwhile. I have a suggestion for something that would at least make me
more interested. At present I have a remote possibility of being placed in a regional
competition and a probability of being unplaced – I would still hope to get some
comments from the judges, which would be very welcome, but that’s all. Supposing
that I also got a “stars” rating like BIAFF – that would give me a much better clue as
to how my film measured up to the required standard, and it would be something
much more satisfying for me. Of course “stars” rating would only be available to IAC
members. (Peter Hiner)
We hope these random thoughts are useful to you.
All best wishes
Ivan
TFMC

On 13 March BFVS wrote:
Congratulations for all your hard work to organise and save the SoCo Competitions.
BFVS are happy to enter all the SoCo competitions but with independant judges and
wondered if the cost could be reduced if sending the entries by WeTransfer which will make
it possible to enter more films.
There is an interesting article in the Film & Video Maker April 2019 on page 27 called ‘What
about making your regional film festival online?’ by Alan Colegrave NTRIAC which states
that one advantage is that the judges need not be in the UK and can judge from their home as
the films are online. Another advantage is cost as entering online is nothing just the entry fee.
I wondered if it is possible to pay the entry fees by PayPal or card as cheques are a nuisance.
Thanks again
BFVS
On 13 March Tony wrote:
Thank you for your comments.
When you look at the draft entry form and rules that I sent out, you will see that I have
included “WeTransfer”
I did pick up on the Colegrave article and have attempted to marry our population range with
his experiences.
I don’t think Paypal or credit card set up would work for us but we could provide an option
to accept fees via “internet banking transfer” straight into the SoCo Account. If you feel that
would be worth doing I will add that to the options.
I have not looked at Judges in any depth yet, but would welcome recommendations from the
group regarding suitable video makers from outside of the Region who you have used as
judges and were satisfied that they knew what they were talking about. Happy to use the
internet for file transfer to overseas or in the UK people. (Easier for me)
Regards
Tony

On 13 March Tony wrote in response to Peter Hiners comment regarding grading the results:
(See 12 March note from Ivan)
Given that SoCo Judges use a numerical rating system, it would be possible to create bands into
which entries fall based upon their total mark. Maybe bands A to D as an example.
My concern is that if one is at the top end the result is great, but if at the lower end there is a risk
that the entrant is put off and stops entering competitions or indeed stops making videos
altogether.
Would be most interested in comments from the group on this
Thanks
Tony
On 16 March Tony wrote:
The responses to Q6 have been most helpful – thank you.
As a result the internet uploading of entries via WeTransfer and has been coupled with the
payment of entry fee using internet banking so, for individuals or clubs who select this option
it has become a free fast exercise making it easy to enter one or more productions.
Based upon knowledge of our regional population, we will not go over totally online as many

of our possible competitors would probably prefer to stay with traditional DVD/Blu-
ray/Memory Stick formats and our aim is to encourage not discourage people from entering

the competitions.
There appears to be some support for some form of judges rating indicator rather like the
BIAAF Star Rating and I would like us to explore that in the coming week with Q7 which I
will send shortly.
As always thank you for your input
Kind regards
Tony

 Keep Smiling, and keep up the great work.

 Pip