SOCIETY of CANADIAN CINE AMATEURS

HAMILTON

August 10, 11, and 12

The Date is Final! The place has been chosen! The Hall has been Booked! We’ve considered many places, and several dates, but in the end the attractions in Hamilton on those dates couldn’t be matched anywhere in the area, or at any other time. And we’ve made it as flexible as possible to try to suit as many of us as possible.

Hamilton is well situated close to, or at least, not too far from, the greatest number of our members in Southern Ontario, where the great majority of our members live! Most will be able to commute in a reasonable time, and only a few will need to arrange accommodations. And that’s a good thing, when you see what else is going on at the same time!

   The Annual General Meeting, Biannual Convention, and the Presentation of Awards and Winning SCCA Annual Contest Entries,  will all be held on Friday, August 10^th, at the Downtown Hamilton Public Library (in the Hamilton Room off the Main Floor Lobby), which adjoins the famous Hamilton Market, and both form part of the Jackson Square Mall. In order to keep the costs down, we’ve avoided the expenses of a meeting room in a hotel, and a banquet. The library connects directly to the Mall, quite near the Food Court for lunch, and there are several sit down restaurants in the mall for those who prefer that, so if it rains we don’t have to go out of the building all day!

There is a city-owned and operated multilevel car park within half a block of the library, with an All Day Maximum Rate of $5.00, and it’s right across the street from the Market.

    Most people will come into Hamilton on Highway 403, take the York Blvd. Exit Ramp, and simply stay on York Blvd. all the way to the parking garage, just past Copps Coliseum and the Library.  Those coming in from Brantford, or London, will probably find it easiest to take the Main Street West Ramp, past the Spectator Building where we’ve held a few conventions in the past, and continue to Bay Street, just before Hamilton City Hall on their right and the Hamilton Board of Education Building on their left, and turn left down Bay Street. It’s only two blocks to York Blvd., and they’ll turn right at Copps Coliseum. GOOGLE INTERACTIVE MAP    
   
    The Program on Friday will begin at 10:00 A.M., and will include, of course, the SCCA Annual General Meeting. As always, we'll hurry through that as quickly as possible to leave more time for the more entertaining features of the program. There'll be NO Coffee Break during the short morning session, so please charge your batteries in the mall (and drain your rad) before entering the room!
    The morning and afternoon programs will will have four Speakers: Fred Briggs, Jim Cox, Jon Soyka, and Thom Speechley.

Fred Briggs, SCCA President, will bring us up-to-date with a demonstration of some of the latest additions to Band-in-a-Box (yes, AGAIN!) that now make it easier than ever to construct copyright-free custom music for your videos. He has also been asked to speak about some of the unusual challenges he has met in the production of his epic history video.    Jon Soyka, Past President of the SCCA, current CIAFF Director, and a working professional freelance videomaker, is very capable of speaking on just about any aspect of our hobby. Jon may show and discuss a few entries from the CIAFF, but at this point he is inviting you to tell him what you would like him to cover! Let him know what interests you, now, by email. jonsoyka@mountaincable.ca

Jim Cox, a founding professor of the Media Arts Program at Sheridan College, retired in 2003 after 32 years teaching film making. Jim has chosen as his subject "Who Are All These People And What Are They Doing?" "By looking at some scenes of people making movies we will develop a field guide to the positions on a film crew. While you may never  work in one of these positions, they each represent details of movie-making that deserve the full attention of that person. Attention to  those details in your own work can help you become a better film-maker.     Thom Speechley, SCCA Membership Chairman and a man with great experience in many fields, plans to open with some ways to enhance club meetings and concentrate on the development of amateur group efforts in video production. We also hope he will have time to let us in on some more of his finds on the internet."

   
        

We’ve reserved Saturday, August 11th, and Sunday, August 12th, for a number of outdoor activities taking place that weekend. We plan to provide a mini DV tape to everyone who wants to participate in a little experiment. The tapes will be returned to the SCCA Executive after the Convention, and they’ll be edited to produce a “Souvenir Video” of the Convention weekend. No one has to take part in the taping, and, in fact, no one has to stay for the weekend, or either day.     But those who do are in for a treat! Hamilton, as a heavy industrial city, has had a bad rap for pollution for many years now, and a lot of people in white-collar cities full of clerks and salesmen have laughed at Hamilton Harbour for far too long. The truth is that Hamilton has gone a long way towards cleaning up the harbour, which is well on the way to being removed from the list of Areas of Concern on the Great Lakes. But don’t take my word for it: check out the Bay Area Restoration Council (BARC) web site.     LaSalle Park Marina (just across the water) was the first and only marina in Ontario to win the highest Five Green Leaf Anchor Award in 2003 (out of 237 marinas audited in the program) and has won the Award every year since.  The Ontario Marine Operators Association's Clean Marina Program follows over 200 environmental practices and is audited by an independent management company licensed by Environment Canada.

SCCA Member John Hanson, Manager of LaSalle Park Marina, accepting the  Award from Federal Environment Minister Stephane Dion in 2005.

    The Federal Government has established a national museum, the Canada Marine Discovery Centre, Parks Canada's waterside museum and park at Pier 8. (Virtual Tour)
    Nearby is the HMCS Haida, a National Historic Site well known to Torontonians, now berthed and open for tours at the Canadian Naval Base HMCS STAR after extensive repairs. (Video)

 

    There will be a Dinner Cruise Saturday at 5:00 ($59), a Brunch Cruise Sunday at noon ($43), and a sightseeing cruise Sunday at 3:00 on the Hamilton Harbour Queen.

 

    Let’s start with the Canadian Yachting Association's National Sailing Championships on Saturday, followed by the Youth National Championship Regatta on Sunday, at the Royal Hamilton Yacht Club (Virtual Tour), in the midst of all the attractions listed above! The colourful sails will make every shot of the harbour look even better, and around 300 competitors from all across Canada are expected to take part.  


    Starting from behind City Hall, the Hamilton Mardi Gras Carnival Parade will march? dance? past the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, along Jackson Street to James Street and down James Street to Strachan Street, onto Bay Street and then into the Pier 4 Bayfront Park, where they will entertain us all weekend. It isn’t Toronto’s Carabana, (that is, it won’t be so crowded, but most of the same bands and dancers attend them all!), but it will be colourful and exciting, with live Caribbean music concerts, cultural dancing performances, carnival rides and games, arts and crafts exhibits, international foods and concessions, and an evening dance party!

 

    Competing for attention just a few miles away, in the 30 hectare Gage Park, will be Canada’s largest free Music Festival, the 32^nd Annual Festival of Friends, with four stages operating Saturday and Sunday. This is a big event (no charge for admittance) with international foods, lots of crafts and vendors, and a midway, if none of the acts on at the time hold your interest. I always find it’s a great place to watch people, and shoot video. Click HERE for info on who is performing where and when.

And there’s one more big event going on that weekend, but I won’t tell you where, here and now.(We'll try to provide a map on the Friday, or at least a list of venues, to those who are interested.)
    It’s the 50^th Anniversary of CANUSA, North America’s largest and longest running international games, an annual sports meet for the young people of Hamilton and Flint, Michigan, that alternates between the two venues. The competitions end up on the Saturday, with Sunday being reserved for a competition between alumni. It will be hosted in twenty sports field in Hamilton, including McMaster University and Mohawk College, and 2,100 Competitors are expected!

   
     We’re keeping the Registration Fee down to $10 for SCCA Individual or Family Members, and $15 for Nonmembers, just enough to pay for the rental of the room in which we’ll be meeting.
    When you arrive at the Convention on Friday we’ll be able to provide you with Maps showing where the different events will be held, and how to get there.
    We expect that many from the local area will choose to commute daily and sleep at home, and that some others will stay with friends and relatives. However, if you’ll be among those who’ll be staying at a hotel or motel nearby, we suggest that you book your reservations early because there are going to be a lot of visitors in town for the Sailing Championships, the Festival of Friends, the MardiGras Carnival, and especially for the CANUSA games (though it won’t be as bad as it might be, as many of the latter will stay with Hamiltonians who stayed with them last year)!
    If you are looking for a Hotel, Motel, or Bed & Breakfast, we suggest you start HERE. The site covers all downtown and intown accomodations, with a good locating map. Those who have cars and prefer to stay further out from the city core (and the activities above) may find something they like HERE.
    Please Download the Registration Form, complete it, and mail it to us, along with your Registration Fee, as soon as possible. We would very much like to have them all in by August 3^rd, but we aren't out to exclude people.
  

Let us pray for a dry and sunny weekend!