AV News 191 - February 2013
Around The Clubs
International Speakers Tour
Peter Harms
The Mid-Thames Audio Visual Group was honoured to host the final leg of this
tour at Wokingham on Sunday the 23rd September. It took the form of a typical
AV Day with attendee's sequences in the morning and the presentations by our
guests Jean-Paul Petit and Jacques Van De Weerdt after lunch. We had hoped
to show our visitors something of the Thames Valley the day before but they
decided to take in Stratford upon Avon en route. Unfortunately (or fortunately for
them), there was a massive Food Festival taking place in the town that delayed
their arrival. However after a convivial night out with some of our members on the
Saturday, they (and we) were all set for what followed on the day itself.
After an excellent opening sequence crafted by Mid-Thames' own Mike Reed,
we were treated to a programme of 18 sequences that were appreciated by an
audience of over 70, some of whom had travelled a considerable distance to
attend. The subjects covered a wide range which made for an interesting and
varied programme and included scenery, some English history, wildlife,
travelogues, events and some humour. Just to make our guests feel at home,
there was even a sequence on French canals! It was interesting to note that 11
used PicturesToExe and the remaining 7 ProShow. Our guests were invited to
briefly comment after each sequence and coped extremely well with their English,
even injecting some mutual leg-pulling humour with each other. Attendees gain
much from comments given by experts as we all continue to learn how to improve
our presentations. As usual the technical team excelled in presenting all the work
and the gremlins get smaller and less in number.
After lunch it was the turn of our guests to present and talk about their
sequences. Howard Bagshaw adequately described most of these in issue 190
and we certainly endorse his comments over the quality of the sound tracks. A
point was made not to give too much away in the opening stages of a sequence,
either in the title or the commentary but to 'tease' the audience and keep them
guessing as the story unfolds. Also to emphasise some sound bites to give
greater impact and this was very well demonstrated in parts of the soundtrack for
Mission No. 9. They also recommended working with others to gain expertise and
exchange of ideas and this certainly showed in a lot of their sequences.
Having Jacques, Jean-Paul and his wife Denise as our guests was a great
pleasure and we are grateful to them for turning their time in the UK into a form
of working holiday. It was interesting to see their approach to sequence making
and to hear their comments about our own work, all part of a continuous learning
process in our craft.
(PS. As a follow-up of Tony Byram's comments about a shortage of AV Groups
South of the M4 in issue 190, I started Mid-Thames about 35 years ago in
Wokingham, Berkshire [about 5 miles south of the river]. It has grown over that
time and is thriving with a current membership of some 25 with regular meetings
and an annual AV Day. Next AV Day 21st April 2013. Email our secretary
Graham Laughton.
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