There was lots of positive feedback for our guest speaker Richard last week, here are a few of the collected thoughts.
If you missed it don't worry the selected highlights are on the Nuneaton Moviemakers YouTube channel.
I feel last week’s Zoom meeting was one of the best so far. Angie was host for the evening, and even Simon Sumner (who’s hosted BIAFF and CEMRIAC Zoom meetings during 2020, and who’d joined in with us on this occasion) commented how well the evening went.
Angie has a certain manner, and seems to know precisely which questions are appropriate to draw out the most informed responses from the guest speakers. Our guest for this occasion was Richard Miller, co-writer of the BIAFF Diamond award-winning film, ‘Can’t Hide It’, and he certainly knows how to recount his experiences of his film-making career to date. Richard much prefers to write his own scripts, using his own ideas rather than relying on someone else’s notions. (‘Can’t Hide It’ was based on the real-life experience of his partner, Kim) And as regards his film crew, there are only four behind the camera. He was asked by Alan whether they used more than one camera on any shoot, and he replied that they’d only just started to use two, but only then when there was a large distance between the subject matter, such as actors on different parts of theatre stage, but he felt using two might become more commonplace in future. For editing, he used to use Premier, but has now changed to Da Vinci Resolve which he swears by. The latest production, ‘Repeat’, has been completed as far as the filming goes, and editing/post production is almost finished too. Then it’s a matter of ‘selling’ the film to a distributor. The team had had a bad experience with the distributor of one of their previous films, having been duped out of £12,000, and they haven’t received a penny yet....(it’s a nasty world out there!) Richard also recounted the steps they’d taken to employ a good quality cast for ‘Repeat’. Using Twitter and Facebook to publicise their acting requirements, they received 1,000 applicants who had to be whittled right down to just a few to become part of the final cast. - Gerry
What struck me most was the commitment shown by Richard and his colleagues. They seem to spend every waking minute on planning or producing their movies.
And, of course, they are also prepared to throw a lot of money at their projects, to ensure the highest production values. It’s no surprise that the films are so well received, both at festivals and by broadcasters. Which makes me ask; is it reasonable to expect ‘people like us’ to put this much effort into our own films; would it take much of the fun out what we do? A few years ago, I was prepared to take two or three years to make a film, and hope that I will have some more ideas that would justify so much effort. For some time, I’ve been mulling over ideas for another ‘Walter Ruddles’ film; it would be the fifth in the series, but cannot quite make it gel. Perhaps the answer is to just get started on it, and let the details follow. Back to Richard; I asked him about the relative merits of single camera vs multiple camera filming. The former approach, which is preferred by many Hollywood directors, gives more freedom when placing cameras at different angles, so avoiding other cameras inadvertently being in shot. (It doesn’t help that the viewfinders on most consumer cameras do not show the full picture – something that made sense in the days of cathode-ray tube televisions, but seems pointless nowadays). A further problem with using more than one camera, is matching image quality. It’s surprising just how much it varies from one manufacturer to another. In themselves, they are all OK, but the mismatch between them can be very obtrusive, and almost impossible to correct during editing. Multi camera set-ups, on the other hand, prevent the continuity errors, that are so common with inexperienced actors. The pros don’t just learn their lines, they also maintain the same body positions from one take to the next. Richard is now going for the compromise option of using two cameras. - Alan
His account of his lifelong fascination with film was evident, amusing and held our interest throughout. The careful selection of his equipment was calculated and prudent in order to get the quality he strived for in his films.
A well prepared and clearly spoken presentation with good images interestingly covering all aspects of the inquiring minds of his audience. He explained the pitfalls of over-reaching financially, as in his first efforts to commercialise his work, which fell into the wrong hands and where he ended up with empty pockets - lessons were very much learned! Richard was very lucid in the later Q & A and there was discussion on his BIAFF Diamond Award for his film 'Can't Hide It' which also picked up the award for Best Actress. His latest film is 'Neville Rumble' and he explained the advantages of hiring a sound team to deal with all the aspects of sound production, added to which was the cost of using professional actors, who as he said - knew and delivered exactly what he wanted - at the time anyway! As he explained he always had the feeling of wanting to go back to improve his work even after a film has gone out for distribution. It was an excellent and informative evening and Tricia and I enjoyed it immensely but I'm sure left us all with questions, especially regarding the high cost (in amateur terms) of Richard's productions - when does a film cross the line between amateur and professional? In Richard's case, is it when someone buys the film and he recoups his costs, or is it when he actually makes a profit on his work? The evening highlighted the advantages of getting together in these Zoom meetings, especially for me when living at a distance which makes attendance at normal meetings nearly impossible. - Rob