Photo Gallery

This page has some some behind-the-scenes photos from our videos.

Anniversary

Unintended Consequences

Café

Tarot

The Stalker

The Universal Picture

Age-Activated Attention Deficit Disorder

Timecops

Competition Winners

Demonstration Evenings

Anniversary (2011)

A club production. Director Steve Pemberton. Watch the video.

	Setting up the equipment at the start of the day.
	The husband (Stanley Russell, middle) asks the waiter (Paul Welton, right) to change the tablecloth. The wife (Daphne Edwards) wonders if they should have stayed home and ordered a pizza.
	Things are about to get messy...
	Trust me, this is in the script...
	How much? Stanley and Paul argue over the bill.
	Steve Pemberton (director) and Paul Fitzjohn (camera) discuss how Stanley should walk into this shot to match with a previous shot. Barry Fish (boom operator) looks on, waiting for Steve to shout "action!"
	A pickup shot. Steve realised after the first day's shooting that we needed a closeup of the waiter's hand holding a stopwatch. We couldn't get back into the location we'd used then, so we had to fake it. The coat on the floor is an attempt to match the colour of the carpet in the wide shots (see the photo above).

Unintended Consequences (2010)

A club production. Director Paul Welton.

	Michael Muncer waits for Paul Welton (director) to shout "Action!"
	One of the stars of the show, a homemade laser. There's a light inside the blue tube for the glow of it firing, which is augmented with a beam in post-production. The prop performed very well. The only difficulties were that the light tended to get hot, which warped the tube a couple of times, and the metal box was prone to falling off as Michael was swinging it about.
	Big smile, everyone! Left-right: Steve Pemberton, Paul Welton (behind the camera), Jake Abbott, Michael Muncer, Susan Seelig.
	It's just a scratch... Susan has a bandage for the scenes where her character is injured.
	Steve wearing a tie is something you don't see every day, or even every year. Adrian Annis reminds him how it should be done.
	Breda holds a light steady while Paul considers the best angle for the next shot. Mixing exterior and interior elements in a shot is always tricky, because even on a cloudy day, outdoors is usually much brighter than indoors. The light is an attempt to even out the difference.
	Despite appearances, this film wasn't a way for Paul to get his lawn cut for free.
	When you've seen the film, you'll be able to guess where this equipment was used!

Café (2008)

A club production. Director Paul Fitzjohn. Watch the video.

	Paul Fitzjohn (director) operates the camera. Steve Pemberton holds the microphone boom over the two actors (Stanley Russell and Peter Norman, left). Kerry Moat (behind Steve) prepares to make her entrance.
	Peter Norman (left) and Stanley Russell reflect for a moment between takes.
	Raw sausages and lumpy mash... Mick Murphy (seated) gives his order to Amy Whelan.
	Up a bit, left a bit... Shannon Rumney and Steve Pemberton wait as Peter Norman tries different options for the lighting. This scene was tricky to light, as it's in front of a window with bright sunlight outside.
	Daphne Edwards (left) and Barbara Norman (right) discuss whether the service is worth a tip. This scene needed a lot of takes, and the ladies had to make their food last. They were chasing crumbs around their plates by the time we got a take Paul was happy with. Mick Murphy holds the boom.
	Oops... Chris Eakins retrieves a prop that fell to the floor. Just as well the script didn't call for her to eat it.
	Paul takes a shot of Breda Quirke walking past the camera, to help in transitioning from one scene to another.
	The best thing about making a video set in a café is that you can eat the props afterwards.

Tarot (2007)

A club production. Director Paul Fitzjohn. Watch the video.

	The crew build the set, which is supposed to look like the inside of a fortune-teller's tent. In the foreground, Chris Eakins, who plays the fortune-teller's customer, picks out knick-knacks to dress the set with.
	The performers, Chris Eakins and Daphne Edwards, discuss their characters' motivations as Paul Fitzjohn, the director, adjusts a light.
	Barbara Norman adjusts Daphne's headdress. Daphne plays the fortune teller.
	The framework of the set is half-a-dozen trestle tables provided by the community centre where we meet. The fabric of the "tent" is two curtains and a duvet cover!
	Paul, the director, and Thomas Witthaut, the sound recordist, check whether the microphone boom is visible in this shot.
	Paul goes in for a close-up of Daphne. Peter Norman (kneeling) uses a reflector to bounce some additional light onto Daphne's face.
	Mick Murphy, editor, holds the clapperboard for an over-the-shoulder shot of the Tarot cards.
	Steve Pemberton helps Thomas to put the jib together.
	The jib in action. To get the camera so close to vertical, we actually had to bolt it to the mounting bracket upside down and the wrong way round - the bracket wouldn't tilt down far enough with the camera fastened properly.
	Paul dollies the camera towards Chris to add visual interest and tension for one of her close-ups. It's maybe not obvious in this photo, but we had to remove part of the set behind Daphne to make room for the camera tracks.

The Stalker (2005)

A club production. The club split into two groups for this, and each filmed their own interpretation of an outline story provided by Peter Norman.

	Steve Pemberton (director) checks his script to remind himself which shot the team need to film next.
	One of the characters has fallen to the ground. Steve Pemberton and Martin Raphael (camera) set up a shot that will show his point of view as he looks up.
	Steve checks his script again as Brian (actor) rehearses what he needs to do in this shot.
	Chris Eakins takes the camera low down for a shot of Ron Fowler's feet as he walks past.
	Jane Sadler (director) explains to Breda Quirke (camera) how she wants this shot to look.

The Universal Picture (2005)

A club production. Director Paul Fitzjohn. Watch the video.

	Paul Fitzjohn (director) and Mick Murphy (cameraman) discuss the best way to prevent the actors from being upstaged by the foliage.
	Sheila Clements asks herself "What is my motivation in this scene?"
	Paul, Mick and Fraser Brown debate the best settings for filming Breda Quirke.

Age-Activated Attention Deficit Disorder (2004)

(Try saying that three times quickly!) A club production. Director Steve Pemberton. Watch the video. Read the script.

	Steve Pemberton, the director, advises the actors, Martin Raphael and Chris Eakins, how he wants them to do this scene.
	Action! Mick Murphy operates the camera.
	Paul Fitzjohn and Steve move a light to give the best illumination for a new shot.

Timecops (2003)

One of Steve Pemberton's own videos. The screenplay is here.

	Steve checks the exposure for a closeup.
	Breda Quirke takes a closeup.
	Breda by the bridge, one of the important locations in the video.

Competition Winners

The winners of various competitions being presented with their prizes and/or celebrating.

	17 January 2011: Borehamwood wins back the Joe Kay Trophy. Left-right: Alan Morgan (Harrow chairman), Anthony Myers (Harrow judge), Barry Fish (Borehamwood chairman), Jenny Ellis (Borehamwood judge), Barry Ellis (Borehamwood judge), Doreen Rogers (Harrow judge)
	30 November 2009: Paul Welsh MBE (left) presents the club's Film of the Year trophy to Mick Murphy for his video Getting Up Early.
	19 January 2009: In a reversal of what happened last year, our chairman, Paul Fitzjohn, presents the Joe Kay Trophy to the chairman of Harrow Cine and Video Society, Alan Morgan.
	1 December 2008: Peter Norman (right) receives the Film of the Year 2008 trophy from Ben Simon for his video The Year of the Rat. Ben judged the competition for us.
	21 January 2008: Alan Morgan (left), chairman of Harrow Cine and Video Society, presents the Joe Kay Trophy to our chairman, Paul Fitzjohn.
	Mick Murphy (left) receives the Film of the Year 2007 trophy from Programme Secretary Paul Fitzjohn for his video An Early Start.
	22 January 2007: Roy Osgood (chairman) receives the Joe Kay Trophy from Alan Morgan (chairman of Harrow Cine and Video Society).
	Mick Murphy receives the Film of the Year Trophy for 2006 for his video Jewel of the Rockies. Left-right: Jenny Ellis (judge), Ben Simon (judge), Roy Osgood (vice chairman), Mick Murphy.
	Roy Osgood displays his certificate for third place in HACCA 2006. Paul Fitzjohn (chairman) looks on.
	23 January 2006: Paul Fitzjohn (chairman) receives the Joe Kay Trophy from Alan Morgan (chairman of Harrow Cine and Video Society). More about our victory in 2006.
	John Astin, one of the competition judges, presents Mick Murphy with the club's Film of the Year Trophy. Mick won the 2005 competition with Into the Badlands.
	The chairman, Roy Osgood, presents Peter Norman with the club's Film of the Year Trophy for winning this competition in 2004 with The Loro Parque.
	The chairman, Roy Osgood, presents Nigel Longman with the club's Film of the Year Trophy for winning this competition in 2003 with Westonbirt International Festival of Gardens 2003. Left-right: Shawn Lindsell (judge), Ben Simon (judge), Nigel, Roy.
	The makers of the videos that formed the club's winning programme for the Joe Kay competition in 2001 with the trophy. (More about this.) Back row, left to right: Barbara Norman, Breda Quirke, John Eakins, Steve Pemberton, Fraser Brown. Front row: Peter Norman, Dennis Edwards, Paul Fitzjohn.
	Some of the makers of The Benchwatchers of Borehamwood with the HACCA trophy, which this video won in 1998. (More about this.) Left-right: Paul Fitzjohn, Shawn Lindsell, Steve Pemberton, Fraser Brown.

Demonstration Evenings

Some pictures from the meetings where we learn about using various types of equipment.

Linear Editing

	Fraser Brown demonstrates analogue (linear) editing, using a camcorder and video recorder.
	Peter Norman explains some of the finer points of analogue editing to Breda Quirke and John Eakins.

Blue and Green Screen (2005)

An evening hosted by Jane Sadler. By filming something against a background of a flat colour (usually blue or green), you can replace that colour with another scene that would be too difficult or expensive or dangerous to film otherwise.

	Jane Sadler and Chris Eakins check that Roy Osgood is well-lit and that the blue background is an even colour, without shadows or highlights.
	The view through the camera looks good...
	Paul Fitzjohn joins Roy for a dialogue shot against a green screen.
	The view through the camera's LCD. (The banding in the full-sized picture is an artifact of the photographic process. The pixel grid in the camera's LCD doesn't line up with the grid in the CCD of the digital still camera that was used to take the photograph.)

Lighting (2006)

Paul Fitzjohn embarks on an arduous quest for Steve Pemberton's good side. This was part of a talk about lighting. Paul talked about the "classic" three-point system (key, fill and back lights). One theory about portrait lighting tries to take account of the fact that most people's faces are not perfectly symmetrical. One side is normally slightly smaller than the other, and the theory states that in the absence of other factors, you should light the smaller side, because this will reduce the appearance of asymmetry. One such "other factor" would be a bent nose: you should light into the crease to reduce the shadows and make the nose look straighter. The light in the photo is on the smaller side of Steve's face, although it's probably hard to tell - the two halves of his face are almost the same size. To complicate matters, Paul eventually decided to put the light on the larger side. This is because Steve's jaw droops slightly on the smaller side, and putting the light on that side exaggerates the droop.