Mike Bailey of AVS has died

I'm obviously a bit slow with this particular bit of news from the Surrey alumni news obituaries section:

"Mr Mike Bailey (Retired Manager of Audio-Visual Services), April 29, 2009. Mike is remembered for his good natured and willing attitude and as an active member of the Wates House Committee in the early 90s."

A generation of OFU staff and committee members will remember Mike as the examiner for the Projectionists' Licence, the little yellow laminated cards that were issued up until 2001 and which authorised use of OFU's Fumeo and AVS's slide projectors and portable 16mm projectors. At the time I suspect we hassled Mike into doing the tests as though it were somehow our right to be let loose on university-owned equipment; in retrospect he must surely have been giving up his own time, willingly and regularly, in order to support us.

An arts cinema for Guildford?

There's quite a bit of momentum - online, at least - behind plans for a new arts cinema in Guildford, within the shell of Guildford's first cinema, West's Picture House, latterly a bookshop and furniture store. The Facebook group has over 600 members, which isn't at all bad.

However, there doesn't appear to be much, if any, support from the local authority, according to the local rag.

You wait years for a filmsoc, and then two come along at once

Despite The Shadowrooms apparently having state-of-the-art digital projection, 3D films and a nice comfortable theatre (these kids today, they don't know they're born) - USSU is apparently running a second film society called Front Row.

As is now de rigueur, there's next to no information on USSU's website but it's all organised via Facebook instead. The Shadowrooms does the exact same thing.

Of course, as any ex-OFU committee member will tell you, having two competing groups is a recipe for society vs. union fights and meaningless quibbles over the differences between a "society" and an "amenity". Or was that just us?

Tsk. Back when I were a lad it were fields as far as the eye could see; you watched films by all crowding around a flick-book. (Well, near enough.)

ofu.org.uk: OFU's home since 1999

The domain name that points to this blog (ofu.org.uk) has been in use by OFU on and off since 1999. It originally pointed to the actual OFU website [now archived here]. Following the demise of SSC it lapsed briefly, until 2005, when we re-acquired it to point to this blog. (2005 also saw an unexpected flurry of other OFU-related activity, including the launch of our anthology DVD.)

Why bring this up now? Several reasons. The OFU "community" has been quietly dwindling away for some time, as the relative silence on this site and our Facebook group attest. I am currently consulting with ex-OFU techies over the value of our domain name, in historical, emotional, practical and financial terms. If you'd like to contribute your thoughts, get in touch.

University of Surrey has new film society

The University and Students' Union have collaborated to do something truly unexpected: after a gap of seven years, they've started showing films in a theatre environment once more.

It's not called OFU, and it's not called Surrey Student Cinema either (don't blame them, really): it's The Shadowrooms. There's not a huge amount of information available, but it appears to be high-definition projection, so no late nights looking for lost splices or any of that other really fun stuff. They also appear to have ruled out popcorn, which is probably a good thing. And their selection of films isn't too shabby, either, although I might be a little critical of Cliffhanger amongst an otherwise thoughtful programme.

Their website doesn't give a time or place for the showing, possibly because of film society regulations, or possibly just by oversight. However, I've seen an internal flyer for the launch event, and it's in a comfortable large theatre on Thursday evenings.

I would love to receive any comments from punters at this week's showing. How busy was it? What was the AV quality like? Was audience feedback generally good?

This news follows on from USSU's recent launch of a new student media hub which might conceivably also see a return to filmmaking at Surrey.

Edit: Good grief, they are even showing films in 3D. Is there no end to this crazy burst of creativity from USSU?

OFU is now on Facebook

Oscar Film Unit now has its very own alumni group on Facebook, courtesy of Andy Ga. It's closed membership at the moment, so send Andy a message or poke him until he lets you join. Includes photos, the odd video (when we get around to uploading them), and of course intellgent witty banter about splicing reels in the wrong order and amputating limbs using the rewind table.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2330364599

Oscar Film Unit Christmas 2007 get-together?

It's been two years since the last OFU Christmas get-together, which was very enjoyable and rather successful (though I do say so myself). Is anybody interested in a follow-up this year? I'm proposing 8th December, probably in London. As before, because people may be travelling from far and wide, I suggest a lunchtime shindig, but people can stay all afternoon / evening if they want.

Any thoughts? Or are we all beyond this kind of thing now?
Email or post a reply here.

Where's my film society gone?

Dear University Of Surrey student,

Welcome to the new term. If you've found this page, you're probably looking for Oscar Film Unit. Did you find our profile on the Student Union website? Did you spot the bit in the university prospectus about how Oscar Film Unit "shows films for the whole university community" and come looking for us?

I'm sorry to say, we're not Oscar Film Unit. No! Wait! Don't go yet! Let me at least explain.

Oscar Film Unit (aka OFU, pronounced "off-yew") was the film society and it was the campus cinema. Apart from one-off special events, OFU hasn't shown a film at Surrey since 2001 and hasn't made a film since 2003.

This site exists to promote both these aspects of the society and to enable we graduates to tut about how great it was back in our day. One of the main aims of this, apart from to be really irritating, is to encourage you, the current student to get involved. Do you think it's bizarre that a university the size of Surrey has no active film society? Well, get off your behind and organise it. Go on. Go now. The Union, contrary to popular belief, is waiting, right now, for you to volunteer.

Drop us an email and we'll even help you out in any way you can. (But beware of advice that starts, "It was better in our day because...")

love,

Oscar

Saved for the nation

Long ago, in November 2005, in fact, we reported that the University / Union had begun disposing of OFU's assets.

One of the last of OFU's Old Guard, Scoot, told us that the Fumeo projector and rewind table had gone. More disturbingly, the cupboard containing OFU's 16mm, 8mm and VHS archive had also ominously disappeared.

We have always believed that the contents of that cupboard represented a unique and valuable historical resource for the University of Surrey and the community at large. The humble spools of film contained therein are completely irreplaceable.

Fortunately, we have already preserved a number of the films as part of the Oscar Film Unit Gold Anthology project. But the most important piece of good news is that Scoot himself rescued several reels of film, including the legendary Boy With A Moon And Star On His Head and has donated these to the Official OFU Archive, to which this site belongs.

Along with the few remaining films, Scoot supplied complete Projectionists' Logs covering the period from 1993 to the society's eventual demise, which perhaps form the most substantial written record possible of OFU's days as a film exhibitor.

Update: We have located the missing 16mm prints. They are, mercifully, currently safe and sound in the care of the University of Leicester Students' Union.

OFU films available for streaming

Have you been wondering exactly why it is that we're issuing OFU DVDs, but haven't got around to putting any films on the Interweb yet?

So have we. In fact, we've become so attached to the idea that we've launched a new Web Cinema - the WebPlex - for that very reason.

OFU's films will appear, bit-by-bit, in its very own dedicated "screen" at http://ofu.webplex.co.uk/. The first film, Kidnap!, is available for streaming right now in Windows Media or RealMedia formats.

Update: Also available (in Windows Media format only): Rag '69, Under Construction and The Famous OFU Sex Film.

Update: The streaming problem for Firefox users has been resolved.

Update: Now also available: Rag '67, in full Kodachrome(TM) colour!