The meeting commenced with an auction of gear voluntarily donated by members, with proceeds going to the club for future equipment purchases.
On offer was a slightly whiffy light diffuser, monopod, VHS editing/mixing desk (sans power supply), Manfrotto dolly, the old club HDMI 2K Epson projecter, BenQ 1360 x 768 monitor, Neewer slider, 3 x 7.2v video lights and bag, Sony radio mic (passed in) and a Velbon video tripod in need of a bit of Men's Shed TLC.
The members got into the spirit after a quiet start, with the auction raising $320. Thank you to those who donated their equipment, and thanks to Damien and Nigel who co-auctioneered.
My Journey as a film maker - Neale Reville
Neale's journey is heavily intertwined with the origins of BMM. A summary of key takeaway points:
In 1937 the Qld Amateur Cine Society was formed, head quarteded in Adelaide Street, and it cost a princely sum of 25 cents to join! (It was eventually superceded by Brisbane Movie Makers)
A 9.5mm Pathe camera was used by his father, which was a mechanical camera popular at the society's formation, with the QACS specialising in 8mm and 16mm after WW2.
First public screening for QACS movies was held on July 26, 1948, and in the following years was shown at Albert Hall, up to 4 nights a week. It featured local productions and travelogues in Kodachrome colour (but without sound).
By 1951, screenings became so popular that they were shown at City Hall, which seated 800. Neale's father was there in the crowd somewhere!
At the end on 1956, Neal finished junior school and applied for a job at the Post Masters General office where he sat an entrance exam. 150 people turned up. It wasn't a typical entrance exam, and after a 1 hour interview, he was accepted.
He started at the Bulimba Barracks. Neal's first job was to train people in new technologies that had been developed after the war, albeit under a cloak of secrecy. He studied advanced maths and quantum physics. This really suited the technical world of film production to come later.
Neal joined QACS in 1957 which had 150 members (largely male) with his vivid memories of the sound of women-folk knitting at the back :-), where he met Morgan Jones who used a clockwork 8mm video camera. (yep, no powered cameras yet!)
Neal's first task was learning to splice film together for Morgan! The general meetings alternated with technical meetings. Neal was introduced to Jacques Cousteau. Neal also met Mervin Peake who went onto to become secretary for QACS and then QMM for decades
In 1959 Neal filmed his first flight on the Fokker Friendship DC3 at Eagle Farm.
In 1964 he joined the ABC as a Technical Officer, based in Brisbane. He designed a high gain aerial to use with radio mics that covered the 10 Km of a boat race, when everyone said it could not be done. It was a huge success!
When Neale joined QMM, he went on from strength to strength, producing River of Memories. Neale then showed the making of his script on a reenactment of the trial of Harry Redford, an audacious cattle thief. The behind the scenes look set the foundation of movie making principles that Neale adopts to this day about camera operation, sound recording and production
Unfortunately we ran well out of time (it was well past 10PM) and had to end it there.
The Committee would like to extend its thanks to Neale who put in a tremendous amount of effort preparing for his presentation despite being under the weather lately.
Written by Nigel O'Neill
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