The Camcorder Club for East Herts.

Affiliated to the IAC – The Film & Video Institute

FEBRUARY February turned out to be another successful month for PBCVS in the regional competitions. On Sunday February 21st John Parkes led the projection team for the North Thames Leslie Gillham Trophy and Sidney Manasseh Trophy Competitions at Northaw Village Hall. We had no entry in the Leslie Gillham (only for clubs whose "Fiction" video had won the first round of the Triangle Competition), but President John Astin's "Smoke Without Fire" (which had won the Open Section in the Triangle first round) duly took its place in the Sidney Mannasseh Trophy, was decared the winner by expert judge Tom Hardwick. John has now won this trophy for PBCVS three years in a row! A week later, PBCVS were entertained by Walthamstow A.C.C. in their atmospheric clubroom for the first round of the new 2010 Triangle Competition. John Astin's "The Town at the End of America" and Christine Collins' "Red Flag Day" scored very highly from Judges Brenda & Eric Granshaw and Peter Ketts, and though Stephen Healing's "The Long Black Veil" did less well, PBCVS managed to scrape through by one point into the Semi-Final, at Wyllyotts on April 15th. FEBRUARY For some time, the Club has been wrestling with the problem of upgrading its projection equipment to be able more easily to cope with 16:9 and High Definition productions. The first step into the future was the purchase in January of a new Sony Blu-Ray (HD) player, that copes equally well with SD, HD, 4:3 and 16:9, and which, with an HDMI cable (also purchased), will upscale an SD DVD to near HD quality. A new projector proved more problematic. The 5-star rated Full HD projectors all weigh over 7 kilos, too heavy, really, to be transported back and forth, especially to the shows that The Two Johns present. Full HD projectors that weigh around 3 kilos are scarce, and difficult to track down for demonstrations. Finally, after considerable internet surfing by John Astin, several phonecalls and e-mails, and one or two setbacks due to traffic and illness, John Parkes and Bob Chester visited a supplier in Ladbroke Grove, and chose a Mitsubishi  Full HD projector. It will make its debut on the Phil Elmer evening. Lastly, the Club also purchased, on line, a new screen; it comes in a box and as it is pulled up, it rises hydraulically to whatever desired height. Hopefully, PBCVS is now future-proof! Well, for a while, at least! JANUARY The bad weather led to the cancellation of PBCVS' first meeting of the New Year, and also seems to have taken a toll on the members' creativity. Disappointingly, only one video was entered in the Variable Set Theme ("Reflections") competition, so well done to June Redgrove, who swept the board!! The Club has also been struggling to get a story film made for the Triangle, and may have to use a film not originally made for the competition. Not a bad thing, perhaps. Let's hope the weather soon brightens up, and rekindles ebbing spirits. DECEMBER PBCVS brought its year to a close with the traditional party on Thursday Dec. 10th. As usual, there were lashings of food and drink provided by the members, and a Quiz from Hazel Loader. Four members (June Redgrove, Penny Love, Stephen Healing and Bob Chester) had worked at the Editing Challenge set in the Summer, and produced four different stories from more or less the same clips. These excellent pieces of work were greeted with great enthusiasm. In the absence of Daphne Brown through illness, Heather Hawkes was joined by Stephen Healing to sing some carols, culminating in "The Twelve Days of Christmas", with members' actions orchestrated by June Redgrove. A merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone! (P.S. Please note John Astin's new e-mail address.) NOVEMBER Only six PBCVS members supported their club at the annual HACCA Event, hosted on Saturday November 26th by Hemel Hempstead Movie Makers. The absentees missed a top-quality afternoon, with the four Hertfordshire Clubs (Borehamwood, Hemel, St. Albans & PBCVS) each showing a programme of movies  lasting no longer than 25 minutes. The overall standard of the 16 movies shown was very high - not a dud movie on show - and the judges (Aivar Kaulins, Brian Heard and Ken Martin) were hard-pressed to choose a winner. PBCVS showed "Red Flag Day" and "An Urban Dream" by Christine Collins, "Spring Awakening" and "Meet Me At St. Pancras!" by John Astin, and "If" by Daphne Brown. In the end, it was a majority decision by the judges, with Hemel's "Top Brass" (Brian & Mary Harris) being declared the winner, and PBCVS' "Meet Me At St. Pancras!" (John Astin) the runner-up. With PBCVS about to buy a new projector, it was also interesting to see the performance of Hemel's new HD Panasonic projector. Impressive - but rather large! NOVEMBER November is a busy "video events" month, and on Sunday November 22nd, the N. Thames Region of the IAC held its annual Movie Festival and AGM, this year in a different venue - the very pleasant Pinner Village Hall, with Harrow C&V S on projection duty. Eight or so PBCVS members supported the day - and what a terrific day for PBCVS it turned out to be! The omens were good, when Angela, Christine and Margaret won raffle prizes and a 100 Club Cash Prize. This was at the end of the day, after the audience had watched all the 23 movies entered (including six from four different PBCVS members). Things got better when Competitions Officer Ken Mills announced the decisions of Judges Ron Prosser FACI, Ian Wingate FACI and Gavin Beesley ARPS (all from the IAC's South East Region). In order of presentation, John Astin LACI's "The Kruger Experience" was "Highly Commended", Christine Collins' "Red Flag Day" won the "Best Use of Sound" Award, and then got 3rd Place (and a cheque for £15!). To cap it all, 1st Prize, the enormous NT Regional Shield (plus a £50 cheque), went to John for his movie "The Town at the End of America". During the day, the six entries for the Region's One-Minute Competition were also shown, including Daphne Brown's "If", which came second.

Contact Us : Telephone:              Penny 01707 656446    E- Mail : john.astin1@ntlworld.com

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