Chat GPT generates an idea for the film shown in Bristol

On 21st May, Bristol Film & Video Society celebrated its 90th anniversary with a special screening for an invited audience. Among the films offered was the premiere of The Crossing, about which we can tell you little, except that it is “the story of a rock band that shows up for a concert in an unusual place.” And that the idea for the story was generated by artificial intelligence.

There are some clubs and societies around Bristol that have been around as long or longer than the Bristol Film & Video Society (BFVS), but few, if any, have seen so much technological and social change. In their time, the members have made documentaries, some of them on heavy, serious subjects, as well as dramas, comedies, animated films and more. Many went silent long after talkies hit the local cinema, but many were shot in color from the start surprisingly.

Some have been lost, although many are in safe hands at Bristol Archives. And you can view many of them through the BFVS website. Here you can find images of Bristol celebrating the Golden Jubilee of George V and Queen Mary in 1935, visit Long Ashton Agricultural Research Station in 1936, watch a shocking drama about a nuclear attack on Bristol in 1954 and more , many more, to more recent projects.

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The pleasure of watching them will, for many readers, be to see footage of Bristol from days gone by. Two may be of particular interest; Western Gateway, made in 1956 and a potted history of Bristol, used to be shown in local schools, while Bristol Through a Lens is a wonderful 24-minute compilation of clips from various BFVS films that simply show scenes of Bristol from yesteryear, including the spectacular demolition of the Canons Marsh tobacco warehouses in 1988. But don’t take our word for it. Go to bfvs.org.uk, click on ‘Film Database’ and see for yourself.

Nowadays, thanks to digital technology, we can all be filmmakers, but it was very different in 1934 when the Bristol Fellowship of Amateur Cinematographers (Western Area Branch), as it was originally called, was founded at a meeting in The Royal Hotel, attended by the Mayor and the Mayoress.

“Yes, they were all men, I imagine,” Tim Smart, the Society’s current president, tells us. “It was a gentlemen’s film club and I suspect they had more influence than we do now. In an old photo we can see that the police are involved, for example. Can you imagine that happening today?”

It wasn’t just that these were wealthy citizens who had friends who could pull a few strings to get the local police to help. It’s that they all had healthy bank balances.

“It was a lot more expensive to make movies in those days,” says Tim. A 1959 member reportedly had £1,200 worth of cameras and equipment – ​​about half the price of a semi-detached house at the time.

“You had to be pretty comfortable to be able to afford to do that. You couldn’t just point a digital camera and take a picture and if you didn’t like it, delete it, like you can now.”

You had to buy all the equipment, buy your 8mm or 16mm film, make sure you had the right settings and exposure, then develop it. Early members included Canon Percy Gay, the popular vicar of St George’s, Brandon Hill, a man who seemed to appear in every corner of Bristol life from the 1930s to the 70s. There was also Herbert Postlethwaite, a very talented photographer, who, unusually for the time, also took color photographs. (If you have back copies of BT handy, check out the July 2 and July 9, 2019 issues.)

You can get an idea of ​​what kind of people they were from a short film called Visit to Wookey. Filmed in June 1946, we see members of the Society and their families on a day trip to the village and its famous caves. They drive in a fleet of cars (gas rationing, obviously, no problem) and are all smartly dressed. Canon Gay boasts, inserting himself into several frames. And it’s in color – very unusual for amateurs in 1946.

Not long after the end of the war he called himself Bristol Amateur Cinematographers. Then in the 1960s there was the Bristol Cine Society. It became the Bristol Film & Video Society in 1989 and has undergone several changes in its meeting place. You don’t have to be rich to be a director these days. Filmmaking has become much more democratic.

Tim Smart: “Ten years ago, I guess cell phone cameras weren’t of the same caliber as they are now. You can make a perfectly good movie with your phone.

“For the future, AI will play an increasingly important role,” he says, adding that the script for The Crossing was based on an idea generated by ChatGPT.

“The time is not far off when we will be able to make movies with people who don’t exist… and we will be able to do it as amateurs, with zero budget. Already we amateurs can use standard professional editing software that has been an industry standard for a long time and get it for free.”

If this is the case, if we can all access this amazing technology, why join a film society at all?

“Because there is so much more to filmmaking than pointing a camera. If you’re going to make a drama, it has to be written, it has to be written right, there are points where the plot has to reach certain heights and heights… You have to storyboard and you have to find locations… you can’t learn the craft of film through social media alone , you just have to go and do it and that’s what our club does.”

There is another advantage to being amateurs, which even the oldest members of the Society understood. If you’re local and not a big business, and if you know some people and ask nicely, you can get a lot of favors. Tim cites the example of Uncertain Proof, one of his favorite BFVS productions.

The film is a feature-length drama about King Edward II and how he might not have died at Berkeley Castle. It involved a cast of about 50 and ran for four years. They were able to use Berkeley Castle as a location and the only major expense was insurance.

“I think the BBC at the time told us it would have cost half a million pounds to make… There’s an almighty power to people making things for nothing.”

Bristol Film & Video Society is always looking for new members and you certainly don’t have to be a rich gentleman. “We’re totally inclusive and people don’t need any experience to join,” says Tim. Find out more at bfvs.org.uk

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