AV News 180 - May 2010
BIAFF 2010
R o n D a v ie s FRPS FIPF EFIAP FACI(M)
A few months ago I was asked if I would be part of the panel to judge the 250
films entered in the British Amateur Film Festival of 2010 run by the IAC. With
some trepidation, having only judged AV's at International level, never films, I
accepted.
The judging of all 250 films was done over the weekend of February 19th to
21st at Durham. Fifteen judges had been appointed and we met on the Friday
evening for a judges' briefing conducted by David Newman the Competition
Manager. We were asked to introduce ourselves in turn. Surrounded by
eminent IAC Fellows and film makers I introduced myself as a mere AV'er and
only God and David Newman knew why I was there and I wasn't too sure about
God!
However, my trepidation was soon allayed as we viewed 6 films which had
been chosen to represent a cross-section of the entry. We were all required to
comment on them and award a star rating from 1 to 5. I'll explain the star rating
later. The 6 films ranged, in type, from animation, comedy/drama, monologue,
lyrical fantasy through to a 5 star comedy.
Then, for the subsequent judging sessions on Saturday and Sunday we
were split up into judging panels of 3 to view, on average, six films per session.
I was involved in one session where we viewed a 45 minute long film together
with a 60 second animation. After each session the judges were rotated so that
no 3-man jury was ever the same. This was an attempt at ensuring some level
of standardisation in terms of assessment. This meant that none of the jury
members saw all the films. I saw 40 of the 250 entered.
The judging sessions on the Saturday ran as follows:- 9.00 - 10.30, coffee,
11.00 - 12.30. Lunch, then 1.30 - 3.00, coffee, 3.30 - 5.00, coffee, 5.30 - 6.30.
Dinner, then 8.30 - 10.00. The Sunday sessions followed the same pattern until
4 in the afternoon. Hectic!
Whilst viewing the films we also had to bear in mind that there were prizes
for :- Best British entry, best Use of Sound, best Editing, best Story, best
Acting, best Humour, best Photography, best 60-second Movie, best film by a
Young Person (Under 16), best film by a Young Person (16 - 21) and best
British Young Film -Maker (from both Under 16 and 16 - 21 categories). So we
had plenty to think about. After each session those films which we deemed
worthy of one of these prizes were noted and these recommendations were
passed on to David Newman.
We were all required to write critiques on at least a third of the films viewed
during each session. The three jury members agreed amongst themselves
which films they would write up. We were required to produce at least one A4
page of typewritten appraisal which had to reflect the views of all three panel
members, any differences of opinion being recorded. We were required to give
a rating from 1 to 5 stars for each film and this was to be recorded in the
appraisal. Hard copy of these critiques was to be sent to the entrant of the film
appraised. They were to receive these at the same time as the announcement
of the prize list in March.
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