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On the 23rd June, 2009, it was announced that the club's application for a grant had been successful and an award of £4676 has been made. The grant has been made for the purposes as stated in the Awards For All agreement.

"This group encourage and aid members in the art of movie making. They will use funding to purchase new equipment enabling them to produce presentations and films for community groups and promote interest in videography. The project will also allow members to develop skills using the new equipment".

The members will now be able to develop new skills in the latest production techniques and computer software as well as giving improved presentation to the community.

The ceremonial hand over of the grant will take place on Friday 10th July 2009 by Geraldine Smith MP

Morecambe Bay Movie Makers held its second monthly Noggin-n-Natter meeting of the summer break at the Owls Nest pub in Bare. Fifteen members made the meeting once again managing to grab their favourite corner. The draw for the lucky caption winner to go with Chris Abram's photograph of him in his flying gear was made by Irene Mosey and turned out to be the one Chris himself had written. The prize of a pint of Lancaster Bomber was donated by Graham Easton who thanked Chris for being a sport and letting his photo go into the newsletter. Next item of the night was a mystery prize raffle, arranged by Ron Wood, which raised £15 for club funds. The ticket was drawn and Graeme Isherwood declared the winner. The prize had been made and donated by Ron and was a hand made wall clock produced from a blank DVD with the clubs badge printed on its face.

After a suitable break for drinking and talking the meeting discussed the 40th anniversary celebrations and proposed events which will include shows to groups in the area, a joint public show with the North West Film Archive, a celebration diner and the making of a "Morecambe Now" documentary.

It was also announced that the next list of successful "Awards for all" grants would be on the 23rd June and if we were given a grant this will mean that the filming of Morecambe and the surrounding area must start now. All members are invited to look out for events and every day life subjects to cover. The newsletter will be used to highlight suitable events and members can input others to spread the news so that we have it covered. Graham Easton will be compiling the events data as it comes in and Chris Abram will be coordinating the 40th anniversary events but they both need the help of all members to make it work. The meeting closed at about 10.00pm and hopefully there will be another good attendance on Monday 13th July by which time the days will be getting shorter

Morecambe Bay Movie Makers held its first monthly Noggin-n-Natter meeting of the summer break at the Owls Nest pub in Bare. Fifteen members made the meeting with the early ones managing to commander out favourite spot and rearrange the tables for a lively social meeting. The meeting was brought to order for a short period when ideas for the Ruby calibrations next year were discussed before retuning to the regular chatter and refreshments of the house.

The next Noggin-n-Natter will be on Monday 8th June at approx 8.00pm in the Owls Nest and that day is less than two weeks before the longest day of summer. Lets hope that we are sat outside in our shorts for that meeting.

Chris Abram has some items of lighting equipment for sale. Details HERE.

Morecambe Bay Movie Makers' final weekly meeting of this season was the presentation diner at the Whitewalls Restaurant, Hest Bank. Trophies and certificates were presented for the whole year's competitions. Winner of the Dave Sephton Trophy for best local interest movie was Chris Abram, for the 40th year since steam celebration at Steam Town Carnforth. First place in the Warriner Trophy for this year's subject "Hobbies" was Brian Melmore showing his own lifetime of varied hobbies. The winner of the Cumbria Trophy with a time limit of 3 minutes 20 seconds was Ron Wood with a documentary of how to make a silver finger ring from scrap silver trinkets. The annual open competition winner was Geoff Ducker with a movie showing the flowers and birds that can be found in an English country garden.

The first recipient of the Grand Prix Trophy, for the most accumulated competition points, was Ron Wood. The former club chairman, the late Fred Dibden, had donated this trophy.

The club will continue to meet informal on the second Monday of each month at the Owls Nest Pub before restarting in late September at St. Christopher's Church Hall, Morecambe.

At Morecambe Bay Movie Makers' weekly meeting, the end of season annual competition was held with a total of 24 movies being entered. The independent judges were David T. Guest and Amanda Jesson, MD and Production Manager respectively of Workshop Productions based at Regent Park Studios.

Taking the overall winner's place, first in the Open class and Best Sound was Geoff Ducker with his movie "Around our House". This DVD follows the changing seasons in his garden, looking at the wild life and flora. Included in the video is an explanation of how to attract the wild birds to the garden and enjoy their presence.

The winner of the Documentary Class was Ron Wood with the an explanation of how he build a chicken run and stock it with hens to give an all year round supply of free range eggs. John Selby won the Holiday Class with a movie called "Masai Mara" this follows his journey through the wild life parks in Africa showing the animals in their natural surroundings.

Morecambe Bay Movie Makers travelled to Southport Movie Makers on Thursday 16th April 2009 for the 43rd annual inter club competition. The invited club's each enter a movie and provide a judge for scoring and comments, excluding their own entry.

Morecambe came third in the competition with a travelogue movie set in Koh Samui, Thailand. The winning entry was from Preston Movie Makers with a drama set in the trenches of the First World War and second place went to the Cheadle & Gatley club with a documentary covering the Great Longston Chase, a fell race in Derbyshire.

At Morecambe Bay Movie Makers' weekly meeting, members first completed the filming of the introductions to each element of the club's latest show reel. The show reel is a way of letting other movie groups around the country see what the club and its members have made. The introductions were all filmed using the green screen technique, which allows backgrounds and the club logo to be added during editing.

The second half of the meeting was a presentation by club member Chris Abram, showing excerpts from his latest programme "Bittern Country, Our Heritage". The DVD programme shows the area around Carnforth, Arnside and Silverdale and follows its history and looks at some of the events that are part of the areas culture. He was able to explain the research of the programme, how he shot the scenes and logged the hours of material, including the humorous out takes.

Morecambe Bay Movie Makers' weekly meeting started with the presentation of the Merlin Trophy to club member Geoff Ducker. This trophy is given to the movie most liked by the audience at the Mersey Ten, a North West regional competition, this year held at Southport on 7th March 2009.

Club member Graeme Isherwood took up the main part of the meeting with a demonstration of the video special effects program Adobe After Effects. During his presentation he showed how moving filters could produce snow and smoke scenes, people could be drawn forward out of photographs to emphasize them and computer cameras were able to move over scenes to a give a different prospective to a location. In the limited time available he was able to demonstrate the power of the program and guide members on their way to producing the effects that they had in their imagination.

Morecambe Bay Movie Makers moved their weekly meeting to join Lunesdale Camera Club in Halton for a 50/50 interclub event. During the first half the evening, the moviemakers showed a selection of DVDs, ranging from a pot holing expedition, with an explanation of the cave structure, to musical animation and a drama monologue plus local interest movies. Following the interval of tea and chocolate biscuits, the camera club gave an A/V presentation on "Graffiti" and discussed its merits as an art form, as well as comparing the images photographed in Lancaster and London. Their second presentation demonstrated the optical illusions that can be created with black and white images and how movement can be created with a series of still photographs shown in quick succession.

At Morecambe Bay Movie Makers' weekly meeting, the Cumbria Trophy competition was held. The rules for this event are that the entrants must not have won a club competition before, the subject is open and the maximum time is 3 minutes, twenty seconds, which is the running time of an old Super 8 film.

Taking first and second place, out of fifteen entries, was Ron Wood. The winning movie showed the making of a silver finger ring, for his Granddaughter, starting with the melting of scrap silver jewellery for the casting, machining and polishing of the finished item. His second place was taken with a movie following the preparation of buildings and the rearing of chickens from young birds to regular egg laying hens.

The third place went to Derek Fox, with a movie showing the process of drilling and constructing a borehole on farmland to ultimately supply clean fresh drinking water.

Morecambe Bay Movie Makers' meeting on the 2nd March was very different. Howard Greenwood, a technician from Caldervale Systems, gave an interesting talk about what was INSIDE the video cameras that we use. Members are used to using all the controls on the outside of their cameras but very few knew how they worked inside the camera. Everything is miniaturised in modern day cameras and when he showed the members how many motors and pieces go into the construction of just the lens on the camera, they were amazed.

Howard also explained the workings of other parts and then presented a series of very useful tips on how to ensure the smooth running of the equipment. He then demonstrated why it can be very expensive to repair a video camera as so many parts are integrated together and if a fault develops in one part it usually means changing several others. Members also had the opportunity to bring along video equipment which needed repair.

A reminder for members - the Club Shirt Competition is ongoing and we have new entries in the Hall Of Fame. Graeme Isherwood defied gravity - can you improve on that? If so, send in your photos and they will be published on the site.

At the last meeting of Morecambe Bay Movie Makers members were treated to an evening of nostalgia. Former club member John Carne brought along a selection of his award winning cine films and not only did he provide "A Blast from the Past" by showing a selection of programmes that he had made in the 1970's, but also reminded some of the more senior members of the club just how good looking they once were.

John's selection often featured his family and friends acting various roles. One humorous film showed just how much of a religion golf can become to certain enthusiasts. Another featured the club members on an outing to Chester Zoo in 1975. This one created considerable reaction, not only for showing that some of the members still had hair in those days, but also in response to the jokes which were so bad that they were very funny indeed. Members were also treated to spoof films about weather forecasts, how to make cine films and a water advertisement.

Another film contrasted the true Christian meaning of Christmas with the "spend, spend, spend" attitude of some at this time of the year. His then young children were featured in several productions but one in particular, the story of an old lady who was addicted to eating potatoes but whose sack was empty, was a particularly good production and drew very favourable comments from the audience. An excellent evening.

At Morecambe Bay Movie Makers' weekly meeting, members jumped into action on both sides of the camera and lights to record the introductions to their latest showreel under the direction of Chris Abram. The showreel is a collection of movies made by the club and individual members, which can be viewed by similar groups around the country. A member who was involved in the making of each movie made the introduction against a green screen background so that the club logo and scenes from the movie can be inserted while editing.

During the evening a new movie was shown describing the island of Koh Samui in Thailand, which had been dedicated to the late Fred Dibden, the former club chairman.

The live footage shot during the previous week's rehearsal for the Carlo Curley concert was shown to members, although the actual concert was cancelled due to the illness of the performer.

Many new Members' Projects added and existing projects updated with High Quality embedded video. See the Members' Projects Page.

Morecambe Bay Movie Makers' weekly meeting had a change of venue, when it joined Lancaster Photographic Society for a 50/50 meeting at the Methodist Church, Greaves Road in Lancaster. During the first half of the evening, the Movie Makers showed a selection of movies including travelogues, computer animations, video portraits and promotional movies. Following the interval tea break the photographic society gave two A/V presentations. The first followed a journey through China on a search for the natural flora in the remote high altitudes of the mountains and the second presentation captured the story of a climbing expedition to the foothills of Mount Everest with the mountain scenes and the friendly guides. Throughout the evening the society members' photographic prints were on display for everyone to enjoy.

At Morecambe Bay Movie Makers' weekly meeting, the Warriner Trophy competition was held, which is limited to a maximum length of five minutes and the subject for this year was "Hobbies".

The winner was Brian Melmore, with a documentary cataloguing the hobbies he has had over the years varying from pen and ink drawing to movie making via canal cruising.

In second place was Ron Wood with a movie showing his latest hobby of jewellery making. The movie showed the process of casting the base metal to machining and polishing of a fine gents finger ring.

Taking third place was Dave Weatherley with a movie following his hobby of climbing, while on holiday in the USA.

The subject for next year's competition was discussed and voted to be "A Public Service Information Broadcast" true or fictional.

It was with deep sorrow that we learned of the death of Morecambe Bay Movie Makers' Chairman, Fred Dibden, on 26th January 2009.

Fred had been a member for almost twenty years and for ten of those years he was on the committee, being vice Chairman for one year and Chairman for the last four years, only being elected for the last time one week before his death.

Fred gave the club 100% committment, with a gentle smile and his own special way of encouraging members to become involved and enjoy the benefits of the club and promoting the work of the club in the community.

He was always first to arrive at the meetings and last to leave, doing what a chairman has to do plus many of the preparation jobs. When conducting meetings he had been known to use a giant boxing glove but the "bell" took over in recent times and the meetings had his respect. The meetings will not be the same without Fred brushing back his long, curling hair and looking through those two pairs of specs at the same time to focus on the small print.

Whenever there was an outside-club filming project, Fred would be there with his kit, leading from the front and occasionally being asked by the local police to explain his enthusiasm but he was always able to explain his way out of trouble and what he was doing.

During the summer break, Fred would take it upon himself to contact each member by phone to remind them of the monthly meeting and then he would arrive at the Owls Nest meeting an hour before the start, to reserve the favourite corner for the twenty plus members to follow. At every meeting, winter or summer, Fred would usually turn up with leaflets on the latest bargains to be had at local stores selling computers, audio equipment, cameras and any over gadget he thought members would be interested in, which would often have members standing in a shop queue the following day.

Two years ago, a new trophy was presented to the club, to be used to recognise services to the club and this was named after Fred because of his dedications to the club. He was its deserving first recipient. Fred himself gave a new trophy in 2008 which he wanted to be used to encourage members to make movies and this is to be known as "The Grand Prix Trophy", where points are accumulated by members to find the movie maker of the year.

Fred had known that he was ill for some time but took care not to let it interfere too much with his enjoyment and duty as chairman to the club, going to the extent that while being taken to hospital he asked that the mixer he had promised to loan the club for Monday's meeting should be taken to the Hon Sec as he may not be able to get to the meeting himself.

Fred was a good servant to the club and a friend to us all; he had his own unique style of filmmaking and was respected by all members. Fred will be missed but not forgotten.

Funeral Arrangements

A service will take place on Friday 6th February 2009 at 1.15pm in the Lancaster Crematorium.

At Morecambe Bay Movie Makers' meeting, members paid tribute to Fred Dibden, the chairman, who had died at the weekend. Fred was a club member for twenty years and had been the Chairman for the last four years.

The meeting continued with a rehearsal for the Carlo Curley concert in the Ashton Hall, Lancaster, where the club will be providing the live television coverage of the performer. Cameras and equipment were set up to video Norman Cunningham, a member of the Bay Organ and Key Board Society, who played a selection of tunes while members practiced using the cameras and mixers for the concert on Saturday 7th February 2009.

Morecambe Bay Movie Makers held their 40th Annual general meeting at St. Christopher's Church Hall, Bare. Chairman Fred Dibden reported that the club had enjoyed a successful year with visiting and club speakers, practical evenings and well-supported competitions. He completed his report by thanking every one for their support as the club entered its "Ruby Year".

A new committee and officials were appointed along with, Chairman Fred Dibden, Vice Chairman Graeme Isherwood, Secretary Ken Russell and committee members Stan Sharpe, Brian Melmore and Dave Weatherley. The Treasurer, Mike Ellis, continues in post for a further year.

Mersey Ten Reminder

The distribution of ENTRY FORMS for the Mersey Ten Competition has been delayed by the late publication of the IAC magazine Film and Video Maker following the Christmas/New Year closure at the printers. Your club copy should be received shortly along with IAC North West Monopod.

Monopod includes the entry form for the Mersey Ten and shows a closing date of 24th January 2009 - next Saturday !!!! In view of the short timescale for submitting entries the closing date has been EXTENDED by one week to 31st January 2009.

Please support the competition, details of which are in Monopod, and do your best to submit entries by the new closing date.

If your club or any member requires additional entry forms please let me know and I will email them to you.

Hope to see you all in Southport on March 7th at the public screening

Best wishes

Richard Curry
Chairman
IAC North West

Morecambe Bay Movie Makers started the second half of their season with a bumper attendance for the "Showcase Raffle". The event consisted of any member showing a five minute (or thereabouts) movie clip or a finished movie, in exchange for a raffle ticket. At the end of the night, a draw was made for a selection of prizes.

This year the 19 entries all won prizes, thanks to the donation of gifts from club members. The movies shown ranged from a 90sec clip of an animated talking ostrich head to an exotic sailing trip around five islands off the coast of Thailand. The highlight of the evening was the showing of an earlier club video, which was thought to be lost, of a spoof movie showing members at an imaginary keep fit class in the late 1980s, a reminder of the effects of time.

Morecambe Bay Movie Makers held their Christmas Diner at the County Hotel, Carnforth on Monday 22nd Dec 2008 and 22 members and guests attended. Drinks were taken in the bar before a hearty meal was served at 7.30 with paper hats on heads to get everyone in the festive mood. At the end of the meal, the annual Fred Dibden trophy was presented to Ken Russell for services rendered to the club. The trophy donator, Chris Abram presented this prior to the drawing of the free raffle for a selection of wines, chocolates and gadgets. The Vice Chairman, Graeme Isherwood wished members a merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year and invited them all back to the start of the next series of club meetings on Monday 12th Jan 2009 for the Showcase raffle

At Morecambe Bay Movie Makers' weekly meeting, club member Graeme Isherwood gave a presentation on how Adobe Photoshop can be used in conjunction with movie editing software. He began by explaining the basic method of capturing and adjusting the image detail and colour so that they were suitable for transferring to movie projects. He also explained that as well as Photoshop there were other programs that could do the same tasks, some of which are free on the web.

During the second half of the evening, Graeme went on to demonstrate how images could be viewed by panning and tilting to give the impression of a camera movement over the scene. The use of Photoshop in movie making will continue later in the season with more advanced projects.

Morecambe Bay Movie Makers held their first competition of the season, this being the "Dave Sephton Trophy" which attracted twelve entries. The subject for this competition was Local Interest, and the maximum running time was limited to twelve minutes.

Taking first place was Chris Abram with a movie showing the events at Carnforth Steam Town to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the last steam train to run on the main line service. Runner up was Graeme Isherwood with a compilation of the club's events and members, filmed over many years and set to music. In third place was Chris Abram again with a documentary DVD of the area around Yealand. His movie showed the rural surroundings and looked into the old iron making industry and the Friends of the Quakers, which had its early start in the area.

All the entrants will now be eligible for a new trophy, "The Grand Prix" which awards points for places and entries in all the club's competitions during the year. The filmmaker of the year will be announced at the end of the season in April 2009.

At Morecambe Bay Movie Makers' weekly meeting, members watched the second part of the training DVD "Advanced Camera Techniques". The programme showed how to create the professional look to movies giving examples of camera angles and positions. The presenter described how to set up interviews and encourage the subjects to talk to camera. There were also tips on how to build inexpensive equipment to obtain underwater shots, steady cam moving sequences, plus high and low level positions.

At the end of the evening, members were able to demonstrate some of their own hand made equipment that they had used and some that was still in the development stage.

At Morecambe Bay Movie Makers' weekly meeting, four mini-studios were set up by club members Graham Easton, Dave Weatherley, Alan Lamb and Graeme Isherwood. Each studio had a laptop computer with a different movie editing software program. The remaining club members divided themselves between the studios to learn the basics of how each system worked over a 30-minute period before moving to the next demonstration. The programs are all capable of transforming raw video footage into a finished DVD programme but vary in cost from £0 to £500.

At Morecambe Bay Movie Makers' weekly meeting, a selection of movies were shown that had been made by members of the Pendle Movie Makers. The showreels included copies of historic films shot in the Colne area with cobbled streets and a "Knocker-Up" and the traditional Blackpool holiday excursions.

There were also movies of the local Pendle area special events and industries including bakers and steam engines.

During the interval, a hot pot supper was served by "Sunflowers" caterers of Morecambe.

Morecambe Bay Movie Makers moved their weekly meeting to "Workshop Productions" at Regent Park studios for a presentation and demonstration by one of the founders David T Guest. During the presentation David explained how the company was formed and what movies they had made and how they are helping others to learn more about the movie industry, to a level where they can be given a recognised qualification.

During the evening, a demonstration of the chromakey effect of superimposing live action over a moving background was given. This was achieved by using the blue painted walls of the purpose-built studio, a set of lights, an HD video camera and computer generated graphics. The members were also given the opportunity to look at scale models and the storyboard of a new feature film to be made next year in the Isle of Man by Workshop Productions and to watch one of their award winning movies about unpaid work in the movie industry.

At Morecambe Bay Movie Makers' weekly meeting, members welcomed Mike Fleming from the Lancashire Constabulary Imaging Unit, who gave a presentation on the work of the department. He explained how they collect video and photographic evidence from the scenes of crime, enhance CCTV footage and train police officers to use imaging equipment.

The unit have also made a number of documentary programmes covering drug abuse, careless driving, vandalism and many other areas where a target audience can be shown the consequences of their actions. Examples of the movies were shown with an explanation of how they were made, which led to an interesting and informative question and answer session.



At Morecambe Bay Movie Makers' weekly meeting, club member Peter Parker gave a presentation on the principles of movie editing. He illustrated his talk with examples of both his own movies and those of other club members. These showed the importance of the correct sequences, pace, mood and the need for the correct original footage to be shot during the filming stage. The evening developed with a lively question and answer session when members were able to contribute their experiences to the topic.

During the second part of the evening, Graham Easton, the club's website co-ordinator, gave members an update on the improvements that have been made to the club's website and explained how members could easily show their movies online.

The club's entry into the North v South competition was screened for members before being dispatched.

At Morecambe Bay Movie Makers' weekly meeting. members welcomed Nigel Cliff, the North of England representative for CKE of Shipley, pro video and audio equipment suppliers.

Nigel brought with him a host of HD movie cameras for inspection, a selection of microphones, lighting rigs, chrome key effects equipment, tripods and an HD projector for appraisal. He talked about the latest equipment available and what is likely to be on the market in the near future. The distribution of free samples of camera cases, test cards and editing software was well received by members, who also bought or ordered equipment from CKE.

At Morecambe Bay Movie Makers' weekly meeting, members had the pleasure of watching the entries from the 2008 Annual Competition of Chichester Film & Video Makers. The evening was used as an exercise and discussion forum on the unenviable task of being a competition judge. Three club members had judged the actual competition last May and it was found that their results virtually matched the audience of Morecambe members. The fourteen movies entered varied in length from 56 seconds to 14 minutes. The subjects covered varied from travelogues and cycling documentaries to comedy dramas. The forum was lead by Chris Abram with help from fellow judge Peter Parker.

At Morecambe Bay Movie Makers' weekly meeting, members watched a 75 minute training DVD on "Advanced Camera Techniques," produced in the USA. The DVD went through numerous ways of improving camera angles, picture composition, correct use of the zoom and focusing, all with the idea of making movies of professional quality. The second part of the evening was spent applying the things learnt to film two short drama sequences, which were shown at the close of the meeting.

The first weekly meeting of a new season of the Morecambe Bay Movie Makers was held on Monday at St Christopher's Church Hall, Morecambe. The meeting was a "Showcase Raffle" where members brought in a 5-minute clip to show. For each movie shown, a raffle ticket was given and a draw made at the end of the night for a range of prizes. The movies shown included holidays in New Zealand, Austria and Ireland, a journey around the Lake District, a futuristic animation of a club meeting and outtakes from a wedding video and more.

For the new season, we have a flurry of new entries in the Hall of Fame. As you will remember, the club is running an unofficial contest (so unofficial, it's now into its third year and no-one's won anything yet) for the best shot of a club member wearing their club shirt or fleece. If you think you can beat the existing efforts, Contact Us.

For earlier news articles, please see The Archive.