Even in his teenage school days, Ian Bennett was making films.
Digital had not yet been invented and everything was shot on 8mm film in clockwork powered cine cameras. In those days films were silent. But not Ian's, for his films featured full lip-sync sound on separate sprocketed open reel tape - and in a taste of what was to come, they won awards.
Later, as a fully trained and qualified advertising photographer he undertook additional movie and A/V training at the Lancashire College and at Liverpool University, going on to produce films and multi-projector A/V programmes for vehicle manufacturers in the UK and overseas, for royal families in the Middle East and numerous international companies.
Digital had not yet been invented and everything was shot on 8mm film in clockwork powered cine cameras. In those days films were silent. But not Ian's, for his films featured full lip-sync sound on separate sprocketed open reel tape - and in a taste of what was to come, they won awards.
Later, as a fully trained and qualified advertising photographer he undertook additional movie and A/V training at the Lancashire College and at Liverpool University, going on to produce films and multi-projector A/V programmes for vehicle manufacturers in the UK and overseas, for royal families in the Middle East and numerous international companies.
So when retirement comes along, what do you do?
Do you sit in your chair watching TV all day, stagnating and waiting for the inevitable call up into the heavens?
Or do you write and publish a murder mystery novel, get yourself appointed to the board of a housing association, or train a group of people to industry standard as a film crew and make a feature movie? Not one to stand around doing nothing, Ian Bennett wrote the book, joined the board and made the movie.
Do you sit in your chair watching TV all day, stagnating and waiting for the inevitable call up into the heavens?
Or do you write and publish a murder mystery novel, get yourself appointed to the board of a housing association, or train a group of people to industry standard as a film crew and make a feature movie? Not one to stand around doing nothing, Ian Bennett wrote the book, joined the board and made the movie.
Typical of many people's thought processes when they see or hear something they feel has fallen short of the mark, the trigger for setting up OMF was a presentation abut human trafficking at the Salvation Army in Southport that included a short film. 'Looking around the church I could see that few in the congregation had taken the film's message seriously and from a professional viewpoint I thought that it had completely missed the mark. There was no impact, nothing to draw people in or to create an impression. I thought, I can do better than that - but I will need a crew' which led directly to Ian setting up OMF and training a crew to industry standards.
That was back in 2013 and by April the following year shooting had started. Six months later a full feature length movie was premiered at the Plaza cinema in Waterloo. Tariro won numerous international awards. Additional scenes were filmed in Cyprus the following year and the complete movie re-cut and re-released as One Way Traffic which also won awards around the world and is still streaming on (Amazon) Prime Video. Since then more than 20 films with runtimes from a short of just three minutes to full feature length movies have been produced and many more awards won.
That was back in 2013 and by April the following year shooting had started. Six months later a full feature length movie was premiered at the Plaza cinema in Waterloo. Tariro won numerous international awards. Additional scenes were filmed in Cyprus the following year and the complete movie re-cut and re-released as One Way Traffic which also won awards around the world and is still streaming on (Amazon) Prime Video. Since then more than 20 films with runtimes from a short of just three minutes to full feature length movies have been produced and many more awards won.
The following grid shows just how busy OMF have been.
Remember, as a retiree (hence Old Man Film), everything is self funded and everyone from professional cast to crew to director give their time and talents entirely freely. For more information, use the button to visit the OMF or Ssounds web sites.
Remember, as a retiree (hence Old Man Film), everything is self funded and everyone from professional cast to crew to director give their time and talents entirely freely. For more information, use the button to visit the OMF or Ssounds web sites.
