AV News 189 - August 2012
Trophée de Paris 2012
Howard Bagshaw ARPS MPAGB
OK, I'll be honest, for Carole and me it was an excuse to go to Paris in the
Spring. We'd been there last year, to the Trophée de Paris and thoroughly
enjoyed the day, so 26th May
found us back in Paris, in
Montparnasse, at the Studio
Raspail. For the culture vulture, in
Montparnasse's heyday the cafes
were home to Picasso, Man Ray,
Hemingway and Cartier-Bresson
to name but a few. The cafes are
still there and the echoes of the
cultural past live on, not least in
the AV event we were to attend.
The event is somewhat
different to most of the AV
competitions we see in the UK. It is an 'international', though most of the
entries are from France, many from the Paris area and this year they had 82
entries. (France 53; Italy 15; UK 7; Belguim 4; Tunisia 1; Poland 1; USA 1).
Just a few more statistics, for those so inclined, the shortest sequence was
1' 26" the longest 12 mins; the smallest exe file 5Mb, the largest 1002Mb
(gasps from audience when this was divulged); the editing software used was
PTE 44; M-Objects 12; ProShow 11; Wings 11; Video 4.
What makes it a bit different is how it is judged and how sequences are
shown. It is organised by four photographic clubs in and around Paris,
photographic clubs, not AV groups note. There is pre-selection and the 82
entries were reduced by the organisers to 47, to be shown to the judging
panels. The judging is undertaken by a small jury from each of the four clubs,
30 judges in all. Each panel separately views the sequences and each judge
independently ranks their best 15 sequences.
The results from the 30
judges are then collated
and reduced to a single
mark by a process called 'la
moyenne harmonique'.
(Don't ask - or if you
really want to know, ask
Jean-Paul Petit when he's
over in September)
So they had been judged,
which brought us to the
presentation day.
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