RPS AV News 210 - November 2017

AV News 210 | November 2017

In This Issue 2

Chairman's Chatter

Howard Bagshaw

3

Editors’ Welcome

Editors

4

NAVC Results & Impressions

Editors

10

AGM Minutes

Alan Tyrer

12

AGM Chairman's Report

Howard Bagshaw

14

Master or Servant?

Andrew N Gagg

19

The Audio Visual Arts

Edgar Gibbs

21

Dear Editors ...

23

Hints and Tips

Malcolm Imhoff

25

My Third Image (1)

Malcolm Imhoff

Editors AV News

28

My Third Image (2)

Scott Antony

29

Special Awards at NAVC

Alastair Taylor Production Editor

30

As We See It

34

Around the AV Groups

38

Obituary for Norman Veale

Roger M Stevens

39

PTE 9

Tony Collinson

40

Reviving Challenge321

Klaus Fritzsche

44

Jill Bunting

49

Challenge321 - The UK Judging It’s All About Money

52

Future Events

AV Group Chairman Howard Bagshaw

Secretary Alan Tyrer

Malcolm and Jenny Gee

Scott Antony Copy Editor

Keith Scott

Subscriptions are open to all at £22 per year including postage. Please contact: David Neal, AV Group Treasurer 16 Fern Road, St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex. TN38 0UH 01424 712394 david-neal@talktalk.net

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AV News 210 | November 2017

Chairman's Chatter Howard Bagshaw ARPS, MPAGB I seem to have spent most of my waking days, in the last couple of months, getting ready for the Nationals. Last weekend was the culmination, with the Championship being held in Leeds for the rst time and to my relief and delight, it went very well. Elsewhere in this issue you will see the outcome, but from my perspective, the pleasure was in both seeing 70 excellent AVs and having the chance to chat and catch up with everyone there. The projection was excellent; the University Auditorium we used has a screen that Robert Albright paced out as being 20 feet wide and with a sound system that showed up all the strengths and weaknesses of the entries. So thanks to all who entered, attended and helped make it run so well.

In addition to making awards to the successful AV producers, we were also delighted to award the Dobson Henry Medal to both Edgar and Linda Gibbs.

This award was rst made in 1994 to Sir George and Lady Pollock, and is given for "...outstanding contributions in the Audio Visual Medium, for furthering the activity of the medium and for long service to the medium...".

Edgar and Linda got involved in AV in the mid-80s and by the end of that decade were entering their work in Internationals, promoting AV in South Wales and organising events for others. Over the years, you will know, they have produced a steady stream of award winning AVs, Edgar gaining his FRPS and jointly gaining AV-AFIAP and more recently the MPAGB. They have also been involved with supporting others, by organising events in South Wales and at a national level, being part of the RPS Group committee and more recently running both the Nationals and the Internationals. We thank Edgar and Linda for their outstanding contribution to AV and are delighted that they join the illustrious list of AV workers who have been given this award. If you are interested in who else has received the Medal, there is a list in the archive section of rps.org/AV I would like to thank Scott Antony, who has been co-editing AV News for the past year but has now decided to move on. He has contributed signi cantly to what I see as a new direction for our magazine, more challenging and more questioning of our basics. It is unfortunate, therefore, that our Editors have received little feedback on the issues raised; can I ask you to air your views, challenge the concepts being proposed and write to the editors. It is your magazine; please do express your views.

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AV News 210 | November 2017

Editors’ Welcome Alastair Taylor LRPS (Production Editor), Scott Antony (Copy Editor) Your Editors are, of course, keen to ensure that the content of these pages matches your interests and concerns. But that intent becomes more dif cult without your feedback and, on occasion, your steer given you’re the consumers of all this prose. So, for example, the Rough Cut > Final Cut feature, which we trailed over two issues and launched in the last, only had two commentators for the four AVs available online, nor have there been any new producers stepping forward to take their place. We can only assume that a facility for giving or receiving constructive comments from fellow travellers is not one you favour. So it won’t reappear, in that form at any rate and only with your guidance if at all.

Similarly, there was only one response (see page 21) to Charles Hulse’s article on ‘Harmonising Judging Methods’ – granted an area many may not feel able to comment on, but then again one that could be of concern to anyone submitting AVs for competition. And arising from Charles’s article there was also the idea that a set of agreed and common guidelines for AV production might provide a framework within which to appraise work by the standards achieved, rather than by the narrow focus of judgement by competition; the plan here being that the skills added and con dence built would both improve shows and up numbers for distinction awards. Again, there were no responses to the idea, but we would as ever welcome your views – for or against, or counter proposals, on this or any topic that might enhance individual work or assist AV development.

Where we have had feedback - uniformly good once we took advice on our rst issue - it has been on the magazine’s style and presentation. But of course these factors are secondary to the relevance and quality of its content, which is where we are now asking for your input – even if only to say you’re happy for us to going as we are. Surely the major part of our enjoyment lies in progressing our self-expression through our sequences - what tools can AV News provide to that end? More or less instructional articles (do you follow what we have now)? More or less debate and opinion?; more or less event reports and news? Clearly there is a big conversation to be had as to how we grow numbers for AV News and AV itself, but as we see it the immediate priority is to de ne how best we attend to the numbers we already have.

Contact the editors at: magazine@avnews.org.uk Page 3

AV News 210 | November 2017

Alastair Taylor LRPS The National Audio Visual Championship (NAVC) has come and gone for another year and those one hundred or so people who attended enjoyed a tremendous spectacle with sixty nine AV programmes projected on a huge screen with the sound heard through a system that would be the envy of your average rock band. You need to make sure you are there next time!

Organisation was superb and it would be remiss not to mention the organising team who, along with members from the Leeds AV Group, worked hard to put on a faultless presentation. We should be proud of our AV community and its ability to put on such a good show.

An event ‘up north’ in Leeds (its all relative!) meant that some of the usual people were not able to attend but AV enthusiasts from the Leeds area, who were able to attend a competition with national standard work, valued the opportunity to benchmark their own work. I feel sure they went away inspired.

In this special report for AV News, we will celebrate the people organising and attending the event, the winners and the judges.

All NAVC photographs courtesy John Smith

Above left: Chairman of the RPS AV Group and the NAVC convenor welcomes the audience.

Above right: Incoming RPS President, Robert Albright brings some decorum to the proceedings.

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AV News 210 | November 2017

A great view from the back of the lecture theatre at Leeds Trinity University.

Above left: Andrew and Christine Gagg looking after the door and making sure everyone has a programme, voting slips and tickets.

Above right: The original ‘man in black ‘Jeff Mansell (and ferret friend) keep things running smoothly.

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AV News 210 | November 2017

NAVC Results and Awards

Above left: National AV Champion 2017, Graham Sergeant FRPS Above right: Runner up , Richard Brown FRPS

Above left: 3rd Place, Malcolm Imhoff FRPS Above right: Highly Commended, Keith Leedham FRPS

Audience Vote Session 1

Howard Bagshaw

Kelpies

Session 2

Richard Brown

In Search of Christina

Session 3

Graham Sergeant

Beeswing

Session 4

Keith Leedham

The Grey Ghost

Session 5

Malcolm & Jenny Gee

Eric

Session 6

Alan Tyrer

Woodbine Willie

Session 7

Maggie & Malcolm Imhoff

Love will Remain

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AV News 210 | November 2017 1st (RPS Gold Medal) & National AV Champion

Graham Sergeant FRPS

Beeswing

2nd (RPS Silver Medal)

Richard Brown FRPS FIPF FACI(M) EFIAP APAGB

In Search of Christina

3rd (RPS Bronze Medal)

Malcolm Imhoff FRPS FACI(M)

God's Paintbrush

George & Doreen Pollock Medal Highly Commended

Judith Kimber LIPF

Matthew Loney's Miracle The Grey Ghost

Keith Leedham FRPS EFIAP FIPF

Howard Bagshaw ARPS

Kelpies

MPAGB

Commended

Maggie Imhoff & Malcolm Imhoff FRPS FACI(M)

Love will Remain

Malcolm Gee ARPS DPAGB & Jenny Gee LRPS DPAGB

Eric

Robert Albright FRPS

A True Rendition

Ron Davies FRPS FIPF

Co wch Capel Celyn

EFIAP

Judges' Mentions

FACI(M)

Colin Balls FRPS

Mistral

Graham Sergeant FRPS & Carole Speight ARPS Howard Bagshaw ARPS MPAGB & Carole Bagshaw

Always There The Land God Made in Anger

Above left: Highly Commended, Howard Bagshaw ARPS Above right: Commended, Malcolm Gee ARPS and Jenny Gee LRPS Page 7

AV News 210 | November 2017

NAVC Impressions The Editors Don’t we always attend national competitions such as NAVC with the hope that we will see something ground breaking? Each and everyone of us will recall that moment we encountered a new AV which took our breath away or left us emotionally drained, or better still, left us falling about with laughter.

This years NAVC had, in our view an excellent range of very competent AV programmes and a very high standard which the judges must have found challenging.

We were especially impressed with the quality of first time entrants and there was a very worthy winner in that category - Matthew Loney's Miracle - by Judith Kimber LIPF from Northern Ireland, about which we will have more next time. The main NAVC winners, together with those either Highly Commended or Commended, are generally in line with the audience vote, which is reassuring.

Beeswing by Graham Sergeant FRPS will go down in the annals of AV history.

It is an emotional portrayal of tough personal circumstances and always leaves us thinking about how we, as a civilised society, can tolerate such things as homelessness and drugs dependency. It makes a real impact and must now have been viewed at (and won) most major competitions.

In Search of Christina by Richard Brown FRPS is a classic AV production. Its strength is in the detailed research which has gone into its making and this has led to an absorbing story with the usual sting in the tail that leaves us thoughtful. If there is a master in documentary making it’s Richard, and his AV was always going to be at the top of the list and bound to be successful in more AV competitions before it’s retired.

Malcolm Imhoff FRPS produces some top class AV productions and, in third place, God’s Paintbrush was no exception. Top class photography, great third images and a story told in Malcolm's compelling way is always a spectacle for the eyes. The Highly Commended Love will Remain, started in tandem with Maggie Imhoff but completed by Malcolm alone, is beyond words in terms of its emotion and will draw many more tears at future showings.

Space doesn’t allow room to detail other winning AVs other than to record the superb sound track in The Grey Ghost by Keith Leedham FRPS, the wide screen effect and great integration of video in Kelpies by Howard Bagshaw ARPS, the social history in Eric by Malcolm and Jennie Gee, ARPS and LRPS and the political message in Co wch Capel Celyn by Ron Davies FRPS. Page 8

AV News 210 | November 2017

NAVC Judges: James Hammill ARPS, Edgar Gibbs Marion Waine DPAGB, AV-AFIAP had a very tough job.

FRPS, MPAGB AV-AFIAP and

We did note that there was little or no Photo Harmony as such. Has criticism of this form – more in this issue – put the baby (good PH) out with the bath water (poor PH), and is it a term we should now lose altogether? A little ironic perhaps in that PH was intended to encourage newcomers onto the nursery slopes of AV, so it seems churlish to slate the results.

But if we do drop the term could we immediately reclaim that ground for ‘expressive’ AV in contrast to the narrative approach, which many seem to see as the only “proper AV”. Of course expressive AV – creating an emotional response that aims to bypass the thinking process in order to generate a visceral response – does not have an inside track when it comes to emotion; it’s just that there is more than one route to that end, hence the journey differs - a sensory experience, if you will, rather than an intellectual one. We can all readily understand the expressive approach when it comes to music, and does anyone deny that, done well, music compounded with image, and perhaps an element of voice (poetry, prose, song) can have as fulsome an impact as the proverbial ‘story with a beginning, a middle and an end’?

A big topic perhaps, and one we could explore in future issues if you too have thoughts on the matter. Certainly we’ve no doubt you will have your own opinions on what was presented at the NAVC – so do let us hear from you.

Contact the Editors at: magazine@avnews.org.uk Page 9

AV News 210 | November 2017

RPS AV Group AGM Minutes of the 38 th Annual General Meeting held at Leeds Trinity University on 23 rd September 2017 at 6:00 P.M. during the RPS National Audio Visual Championships Present: Howard Bagshaw (Chairman), Edgar Gibbs (Vice Chairman), David Neal (Treasurer), Alan Tyrer (Secretary) Andrew Gagg (Committee Member), Alastair Taylor (AV News Editor), Scott Antony (AV News Editor).

Robert Albright (RPS Vice President), Richard Brown, Colin Balls, Keith Leedham, Malcolm Imhoff, Malcolm Gee, Jenny Gee, Bryan Stubbs, Keith Scott, Sheila Haycox, James Hamill, Megan A’herne.

In Attendance: Linda Gibbs, Carole Bagshaw, Bev Tyrer, Christine Gagg, David A’herne, Gillian Neal.

Welcome Howard Bagshaw welcomed all those present to the AGM of the RPS AV Group.

2. Apologies Apologies for absence were received from Gordon Gray, Chris Bate, Martin Fry, Eddie Spence, Keith Brown.

3. Minutes of the Previous Annual General Meeting The minutes of the 37th AGM, as printed in AV News issue 206 November 2016, were received. It was proposed by Malcolm Gee and seconded by Jenny Gee that these be accepted as a true record. This was agreed unanimously.

4. Matters Arising.

There were no matters arising.

5. Of cers Reports 5.1 Chairman's Report Howard Bagshaw presented his report. (A copy of the Chairman’s Report is available in AV News issue 210 November 2017).

5.2 Treasurer’s Report David Neal presented his report. It had been a successful year. He provided account details of the AV Group to date, the National AV Championships to date and the International AV Festival 2016 nal position.

(Continued …)

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AV News 210 | November 2017 Details of the reports are available to RPS members on request. It was noted that David keeps three sets of accounts plus accounts which have to be provided to Bath. He was thanked for his work.

5.3 AV News Alastair Taylor reported that he was happy with how it was going although there was a certain lack of feedback from members.

5.4 International Festival 2018 Edgar Gibbs said that he was prepared to organise the IAVF at the same Cheltenham Venue again in 2018. The 22nd and 23rd of September had been reserved. He thanked the team for their support with the 2016 event and would be looking for volunteers again for next year.

6. Election of Of cers and Committee Members The Chair noted that no nominations had been received by the Secretary.

The following current members had indicated that they were prepared to stand again in the positions indicated.

6.1. Chairman: Howard Bagshaw 6.2. Vice Chairman: Edgar Gibbs.

6.3. Secretary: Alan Tyrer 6.4. Treasurer: David Neal 6.5 Other Committee Members: Andrew Gagg It was proposed by Alastair Taylor and seconded by Keith Scott that the nominees be elected en bloc. This was agreed unanimously.

7. Proposals.

No proposals had been received.

8. Any Other business The chair noted that committee members may be co-opted. There was a balance to be struck between democracy and cost. It was agreed that Martin Fry would be invited onto the committee again.

9. Next Meeting The next AGM will be held at The International AV Festival in Cheltenham on 22nd October 2018.

10. Close The meeting closed at 6.35pm.

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AV News 210 | November 2017

Royal Photographic Society Audio Visual Group Annual General Meeting, Leeds Trinity University Chairman's Report 23rd September 2017 A brief report of the proceedings of the group since the last AGM. The group affairs are managed, as you know by the members of the committee who act in unpaid roles to ensure that the wishes of the group are best met. The editors of AV News have also been involved in some meetings.

The number of group members has stayed relatively steady at around 200 (currently 196), a number which makes the group viable, but stretches our budgets to the limit, as costs increase and the number of members actively participating in events like these nationals tends to decrease.

Activities have continued and, after the successful Internationals last year, we will hopefully have a successful event here in Leeds. We have a new venue and new team for the National AV Championships, all with some experience.

We will only know how well we have succeeded after the event, when we see how people felt about it, but I believe that this new team has 'stepped up to the mark' and delivered an exceptional event. Of course, this is also hugely down to the support of group members and others in the AV community who have entered their best work and those who have turned out to be part of the weekend.

There are less regional group activities, though our two stalwart groups, in South Wales and Yorkshire, continue to hold fruitful and enjoyable meetings.

I haven't made it down to South Wales recently, as they hold evening meetings, but I have tried to attend each of the Yorkshire events held here, which have a wonderful ambience, are friendly and productive and seem to me to well satisfy the desires of the members in those regions. I would like to thank the organising committees of each group for all the work and effort they have put in.

AV News is considered, by many, to be one of the key bene ts of belonging to the group. The Editorship has been taken over by Alastair Taylor and Scott Antony and we have seen a change in design style and content, which seems to have been well received by members. There have been some initiatives which encourage members to comment and feedback, but unfortunately the response from members has been poor. Can I thank the contributors who have made the magazine possible and encourage all of you to contribute and particularly to write and respond to issues in AV News.

Page 12

AV News 210 | November 2017 Details of the reports are available to RPS members on request. It was noted that David keeps three sets of accounts plus accounts which have to be provided to Bath. He was thanked for his work.

5.3 AV News Alastair Taylor reported that he was happy with how it was going although there was a certain lack of feedback from members.

5.4 International Festival 2018 Edgar Gibbs said that he was prepared to organise the IAVF at the same Cheltenham Venue again in 2018. The 22nd and 23rd of September had been reserved. He thanked the team for their support with the 2016 event and would be looking for volunteers again for next year.

6. Election of Of cers and Committee Members The Chair noted that no nominations had been received by the Secretary.

The following current members had indicated that they were prepared to stand again in the positions indicated.

6.1. Chairman: Howard Bagshaw 6.2. Vice Chairman: Edgar Gibbs.

6.3. Secretary: Alan Tyrer 6.4. Treasurer: David Neal 6.5 Other Committee Members: Andrew Gagg It was proposed by Alastair Taylor and seconded by Keith Scott that the nominees be elected en bloc. This was agreed unanimously.

7. Proposals.

No proposals had been received.

8. Any Other business The chair noted that committee members may be co-opted. There was a balance to be struck between democracy and cost. It was agreed that Martin Fry would be invited onto the committee again.

9. Next Meeting The next AGM will be held at The International AV Festival in Cheltenham on 22nd October 2018.

10. Close The meeting closed at 6.35pm.

Page 11

AV News 210 | November 2017

Royal Photographic Society Audio Visual Group Annual General Meeting, Leeds Trinity University Chairman's Report 23rd September 2017 A brief report of the proceedings of the group since the last AGM. The group affairs are managed, as you know by the members of the committee who act in unpaid roles to ensure that the wishes of the group are best met. The editors of AV News have also been involved in some meetings.

The number of group members has stayed relatively steady at around 200 (currently 196), a number which makes the group viable, but stretches our budgets to the limit, as costs increase and the number of members actively participating in events like these nationals tends to decrease.

Activities have continued and, after the successful Internationals last year, we will hopefully have a successful event here in Leeds. We have a new venue and new team for the National AV Championships, all with some experience.

We will only know how well we have succeeded after the event, when we see how people felt about it, but I believe that this new team has 'stepped up to the mark' and delivered an exceptional event. Of course, this is also hugely down to the support of group members and others in the AV community who have entered their best work and those who have turned out to be part of the weekend.

There are less regional group activities, though our two stalwart groups, in South Wales and Yorkshire, continue to hold fruitful and enjoyable meetings.

I haven't made it down to South Wales recently, as they hold evening meetings, but I have tried to attend each of the Yorkshire events held here, which have a wonderful ambience, are friendly and productive and seem to me to well satisfy the desires of the members in those regions. I would like to thank the organising committees of each group for all the work and effort they have put in.

AV News is considered, by many, to be one of the key bene ts of belonging to the group. The Editorship has been taken over by Alastair Taylor and Scott Antony and we have seen a change in design style and content, which seems to have been well received by members. There have been some initiatives which encourage members to comment and feedback, but unfortunately the response from members has been poor. Can I thank the contributors who have made the magazine possible and encourage all of you to contribute and particularly to write and respond to issues in AV News.

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AV News 210 | November 2017

Write the story - then nd the pictures wherever you can ...

I remember my Dad’s old school projector, an Aldis, which took 2¼ x 2¼ square glass mounted slides (indeed I still have boxes full of them, many of which hold my own early photographs) but it did have an alternative carrier for ‘35 mil’. The heyday of the holiday slideshow was upon us – everybody wanted you to see their pictures, and many uttered an inward groan when the next-door neighbour turned up with a whole stack of slide boxes, when you knew you were going to have to sit through the whole dam’ lot! Our family now owned a ‘Gaf’ projector and, wary of the dangers of these sopori c slideshows, we soon re-christened it the ‘Social Gaffe’.

So where did the creativity and artistry now lie? Certainly not in some of our neighbour’s pictures... “Here’s me and Irene in front of a mountain in Shillong, and here’s one of Irene and me...” (in front of the same mountain) and so on through about three full carousels, every one of which showed assorted Assamese relatives, singly and in droves, in various permutations in front of that same ruddy mountain – and we never did nd out what it was called! I guess the narrative held this dreary collection together, if anything did. The pictures were ditchwater-dull, and the accompanying monologue only just kept at bay the sti ed yawns.

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AV News 210 | November 2017 Master or Servant? continued ...

By now Kodak had perfected the Carousel, and things would never be quite the same again! Happily some more-than-average creative people saw the potential for something much richer and more complex. In combination with quarter-inch tape on a reel-to-reel recorder, a new medium was born. Music and sound effects were now possible, and with two (or perhaps more) projectors cross-faded transitions could be achieved. But was it really so new? The basic elements of the show were pretty much the same; it was still illustrated story-telling.

The real break-through was, I venture, the ood of creativity that this increasingly elaborate technology released. Stories were written and told with increasing skill and artistry, and the medium was developed to a level of considerable sophistication in the search for the means to express often complex and abstract ideas. Such pioneers as the late George and Doreen Pollock did much work of great creative merit, and there are currently moves to preserve the best of it.

The next step was perhaps the biggest technical leap of all and was a result of the increasingly rapid development of desktop computers. New software was created that made it easy to create sequences of pictures. There was ready adjustment of the timing. The character of the transitions was no longer restricted to a simple crossfade.

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An age long ago.

That was then.

AV News 210 | November 2017

Best of all was the simplicity of using sound. Music, voice and effects accompanying the images could be kept perfectly in synch with the pictures with ease. Having fairly quickly mastered the basics of this new technology, suddenly it was possible to concentrate on the creative side of the medium, with a host of subtle effects available at the click of a mouse.

Although I only joined this delightful cavalcade quite recently myself, I have enjoyed describing the progress of AudioVisual from its earliest days. But why have I done so in such detail? I have wanted to make the point that at every stage of its development the medium has been used to tell a story. Not necessarily a narrative in the literal sense, but at the very least a succession of ideas that ow from one to the next. I started with the idea of photo harmony, and for me this is the aspect of the medium that I nd hardest to appreciate. It does not normally have any kind of plot or storyline. There is no obvious link between the images.

A rich harvest in long forgotten images.

The new school tape recorder.

My contention is that photography, like all the other wonderful aspects of our medium – music, voiceover, sound effects, transitions – must be subservient to our creative intentions. The whole is much greater than the sum of the parts. Recently I have made a sequence that delves back sixty or seventy years.

The photographic material I have to illustrate my particular theme is very limited in amount, and in quality.

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AV News 210 | November 2017 Master or Servant? continued ...

Archival material is not always ideal, but it is all we have in many cases.

Should we discard it, merely because it’s not as sharp as we’d like, or because the composition is a bit pedestrian? Hardly – we’d be chucking the baby out with the bathwater! It will evoke the period vividly enough, even if it’s not technically perfect.

‘Against the grain’ to use these old photographs?

But they do tell a tale ...

This year we have seen a good deal of television coverage of the seventieth anniversary of the independence of India and Pakistan. Partition was rushed and botched, and we British were largely responsible for the bloodbath that ensued. The best of the recent programmes conveyed this horror all too well, and it was done largely by the use of archival lm and stills – what else? Most of it was not up to the standard of modern TV pictures, but it would have been madness not to use it. It aided the production – the telling of the story – supremely well. It was in the service of the medium, not its master. I rest my case…

All photographs courtesy Andrew N Gagg Page 18

AV News 210 | November 2017

The Audio Visual Arts Edgar Gibbs FRPS MPAGB AV-AFIAP I recall when I rst saw an AV way back in the early 1980s; images of autumn leaves set to a pleasant piece of classical music. I heard the expression "slide sound sequence", which I understand is where the abbreviation ‘sequence’ comes from. Why sequence? Well it means slides chosen for projection in a particular, pleasing or predetermined order, or sequence. ‘Slide’ is from the original magic lantern operators, who projected hand-painted images that were moved behind the lantern lens by ‘sliding’ them on a ‘slide’ holder.

As technology improved with tape recorders and 35mm slides the art form evolved, text was introduced and also poems were read over the music. The process evolved and story telling came to the fore, starting with those magic lanternists who, like actors, ‘performed’ each time they told the story, but now the stories are pre-recorded and synchronised to the music/soundtrack and images. And in the late 1980s the documentary rose in popularity and became the norm for most people who seeking a Distinction from the RPS. Distinctions/Awards are measures of both quality and standards. The RPS and the PAGB have identi ed that the number of such applications are dwindling and worryingly, without an increase in numbers, their future is in danger. The RPS recognised this and went back to basics, rebranding slide sound sequences as Photo Harmony, a development also adopted by the PAGB: no start, no middle and no end requirements, graphically and tonally progressing images giving the photographer the opportunity to show off their photography. The PAGB de nition covers the medium very well: “Photo Harmony should demonstrate skill in the production and visual progression of still photographs linked to sound. No script or commentary with a speci c beginning, middle and ending are required but the images must ow well in a pleasing progression, not just in a random manner. The emphasis is on visual harmony in colour, tone or graphic design. The aim is not only to display a collection of photographs that may be excellent when considered individually, but rather a sequence of pictures that blend well with each other and with the sound chosen. Good technique is essential and it is expected that the sound and the pictures will start and nish together and that the original ending of the music is preserved, rather than an arbitrary fade out. In a successful Photo Harmony sequence the Adjudicators will expect virtually all of the pictures to be the entrants own photography, with a proportion better than just competent at CPAGB and much better than competent at DPAGB. Page 19

AV News 210 | November 2017 The Audio Visual Arts continued ...

To succeed at MPAGB the photography in a Photo Harmony production must be of an exceptionally high standard in both content and quality.”

Improving Technology. Photograph courtesy Edgar Gibbs Unfortunately, with the current and easily available technology, good quality ‘slide sequences’ have slipped in both popularity and quality, in favour of a general/random assortment of pictures set to music, often unsympathetic and with many types of transition. In contrast, documentaries and story telling have made major improvements in quality and sophistication. I recently returned from Garda where there were quite a few AVs that told a story without words. This is something we Brits rarely do. This type of AV overcomes the language issues and makes the AV more International – one particular AV received a FIAP Hon. Mention for Emotion.

AV is a broad church and in some ways the different styles or genres or categories can be compared with art: watercolours, oils, pencil, pen and ink, impressionistic, abstract, all being aspects of art. Similarly AV covers slide sound sequences/photo harmony, interpretation of song or music, illustration/interpretation of poem or prose, factual documentary, travelogue, ctional stories, stories told with only images and personal stories. Like artists, we have a large selection from which to choose our creations.

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AV News 210 | November 2017 In summary, enjoy what you are doing; take pleasure and pride in making your AV programmes and sharing your work with audiences. And whilst Distinctions may not suit everyone, those interested should set their targets and go, encouraging others too, or we may lose the opportunity altogether.

Dear Editors ...

Judging Competitions In the last AV News, Charles Hulse put forward his thoughts on harmonising judging methods and it was an interesting article. As Charles points out the individual elements of the AV Programme could be scored, as opposed to using the A, B or C system. For me, the elements of the AV programme are photography, sound, production, story, script and the impact/emotion generated. All of these elements I believe are of equal value and so I disagree here with Charles in that I believe ‘weighting’ the elements is not appropriate. Also, simplistically, if photography got an 8/10 and sound has a 7/10, or photography 7/10 and sound 8/10 etc. the nal score is the same – so which is the winner?

The A, B and C method gives the jury member a chance to give an overall score. So if an AV programme gets a B for impact but the photography is a hint weak it can be given a B-. Or the impact score may be an A, but the sound, whilst technically very good, may be a touch ’clinical’ and hence a B given overall. But then again if the use of the sound related to the images is particularly good then the score could be elevated to an A+, or if outstanding it could be an A++.

These decisions have to be made in the minute allocated between programmes but are reviewed by the judges during the breaks. When we come out of a cinema where we have seen a lm, do we say "wow" that was an excellent lm, or do we try to break it down to individual elements. If however there is a disappointing ending the impact will have been diminished, despite what could have been good sound and good photography etc.

The area Charles did not discuss was combining the individual jury member's scores. Simplistically, with a jury of three then marks of A, A and A would mean an AV would de nitely be considered for an award. Where the jury differed say with A, A and B it would also mean a possible award, but A, B and B would require discussion as to whether it should be considered.

Page 21

AV News 210 | November 2017 Dear Editors ... continued ...

The jury reviews the scores during the breaks in projection, so if marks of say A-, B+ and B+ are discussed, the consensus achieved might be A-, A- and B+ where a jury member has increased the mark from B+ to an A-, or B+, B+, B+ where a jury member has reduced the mark from A- to B+.

The removal of the A- would make it less likely to be considered for an award. If numerical scores are applied to the individual elements by three judges with a spreadsheet it is all too easy to let the maths dictate the outcome rather than by a discussion of the merits of the programme.

It's not easy being a judge in a competition because we are not judging against a standard, which is how distinctions and awards are assessed. We are judging one against another; a weak programme may get an A in one competition but in another competition may only get a B. I have seen an AV programme win the Grand Prix in Netherlands yet not receive any award at the next festival in Belgium. And in addition the atmosphere on the day, even the position in the running order can all contribute to the score.

The RPS International always used to have classi cations for both Documentary, Nature and Humour etc. and also Best Photography and Best Sound etc. This was dropped last year however and the judges were allowed to give awards for those AVs they felt deserved them – a change that was well received. It’s been said that judging AV can be compared to judging iceskating: to win you have to be top at the technical moves, the interpretation of the music and the overall impact. A slight mistake could reduce a 6 to a 5.9, an error in timing to a 5.6.

So why do people judge? The ip answer is "someone's got to” but it is a way of giving back to the AV community; we have all bene tted and taken encouragement from entering a competition at some stage. Technical understanding has to be good, concentration has to be high, objectivity is essential, social time at the competition is reduced, and the nal hurdle is to face the comments that "the judges got it wrong". If the judges are happy to give their time they must judge in the way that suits them, and I have not found many that like the individual element scoring method.

No matter what you judge or how you judge it will be subjective and not as straightforward as ‘ rst past the post’. I believe it is worthwhile airing the subject of judging and judging methods as it widens everyone's understanding. Without Festivals how would we see each other's work, and if you have a Festival or Championship you must have a winner and so we must have judges.

Edgar Gibbs FRPS MPAGB AV-AFIAP Page 22

AV News 210 | November 2017 In summary, enjoy what you are doing; take pleasure and pride in making your AV programmes and sharing your work with audiences. And whilst Distinctions may not suit everyone, those interested should set their targets and go, encouraging others too, or we may lose the opportunity altogether.

Dear Editors ...

Judging Competitions In the last AV News, Charles Hulse put forward his thoughts on harmonising judging methods and it was an interesting article. As Charles points out the individual elements of the AV Programme could be scored, as opposed to using the A, B or C system. For me, the elements of the AV programme are photography, sound, production, story, script and the impact/emotion generated. All of these elements I believe are of equal value and so I disagree here with Charles in that I believe ‘weighting’ the elements is not appropriate. Also, simplistically, if photography got an 8/10 and sound has a 7/10, or photography 7/10 and sound 8/10 etc. the nal score is the same – so which is the winner?

The A, B and C method gives the jury member a chance to give an overall score. So if an AV programme gets a B for impact but the photography is a hint weak it can be given a B-. Or the impact score may be an A, but the sound, whilst technically very good, may be a touch ’clinical’ and hence a B given overall. But then again if the use of the sound related to the images is particularly good then the score could be elevated to an A+, or if outstanding it could be an A++.

These decisions have to be made in the minute allocated between programmes but are reviewed by the judges during the breaks. When we come out of a cinema where we have seen a lm, do we say "wow" that was an excellent lm, or do we try to break it down to individual elements. If however there is a disappointing ending the impact will have been diminished, despite what could have been good sound and good photography etc.

The area Charles did not discuss was combining the individual jury member's scores. Simplistically, with a jury of three then marks of A, A and A would mean an AV would de nitely be considered for an award. Where the jury differed say with A, A and B it would also mean a possible award, but A, B and B would require discussion as to whether it should be considered.

Page 21

AV News 210 | November 2017 How To Deal With Vertical Images In AV continued …

Fig 1

Fig 2

You won't see mixed image formats at the cinema. Nor will you see different shapes and sizes of pictures on TV. Why should it be acceptable in AV?

Diaporamus Interruptus – A Response to Hints & Tips #10 Following my piece in the May issue of AV News regarding PTE stopping playing at the end of the last slide even though the timeline continues, I received an e-mail from Jim McCormick pointing out that PTE does in fact have an automatic solution built in – you need only open ‘Timeline Options’.

Trouble is, as far as I am aware this option does not appear in any of the menus. You have to search for the little icon with three horizontal lines, which is hidden away next to the ‘Play’ button on my screen, as shown in Fig.10C. Clicking on this gives a drop-down menu where you can select ‘Set end of Last Slide at End of Soundtrack’ (Fig 10D). The slide line will then be extended to match the end of the timeline. This is rather more precise than my method, so thanks Jim. Isn't the AV Community wonderful?

Fig 10C Page 24

Fig 10D

AV News 210 | November 2017

My Third Image Our Editors’ proposal for a regular item on this distinctive feature of the AV medium has led to some substantial articles, as below. We had in mind, too, a simple version of the idea to enable more of you to participate (see page 28 to get the ball rolling, we hope).

A ‘Third Image’ doesn’t exist in itself of course so you will need to run your AV, freeze on the image created by the dissolve between the preceding two and then use your ‘screen grab’ to save that Third Image to your desktop.

Then email us all three images plus your caption paragraph and we will set up a single page similar to page 28. Any problems, just contact us.

ONE: “When The Sun Came Out Of The Flower” Malcolm Imhoff FRPS FACI(M) In the days of slides you often achieved this effect by making sure the rst slide had a dark area somewhere. If the next slide had a light part, say a white ower, this would appear rst as the dissolve progressed, until the second image was fully on screen. A good technique for nding out whether the effect was pleasing was to have your rst slide in one magazine and have this on screen. You would load a number of possible slides in the other magazine.

Then with the Imatronic fade unit you would bring up each slide in turn, advance to the next and so on, until you found the one that worked best.

Remove that slide and place it in the rst magazine and start over again.

I sometimes use this technique today by loading a number of digital images into a stack in Photoshop and using the opacity slider to dissolve from one to another. Having found a nice combination of two images I adjust the order in the stack and continue.

Unfortunately the Third Image effect does not happen as well as it used to do with slides, and images tend to dissolve at the same rate. So I often create an intermediate Third Image in Photoshop to allow one part to appear rst. It's still worth the effort to try and recapture the magic.

The example I'm going to use dates from 1993. I made an AV called Yugoslavia that had quite a few Third Images. In one sequence I had an Alpine Sun ower ll a space to the right of a white rock, followed by a silhouetted landscape with the sun setting over the hills. I made the sun appear out of the middle of the ower. One of Maggie's friends came to one of our shows, saw this, and still talks about it today, nearly a quarter of a century later: "I remember when the sun came out of the ower".

Page 25

AV News 210 | November 2017

When the Sun ... continued ...

Malcolm Imhoff FRPS FACI(M) It was the "Third Image" that really got me started in AV back in 1986. I'd been to MidPhot, not the AV Championships, but the MidPhot Exhibition of all the accepted and award-winning prints, slides and Audio Visuals.

It was held in Sutton Cold eld Town Hall. Maggie's Mum was visiting us from Liverpool so while they went shopping I said I'd like to have a look at the photographic exhibition. It just so happened that they were showing the AVs that afternoon and I saw some excellent productions, but it was the magical effect of successive images ‘melting’ into each other that caught my imagination. I now know that these were ‘dissolves’, and that I was seeing another picture being created on screen that was not one, nor the other, but a combination of the two – a ’Third Image’. I said "I want to do that", and the rest is history.

Page 26

AV News 210 | November 2017

Page 27

AV News 210 | November 2017 My Third Image continued ‌

TWO: Deep Winter Scott Antony, AVN Copy Editor The rst and second photos were taken on the same day after a freezing, snow-laden night that left a large block of water in my garden bowl and a neighbour clearing snow to get underway. Combined I felt the two images added to and epitomised what I needed for a scene of deep winter in a seven minute sequence, Winter Passing, spanning the passage from early winter to the coming of spring, viewable online at: www.vimeo.com/76380454.

3rd image from the dissolve

1st image

2nd image Send your own Third Image to magazine@avnews.org.uk

Page 28

AV News 210 | November 2017

Special Awards At The NAVC Pictures courtesy Alan Tyrer (top) and Jill Bunting (bottom)

Above: Edgar and Linda Gibbs receive the Dobson Henry Medal Below: Bryan Stubbs receives Certi cate of Appreciation

Page 29

AV News 210 | November 2017

As We See It …

Malcolm Gee ARPS DPAGB, Jenny Gee LRPS DPAGB How long have you been producing AVs and how would you summarise your personal journey?

Back in the mid 1960’s, when were going out together, we saw our rst AV production in Reading Town Hall at a Kodak Road Show. This way of using images really impressed us and there and then we decided that this was the way to extend our hobby of photography. Over the years, as we’ve had ideas for AVs, we’ve taken images with a particular sequence in mind, and assembled a sizeable library of colour transparencies, in 35mm and medium format, all duly catalogued. Nevertheless, it was not until some forty years or so later, after retirement, that we actually had enough time to make a start.

By then everything had gone digital, so we purchased a lm scanner to enable us to digitize many of our now historic images, and set about teaching ourselves the various aspects of digital AV production, which not only brings together a love of photography, music and sound editing, but our enjoyment of walking, ora and landscape.

Photograph courtesy Malcolm and Jenny Gee

Page 30

AV News 210 | November 2017

Is AV as we know it an older person’s art/craft/hobby? If yes, why so?

Sequence production requires a lot of patience and attention to detail and, as we found, it was not until we had less work and family commitments and more leisure time that we were able to get seriously involved. No doubt a number of ‘would-be’ AV workers nd themselves in similar circumstances, with the inevitable consequence that many producers are not quite so young!

What are the advantages and disadvantages (if any) in working in partnership?

Married for nearly 50 years, we have always enjoyed doing everything together. For our photography we frequently use a tripod to allow both of us to share our thoughts on composing an image. Where this isn’t possible, we use the preview function digitally to get the desired shot(s). Together we shortlist potential transparencies and digital images for any one sequence, bearing in mind transitions, and the blending of shapes and colours in particular. Malcolm then does the lm scanning and basic digital image processing in Photoshop, with Jenny using her artistic skills and a graphics tablet to do any necessary image manipulation. Cropping is very much a joint exercise, before nal sharpening and jpeg le creation. Soundtrack and sequence construction tends to be Jenny’s domain, using a separate Apple Mac computer, on which we are able to run the PC Audition and PicturesTo Exe software via Apples BootCamp utility. However, at every stage in the production process there’s constant interaction between us, and often two heads are better than one!

What’s your view on the inclusion of photos that are not the authors, and what about the use of video?

We see no real reason to use third party images, and feel no motivation to do so. In fact, if an historic image is needed, we delve into our own archive, or try to think of another way of covering that particular issue. For example, our AV Cambridge Remembered used our own half-frame, 35mm transparency images taken between January 1967 and July 1968. There was just one recent digital shot of us included in the entire sequence! To us there is still something magical about the art of the traditional AV created from still images. There are so many wonderful transitions and effects that can be subtly achieved, without making a sequence gimmicky. Consequently, to date we haven’t included video but have on occasion incorporated a series of still images, taken in quick succession, to create the illusion of movement.

Page 31

AV News 210 | November 2017 As We See It … continued ...

What is your favourite style of AV? Do you think all styles are equally valid, or is there a certain approach that constitutes ‘proper AV’?

All of our sequences are very personal to us, and are often based on events and experiences. Some are photo harmonies, whereas others are in a more documentary style, incorporating a commentary, sound effects etc. We feel that a good AV can be any of these, or even something completely different – it’s all about trying to create something special both visually and emotionally. Although it’s barely 10 years since we began our foray into digital production, we have tried to develop our own overall style, not wishing to copy anyone else.

What do you most enjoy about working in AV? And what’s been your most satisfying experience?

Production can be challenging at times, but the process gives us great pleasure and satisfaction, and it’s lovely if other people enjoy the end result as well. The most satisfying project so far has been the making of Eric, which contains images shot over a period of 25 years and seems to have been enjoyed by both AV workers and the wider public. When Cambridge Remembered was awarded a Silver Medal at the Great Northern in 2013 we were over the moon, but this was recently eclipsed by the success of Eric at the East Anglian AV Competition and a bronze medal at the Peter Coles International AV Competition. However, as they say, you can always do better!

Do you think an RPS Distinction is a worthwhile goal for AV enthusiasts? If so, how best to encourage submissions? Is competition the best preparation?

It’s always good to get feedback and try and assess your progress. Over the years we’ve received much helpful advice and encouragement from more experienced AV workers (they’ll know who they are), mostly as a result of them seeing our work at competitions.

This has helped enormously in correcting mistakes and improving our productions, especially as our nearest AV Group is over 100 miles away down in Essex. We’ve now entered competitions at club, regional, national and international level, and this can provide some idea of progress, but much depends on what appeals to the judging panel, and the overall standard. On the other hand, gaining an RPS or PAGB distinction is an indicator of overall level of attainment, and working towards one at any level is a worthwhile objective. However consistency in the feedback given at both the advisory and assessment stages in the process is essential to avoid discouraging potential candidates.

Page 32

AV News 210 | November 2017

As We See It …

Malcolm Gee ARPS DPAGB, Jenny Gee LRPS DPAGB How long have you been producing AVs and how would you summarise your personal journey?

Back in the mid 1960’s, when were going out together, we saw our rst AV production in Reading Town Hall at a Kodak Road Show. This way of using images really impressed us and there and then we decided that this was the way to extend our hobby of photography. Over the years, as we’ve had ideas for AVs, we’ve taken images with a particular sequence in mind, and assembled a sizeable library of colour transparencies, in 35mm and medium format, all duly catalogued. Nevertheless, it was not until some forty years or so later, after retirement, that we actually had enough time to make a start.

By then everything had gone digital, so we purchased a lm scanner to enable us to digitize many of our now historic images, and set about teaching ourselves the various aspects of digital AV production, which not only brings together a love of photography, music and sound editing, but our enjoyment of walking, ora and landscape.

Photograph courtesy Malcolm and Jenny Gee

Page 30

AV News 210 | November 2017

Is AV as we know it an older person’s art/craft/hobby? If yes, why so?

Sequence production requires a lot of patience and attention to detail and, as we found, it was not until we had less work and family commitments and more leisure time that we were able to get seriously involved. No doubt a number of ‘would-be’ AV workers nd themselves in similar circumstances, with the inevitable consequence that many producers are not quite so young!

What are the advantages and disadvantages (if any) in working in partnership?

Married for nearly 50 years, we have always enjoyed doing everything together. For our photography we frequently use a tripod to allow both of us to share our thoughts on composing an image. Where this isn’t possible, we use the preview function digitally to get the desired shot(s). Together we shortlist potential transparencies and digital images for any one sequence, bearing in mind transitions, and the blending of shapes and colours in particular. Malcolm then does the lm scanning and basic digital image processing in Photoshop, with Jenny using her artistic skills and a graphics tablet to do any necessary image manipulation. Cropping is very much a joint exercise, before nal sharpening and jpeg le creation. Soundtrack and sequence construction tends to be Jenny’s domain, using a separate Apple Mac computer, on which we are able to run the PC Audition and PicturesTo Exe software via Apples BootCamp utility. However, at every stage in the production process there’s constant interaction between us, and often two heads are better than one!

What’s your view on the inclusion of photos that are not the authors, and what about the use of video?

We see no real reason to use third party images, and feel no motivation to do so. In fact, if an historic image is needed, we delve into our own archive, or try to think of another way of covering that particular issue. For example, our AV Cambridge Remembered used our own half-frame, 35mm transparency images taken between January 1967 and July 1968. There was just one recent digital shot of us included in the entire sequence! To us there is still something magical about the art of the traditional AV created from still images. There are so many wonderful transitions and effects that can be subtly achieved, without making a sequence gimmicky. Consequently, to date we haven’t included video but have on occasion incorporated a series of still images, taken in quick succession, to create the illusion of movement.

Page 31

AV News 210 | November 2017

Wilmslow Guild AV Group Most photographic societies have one or two Audio Visual workers, often working in semi-isolation. In 1993 four people got together and decided to create what became known as the Wilmslow Guild Audio Visual Group, where those with an interest in AV could meet to exchange ideas and pool their expertise. Over the past few years we have sadly lost a number of prominent members and so, of necessity, things have had to change. We have a new, edgling committee, who kindly stepped forward a couple of years ago when it was felt that the club might go out of existence due to a lack of members. With the move from analogue to digital, AV became more affordable and acceptable within mainstream photographic clubs and many of them now hold their own AV competitions - albeit once a year!

Specialist clubs such as ours have to be different somehow if we want to tempt people into travelling, often quite long distances, to our meetings. We have to be willing and able to provide prospective members with all the practical help and encouragement that they need and we are therefore tailoring the Syllabus to try and achieve this. Ideally we want those who attend to be con dent in the basics of AV production and the use of the software, so we are trying to have a mix of instructional nights interspersed with constructive appraisal evenings. This is a somewhat delicate balance as we also need to retain the interest of the more experienced members.

Thankfully those members seem keen to help the ‘newbies’ and to pass on to them some of their knowledge and expertise.

We meet about every two weeks on Friday evenings from September to May at the Wilmslow Guild, 1 Bourne Street, Wilmslow, SK9 5HD and our meetings commence at 7.30pm. Visitors and prospective members are always welcome and our Syllabus can be found at: www.wilmslowguildav.org.uk If you need any further information on the Group and its activities then please email us: committee@wilmslowguildav.org.uk

Tonbridge AV Group The AV Group is one of Tonbridge Camera Club’s subgroups. We meet on the rst Tuesday of every month from September to May at Weald of Kent Grammar School, Tonbridge, and charges £2 a session, including refreshments. We’re open to all members of KCPA af liated camera clubs and typically see about 25 people attending. We tend to spend the rst half of each meeting discussing attendees’ AVs; in part 2, we usually have a talk from an invited guest. In April, we hold our annual internal AV Competition.

Page 35

AV News 210 | November 2017 Around the AV GROUPS continued ...

East Midlands Audio Visual Group The Group was originally formed as a specialist group within Leicester Forest Photographic Society and for many years was known as Leicester Forest AV Group after becoming independent of the photographic club. The Group then changed its name to the East Midlands Audio Visual Group in an attempt to attract people from outside Leicester and more accurately re ect the membership, who come from all over the East Midlands and as far away as Rotherham, Walsall and Sutton Cold eld.

The names on the trophies go back to 1978 and read like a veritable ‘who’s who’ of the AV World: Peter Brown, Brian Jeffs, Mike & Lavinia Hardwick, Ralph Francis, Harry Duckmanton, Joan Horne, John Hickling, Maggie Imhoff, the list goes on. Peter Brown steered the Group loyally and ef ciently for very many years and has now taken a back seat and handed the reins over to Malcolm Imhoff. Meetings are held once a month and the programme is the usual mix of members’ evenings, competitions, ‘how to’ evenings and presentations by visiting speakers. The aims of the Group are to promote the enjoyment of AV programmes and inform, inspire and entertain by providing a forum for discussion and offering tutorials and workshops on all aspects of AV production.

Some of the highlights of the programme are ‘You Are The Judge’, where the members get to put their judges’ hats on; the ‘Sixty Second’ competition where the only rule is that the AV must be a minute or less; and the annual ‘battle’ (well, more of an exchange of AVs ) with Leeds AV Group. The Group gives an annual public show, ‘Kaleidoscope’, which is almost always a sell out and for some years now has been a joint venture with Leicester Movie Makers. The combination of AV and Video goes down really well. For many years EMAVG organised the MidPhot AV Competition for AV workers in the Midland Counties.

For more information on who we are, what we do and where we meet, see our website: www.emavg.org.uk.

This is well worth a look as it has the most comprehensive set of links and resources on anything and everything to do with AV, including AV websites, AV groups and organisations both in the UK and abroad, AV competitions and festivals all over the world, AV software and hardware, AV music, members’ own websites, plus dozens of guides and tutorials. There’s also a gallery of photos from some of our award-winning productions.

Page 36

AV News 210 | November 2017

Leeds & District Audio Visual Group This successful and long-established group owes its origins to Ralph Smith and friends from the Leeds Camera Club. In 1976, Ralph persuaded the club to support them in running their Colour and Music Spectacular in a local hall.

This became ‘St Chad’s’, the rst ever annual AV show, which over the years featured the work of such AV stalwarts as Tony and Marjorie Furmston, Allan Green, Doug Mackrell, Peter Coles, Keith Scott, and Eddie Spence. In its heyday, the show attracted an audience of 600 over three nights and eventually raised some £28,000 for the three local hospices.

In 1987 the Leeds AV Group was formed and is still the home of enthusiastic and skilled AV workers. The group has now reformulated itself to move forward positively so as to continue to help and encourage its members to produce AV shows of a high standard. Meetings are held each alternate Friday and include a varied programme of talks, competitions, practical evenings and an annual show. The rst of our new Saturday afternoon annual Showcases, combined with a morning AV workshop, will be held in the excellent facilities of Trinity University, Leeds on May 19th, 2018.

In the Yorkshire and surrounding area there are few AV Groups that meet regularly, which has prompted us to introduce an Associate Membership. This is to provide access to group’s activities, help and support for people who, for whatever reason, are unable to attend our meetings regularly. For more information see our website: www.leedsavgroup.co.uk - or contact the group secretary Bryan Stubbs on bryan@stubbsav.com Anyone interested in full or associate membership is also very welcome to contact me at arwhite20@gmail.com - or simply attend one of our meetings which start at 7.30 pm in Cookridge Village Hall, Moseley Wood Lane, Cookridge, LS16 7ER. Please check the group website for details on the weeks we are meeting. Anyone joining us is guaranteed a warm, friendly welcome and the great enjoyment of working in a supportive group to develop the skills involved in planning and producing AV shows.

Page 37

AV News 210 | November 2017

Wilmslow Guild AV Group Most photographic societies have one or two Audio Visual workers, often working in semi-isolation. In 1993 four people got together and decided to create what became known as the Wilmslow Guild Audio Visual Group, where those with an interest in AV could meet to exchange ideas and pool their expertise. Over the past few years we have sadly lost a number of prominent members and so, of necessity, things have had to change. We have a new, edgling committee, who kindly stepped forward a couple of years ago when it was felt that the club might go out of existence due to a lack of members. With the move from analogue to digital, AV became more affordable and acceptable within mainstream photographic clubs and many of them now hold their own AV competitions - albeit once a year!

Specialist clubs such as ours have to be different somehow if we want to tempt people into travelling, often quite long distances, to our meetings. We have to be willing and able to provide prospective members with all the practical help and encouragement that they need and we are therefore tailoring the Syllabus to try and achieve this. Ideally we want those who attend to be con dent in the basics of AV production and the use of the software, so we are trying to have a mix of instructional nights interspersed with constructive appraisal evenings. This is a somewhat delicate balance as we also need to retain the interest of the more experienced members.

Thankfully those members seem keen to help the ‘newbies’ and to pass on to them some of their knowledge and expertise.

We meet about every two weeks on Friday evenings from September to May at the Wilmslow Guild, 1 Bourne Street, Wilmslow, SK9 5HD and our meetings commence at 7.30pm. Visitors and prospective members are always welcome and our Syllabus can be found at: www.wilmslowguildav.org.uk If you need any further information on the Group and its activities then please email us: committee@wilmslowguildav.org.uk

Tonbridge AV Group The AV Group is one of Tonbridge Camera Club’s subgroups. We meet on the rst Tuesday of every month from September to May at Weald of Kent Grammar School, Tonbridge, and charges £2 a session, including refreshments. We’re open to all members of KCPA af liated camera clubs and typically see about 25 people attending. We tend to spend the rst half of each meeting discussing attendees’ AVs; in part 2, we usually have a talk from an invited guest. In April, we hold our annual internal AV Competition.

Page 35

AV News 210 | November 2017

Getting To Grips With PTE 9 Tony Collinson LRPS DPAGB In Part 1 of ‘Getting To Grips With PTE 9’ we looked at adding all of the images in our slide show and placing them in the Slide List in the order of viewing and we added a title slide using Slide Styles. A lot can also be done with sound clips and I hope what follows will help those still learning the ins and outs of audio usage in PTE 9.

The sound track for this slide show is a single piece of music located in the same folder as the images. If the slides are introduced into the slide list using the CTRL+D shortcut as discussed in Part 1, then the audio clip will also appear in the Timeline. If not, then the audio clip can be selected in the File List and dragged into position in the Timeline. To show all the slides and the full audio track duration, the Timeline has been compressed using the CTRL + F12 shortcut. To expand the CTRL + F11 keys are used.

The audio clip can be positioned along the Timeline by left clicking and dragging it into the desired position. It can also be shortened by placing the mouse cursor at the beginning or the end of the audio clip where the double-headed arrows appear and by dragging to the required length. In order to eliminate either a sudden start or ending, a Fade In or Fade Out of suitable length can be applied using the Project Options>Audio Tab (see Fig. 2). As music tracks tend to have a natural ending it is generally better to shorten the clip from the beginning and Fade In from this point.

Fig. 1 (below) shows that the audio clip continues long after the images have nished. This is because when the slides are added to the Slide List, the default settings of 5 seconds Slide Duration and 2 seconds Transition Duration are automatically applied. These can be changed in the Project Options under the Main and Transition Tabs if required but will almost certainly always be adjusted during the production process.

Fig. 1 An Autumn Stroll Compressed Timeline, No Timing

Page 39

AV News 210 | November 2017 Getting To Grips With PTE 9 - Part 2 continued ...

The slides can now be distributed along the Timeline by positioning the cursor in the middle of the rst slide and dragging either left or right to position it in sympathy with the music. This process is then repeated for each slide in succession. If any ne tuning is required the cursor can be placed at the beginning of a slide and, with the double-headed arrows showing, can be dragged either left or right as required. Doing this ne tuning does not affect the overall duration of the slide show; it adjusts the duration of the selected slide and the one immediately before it and also the point along the Timeline at which transition between the two slides takes place. The duration of the transition for each slide can also be adjusted in the Timeline by placing the cursor to the right hand end of the Grey bar above the slide. Again the double-headed arrow will appear and dragging to the right will increase the duration of the transition and to the left, reducing the duration of the transition. Viewing the slide show in the Mini Player during this process will certainly help with this process.

At each stage of the production process it is advisable to save the project.

To safeguard against mistakes the project can be saved in stages giving a different number to each stage, such as My Project 001, My Project 002, etc.

All of the above can be achieved using the Essentials version of PTE 9.

It is more than likely that a voiceover may be required in a slide show and PTE 9 does have the facility to record Voice Comments from within the Project Options>Audio Tab using the microphone symbol highlighted (Fig. 2). However, I suggest that if a more complex sound track is to be recorded then the Deluxe version of PTE 9 should be purchased and used in conjunction with audio editing software package.

Fig 2 - Project Options Audio Tab Recording a Voiceover requires a microphone, some means of interfacing with the computer and a piece of audio editing software. There are now excellent USB microphones available that can be connected directly to the computer. Using one of these in conjunction with a software package such as Adobe Audition or Audacity, the latter being free, can produce good results.

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AV News 210 | November 2017

Fig. 3 Expanded Timeline View Fig. 3 (above) shows part of a sound track that incorporates Music, Sound Effects and Voiceover clips and is referred to as a Multi Track recording. The window has been increased to give a better view of the Timeline by placing the cursor over the line between the File List and the Slide List and where the double-headed arrows appear, dragging upwards.

When recording a voiceover I usually record the whole script including any mistakes, which I then edit out using my audio editing software. I then apply any sound adjustment and graphic equalisation to the whole track for consistency before saving to my speci c slide show folder, where all my images and sound clips are stored. I then dissect the voiceover into separate paragraphs and save as Para 001, Para 002 etc. in the same folder.

The various audio clips can then be dragged from the File List and positioned in the Timeline as required. Music, Voiceovers and Sound Effects are all put on separate tracks. Where a Voice Clip occurs at the same time as the music is playing it will probably be necessary to reduce the volume of the music at this point; a feature only available in the Deluxe version.

After selecting the box highlighted in Fig. 4 (overleaf), an orange line will appear along each audio clip in the Timeline at the 100% volume level. Left clicking on the orange line introduces Keypoints and adjustments can be made by dragging a Keypoint up or down to increase or decrease the volume of the clip, dragging left to right to position the adjustment required.

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AV News 210 | November 2017 Getting To Grips With PTE 9 - Part 2 continued ...

In Fig. 4 the music clip has been faded in using these Keypoints rather than the Project Option>Audio Tab as used in the Essentials version. Also the music levels have been faded down where the voice clip has been introduced so that the music can still be heard but does not compete with the voice clip, and faded up again at the end of the voice clip. Keypoints can be removed by right clicking on them. Any points arising do let me know via the Editors.

Fig. 4 Audio Envelopes

Reviving Challenge321 Klaus Fritzsche For many years authors in and outside Europe participated in the Challenge contest, organized by Ricardo Zarate in France. Authors and judging teams were surprised that the Challenge did not take place in 2015 and 2016 – a great pity because it was a very attractive and diverting contest. So, how to get the contest back? In Autumn 2016 three people, Achim Maier, Matthias P ster and myself, Klaus Fritzsche, decided to try a re-launch. Many questions came up: would Ricardo allow us to go on with the Challenge? Would authors accept a new organization team? Would we nd enough judging teams?

Would we get too little or too many entries? But we decided to take the risks.

Given we are all members of the German club AV-Dialog, it was agreed the Club would take over the patronage of the contest and sponsor a prize plus meet some costs. Ricardo gave his support and we drafted the rules with very few changes to the original.

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AV News 210 | November 2017 One change, however, was to allow only one submission per producer; another was to use English as the primary language. Another innovation was to give cash prizes for the best submissions, and with few costs we were able to allocate nearly all the entry fees.

I set up a new homepage with an easy navigation on a new domain and we sent out 2,000 emails to possible participants. We had many more responses than expected: 113 producers from 14 countries submitted AVs plus 13 judging teams in 8 countries were created. Nearly all AVs were sent via wetransfer.com without problems. The use and evaluation of our registration format was harder due to incompatibility between computer programmes; next year we will aim for an online form that avoids this trouble.

The big number of entries was a challenge for all judging teams, the total runtime being ve and a half hours. One judging team used a whole weekend to watch and rate all entries. Others distributed the entries to the members and rated them of ine. Another team decided to make a pre-selection, with non-accepted entries given zero points, which caused some concerns.

Learning from experience, Challenge 2018 will require submissions to have been created within the previous two years and there will be a pre-selection to ensure that all judging teams can cope with the accepted number of entries. We plan for the pre-selection to be done by a small, international team and welcome all and any feedback via: info321@challenge321.org.

Challenge 321 team (from left): Klaus Fritzsche, Matthias P ster, Achim Maier.

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AV News 210 | November 2017

Challenge321 - The UK Judging Jill K. Bunting CPAGB This competition held many Challenges. Firstly, you needed to make a Sequence that was no more than 3 minutes 21 seconds long. Secondly, as it was an International and would be judged in several different countries, it needed to be understood without any language barriers, although you were allowed to submit the entry in different languages or with subtitles. You were allowed only one entry, but could be named as a Co-Author on one other entry.

The North Wales and Wirral AV Group applied to hold one of the Judging sessions and we were the only UK event out of 13 held around the world.

Judging could be done in several ways. It could be carried out with a panel of Judges (minimum of ve, experienced AV workers), judged by members of a club or by the audience. As attendees to our meetings come from far and wide we decided to make our audience work and so everyone present would be involved. We could have held a pre-selection, but decided to show all the entries in one day. That decision was made before we knew how many sequences there were! With 113 entries from around the world this presented a further Challenge as the running time was around ve and a half hours!

Allowing only one minute between each entry to mark, this still meant a very long and tiring day. The organisers wanted the AVs scored out of 50 so that the marks from the 13 juries could be collated but, with several of our audience being relatively new to AV with no experience of judging, another Challenge was how to do this. Normally in the UK judges tend to use the 'ABC' system of scoring. 'A' means you feel the AV is worthy of a prize, 'C' means it will not be considered and 'B' is in between and can go either way depending on the number of entries. The use of plus and minus on each allow for further grading.

With a normal judging panel there is usually plenty of time for discussion plus all entries will have been seen before nal placings are agreed. As we had no time for discussions (dif cult anyway with an audience) and each entry needed to be scored immediately after viewing, we had to come up with another way of marking. We decided to split the scoring into 5 sections and mark each out of 10. The criteria we chose were - Imagery, Sounds, Production, Concept and Overall Impression. To help those who were not experienced in judging a 'de nition' of these criteria was given at the start of the day. The main pointers being as follows:

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AV News 210 | November 2017

Imagery Quality

Exposure, colour balance, sharpness

Content

Range of focal lengths, harmonising lines & shapes

Suitability

Does the image enhance or distract

Text

Font, colour, time on screen Sounds

Music

One piece or several. Suitability & pace

Live sounds

Voice and/or sound effects

Quality & Level

Understandable narration, too loud or too quiet Production

Technique

Flow and transitions

Pace

Varied or plodding

Movement

Animation/video does it enhance or distract

Timing

Images & sounds match, ebb & ow Concept

Idea

New or traditional

Enjoyment

Create a mood, thought provoking or boring

Ful lment

Does it achieve the aim Overall

Conclusion

Does it work, is it better than the rest?

A (8 to 10), B (4 to 7), C (0 to 3)

The day was split into six Sessions of 60 to 90 minutes each. Each person was given a sheet with the AV number, title, and a synopsis if provided; nonEnglish synopses were translated using Google Translate. There were then the ve criteria headings and space to mark. Another Challenge was to ensure all sequences ran correctly as there were many different formats. Each author had to send an image of themselves and an image from their AV. We decided to use the latter on screen along with the AV number as an aide memoir to help the scoring. This did prove worthwhile, but took a long time to do with 113 entries!

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AV News 210 | November 2017 Getting To Grips With PTE 9 - Part 2 continued ...

In Fig. 4 the music clip has been faded in using these Keypoints rather than the Project Option>Audio Tab as used in the Essentials version. Also the music levels have been faded down where the voice clip has been introduced so that the music can still be heard but does not compete with the voice clip, and faded up again at the end of the voice clip. Keypoints can be removed by right clicking on them. Any points arising do let me know via the Editors.

Fig. 4 Audio Envelopes

Reviving Challenge321 Klaus Fritzsche For many years authors in and outside Europe participated in the Challenge contest, organized by Ricardo Zarate in France. Authors and judging teams were surprised that the Challenge did not take place in 2015 and 2016 – a great pity because it was a very attractive and diverting contest. So, how to get the contest back? In Autumn 2016 three people, Achim Maier, Matthias P ster and myself, Klaus Fritzsche, decided to try a re-launch. Many questions came up: would Ricardo allow us to go on with the Challenge? Would authors accept a new organization team? Would we nd enough judging teams?

Would we get too little or too many entries? But we decided to take the risks.

Given we are all members of the German club AV-Dialog, it was agreed the Club would take over the patronage of the contest and sponsor a prize plus meet some costs. Ricardo gave his support and we drafted the rules with very few changes to the original.

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AV News 210 | November 2017

Image above from Hasa or Pizza Image below from Lalena

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AV News 210 | November 2017 Challenge 321 - The UK Judging continued ...

The AV Dialog special prize for Best Story went to The Hunt by Henk de Lange from The Netherlands, whose photography ably depicts the frantic chase of a hunt and its sad consequences.

The next Challenge 321 will take place early in 2018 and I would encourage you to take part, whether by entering yourself or hosting a judging session in your local area. Yes it will be a challenge, but if this year's is anything to go by it is a challenge worth taking.

For more information see: www.challenge321.org

Capel Curig Concentration Photograph courtesy Jill Bunting Page 48

AV News 210 | November 2017

Photoshop – It’s All About Money Keith Scott FRPS During the making of a recent AV sequence I needed images containing coins and banknotes. Photographing coins presents no problems whatsoever - they’re easy to photograph using a macro lens. Banknotes however create very speci c legal requirements that must be formally addressed.

Quote: ‘Under section 18 (1) of the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981 it is a criminal offence for any person, without the prior consent in writing of the Bank of England, to reproduce on any substance whatsoever, and whether or not on the correct scale, any Bank of England banknote or any part of a Bank of England banknote. The Bank of England also owns the copyright in its banknotes’.

Fortunately The Bank of England provide an online gallery of U.K. banknote images that may be used for articles, adverts, brochures, lms, AV’s etc.

There are conditions governing the use of these images but this is a very useful resource of quality images, see: www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/ Pages/reproducing_banknotes.aspx - then click on the image library link under ‘subheading Procedures 1’.

Unfortunately none of the B.O.E. gallery images suited my AV, so I applied for permission to copy and edit several banknotes. This is where the fun begins. Banknotes from many different countries including the U.K. contain various hidden security measures. One such measure is known as the EURion Constellation or Omron Pattern. This pattern consists of a series of small coloured circles resembling the Orion Constellation as seen in the night sky.

This pattern is recognized by responsible image editing software such as Photoshop. It senses that you are trying to edit banknote images, whereupon a message appears stating that the application does not support editing of banknote images. By default it does not allow you to proceed further. As always in Photoshop there are workarounds that enable you to carry out editing functions, even when the system is programmed for security purposes to prevent forgery. It would of course be a dumb forger that tried to pass off an Adobe Photoshop print as a banknote, but I’ll bet ‘real’ money that it’s been tried.

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AV News 210 | November 2017 Photoshop – It’s All About Money continued ...

The Workaround: Step 1 - photograph the banknote in RAW le format, open the RAW le in Adobe Camera Raw. Without doing anything to the open raw le use the bottom lower left ‘Save Image’ button to save the image with a different name and .psd le extension i.e. from xxx.nef to xxx.psd. Don’t use .tif, .jpg, or .dng extensions or it does not work. Close Camera Raw by clicking on the ‘Cancel’ button, which is the centre of three buttons situated lower right of the Camera Raw screen. Next, in Photoshop open the newly named .psd le. This should now open without the warning message appearing. You should now be able to edit and save this le per normal. If you need a banknote image for an AV sequence then you will need to save a copy as .jpg. This will then work correctly in PicturesToExe. However if you try to reopen and edit the .jpg le you will likely be presented with ‘This application does not support the editing of banknote images’.

The above is relevant to taking photographs of banknotes with a camera.

Because banknotes are at it may seem logical to try scanning them directly into Photoshop using a WIA (Windows Imaging Acquisition) atbed scanner or MAC equivalent. However responsible scanner software also detects those EURion Constellation security patterns thereby preventing a scan from being taken. Once again a message box appears stating that ‘This application does not support the unauthorized processing of banknote images.’ The example on the right is from ‘Epson Scan’ software. Just like the rst message box in Photoshop, this box contains two buttons i.e. ‘Information’ and ‘Cancel’.

By clicking on the ‘Cancel’ button it closes the scanning attempt. If your computer is connected to the internet clicking the ‘Information’ button will take you to a website run by the CBCDG organization (Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group). This is a useful website to learn about lawfully using banknote images from different countries.

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AV News 210 | November 2017 Perhaps you’re wondering why anyone would include banknote images within an AV sequence, especially when there are so many technicalities, formalities, and legal implications. This sequence evolves around the relevance of a multiplicity of formal numbers and numbering systems encountered throughout our lives, and of course every banknote we save or spend throughout this time has its own unique serial number. The sequence in its early stage is expected to be eight minute’s duration, of which approximately six to eight seconds will be allocated to the banknote image! So is it really worth the effort and what’s actually involved?

Without prior consent in writing from the Bank of England it is a criminal offence to replicate any U.K. banknote. Therefore the rst thing required is written permission. To apply online visit: http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/ banknotes/Pages/reproappform.aspx where a digital application form can be submitted to the Bank of England Reproductions Of cer. An email response provides a reference number with a request to send a copy of artwork or photographic images for approval. Technically at this stage you don’t have permission but you still need to copy and edit a banknote image to send for approval. My application to the B.O.E. included details of both my AV sequence and this AV News article to ensure that publication within our magazine was legal, approval was granted for both; reference FCA6470Authorization. So a few minutes work in Photoshop and considerably more time for (electronic) paperwork all for a few seconds slot in an AV, plus a short article in this magazine. Was it worth the bother? Well at least it keeps our Editors and myself out of jail.

Experiments have been made using Adobe Camera Raw to convert original RAW les to other image formats i.e. .tif .jpg .dng and .psd Photoshop document format. In every instance except for .psd, attempting to edit such les initiated the message box containing ‘This application does not support the unauthorized processing of banknote images’. When opening the .dng les they actually opened directly into Adobe Camera Raw but then couldn’t be opened into Photoshop for editing without converting to .psd les. Only the .psd les opened into Photoshop where they could be edited and saved, and the .psd les always reopened for further editing without any problem. However .jpg copies saved from the same .psd les proved unpredictable; sometimes they opened but most times they initiated the dreaded message box to prevent editing.

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AV News 210 | November 2017

FUTURE EVENTS November 2017

2018 Events

19 November RPS Great Yorkshire AV Day Leeds Trinity University 1030 Sequences for review and critique 1400 James Hammill ARPS Contact: Bryan Stubbs Email: Bryan@stubbsav.com Telephone: 0113 2661 448

27 January Midphot AV Competition Priory Centre, Burton on Trent DE13 0HE Email: howard.bagshaw@ntlworld.com

December 2017 1/2/3 December 23rd Great Northern Festival Hough End Centre, Mauldeth Road West, Chorlton, Manchester , M21 7SX http://www.av-group.org.uk/gnfestival/ web2/index.html 9 December AV Makers South Africa International Competition - Life https://av-makers-southafrica.wikispaces.com/Life+-+2017

2nd/3rd March 2018 Colour Show (An AV Extravaganza) Organised by Hailsham Photographic Society in aid of St. Wilfred's Hospice www.hailshamphotographicsociety.co.uk or contact Jean Mills 01424 225684 5 March 2018 Jim Henson Trophy AV Competition Ludshott Photographic Club Judge: Graham Sergeant FRPS. Closing date: 11th February 2018. www.ludshottpv.org.uk 12/13 March 2018 IAC Peter Coles International AV Competition Email: mewaine@chasingthelight.co.uk

31 December 2017 (Final date for entries) PAGB APM in AV Contact your PAGB Regional Awards Of cer or Daphne Hanson Email: hanson16@virginmedia.com

18 March 2018 AV Days Two separate events held in Mid Thames and Worcestershire 19 March 2018 Bridgend 5-8 Competition

The RPS AV Group Committee Chairman

Howard Bagshaw howard.bagshaw@ntlworld.com

01889 881503

Vice Chairman Edgar Gibbs

edgar.gibbs@ntlworld.com

02920 564850

Secretary

Alan Tyrer

abtyrer@gmail.com

01472 504882

Treasurer

David Neal

david-neal@talktalk.net

01424 712394

Martin Fry

frycorner@btinternet.com

01452 857964

Andrew Gagg

gagg@gaggf2s.com

01905 748515

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AV News 210 | November 2017 Photoshop – It’s All About Money continued ...

The Workaround: Step 1 - photograph the banknote in RAW le format, open the RAW le in Adobe Camera Raw. Without doing anything to the open raw le use the bottom lower left ‘Save Image’ button to save the image with a different name and .psd le extension i.e. from xxx.nef to xxx.psd. Don’t use .tif, .jpg, or .dng extensions or it does not work. Close Camera Raw by clicking on the ‘Cancel’ button, which is the centre of three buttons situated lower right of the Camera Raw screen. Next, in Photoshop open the newly named .psd le. This should now open without the warning message appearing. You should now be able to edit and save this le per normal. If you need a banknote image for an AV sequence then you will need to save a copy as .jpg. This will then work correctly in PicturesToExe. However if you try to reopen and edit the .jpg le you will likely be presented with ‘This application does not support the editing of banknote images’.

The above is relevant to taking photographs of banknotes with a camera.

Because banknotes are at it may seem logical to try scanning them directly into Photoshop using a WIA (Windows Imaging Acquisition) atbed scanner or MAC equivalent. However responsible scanner software also detects those EURion Constellation security patterns thereby preventing a scan from being taken. Once again a message box appears stating that ‘This application does not support the unauthorized processing of banknote images.’ The example on the right is from ‘Epson Scan’ software. Just like the rst message box in Photoshop, this box contains two buttons i.e. ‘Information’ and ‘Cancel’.

By clicking on the ‘Cancel’ button it closes the scanning attempt. If your computer is connected to the internet clicking the ‘Information’ button will take you to a website run by the CBCDG organization (Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group). This is a useful website to learn about lawfully using banknote images from different countries.

Page 50