tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-152843272024-03-26T08:53:16.302+00:00Oscar Film UnitA home for alumni and friends of Oscar Film Unit, the University of Surrey's erstwhile film society and campus cinema.David Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05076700641480265003noreply@blogger.comBlogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15284327.post-45180493849815778202020-10-01T12:00:00.007+01:002020-10-22T13:11:24.382+01:00Bye bye, Blogger<p>After 15 long years powered by Blogger and hosted by Blogspot, the OFU blog will be moving shortly to a new location. Please come by and visit us at <a href="https://ofu.org.uk/">https://ofu.org.uk/</a> where we will continue to provide irregular commentary on filmmaking, exhibition, and our increasingly hazy university memories. (And - do get in touch if you'd like to contribute. We'd be very happy to have more than one update a year!)</p>
<p>We'll be keeping this Blogspot site available for a little while, before setting it to redirect and, eventually, deleting it.</p>
David Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05076700641480265003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15284327.post-15038715350970102372020-08-26T09:54:00.000+01:002020-08-26T09:54:01.567+01:00Can Christopher Nolan save cinema ... again?<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/08/inception-10-christopher-nolan-tenet/614920/">The Atlantic argues</a>, compellingly, that Christopher Nolan has "saved cinema" once before by insisting on <i>Inception</i> being shot on film; and with his new film, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/aug/25/tenet-review-christopher-nolan-head-scratchingly-ambitious"><i>Tenet</i></a>, may be about to save the very notion of cinema-going itself.
<blockquote>Nolan has publicly shouldered the same intense responsibility that he took on after the release of Inception. This time, the issue isn’t the future of celluloid—rather, it’s the future of cinemas following months of lost grosses, and months more of diminished ticket sales even when theaters reopen, due to likely capacity reductions.</blockquote>David Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05076700641480265003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15284327.post-66481586891414618542020-05-07T13:20:00.001+01:002020-05-07T13:20:35.030+01:00Coronavirus innovation, twenty years later<div><h2 style="text-align: left;">In the year 2000 ...</h2></div><div><br /></div><div><br /><img alt="Several people operating a projector through a kitchen window by manually taking up film on a hand-driven rewind table" src="https://davidandranja.com/archive/ofu/photos/outside2000/paulmix.jpg" title="Outside projection 1" /><br /><img alt="Andy winding the film by hand, accompanied by two cans of beer" src="https://davidandranja.com/archive/ofu/photos/outside2000/andymix.jpg" title="Outside projection 2" /><br /><img alt="South Park projected onto the side of the building" src="https://davidandranja.com/archive/ofu/photos/outside2000/southpark1.jpg" title="Outside projection 3" /></div>
<div><h2 style="text-align: left;">In the year 2020 ...</h2></div>
<div>Pictures from <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/gallery/2020/may/07/windowflick-berlin-screenings-in-pictures">"WindowFlick" photo essay, The Guardian</a></div>
<div><img alt="Projectionist in mask seated on edge of bath" src="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/5f93007d6b8877d8e369bb60642c2be208bb7ddf/0_0_6720_4480/master/6720.jpg?width=1920&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=9ee1653856870362eb3a0217fdb3d0cb" title="WindowFlick 1" width="400px" height="300px"/><br /><img alt="Large loudspeakers mounted in apartment windows" src="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/5321a87164846930553456c1909e4061bf061c01/0_0_6720_4480/master/6720.jpg?width=1920&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=d0c4bb2e71b3ef06d46a015d8734eb4c" title="WindowFlick 2" width="400px" height="300px" /></div>David Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05076700641480265003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15284327.post-50794635121760421202019-02-19T15:58:00.000+00:002019-02-19T17:11:40.424+00:00How a forty-year-old non-fiction book by William Goldman ruined The Railway ChildrenAt OFU, and in our production attempts in the years afterwards, we probably fancied ourselves as quite professional film-makers. We had a real film camera, a proper crew. We had scripts and storyboards. We'd read up on photography techniques - on lighting and <em>mise-en-scène</em>. And we were creative - full of ideas and the energy to execute them.<br />
<br />
On top of this, I wrote quite a lot while I was at Surrey and after. Some of it was published in Barefacts. Most of it never saw the light of day beyond my personal website. Poetry, short stories, a musical (really), at least one full-length screenplay. All of it has aged exactly as well as you would expect. All of it is earnest, well-meaning, mopey, romantic trash. Some of it is also wrapped up in sixth form levels of humour, or tortured narrative structures that I probably thought were very clever.<br />
<br />
If I'd read William Goldman's seminal <em>Adventures In The Screen Trade</em> first, then I'd probably never have bothered.<br />
<br />
But in fact, I wouldn't have willingly recognised how important Goldman's book is to an aspiring screen writer. We were largely interested in the science of film making - so Chris Jones's <em>The Guerilla Filmmakers' Handbook</em> represented the most important reference for me, dealing with practical matters such as choosing locations, recording sound, and editing: how to do every job to a certain level of competence, in order to achieve a reasonable film on a very low budget. <br />
<br />
<em>Adventures</em> is a text book on screen writing within the Hollywood system. Forty years on, it remains sharp and relevant. (I'm baffled that one Amazon reviewer found it irrelevant because of its failure to mention Netflix. Yes, it's of its time - arguably written before Goldman's arguably own best work - but it's full of insight and interesting anecdotes on the whole process of making and marketing films.)<br />
<br />
It paints the writing process as being a technical discipline on a par with the other key roles in film-making. The last section of the book is effectively a worked example, showing how an idea converts into a short story, and from there into a screenplay, and from there into the other key creative disciplines associated with making a film (including production design, music, cinematography and direction). Despite all this content, it's an easy and invigorating read. It's honestly not over-stating the importance of this book to describe it as utterly indispensable to anyone aspiring to enter the trade.<br />
<br />
This means that my style of hammering out a cleverly-structured story in a single "take", proof-reading it once, and then publishing it straight onto my personal website, was always, always destined to produce poor-quality and un-filmable results. A single idea stretched wafer-thin. The entire plot in service to the structure or to a series of mediocre jokes. No critical review of the essence of the story - its emotional resonance or impact on the reader. No quality control. No professionalism at all.<br />
<br />
There are plenty of places where you can learn about conventions of narrative structure - the hero's arc - but Goldman's analysis offers so much more. He shows what works and what doesn't in practice. In discussing his adaptations of certain true events (<em>All The President's Men</em> and <em>A Bridge Too Far</em>), he is able to demonstrate how stories of incredible resonance and intrigue would not have worked on film. Above all, he is honest about mistakes and mis-steps.<br />
<br />
I happened to watch <em>The Railway Children</em> just after finishing <em>Adventures In The Screen Trade</em>. I think we can all agree that <em>The Railway Children</em> is a beloved classic, made even more so for me because it must be a good twenty-five years since I saw it last.<br />
<br />
Goldman ruined it.<br />
<br />
Throughout, I was noticing ways in which it is deficient as a screenplay. Its episodic structure lays bare its origin as a much longer, more nuanced novel. Character details that I remember vividly from reading the novel as a child appear as a single jokey line, out of any context. Worse, the vignettes stand so far apart that any sense of time passing is lost; an effect that serves to distance the viewer.<br />
<br />
Goldman would probably say that the adaptation has been too literal. It has prioritised the inclusion of certain plot points from the novel over a coherent single narrative that preserves the emotional core of the novel. Just as Goldman had to discard the most extraordinary stories of bravery in <em>A Bridge Too Far</em> in service of the wider narrative, so <em>The Railway Children</em> could and should have developed more of a singular connection to time and place, even if that meant ditching some of the isolated stories.<br />
<br />
<em>The Railway Children</em> still manages to have an emotional impact, despite these deficiencies. It's still very funny in places and moving in others. Near the end, there's a famous bit in which the viewer inevitably suddenly finds something in the eye and a little lump in the throat. But then there's that weird little coda that (probably) quotes directly from the book, and it's straight back to feeling frustrated at the literalism of the adaptation.<br />
<br />
Thanks, Goldman.David Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05076700641480265003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15284327.post-7344374367596653252018-12-04T17:26:00.001+00:002018-12-05T09:45:22.777+00:00Top tickets at the Odeon Leicester Square now top £40<p dir="ltr">Ouch. It's an iconic building and has recently been refurbished, but still ... is watching a film really comparable to a theatre show or sports event?</p>
<p dir="ltr"><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-46438241">BBC News article</a> </p>
David Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05076700641480265003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15284327.post-71838532621703457052018-09-30T00:00:00.000+01:002018-11-19T15:18:24.210+00:00The rise of retro filmmaking and resurgence of Super 8From the BBC: <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-hampshire-45655099/the-rise-of-retro-filmmaking-and-resurgence-of-super-8">The resurgence of Super-8</a>.
<blockquote>We know about apps like Instagram and PhotoFunia that can make pictures and film look like they were shot in a different time.
But, there's now a huge resurgence in popularity of the original format that inspired that retro look - Super 8 film.
</blockquote>
I'm increasingly sceptical about this type of attention-seeking authenticity. It may feel tangible and romantic, but working with film is incredibly difficult and inconvenient. In most cases, this inconvenience only works against the creative vision. David Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05076700641480265003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15284327.post-62740552785643453602017-09-05T10:04:00.000+01:002017-09-05T10:04:08.741+01:00The ABC Cinema in a back garden<p>Every year the Channel 4 Amazing Spaces <a href="http://www.shedblog.co.uk/">Shed of the Year</a> throws up cinema designs that are ingenious or just plain wacky. They leave me slightly jealous (as well as wondering how people ever find the time and energy).</p>
<p>But <a href="http://www.readersheds.co.uk/share.cfm?SHARESHED=6124">this cinema shed</a> is easily the most impressive I've seen for its attention to historical detail. It's not a cinema-themed entertainment room with a DVD player; it is a real, functioning facsimile of a 1930s-era supercinema. (The builder describes it as 1970s or 1980s era, but it hasn't been subdivided into lots of substandard smaller screens.) Not only does it look like a vintage ABC Cinema, but it is equipped with authentic fixtures and fittings such as genuine ABC carpets and signage.</p>
<p>The cinema has its own <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AndersonJonesABC/">Facebook page</a>.</p>David Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05076700641480265003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15284327.post-65032670775686171282017-08-30T16:55:00.002+01:002017-08-30T17:02:01.234+01:00Film vs Digital<p>In the Independent, the <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/dunkirk-film-digital-christopher-nolan-quentin-tarantino-paul-thomas-anderson-lawrence-of-arabia-a7918586.html">debate rumbles on</a>. Or, rather, is endlessly repeated.</p>
<blockquote>
"No-one denies the magic of holding film or of feeding it through a projector."</blockquote>
<p>Where this article differs from other recent efforts is in its focus on 35mm / 70mm / IMAX film as projection media, rather than shooting media.</p>
<blockquote>
"Prints for the films aren’t all in pristine condition but audiences don’t mind. In the same way that a new generation of music lovers are re-discovering vinyl, cinema enthusiasts are discovering, or re-discovering celluloid."</blockquote>
David Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05076700641480265003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15284327.post-6678198618377450752017-07-11T10:31:00.002+01:002017-07-11T10:32:45.674+01:00Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk is being distributed on 70mm<p>According to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2017/jul/11/christopher-nolan-dunkirk-70mm-film-screenings">this Guardian article</a>:</p>
<blockquote> "Nolan’s second world war epic the most widely released 70mm film in 25 years. They are piggybacking, to some degree, on the Weinstein Company’s work convincing theater [sic] owners to procure functioning 70mm projectors in advance of Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight."</blockquote>
<p>The article goes on to applaud the "automatic prestige" of shooting on this format - an echo of my <a href="http://oscarfilmunit.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/super-8-is-back.html">own sentiments</a> comparing 16mm to camcorder shoots.</p>David Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05076700641480265003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15284327.post-11692341167285547042016-12-09T15:01:00.001+00:002016-12-09T15:01:40.062+00:00More OFU films now available on YouTube<p>Just uploaded: three "new" OFU films from the archives. If you liked seeing the early shots of Stag Hill in the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYHmWnYQaZ0">Rag '69</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXH6m_294Gs">Under Construction</a> films, why not take a look at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fQVOU4e4c4">Peter The Cow</a>, in which a panto cow tours campus? Then, head over to our most mysterious film, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9UHErIzg5M">Kidnap!</a>, a short thriller.</p>
<p>Finally, for a more modern look at student life, check out our coverage of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUJjk4klws4">River Sports Day 2000</a>.</p>David Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05076700641480265003noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15284327.post-32031428514742097912016-07-07T15:15:00.001+01:002017-08-30T17:02:17.973+01:00Danny Leigh: "Digital technology saved a dying medium"<blockquote>"The ritual of 35mm is gorgeous. But it's only a ritual. It's not the movie."</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2016/jul/07/how-digital-technology-saved-a-dying-medium">Article in <i>The Guardian</i></a> by Danny Leigh.</p>
<p>It's an argument we've heard before, and with which I largely agree: it is more satisfying to make a film (or a photograph) without artificially constraining yourself by the technology. Unfortunately, one of the article's specific examples backfires: comparing David Lynch's gorgeous, thoughtful analogue <I>Mulholland Drive</I> with his interminable and impenetrable digital <I>Inland Empire</I>. Had Lynch shot the latter on film, the constraints of the medium would have put an automatic check on the director's over-indulgence.</p>
David Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05076700641480265003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15284327.post-22047171723538517732016-02-15T14:57:00.001+00:002016-02-15T14:57:22.040+00:00Quit your job, become a projectionist<p>
<a href="http://www.timeout.com/london/blog/quit-your-job-become-a-projectionist-020816">Article</a> in Time Out.</p>
<p>Admittedly it's easy to be critical, but I'm really not sure about the inelegant job title "technical services technician". Or the hours. Or the prospects. The quoted pay seems pretty optimistic too ...</p>
David Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05076700641480265003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15284327.post-20528426664480602802016-01-15T20:30:00.001+00:002016-01-15T20:32:44.706+00:00Fame (and fortune?) at last as 15-year-old OFU film makes the news<p dir="ltr"><a href="http://www.964eagle.co.uk/news/local-news/1852739/guildford-cathedral-needs-your-snaps-of-angels-descent/">Article</a> on local radio station 96.4 Eagle's website with accompanying OFU footage.</p>
David Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05076700641480265003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15284327.post-71802216902554535122016-01-13T16:43:00.001+00:002016-01-13T16:43:31.701+00:00Super-8 is back<p>Against all the odds, Kodak - which went bankrupt as recently as 2012 - has <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/shortcuts/2016/jan/06/return-of-super-8-kodak-camera-tarantino-spielberg-analogue">announced that it's "reviving" Super-8 cameras and film</a>. Kodak's got a <a href="http://www.kodak.com/ek/us/en/corp/press_center/kodak_launches_super_8_filmmaking_revival_initiative_at_ces_2016/default.htm">press release from CES 16</a> and <a href="http://www.kodak.com/ek/us/en/consumer/products/super8/default.htm">here's the Super-8 Revival product page</a>. They've also <a href="http://www.kodak.com/ek/us/en/consumer/products/Super8/Analog_Renaissance/default.htm">lined up a load of top Hollywood directors</a> to sing the praises of this "analogue renaissance".</p>
<p>It appears that the camera will have built-in audio recording to SD card. When you send off your reel of exposed film for processing, Kodak will return it to you in digital form with the soundtrack synchronised.</p>
<p>Returning to the <i>Guardian</i> article in the first link, commenters seem reasonably split over whether this is a good idea or whether it is simply pandering to hipsters. At issue: can you do something with analogue film that you simply cannot do with digital? Years ago, I'd have thought this was a brilliant idea - shooting on OFU's 8mm and 16mm cameras brought an implicit level of professionalism that mucking about with a camcorder could never have achieved. But the convenience, cost and quality of digital makes me doubt this. Should we not be spending our creative efforts on the actual creative process, rather than simply selecting a tool for the sake of nostalgia?</p>David Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05076700641480265003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15284327.post-5972472357762221092013-11-15T17:19:00.000+00:002013-11-15T17:19:18.089+00:00Arthouse cinemas are facing the last picture show<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-blog/10433044/Arthouse-cinemas-are-facing-the-last-picture-show.html">Article by the Telegraph's chief film critic</a> arguing that the Competition Commission has made a significant error in its handling of the acquisition of Picturehouse by Cineworld.
It's comparatively rare to read a story in which a big company taking over a smaller, independent one is considered to be a good thing, but it's a compelling argument that Cineworld understands Picturehouse well enough to preserve its ethos - and its loyal audiences.David Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05076700641480265003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15284327.post-45359983118322055472013-11-15T09:50:00.000+00:002014-03-18T09:54:33.001+00:00Leonard Maltin: "If you don't care about running a cinema business, go and open a fast food restaurant instead"<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=s1N5MB8aD84">Video rant on YouTube</a> and <a href="http://www.indiewire.com/article/watch-leonard-maltin-rants-against-a-multiplex-open-an-arbys-franchise-dont-be-in-the-movie-theater-business">brief transcript extracts c/o Indiewire</a>.
David Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05076700641480265003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15284327.post-49802462131972087572013-10-18T09:15:00.000+01:002013-10-18T09:15:00.340+01:00The screen is silver, but the seats are gold<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMC_Theatres">AMC Theatres</a> - best known in the UK as the operator of the country's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Point,_Milton_Keynes">first multiplex at Milton Keynes</a>, although their business here has been rocky - has started to refit its cinemas with spacious premium seating. According to the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/18/movies/amc-theaters-lure-moviegoers-with-cushy-recliners.html">New York Times article</a>, this involves reducing theatre capacity by 64%, yet may still make economic sense for the company.David Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05076700641480265003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15284327.post-77059312620098936282013-10-17T12:55:00.000+01:002014-03-18T09:54:44.571+00:00Mark Kermode: "Give us proper cinemas"<a href="http://www.radiotimes.com/blog/2011-09-13/mark-kermode-give-us-proper-cinemas-not-multiplex-sheds">Mark Kermode in the Radio Times</a> stating, clearly and concisely, what many of us have known for some time - that going to the cinema ain't want it used to be.
Hat-tip to OFU alumnus <a href="https://twitter.com/justatad">Matttew</a> for spotting and Tweeting.David Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05076700641480265003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15284327.post-41076946482380266892013-10-08T09:45:00.001+01:002013-10-08T09:57:55.928+01:00Photos and memories of film projection<p>Gizmodo republishes some <a href="http://gizmodo.com/these-intimate-portraits-show-the-fading-world-of-film-1441995135">photographs of projection booths in the final days of film</a>. There are a few nice comments from former projectionists below the article.</p>
<p>The photographer is <a href="http://josephholmes.io/#/Portfolio/The-Booth-(2012)/1/">Joseph Holmes</a>.</p>
David Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05076700641480265003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15284327.post-58036996093139491852013-09-11T18:30:00.001+01:002013-09-11T18:30:30.103+01:00University of Surrey Management School lecture theatre<p>Today I finally saw inside the Management School lecture theatre. Remember the one? The theatre that the university offered to OFU in place of LT-G but which was turned down, without consultation, by USSU on our behalf? Yes, that one.</p>
<p>It's nice. I think we'd have been very lucky to have it and we'd have been happy there.</p>
<p>It's spacious and comfortable. It has three digital projectors although not mounted in a way that would lend itself to a hacked, twenty-first century facsimile  of a Cinerama screen.</p>
<p>The two side projectors are ceiling-mounted with their own retractable screens. The central Christie projector lives inside a small booth. It projects straight onto the front wall of the theatre. The image size is limited by six grills in the wall which are presumably for front centre and stereo sound. The theatre is generously equipped with surround speakers. There is also a small theatre-style lighting rig.</p>
<p>In all, I'm quite impressed. There would be issues for the busiest film showings with patrons sitting in the front wings but we had the same problem of sight lines in LT-G; it's designed as a lecture theatre primarily, after all.</p>
David Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05076700641480265003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15284327.post-28271565637041103142013-09-05T08:46:00.001+01:002013-09-05T08:47:56.039+01:00Why the Switch to Digital Projectors Means the End of the Small-Town Movie Theater<p><a href="http://www.theatlanticcities.com/arts-and-lifestyle/2013/08/why-switch-digital-projectors-means-end-small-town-movie-theater/6625/">Article in <em>The Atlantic Cities</em></a>. Somewhat inevitably, small-town cinemas in the US are struggling with the costs of switching to digital. Nothing here we couldn't have guessed / foreseen, unfortunately, although some of the survival strategies (crowd-funding under the banner "Go Digital or Go Dark"; pooled resources between independent operators) are novel.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/25/movies/resort-towns-face-a-last-picture-show.html?pagewanted=all">Similar article in NY Times</a>.</p>
David Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05076700641480265003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15284327.post-52409737376554726082013-06-04T09:00:00.001+01:002013-06-04T09:00:35.756+01:00Surrey is in Guardian's top 10 universities for the first timePositive Guardian analysis with some highly dissenting views expressed in the comments section - <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/shortcuts/2013/jun/03/university-of-surrey-guildford-top-10">Why the University of Surrey is on the rise</a>.
Under the circumstances, it seems likely that this is a statistical quirk and consequently unlikely that Surrey that will stay in the top 10 for long.David Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05076700641480265003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15284327.post-25824806856350135992013-05-20T12:03:00.001+01:002013-05-20T12:03:27.498+01:00New YouTube channel for OFU!<p>When we started uploading old OFU films onto the Internet, we genuinely thought that YouTube would be a "flash in the pan" and that it would be cleverer to host our own. We were quite wrong.</p>
<p>At long last, then, OFU finally gets its own <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/OscarFilmUnit">YouTube channel</a>. It will take a while to migrate the films across so please be patient, and remember to subscribe to the channel to get updates as soon as they are available.</p>
David Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05076700641480265003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15284327.post-84900820245140521512012-07-24T17:59:00.004+01:002012-07-25T21:14:28.121+01:00Things ain't what they used to GAndy Ga., Dave T. and I took the opportunity to have a peek inside LT-G during the recent alumni event. We were delighted to find that we were as adept at moving about it in pitch darkness as we were a decade ago.<br />
<br />
The theatre has been completely refurbished in the last few years. The projection booth has been removed entirely, leaving room for a new row of seats on a slight platform. The seats had been re-upholstered, but were the same. The twin OHP screens and our wind-down Cinemascope screen have both been removed and replaced by a fixed, widescreen-ratio digital projection screen. The theatre lighting has also been replaced - no more spotlights at the front.<br />
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Overall, it felt clean and fresh, if a bit charmless. Actually, it probably always was a bit charmless, but one tends to grow fond of a place in which one spends unhealthy amounts of leisure time.<br />
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<b>Update:</b> Apparently we were <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/foreversurrey/7635852688/in/set-72157630727066764">caught</a> on <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/foreversurrey/7635852268/in/set-72157630727066764">camera</a> a few minutes later, amusing ourselves in the Students' Union.David Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05076700641480265003noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15284327.post-31160743528720153332012-03-02T08:35:00.002+00:002012-07-11T10:51:18.200+01:00Surrey Alumni DayThe University of Surrey is holding their inaugural <a href="http://alumni.surrey.ac.uk/netcommunity/page.aspx?pid=1409">Alumni Day</a> on Saturday 14th July 2012.<br />
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Former OFU-er Jayne suggests an informal film society delegation to this event, presumably retiring for a £3.55 "crazy steak" afterwards. (Steak meals with all the trimmings are still £3.55, right?)<br />
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<b>Update: </b> Apparently I <a href="http://www.fullers.co.uk/master/content/doclib/1018.pdf" title="King's Head menu">wasn't even close</a> with that price estimate.<br />
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<strong>Update: </strong>We're definitely going ahead with around a dozen of us expected on Saturday evening. I'll be booking a table somewhere nice (not the KH, although MSD tells me that has significantly improved recently). If you haven't already contacted me to reserve a place, please do so now!David Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05076700641480265003noreply@blogger.com0