The Group Challenge was open to all members of the Surrey Border Movie Makers Club from the four video making groups; Weyfarers, Pioneers, Oddbods, and Pathfinders. There were three simple Rules:
#1 The videos could be about any subject, but must include at least one image. An orange, a hat, or a Mirror.
#2 The videos must also include at least one of the following sentences, selected from; ‘More Tea Vicar’; ‘Of all… In all the… in all the… walks into mine’; ‘Houston, we have a problem’, or ‘If you believe that, you’ll believe anything’.
#3 In order to encourage group and team working, the videos must be made by at least two members from the club.
The videos had to be completed by 27th June, and would be shown at the 4th July meeting. There was no firm restriction on the length of the film, but ideally less than 20 mins. The groups were set the challenge in December, giving all the groups plenty of time to complete the project.
Four videos were shown on the evening, each with a supporting ‘Making of…’ feature. Three were created by the Pathfinders, and a fourth by Dave Skertchly, representing the OddBods. In total, eight club members were involved in the making of these 4 videos:
Paul Ashworth, David Dewhurt, Cameron Gilroy, Hugh and Kathy Le Fanu, Jim Reed, Dave Skertchly and John Thompson.
Congratulations to the video makers for their excellent work!
Jim Reed stepped in to present to evening, and gave members plenty of opportunity to discuss the videos. He led the lively discussion about the use of Ai in video making, encouraging newer members to share their thoughts, and more details of this are at the bottom of this page.
The evening was very well attended, with several new faces in the audience who seemed to enjoy their first session at the club. One club member (Brian O’Connell) described the evening as ‘entertaining, varied, stimulating, thought provoking and educational, in fact everything that I believe our club meetings should aspire to!’
And I’m sure his words might also reflect other peoples sentiments!
The evening’s over, but the videos are featured below for web viewers to experience the quality and creativity of the four very different offerings.
Enjoy!
'Reflections' by the Pathfinders (Cameron Gilroy)
Reflections by the Pathfinders (Cameron Gilroy)
Reflections tells the story of an older married couple who have drifted apart leading to short tempers and constant bickering.
On a woodland walk they encounter a Witch’s cave and are forced to confront how they each see each other and reflect on how they see themselves.
'Making of... Reflections' by Cameron Gilroy
Making of... Reflections by Cameron Gilroy
Behind the scenes documentary about the making of Reflections
'Record Store Day' by the Pathfinders (Paul Ashworth)
Record Store Day by the Pathfinders (Paul Ashworth)
Once a year, Record Store Day is celebrated around the world in April, for Independent Record Stores, and this programme is a living tribute to the people and stores involved in the UK
'Making of...Record Store Day' by Paul Ashworth
'Making of... Record Store Day' by Paul Ashworth
Behind the scenes documentary about the making of Record Store Day, highlighting the planning, pre-production and those involved.
'More Tea Vicar' by the Pathfinders (Jim Reed)
More Tea Vicar by the Pathfinders (Jim Reed)
Pixar Style cartoon musical telling the story of a Vicar who loves to gossip, and the day a scandalous widow reveals their secret past tgether.
'Making of...More Tea Vicar' by Jim Reed
'Making of... More Tea Vicar' by Jim Reed
This behind the scenes video shows the background and creation of More Tea Vicar, highlighting what was involved in making this entirely Ai Video.
'Bell, Book and Candle' by the OddBods (Dave Skertchly)
Bell, Book and Candle by the OddBods (Dave Skertchly)
The famous lost section of the Bayeux Tapestry is found in an ancient Church in Dorset, so how did it get there?
And if you believe Dave’s Story, you will believe anything…
'The making of...Bell, Book and Candle' by Dave Skertchly
Making of...Bell, Book and Candle by Dave Skertchly
The Making of … the Bell, Book , and Candle by Dave Skertchly. Behind the scenes secrets…
Focus on Ai Development in video making - Veo3 (Jim Reed)
Veo 3 feature
This video is mostly made from third party generated clips, featuring Google Veo3 and shows how Ai is impacting much of what can be done in video making.
It features examples of Ai generated advertising, both spoof and real, created by P.J.Ace. One of his adverts was broadcast during the NBA final on 11th June 2025 – made entirely using Googles Veo3 – and costing just $2000.
The video raised the question of the use and impact of Ai in generating videos, not only within the Advertising industry, but also within clubs such as ours.
The significance of the Ai relevance and discussion was the every one of the four videos shown tonight contained some level of Ai – ranging from background noise reduction, through speech augmentation, to music creation and full video animation and creation. The subsequent (very lively) discussion was quite illuminating in that it highlighted many of the common misconceptions about how Ai functions, and there were a wide range of differing opinions as to how Ai should (or should not) be utilised.
The topic of the use of Artificial Intelligence in a movie making club is clearly a ‘hot one’ that will continue to be debated again in the weeks and months ahead.
Love it or hate it, Ai has arrived and there is certainly no way of avoiding its impact!