Movie Club Revival - part 1

KISS, Critical Mass and the Twilight Zone

Some video clubs have faded to black some are approaching dissolution while others are flourishing. David Fuller believes the secret to a video club’s continuing viability lies in its members’ willingness and ability to MAKE MOVIES. It’s a “glue” that holds members’ interest and maintains morale. So, if a club can find ways to produce the “glue” by keeping things simple so that as many members as possible can be “on the team”, members will be back and new members recruited.

How do you know your video club is approaching the twilight zone?

"It used to be fun to belong, but now, it's all just talk. We sit around watching movies from other clubs." The membership has dwindled. A few despairing, veteran seniors remain. What can a struggling club do to revitalize itself? Oops! We're approaching the "critical mass", from which there is no return.

Let's not get bent out of shape and depressed.
Let's DO something about it.
Put the "fun" back into our club!

Rekindling - it's worth a shoot

The fire that once was in a video-club may be rekindled when the club commits itself to MAKING MOVIES, however humble those may be. So get cracking. Make movies.

Yeah, yeah, every club every club has "doers" and "viewers". The doers proudly bring along their new movies and the viewers sit on warm chairs. But here's the irony: with fewer and fewer movies being made, there's a dearth of movies to view!  But now the sky's the limit! Today, with electronic editing, the amateur is freed to create movies that don't look like 1980's travelogues. We can do anything. Take a deep breathe and come on, let's be positive:

"Brethren, gather round under the tent. Revival may be at hand."

KISS Movies

You should KISS - (Keep It Short'n'Simple) … make movies that are within beginners' reach. And don't be surprised to find your voyage to a bright future is sometimes hard sailing. There are always people on board who keep throwing out the stern anchors.

"Ahoy, shipmates! Who has an inspiration, an idea for our next Club Movie ?"

(Be sure you have a couple of ideas up your sleeve to start the ball rolling. Your suggestions may get lost in the rush as others bounce off them and come up with their own. Hurrah - the more ideas the better.) Whatever visions come up, capture them as quickly as possible. Writing them down enables each gem to be shared and enthusiasm developed. Maintaining momentum is vital.

Keep It Short and Simple

Make these movies KISS style (Keep It Short & Simple). Leave the epics and full features for another day - way, way down the line. Trim an inspired vision down to a size suited to the club's resources.

The more people like the idea and think about it, the more the vision keeps growing.

An example: a club movie about Harbor Taxis. The prospect of a shoot featuring the Harbor Taxis excites people. Some want to research the history, find archived photos, do interviews … er, no. The resulting 30 minutes long trip would be too much for a general audience … and too ambitious for a club just puffing on the embers of creativity. So, without bruising any egos, the neat trick is to choose a few of the most informative and entertaining aspects of the Taxis. Shoot those. Then, at the editing desk, plan on further compressing the better shots into the best ! Four to five minutes, max., sounds about right.

Watch out for the short-short merchants. In both documentary and narrative genres, the highest art of compression is probably the "One-Minute" Movie. But it is actually harder to make a good film of 60-seconds than a good one of 300-seconds. It's better to begin aiming for something a little longer. The exception is a "short" beginner's cameo, with a beginning, middle and end, of 1-minute duration. For the neophyte amateur, the "cameo" is simply a means to get this video-maker building a sequence - with a B, M & E (Beginning, Middle and End). For example: a film on the theme "Giving the family dog a bath" : catching Foxy, immersing, washing, drying, Foxy's exuberant pleasure (!).

A short amateur video lasting only a few minutes, will be a "window" to look with "new eyes" on to some thing, process or display.

And beware the epic salesmen. A marathon length production is far beyond the resources of a club hobbling along - besides it may well leave only ONE happy person in the audience! Keep these club-shoots simple and short - but not simple-minded. Oh, and design them for a general audience. Nothing boosts morale like sharing your film with an audience that really gets it and enjoys it.

Part 2 The race is on ->

David Fuller's articles have appeared in a slightly different form in Panorama the magazine of the Society of Canadian Cine Amateurs. We are very grateful for the permission of author and editor to reproduce them here.