ARCHIVE TIDBITS
- older news which is still of interest

Celebrating Our 25th Anniversary (2006) We had cause to celebrate in 2006 as our club reached its 25th anniversary. Young by some clubs' standards, but still quite respectable! There has been much to look back on - competition successes in far of lands, Triangle Competitions won and lost, and records made of local events - but the enduring memory is of the Club's atmosphere which has encouraged the development of many skills and friendships. The event was celebrated with a garden party on a glorious September afternoon, almost to the day that the first tentative meeting was held in St Albans Town Hall in 1981. This had been organised by Desmond Clifton, a local dentist, who remained the Club's Chairman for several years before he and his wife, Joy, moved to Suffolk. Sadly Desmond lost Joy a few years ago, but as the Movie Makers' President he kept in touch and was a most welcome guest of honour at the party. Club Chairman Frank Miller read a letter of greeting from the Patron, actor Philip Madoc, who was unable to attend due to a theatre date, and welcomed North Thames Region Chairman Christine Collins. Finally after a suitable toast, Christine, Desmond and Frank cut an anniversary cake - but the reminiscing went on... and on.

Father and Son Making An African Dream Father and son members have provided a fascinating insight into a TV production. Last year Ivan Houghton was visiting his son, Dave, at the Africat Animal Conservation Centre in Namibia when a TV producer arrived to discuss a wild life series for the BBC. The series became Animal Park – Wild Life in Africa, shown on BBC 2. Dave now spends more time with the animals and flying the Africat plane than filming, but the series contains a considerable amount of his material as the sequences move seamlessly from original material to “ones I shot earlier”. And there is now talk of a new series. These stills are from An African Dream filmed by Ivan and Dave in Namibia: Ivan as the Intrepid Explorer, Dave as The Guide and Cheetah as itself in the bush.

Success in Australia (2004) Club members’ efforts were well rewarded at the 2004 Melbourne International Movie Festival. Brian Harris received a Bronze Cineman Award, for best Documentary, for You Must Be Joking, while Diplomas of Merit went to The Unkindest Cut (Club movie), Friendly Fire (Peter Wilson), The Bridge (Alan Gardner, Ivan and Dave Houghton), and A Cheetah’s Bad Day (Ivan & Dave Houghton). The still is from The Bridge filmed in the Belize rain forest in 1993

Two Short Comedies (2004) Two short comedies were in production: The Hilary Osborne Shield and The Inheritance. They aren’t really the Club’s last resort, but that was the inspiration for the two epics aimed at a North Thames Region competition. The still is from The Inheritance – The solicitor, Mr Prescott (Brian Harris) reads the will to the cousins (Steve Winner, Rob Lowe and Alan Lindfield.

The English Speaking Union (2004) A presentation on amateur movie making, entitled “ESU at the Movies”, was made to a small group of members of the Hertfordshire Branch of the English Speaking Union in October 2004. The brief review of what amateurs get up to was illustrated by seven short movies, five of which were from St Albans Movie Makers, and they stimulated a lively discussion. The still is from one of the movies – The Big Break, a fast moving comedy in which Brian Harris plays Lou Spowells playing Po Face O’Toole, and Lilian Hamilton plays Lucille Ballcock playing Floosy Lamour; here Floosy visits Po Face in goal.

Burma Cross Memorial Video The Movie Makers were recently privileged to record the dedication of a memorial rose garden at St Peters Church, St Albans. On 24th June the mayor of St Albans (Jenny Stroud) unveiled a plaque at the rose bed and spoke very feelingly about the sacrifices endured in the Burma campaign during WW2. Veterans of the campaign, together with friends and pupils from two local schools attended, and had plenty to talk about both before and after the ceremony. It made a fascinating subject for club project.

The Power of the Web St Albans Movie Makers’ club page caught the eye of a girl in North Carolina, USA, and there were immediate thoughts about starting an overseas branch. However, the excitement evaporated when it became clear that her interest was due to the news that Philip Madoc had become the club’s patron! The message was passed on to him and the girl was very pleased with Philip’s response. Maybe the Movie Makers had made their mark.

Joy Clifton Joy, the wife of Desmond Clifton, was a great loss to the club. It was due to Desmond’s initiative in 1981 that the club was formed and Joy was very supportive in many ways. She was greatly involved in the club’s social activities, and there are fond memories of the major roles she played in several successful comedy productions. After living in St Albans for many years, Desmond and Joy retired to Framlingham in Suffolk - when Desmond was elected President of the club, with which they kept in regular contact. As well as Desmond, Joy is survived by a son and two daughters. Desmond Clifton receives a winer's certificate from Joy.

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Loser Takes All (2004)

St Albans Movie Makers aimed this short film at the IAC North Thames Region’s Triangle Competition set subject theme – Fancy That. Loser Takes All is a drama with comic moments which provided a great deal of fun in the making – and the usual crop of anecdotes.  Based on an original idea by club member Steve Winner, it combines pathos and humour. Director Frank Miller managed to avoid a nervous breakdown!

Steve (Steve Winner) faces dreadful news.	Lucy (Angela Meyrick) and lover (Rob Linz) wonder what the future holds.

Summer Break (2004)

It wasn’t quite the seaside, but gliding along on the Grand Union Canal on a warm summer’s day was a very pleasant way of relaxing for a dozen club members and their friends. The good ship Little Grebe set sail from Pitstone, near Tring, and with suitable stops for coffee, lunch and tea, (and numerous locks) made leisurely progress in the general direction of Berkhamsted – though it was time to return long before this was reached! For the record no one took a camcorder, but still cameras ranged from early 35mm to the latest digital model, which seemed capable of almost anything except navigating the boat.

Success for an Animation (2003)

Club Chairman Frank Miller’s animation The Willow Pattern Story received acclaim in two major competitions. Against very stiff competition it won an Oscar at the Cotswold International Festival, and a Highly Commended at the Guernsey Lily International Festival.

Linking Up with Youth

St Albans Movie Makers established an exciting link with the Media Dept of the Sir John Lawes School in nearby Harpenden.

In May, Alex Prior, the Director of Media and Community Arts, visited the Club to talk about his own involvement in movie production and education, and a few days later a “movie exchange” took place when eleven club members visited the school. They took along three of the Movie Makers current productions - a documentary (Friendly Fire), an animation (The Willow Pattern Story) and a comedy (The Unkindest Cut) - while some twenty 16-17 year old students showed off their recent project videos covering documentary, commercial and social awareness subjects. These were excellent and, although there might have been a very big generation gap in ages, when it came to viewing and discussing the movies this quickly disappeared as the questions from both sides came thick and fast.

The story actually started six months earlier when the club noticed that the school was affiliated to the amateur IAC Film and Video Institute, and early discussions revealed that Sir John Lawes had recently achieved Specialist Status in Media Arts. It had been strong in this field for some time, but substantial extra funding then enabled the installation of a brand new TV and Media studio, video editing and cinema screening facilities..

Triangle Competition Winner (2003)

May 24^th was a happy occasion for St Albans Movie Makers when they took the North Thames Region’s Triangle Trophy in an all Hertfordshire final. It was a hard fought competition against Hemel Hempstead and Potters Bar which brought some very interesting comments - and differences of opinion - from judges Jon Moss, Jez Stewart and Ivor Selwyn.

The St Albans Movie Makers programme was: Friendly Fire (a documentary about the loss of a Spitfire pilot in WW 2, by Peter Wilson), The Willow Pattern Story (an animation by Frank Miller) and The Unkindest Cut (a fresh look at the French Revolution by Mike Cobert and the Club).

IAC North Thames Region Leslie Gillham Trophy - 2003

St Albans Movie Makers took the 2003 Leslie Gillham Trophy with their production The Unkindest Cut at the North Thames Region's recent June Event. Ten clubs competed - all Set Subject winners in the Region's Triangle Competition - on the theme Revolution.

The Unkindest Cut takes a fresh look at Paris at the time of the French Revolution when Sir Burty Blacknees, an English aristocrat with Pimpernel tendencies, exercises some unusual tactics to rescue a friend. The result isn't quite what he expected but he lived happily ever after.

The production by Mike Cobert is itself unusual because all the live action was filmed on digital video in the normal way while the backgrounds are ink line drawings on card. The rest was all up to the computer.

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Page updated on 11 October 2008

Authors' views are not necessarily those of The Institute of Amateur Cinematographers

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