2026 Spring Video Challenge
The Spring Video Challenge
Films to be shown on the BIG SCREEN in the Club – Friday 1st May. Entries must be in by Sunday 26th April. Winner to be picked on the night by the audience.
I’m giving you 2.5 OPTIONS so people with less fancy cameras can still be involved and those who have never made a complete video story can also have a go. This is best done as a team effort so please do encourage your team to get involved (oddbods, weyfarers, pathfinders and pioneers)
Firstly, Darkness or Grey and Rainy (as an extra variation). And secondly Greenscreen Mark II or B roll footage.
1: DARKNESS (main option)
if not dark then overcast and ideally raining (secondary option)
After being glued to my screen watching “Station Eleven” on Prime, I decided that the next challenge should be about darkness. Alas the Station Eleven camera (ARRI) and lens (Masterbuilt Superscope) have a combined cost of about £1,000,000. We don’t have £1,000,000 but we do have the weather. The next two months are our last chance before the spring kicks in to make videos in the dark that rely on candles, torches, the moon, and small desk lamps for lighting.
2. Greenscreen challenge part 2 or B roll.
Now that you have either seen or had a go at making a Greenscreen video you might want to take it further and think of an extra clever snippet to show people at the club or a whole short video. We’ve had flying cars, flying boxes, strange Egyptians, and oil paintings that come to life – perhaps the next greenscreen project is to get Tracy Eman’s “Unmade bed” into an oil painting.
2.5. Then, for those who are unsure about making a complete video but want to be involved how about filming B roll: Boiling kettles, stirring spoons, boots squelching in the mud, closeups of elbows, knees, bottoms, eyes etc. Shots that are not on the main story line but are added later to give the story more depth. They are often the most interesting shots in an entire movie… Weird views or humdrum life of brushing teeth or turning the dishwasher on.
The Videos
The 2026 Spring Challenge was to film something in the dark, relying on artificial light sources and the aperture and ISO features of our cameras. The results were screened at our May Club evening on the first. We then had a vote via a show of hands as to who the members thought had done the best job. These are the films shown.
The Medium
A Pioneer’s film directed and written by Colin Lewis, Philip Morley camera and editing.
The film is about About two people thinking they are going to get marriage counselling, going to the wrong meeting???
This is the ‘Directors Cut’.
The Medium 2
A Pioneer’s film directed and written by Colin Lewis, Philip Morley camera and editing.
The film is about About two people thinking they are going to get marriage counselling, going to the wrong meeting???
With additional editing by Jonathan Hill with help from Matt Collins and other Pioneers. The ‘Other Version’.
Shelter
Directed and animated by Cameron Gilroy
A Bar maid is locking up late on a wet and dark night and encounters a visitor seeking respite from the rain.
The Tell Tale Heart
A Pathfinders video Directed by John Thompson
A dark piece based on a story by Edgar Allan Poe.
The Looking Glass
A Pathfinders’ video directed by David Dewhurst.
Alex celebrates his birthday — but is the mirror he receives all it seems? Dark.
By consensus the winner was SHELTER and the runner up was THE MEDIUM