Reading Film and Video Makers

Issue 10 2005

Issue 7 - Oct 2002 Magazine Articles.

Editorial	Chairmans Chat	Casablanca	Helpful Hints	New Hobby	TV News.
Obituary	For Sale	Tripod	Jokes etc.	Committee

CHAIRMAN'S CHAT

Ask me in September 2001 about my new role as Chairman and I might have run a mile! I must say that all that has changed and I am enjoying this role more now. As we progressed through the last season it has become a lot more fun, a fact that I attribute to you, the members, for your warm support.

I have learnt a lot in my first term. I am very pleased to have seen the club continue to grow and we are seen, from other club's, as a model to which any club would aspire.

Over the year we have attracted some new faces. They are, as always, welcome and we look forward to seeing them and their work in the future.

If I were to list a few things to improve upon I think they would be as follows:

To spread the visiting speakers across the full season.
We seem to have had all our visitors at the early part of the year and few later on. This has meant that the variety has fallen away in the recent weeks. This is a wish but difficult to achieve.
More practical work.
We exist because we MAKE films (it's in the club name!). I would like to see more time spent practising techniques and experimenting in future. I will return to this point later.
Utilise Club Talent
It is quite clear to me we have a number of talented people in the club that we could, if they were willing, use as a resource of knowledge and expertise.

These are just a few things I might consider for the future. I probably could go on about this for hours but there is only so much we can do at any one time. Changes to the programme are inevitable and speakers sometimes let us down. That happens and there is little we can do about it. However I can assure you that your committee takes the issue of the programme very seriously and it is the constant topic of discussion and an onerous task to prepare. So many thanks to Mark and Francis for their tremendous efforts on this front.

I have a couple of ambitions, which I would like to share with you. One is that we MAKE a lot more films together. We have started this process and I am very pleased how you have thrown all your enthusiasm into the Daily Newspaper project. I do hope we all have a lot of fun making our 6 sections I can hardly wait to see the result!

The other is that we introduce some external judging to our competitions. I had hoped to do this for the Bournes Cup but we left things a little late. I welcome our democratic format and would continue with this but for a couple of events it would be nice to get some objective views and critique.

Early in the season Calum Macfayden had to stand down as Treasurer. Peter March stepped into that role and I would publicly like to thank him for taking this on.

An excellent and willing committee also supports me. They bring enthusiasm and experience to the table and I warmly acknowledge all their support and effort on the Club's behalf. I look forward to another season and, finally, would thank each and every member for their support, advice and criticism, as only all this will enable me to continue to seek ways of helping to make Reading Film & Video Makers an even better club than it already is.

Best wishes.