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Morecambe Bay Movie Makers held their Ruby Anniversary meal at the Royal Hotel, Bolton-le-Sands, with 35 members and guests attending. During the meal, the two longest serving members, Stan Sharpe and Roy Wilson, who had joined in 1971, cut a celebration cake decorated with the club's logo.

The evening included a talk by the longest serving members and early member Michael Ellis, who traced the history of the club, its success and the changes in technology before toasting the club on its 40th anniversary and wishing it and its members success in the future.

During the evening, old press cuttings of the club's activities over the years were circulate, along with the original inaugural meeting minutes which had been held on 26th January 1970 in the Shrimp Inn, Morecambe.

 

Morecambe Bay Movie Makers held their Annual General Meeting on Monday 18th January 2010. The acting Chairman Graeme Isherwood report that the club had had a successful year but it had a sad start when the chairman Fred Dibden died. The acting chairman went on to remind members of the club's programme that had been followed over the year and the visits made to other clubs and days out to places of interest including brewers and museums.

The competition winners were congratulated and he thanked members for their work in obtaining grants for equipment and putting on public shows.

The treasurer presented a Financial Statement that showed that the club was in a satisfactory position.

The following officials were elected to serve: - Chairman- Greame Isherwood, Treasurer- Michael Ellis, Committee- Stan Sharpe, Dave Weatherley, Dave Jones and Frank Wilson.

Morecambe Bay Movie Makers held their first meeting of 2010 with a Showcase Raffle movie night. Members were asked to bring in a movie or rushes to show in exchange for a raffle ticket and the chance to win a prize at the end of the night. A wide variety of movies were shown including big boys toys filmed in Germany driving army vehicles, a visit to New England, a walk across Morecambe Bay, a farmers Christmas concert, a wood turning demonstration and animation movies.

There were enough movies to fill two nights but these will be shown at a later date all making it a good start to the New Year.

 

At Morecambe Bay Movie Makers' weekly meeting, club Chairman Graeme Isherwood hosted a virtual pub Christmas quiz for the last meeting of the year. Club members formed into teams of four to answer a variety of questions in eight rounds. The questions included identifying films from their music and from their advertising posters, movie making technical jargon busters and general knowledge. Prizes were awarded for the first team and wood spoons to the bottom team. During the interval mince pies and tea were served.

    

At Morecambe Bay Movie Makers' weekly meeting, club member Tim Churchill gave a presentation of his work as a sound recording engineer. He began by explaining the theory of sound waves and the way that these can be picked up by the different types of microphones that are available. Having worked for the BBC and now freelance he was able to explain how good quality sound recordings of different types of events could be achieved and he played excerpts from choirs, orchestras, solo instrumentals and interviews that he had made.

He also showed a selection of DVD programmes that he has produced using good quality recordings of spoken memories, which are accompanied by visual images such as photographs, maps, drawings, short movie clips and sound effects. There was also on display a selection of microphones for members to examine.

Morecambe Bay Movie Makers held their first competition of the season with the Dave Sephton Trophy were the subject was local interest and the time limit was 12 minutes.

Taking first place was Graham Easton with "Morecambe Is Changing", this was a combination of still photographs and movies, which looked at the buildings which have been lost and those that had been constructed. The DVD included a detailed record of the building of the new RNLI hovercraft station on Morecambe promenade.

In second place was Ron Wood with "Lancaster Edwardian Festival and Market". The DVD looked at the themed market when it was held in Lancaster and featured conversations with the participants and stallholders. There was an explanation of the products on sale along with live performances of music from that time in history.

Third place went to Alan Lamb with "Kirkby Lonsdale". The DVD looked at the charm of the town, its architecture, the river Lune and the walks around the adjacent countryside.

During the evening it was announced that Graham Easton had won the Fred Dibden Trophy for service to the club during 2008. The award was the result of a ballot by club members and was for Graham's work on developing the club's website and communications.

At Morecambe Bay Movie Makers' weekly meeting, an editing exchange event took place with six different movie editing software packages being demonstrated by club members on both laptop and desktop computers. The six workstations were set up so that members could see how each one operated and there was the opportunity for experienced users to exchange notes and techniques as well as others gaining information before buying an editing system. During the evening, the Chairman announced that the club's movie "Trapped" featuring the Bay Search and Rescues Service had been selected to represent the North in the national North v South Movie Competition in January 2010.

       

At Morecambe Bay Movie Makers' weekly meeting we held a Grand Day Out movie night, when members showed the results of movies and photographs taken on two summer events. The movies were of the Wensleydale creamery, alias Wallace and Grommet, and the Black Sheep Brewery, followed by a visit later in the year to the open-air town museum at Beamish. The varied movies showed how the same subject could be treated in different ways to tell a story. There was also an opportunity for members to show films made at other locations suitable for a grand day out.

Morecambe Bay Movie Makers welcomed Phil Janvier, the North West representative of the Institute of Videographers, to their weekly meeting. Phil gave a talk on how to apply the Dolby Surround sound system to movies giving multi track sound effects from different points in a room. He was able to explain the requirements to obtain a license from Dolby to use their product in movies. He went on to show two of his movies, the first shot with three different priced cameras to find out if members could detect when each camera was used. The second movie was his award winning film of the devastating effect of a mischief night prank that resulted in a fatality, now used to help to deter young people from this practice.

The second half of the evening was taken up with an explanation of how members can take an on line examination to become an associate members of the IOV. A quiz was held using some of the test questions with the club split into two teams, the result was a draw.

At Morecambe Bay Movie Makers' weekly meeting, club chairman Graeme Isherwood gave a talk and demonstration on producing DVDs with Adobe Encore. He began by explaining the importance of selecting the right fonts, backgrounds and colour for the titles used in a DVD index. He was able to show a catalogue of fonts that can be produced by your own computer using free software from the Internet. Using his laptop and a projector he went through the various stage of transferring the video to DVD, creating chapters with their interactions and the final presentation on screen. Included in his demonstration was a tutorial training aid for Adobe Encore that can be down loaded from the Internet free of charge.

 

At Morecambe Bay Movie Makers' weekly meeting, members enjoyed watching a selection of nine award-winning movies from the British International Film Festival of 2008. The movies included a comedy drama of a mad inventor crossed with James Bond and Superman, a re-enactment and display of WW2 events in Holland and the story of life on the canal boats in the early 1900s. During the interval a meat and potato pie supper was served with peas, pickles and a cup of tea.

As part of its 40th Anniversary celebrations, the club held "A Salute To Our Veterans" on 31st October. See the Event Reports section for a full write-up.

At Morecambe Bay Movie Makers' weekly meeting, members had a new gadget night where they brought it any new items that had been bought or made to help with their movie making. The items varied from compact camera lights to a portable autocue, glidecam body camera support, glide tacks and fluid tripod heads. Each of the new pieces of equipment was demonstrated by its owner and formed a mini exhibition. In addition to the members' items, the club equipment bought with a grant from "Awards For All" were displayed. These included radio mics, P.A. system, floodlights and a green screen for special effects, all of which can be used by the members to improve their movies and to give better shows.

The world of 3D photography and movie making came to the Morecambe Bay Movie Makers when Barry Aldous was the guest speaker at our weekly meeting. Barry set up his 3D cameras and projectors and explained how he became involved with the process and how he now makes 3D movies and A/V presentations.

During his demonstration, he showed example of early equipment used in the USA and examples of 3D films made by them. He showed his own work, which included a documentary of the Anderton canal boatlift plus some commercial footage of the Rhine valley. His show finished with a monochrome 3D slide show of mountain climbing in the early 1900.

The evening concluded with the showing of the movie "Trapped", which is to be the club's entry in the North v South competition. The movie tells the story of a rescue in Morecambe Bay of a trapped walker in quick sand by the Bay Search and Rescue organisation from Flookburgh.

 

On Saturday, 10th October, Morecambe Bay Movie Makers presented eleven movies at a Cinema Evening at St. Christopher's Church in Morecambe. The movies included local places of interest and events, travelogues from the USA and Thailand plus craftsmen at work and an animation comedy. During the interval, home-made sandwiches, cakes and tea were served.

Morecambe Bay Movie Makers had a packed meeting to hear club member Graham Easton talk about and demonstrate how to place movies on the Internet. He began by reminding members how movie makers' equipment and technology had changed over the years, thus allowing the audiences to expand from the makers family and friends in the front room to the worldwide Internet audience.

He was able to demonstrate, using his laptop, how a Blog is made and then how to convert a video for up loading to the Blog or as an attachment, using two different software programs. He went on to explain the importance of giving a good description to help with searches by others users to find your work and to become linked to other site.

Included in his presentation was an explanation of the club's own web site and how it is managed. He was able to give to members the statistics about the number of hits that have been made on movies that are available to be viewed on the club site.

Morecambe Bay Movie Makers began their new season of weekly meetings with a Showcase Raffle where members brought in a short film or rushes to show in exchange for a raffle ticket. At the end of the night, tickets were drawn for a selection of prizes making it a good show to watch and the bonus of a prize for the lucky ones.

The movies shown included the visit of Princess Alexandra to Lancaster's Cancer Care Shop, travelogues from the USA, Newzeland, Canada and across Europe. Other movies showed the first few days of a new child's life and the making of a rocking horse plus some of the club's summer activities in Morecambe and Beamish.

        

The last noggin-n-natter meeting at the Owls Nest for this summer was attended by almost twenty members. Once again members enjoyed the chance to meet and catch-up with what has been happening in the movie making world. Two raffles were held during the meeting the first involved buying a ticket and writing on it the name of a pig, which had featured in the last email newsletter. The winner of the draw was Mike Ellis who will receive a pottery pig, which forms two bookend stops; Malcolm Morrison donated the prize, some of the names of the pig will appear in the next newsletter. There were a number of consolation prizes drawn for the raffle, which included half a dozen eggs, 1 kg of tomatoes, a club badge clock and a bottle of vodka. The second raffle was a free draw to guess the name of two members who appeared in the background of a newsletter photograph, the winner was Chris Abram. The prize of a pint of Lancaster Bomber was donated by Graham Easton. The sum of £36 was raised by the raffle for club funds, which brings the summer's total to over £100.

Chris Abram was able to give more details of the forthcoming events, which are to be part of the 40th anniversary year including the launch of the The Morecambe Bay International Video Competition website. Dates of all the events appear in the new programme.

Following a request from the writer Ron Carey to video his latest production at the Grand Theatre in Lancaster it was agreed to form a team to produce a video of "Across the Bay" on Saturday, 26th Sept 2009 at 2.15pm.

With all that talking it was thirsty work and members often had to take trips to the bar for supplies so bring to an end a good series of summer meetings.

Once again a successful meeting in the 'Owls Nest'. We had fourteen members present but at times it sounded like forty...

As Ken is away this week on yet another cruise, this report is being cobbled together by your acting chairman, so, any problems, see me not Ken.

As I didn't have much to report, I handed over to Chris who, having evaded the clutches of the Cumbria Constabulary (that's another story), brought us up to date with arrangements for the anniversary year projects and various attempts for sponsorship.

During the evening Brian demonstrated his new HD camera (Sony) and the excellent slow motion feature for his wildlife videos.Then we had a raffle. We managed to raise £24 between us, well done to all concerned, with prizes donated by Chris and Ron. Dave Simpson won 'The Complete Guide to Digital Video' donated by Chris, the next prize of home laid eggs won by Frank Seymour, home grown tomatoes won by me (both donated by Ron) and a local history book, donated by Chris and won by Dave Weatherley. Thanks to Graham and all concerned for organising the raffle and to Irene for expertly drawing the winning tickets.

Once again, can I take this opportunity of thanking Graham, and Mark, for the work they do with the website and newsletters and to Chris for his continued efforts with the anniversary efforts.

Don't forget to keep the local event films coming in, (tell Graham what you have filmed).

Next Noggin and Natter will be 14th September.

Graeme.

P.S. When we meet for the new program on 28th September, take your own biscuits, there's a nasty rumour that the kitchen crew are going to start charging...



The second Grand Day out of this year took place on Thursday 22nd July, to the open-air museum at Beamish. Twenty-five members and guests boarded the coach in Morecambe and travelled across country, making the traditional stop for coffee and sticky buns at Tebay.

On arrival at Beamish it began to drizzle so for many of the party it was a direct tram ride to the old style tearooms for an early lunch. Almost as soon as the mushy peas and meat pies struck the plates the sun began to shine and the cobbles of down town Beamish were cracking. It was then all hands to the cameras as members toured the site looking in the buildings, going down the drift mine, visiting workers cottages, shops, a farm and businesses. There were a number of places where old recipes were being used to produce food samples and there always seamed to be one member testing the food as part of the research for the movies being made.

During the filming, there was time to taste the local brew in the old style pub but the prices were in new style money. At 4.45pm, it was time to catch the tram or vintage bus back to our waiting coach for smooth drive home after an interest and warm day out. Chris Abram organised the event and, thanks to him, the day went well (including the weather) and there may be more days out to come before the end of the year.

The third Noggin-n-Natter meeting was held on Monday 13th July in the Owls Nest, Bare with a good crowd of approx 20 members filling the regular corner. During the evening chairman Graeme Isherwood gave the meeting an update with the progress regarding the club's recent success in being awarded a grant from the National Lottery "Awards for All" scheme.

The equipment, which has been selected for purchase, which will be used in our movie project and work in the community, will be bought as soon as possible subject to obtaining the paper work from the bank. The plans for celebrating the club's 40th anniversary year were discussed and the committee will be announcing a full list of the events very soon.

A mystery raffle was held where members bought a total of 34 £1 tickets for a prize donated by Ron Wood, following on from last months successful raffle. Frank Seymour won the first prize which was a hand made contemporary bud vase made from carved wood and copper tube, manufactured by Ron, complete with flowers. The second prize was won by Dave Jones, which was 2 kg of tomatoes grown by Ron, which had appeared in one of his recent movies.

Let's hope the next meeting on 10th August is as well attended and who knows what may be on offer.

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 took 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

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.

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.

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