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.  

New Year Starting

The new programme for 2012/13 has now been posted on the Southport MovieMakers web site. A full year of activity  has been planned.

Starting this Thursday 6 September:

Musical trailer of the 2012-13 Programme

Followed by:

• 1-minute extracts from Club Productions 2005-2011

• Short extract from the new Artworks production, Malcolm

• Trailer for Nigel Moran's feature film

• Shorter version of Night Vision

• Andy Harrison's latest production - I Live on the Deaths of Millions

Day: Thursday 6 September

Time: 8 pm – 10.00 pm

Location: St James' Church Hall,

Lulworth Road, Southport, PR8 2BQ.

Full Year of Activity Planned 2012/13

The new activity schedule for 2012/13 has just been posted on Southport MovieMaker's web site:

Southport MovieMakers - Starting 6 September 2012

As each event gets closer, more information will be posted.

LATEST TALK: Special Effects and Visual Effects

On Thursday 26 July, Southport MovieMakers Club member Nigel Moran, will be speaking about the history and making of special effects and visual effects in films.

Nigel, who has been involved in film-making since he was eight years old, has directed, starred and helped in over sixty short films as well as directing his debut feature film called “Mayhem Behind Movies” which has just received an “Honourable Mention” at the Toronto International Film and Video Awards.

Starring Carl Wharton “Zombie Massacre”, Kayla Keatley and Phil Perez “Sleep”, “Mayhem Behind Movies” is a fly-on-the-wall mockumentary following Kevin Knight, a struggling low-budget filmmaker, on his mission to complete his first big-break movie “Valentine” before the opening premiere. Kevin soon finds himself in turmoil as he races against the clock in a make-or-break scenario packed with side-splitting and nail-biting moments. Will Kevin finish in enough time with all the odds stacked up against him?

Nigel is currently planning a zombie short for YouTube while writing his next feature project and is close to finishing a book on making movies.

Day: Thursday 26 July

Time: 8 pm – 10.00 pm

Location: St James' Church Hall,

Lulworth Road, Southport, PR8 2BQ.

LATEST TALK: Directing

Next Thursday, Club member Nigel Barton, who trained as a professional film director, will be speaking about the job of film directing.

Nigel Barton has over 25 year’s experience in film and video. After graduating in Direction at London's National Film School, he directed films for television including commercials, documentary and drama.

Nigel has directed a number of films with Southport MovieMakers, including the comedy Mummy’s Boys (2006). Two young brothers (who are not very efficient) rob a local shop to get some money. They drive back home, bickering as they do so. Mother is a bit of a dragon so they decide to go out again to the local pub - still planning further 'scams' ... But mother has the last word!

So, come along and hear the insightful talk that Nigel will be delivering:

Day: Thursday 12 July

Time: 8 pm – 10.00 pm

Location: St James' Church Hall,

Lulworth Road, Southport, PR8 2BQ.

Membership Application Form

A new download facility has been added to the Southport MovieMakers web site. Today, a new Membership Application Form has been added to this facility. If you're interested in joining the Club, please download and print the form. Then, complete and sign and date it and bring the form to a Club meeting.

We look forward to welcoming you.

Download Membership Application Form 

Night Vision

This blog post has been contributed by Club member Les Thomas who led the recently-completed group production, Night Vision.

Included in each year’s Club Programme, is a ‘Project’ in which members form small working groups to try to bring an idea to fruition. The Project set for the past 2012 programme was ‘Filming in the Dark’. We knew that we had two locations available at which we could try out the possibilities of eventually creating a film. We had been given permission by Natural England to film in the Formby Pine Woods at night and a large cellar was available.

The first meeting of the group was a kind of brainstorming at which ideas, however bizarre or unreal, were thrown around. I made some notes, and drew up a rough script trying to reflect the comments and suggestions that were made at our first meeting. When I brought this back to the group next week, we again expanded the possibilities and deleted those things that seemed too implausible. It was three o’clock in the morning when I woke up, reached across for pen and paper, and completed the script, which with a tweak or three would eventually become our completed project – ‘Night Vision’.

Casting for the film was relatively easy as we were to seek the cast from our own Club’s membership (Normally, we would look to the local amateur dramatic societies to provide good, but free, acting ability). Along with the crew, who would film the story, we made location visits, including in darkness, to gauge the most effective use of these spots. The woods in darkness presented some challenges, particularly in terms of the uneven ground, but more especially the right level of lighting. We wanted to maintain a moderate sense of fear and suspense, and so to flood the scene with light would be counter-productive. This, after all, was the purpose of the project, although some adjustment could and would be made at the editing stage.

Filming at Night

We needed to push on with the filming outside, for although we had had our discussions at the Club on dark winter nights, Spring was round the corner and the evenings were becoming lighter longer. When we finally gathered in the woods, it was mid-April. ‘Night Vision’ is the story of a film within a film, which took some of us time to adjust to. As the filming progressed it came together and we all enjoyed the experience. Filming in the cellar offered all kinds of possibilities, and more freedom, for example, as the small windows could be easily covered and blacked out. Experiments in lighting the cellar made us conclude that candle light would be more effective in terms of the setting. We used a moderate amount of LED lighting. The props and costumes were few, and proved easy to acquire. A Club member was able to provide costumes used some time before for a fancy dress party. Falling dust proved pleasant as it came from a talcum powder container, always taking care to keep it away from the sensitive cameras. Extensive use was made of chroma key for the police station and Television News studio, I believe to good effect.

Night Vision - Title

The final production of ‘Night Vision’ is a good example of what is possible when a group of keen amateur movie makers is set the challenge to do something a bit different. We hope that the film might be entered into the inter-club competitions in the coming year 2012-13.

Les Thomas