Life (and video) is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you are going to get.

The BMM club meeting on 17 April 2025 opened at 7.30 pm. It was a small but enthusiastic turnout with 10 members present, and apologies from Glenn and Peter.

Droning over Goodna.  Noel showed the results of his drone exercise with footage over the Brisbane river around the Goodna area. Noel said he has had the drone for about three or four years but hasn’t flown it in about six months so this was a good refresher course. It was unedited vision taken straight off the time line. Despite the lack of practice, Noel showed he still has the touch, getting the drone down to about a metre off the water without getting its (or his) toes wet.

Together trailer. Despite the fact that Peter was at the football (and probably cried all the way home after the Lions loss) he provided us with the trailer for the Together which will be shown at the Balmoral Cineplex on Saturday 27 April 6-9pm. A healthy 265 tickets have been sold but because he now has access to the bigger cinema with more capacity there are still tickets available. We will be videoing the comings and goings of the event so frock up in your fanciest shorts, t-shirts and thongs (come on – it’s Queensland).

Smoke and Mirrors David showed scenes from Netflix series Love Death + Robots which is available on Netflix. This is one of the series which has inspired David for his new Smoke and Mirrors project, the other being Black Mirror. If you have Netflix, the episodes he highlighted were Fish Night, and Three Robots: exit strategies.

BROOM showcase. After the break we broke out the cameras and chocolates for the filming of the Broom video. It featured a falling box of chocolates (thanks to Nigel for providing the box of chocolates – you never know what you’re going to get, Life is like that, - and Murray for providing the fishing line – good catch). It was shot in slow motion (240fps) on both iPhone and Canon EOS C200. It also featured extreme close ups (ECU) of some of our members unwrapping and then eating the chocolates, throwing the wrappers on the floor which were ‘swept up’ with the titular broom. It’s not necessarily a ‘horror’ genre, but the ECU shots could be a little stomach churning. The final product will be entered in the showcase with our NSW and Victorian clubs and shown at the NSW Federation of Camera Clubs “TopShot” event. The project has to be completed by the end of May. Copies of the raw footage from all the cameras will be made available to members interested in having a go at editing the video. More on that at our next meeting on 1 May. This will be an interesting exercise to see how individual members approach the same video. It will also be an insight into what judges look for in video competitions. It’s a good way to learn the do’s and don’ts of video editing and improve your skills. Have a go.

The meeting (and chocolates) wrapped up at 9.30 (yea, we were on time).

Next meeting Thursday 1 May. Paul will present a “Film Bite’ and we will be discussing and planning turning Peter’s short stories to scripts as well as planning for UGG competitions. We will also be looking at how to create the most engaging and professional video by discussing the requirements for the Broom editing competition. And we will also be planning for the end of year showcase “Humans of Brisbane”.

Lots to see and do, so rock up and participate in and progress your movie making journey.