Newsletter

LEO UGO 1935-2008 A lion amongst film makers	THE NAME OF THE CLUB
It is with great sorrow that we have received news of the death of Leo Ugo. Leo was member of the club for over 35 years and was one of the club's most regular and loyal members. His speciality was travel films and he probably won the Holiday competition more than any other member. We shall miss him and our condolences go to his family. Norman Saville produced this apprecaition	At the AGM in May 2008 it was agreed to change the name of the club from Finchley Cine Video Socity to Finchley Film Makers. This was no small step as the Cine element of the name goes right back ot he birth of the the club and the whole amateur film movement. In the 20s Kodak introduced 16 mm and Pathe introduced 9.5 mm film and it spawned a craze for making home moviies. 8 mm followed in 1932 and the club was born into that era.The cameras were known as Cine cameras and they used cine film so when the club was founded in 1930 it was natural to call it the Finchley Amateur Cinematograph Society (FACS). The got shortened to FCS sometime after the war.
In 1975 when I was 34 years old my father gave me his old cine camera, which although I did not know it at the time, was a Kodak Standard 8. I had no idea how to use it. I thought I would take a book out of the library to see if I could educate myself, and at the library I saw a card advertising Finchley Cine Society, as it was then. It seemed a good idea to join, if only out of curiosity. It turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life, for at FCS I encountered a dedicated group of amateurs and semi-professionals who knew all about film of every description. It seemed to me that the most talented was Leo Ugo. Shortly after joining FCS I sat through an evening of Leo's films, which had the effect of opening my eyes to achieving things with an amateur cine camera which I had never thought possible. Soon after I joined FCS, Leo became chairman and I became the club's secretary. I threw away the Kodak camera and bought a Canon 1014E, which was the camera that Leo used. I eventually presented this camera to Leo as a token of appreciation for all he had taught me, so that Leo then owned two of them. The technical side of Leo's productions, which at that time were mainly travel documentaries, was amazing in itself. The wonderful sparkling clarity of the pictures (thanks partly to the Canon camera) and the spot-on accuracy of the commentary and sound track impressed me greatly. But these films had a certain indefinable something in addition. There was a touch of humour, composition such as you would only find in a Renaissance painting, meticulous editing and wonderful music. The films also radiated an extraordinary quality of intelligent sincerity and integrity. It did not surprise me to learn that the maker was of Italian descent, and when I got to know Leo better, it was so apparent that all these qualities in his films actually reflected his personality. One of Leo's films was shot in Asisi in Umbria, and shortly after Leo filmed some marvellous frescoes there in the cathedral, an earthquake destroyed them. In the days when we used to splice film with cement, Leo was also able accurately to cut a film to music. He was proud of the technique which he had invented in order to do this, which he ascribed to his ability to count sprocket holes. I tried to copy this on numerous occasions but completely failed and gave up. To perfect this technique it was essential to have Leo's personal quality of meticulous perfectionism, and this quality stayed with him for the rest of his life. Leo had been making films in large numbers for many years, and I recall with great pleasure the journal films he made about his family growing up, including several story films in which his children were the stars. After many years of making successful Super 8 films, which scooped numerous awards, Leo was forced to turn his hand to video, which initially he did with the utmost reluctance and scepticism. Leo was never comfortable in the computer age and yearned for the glorious days of proper film. But eventually he mastered the new medium, and although he never became expert in video to the same extent as he was in Super 8, the basic qualities of a Leo film still shone through his video productions. He even changed his logo from Ugo Films to Ugo Videos. If I were asked to nominate one film and one video production made by Leo which I enjoyed the most and from which I derived the most benefit I would have no difficulty in replying. Leo's Super 8 film about his pasta-making factory was to me a joy to behold. Not only was there the poetry of the pasta and noodles being cut into incredible shapes through some wondrous machine, but the evident pride which Leo showed in his family business shone through. As to a video, his production about the African orphanage for children suffering from HIV was one of the greatest achievements of Leo's life. In addition to its entertainment value, the film enabled Leo to raise a considerable sum for the orphanage. Leo was justly proud of this achievement and many have cause to be grateful to Leo for his efforts and for his life. Norman Saville (Chairman, Finchley Film Makers 2004-2007) 12 September 2008	As film gave way to video in the late 80s/early 90s it was decided to incorporate Video into the name. Because everyone called the club FCS and wanted to keep these intials the compromise was to inven a new word for the club name which became the Finchley CineVideo Society Over the last couple of years as the committee has considered the task of attracting new members it gradually dawned on us that our name meant very little to people. And it certainly did not communicate what we do. We considered all the possibilites. Cine in the name was now out of date, Video Club was rejected as being cheap and we did not want to focus on the method of production. Camcorder Club was rejected for the same reason. However Moviemakers - a term adopted by quite a few other clubs was rejected because Movies are synonypmous with Hollywood blockbusters. It seemed to us that a Film was now used to describe a constructed combination of sound and moving images and could cover all possible methods of production now and in the future. Film Festivals featuring video productions are now all over the world and Film also seems to implied quality.The alliterative appeal of Finchley Filmmakers was also very appealing and of course the use of the word Film would please the traditionalists who still hanker after the stuff with sprocket holes. Despite the fact that actual film is being phased out allover the world the imagery of frames and sprocket holes now transcends the reaklity and has become synonymous with moving images however produced. Alan Douglas came up with the logo keeping the dark Finchley blue but adopting a font called BT Broadway. It turned out that this was a most sutaible font as it has definite Art Deco stylistic roots - not surprising as it was devised in 1928 - thus echoing the early days of Cine Film and of course classic 30s Cinemas design..
	See the 2007 Newsletter