Leon Franklin: Author
Noel F Bennett: Film Maker
Bennett Family Tree
Friends of St. Clare's
In The Beginning
In The Beginning
Many years ago I managed to get a loan of a camera and remember filming a car from my left driving along a road towards my position (although I was on the pavement). This was a long time ago and it was one of those VHS cameras. I had the car centre screen and was able to follow it towards me altering the zoom as it came in my direction and following it down the road as it passed me and went into the distance.
I was very proud of myself as the task I had just performed showed great ability even for a practised cameraman and I was a complete beginner, never ever having held a camera before.
That must have been at least forty years ago and since then it was 2016 when I again held a camera in my hand. I decided to join a club, well actually that is not quite true. I found an advert in the newspaper for training and investigated. However the training course did not go ahead but I was invited to join their club. More about Darlington Video Makers Club under the section 'Joining The Club'.
You may be aware that I have always been interested in entertainment so I did not buy the camera to take family videos, although I have taken a few. I would probably have taken more family films but with the invention of the smart phone, now, everyone can film their family.
I am mainly interested in making films for entertainment and tend to concentrate on comedy films. Although I am an amateur film maker (I do not make money from it) I try to make my films as professional looking as possible. On the top right of this page you can see a still picture and under that a video taken from the introduction to my films. A HAMMER CHEWER PRODUCTION is a word play on AN AMATEUR PRODUCTION.
Do you get it? AM-A-TEUR
Above: An image of the trailer used in the films I produce.
Below:
A similar view in video.