Update on 17th August meeting

A special report by John Millard
Last night’s meeting was packed with interest and well appreciated by an audience boosted by several visitors. 
We’ve accepted Bunnings invitation to be part of their Fun Day on Sept. 9th.  What our part will be hasn’t yet been decided.  Does anyone have any ideas?  The committee is looking for inspiration, and of course, helpers on the day.
 We were also reminded that there are five Fridays in this month and we all know what that means: dinner at the Ringwood Club, Croydon, 31stof August.  Put it in your diaries and let Phyl Coffey know you’ll be there.
Crocodile proved to be a bit of a challenge for the ‘shorts’ as only four members took it up.  All showed crocs standing on their tails reaching for a morsel that mostly jerked out of reach.  Shouldn’t this teasing constitute cruelty to animals?  There was also a Steve Irwin type sharing a very sudsy bath with a crocodile while two very long snakes looked on. Joe Magee and John Bishop capably handled the task of selecting the topic for next meeting – “Later On”
But the “hi-lite” of the evening was undoubtedly the talks given by Geoff Ross and new President, Norm.  Both talks were about making movies, but from completely different viewpoints.  
Geoff’s past life as a professional photographer came through as he demonstrated and talked about his equipment – all top quality, from Panasonic cameras to Leica lenses.  Geoff now never has problems with that oft wrecker of outside shoots – the wind.  But then maybe  a $4,000  microphone would not attract too many copy cats in the club! Talking of highlights-that’s what Geoff exposes for.
He shoots in V Log for better dynamic range ..Geoff also insists on rock-steady images, and he demonstrated ways he manages to achieve this When asked about his narrator, Geoff said rather cryptically “he lives inside my computer” Apparently it is a synthesised voice based on a written script!
Geoff explained that his particular photographic interest is wildlife and some of the difficulties that go with recording it. The main one, of course, is the lack of co-operation from the wild animals.  However, he showed with his brilliantEcuador Rain Forest movie that with sharp eyes and reflexes – and patience– problems can be overcome.
Norm looked at making movies from a completely different angle: the steps needed to get a story onto the screen.  A power point presentation that started with a diagram linking the different stages of production from the narrative through to the final editing set the scene.
Having decided on the story to be told, it first has to be re-written into a form that can be filmed.  This is the screen play.  From this the script is developed. For this, there is a Standard Industrial Format which contains no instruction such as camera position, actor movements etc.
Norm said how useful he finds story boards.  He finds it a valuable link between the pictures in his head and the final picture on the screen.  Often, difficulties and/or better options can show up at this stage.
The shooting script is where a lot of time can be saved as the order of shooting is decided for convenience not alphabetically.
Editing is done in two stages, the second being to apply the polish, in other words, post production.  Colour correction, brightness adjustments etc.
Norm finished with a short movie showing what is not Alzheimer’s.
It was the sort of night that is going to make us pause and think as we set down to work on our next production.
Thanks to all those who made the evening so worthwhile., and don’t forget that our next meeting is the first Quarterly Competition for the Club year 2018-9