You Can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks

A great strength of Southport MovieMakers in that it mixes together the energy of youth with a foundation of many years of experience of film-making. For example, our newly-appointed Programme Secretary, Alex Montague is a very recent Film graduate from Edge Hill University and another newly-appointed member of the Management Committee, our Publicity & Recruitment Officer, Sarah Pollitt, has just finished the second year of her undergraduate degree at Liverpool University. At the other extreme, our older members are well into their retirement years. Older and younger film-makers have much to offer each other.

In recognition of many years of contributing to the life of the Club in so many ways, Ashby Ball, Geoff Williams and Jim Morris earlier this year were awarded Honorary Life Memberships of the Club.

In addition, last month, Paul Bagshaw, another of our older, highly-experienced members became the first recipient of the NEW Nigel Barton Trophy, in recognition of his skill as a film-maker. This award was created in the wake of the recent death of our valued member Nigel Barton.

Paul Bagshaw

In this age when older people are sometimes overlooked, it is important to recognise and celebrate the skills and knowledge that older people bring from a lifetime of experience. In this context, it is interesting to note that Channel 4 is currently acknowledging the value of older people in their series Mary's Silver Service.

Ashby Ball and Geoff Williams - Founder Members of Southport MovieMakers

Read about the founding of the Club, now in its 65th year.

Whether you're in your 20s or your 80s, 

you can always learn new things.

Knights to Remember

This blog post has been contributed by Club member Tony Glynn. Tony writes below about one of the group productions of 2011/12, King Arthur’s Nutty Knights.

The saga of King Arthur and his gallant band of knights has often been brought to the screen but it has probably never before been presented in the way chosen by three members of Southport MovieMakers. David Wareing, Geoff Williams and Tony Glynn portrayed the noble company in cartoon fashion. They do not claim any historical accuracy for the finished product but they learned much in creating King Arthur’s Nutty Knights – and had a lot of fun in the process.

Some of the stalwarts depicted were cowardly Sir Endor; boozy Sir Osis, the mad surgeon; Sir Lancelot and doggy-loving Sir Winalot.

It was chiefly a series of still cartoons with a tiny modicum of drawn animation. David, as director and chief technical expert, used his wide knowledge of the secrets of computing to bring perfect images to the screen.

Geoff’s well known acting skills were utilised to provide the voice-over, describing the characteristics of each knight in gradely Lancashire fashion, for the team’s research has revealed the hitherto unknown fact that all were reet gradely Lancashire lads.

Tony drew the cartoons, devised the limited animation and was left with a desire to develop more ambitious animation in a feature of wider scope. 

All three had a hand in the script and felt their joint efforts were rewarded when they witnessed the audiences’ appreciation of the offering.

Like many another Southport MovieMakers’ production, King Arthur’s Nutty Knights showed the value of teamwork, bringing various talents and skills together. Anyone joining the Club will find enjoyment in creating films, an opportunity to spread the wings of the talents they bring and, quite likely, to discover talents that they didn’t know they had.

If you have an interest or ability in drawing, painting or animation or in any other aspect of film-making and would like to find out more about the Club, please contact us.