FilmSoc Annual Report
Societies’ Annual Report Framework
Below is a framework for you to use to complete your Annual Report. Each society needs to
complete this report which will then be uploaded to the Students’ Union website. The report will be
useful to several different stakeholders - the committee that takes over from you, members of your
society, students who are interested in taking part and even non-students. The framework is there
to help you set out the main, essential points you need to cover. However, please attach any other
relevant information you may want to include.
Name of Society
Number of Members
Film Society
40 online (approx. 17 regular)
Please take your number of members from your online membership shown here under “value”:
http://www.ussu.co.uk/ClubsSocieties/societies/Lists/Members/KPIListViewPage.aspx
In your opinion, based on your experiences over the past year, what is the best thing about getting
involved in your society?
The best thing about getting involved with the film society is its diversity. This is in terms of
members where we have a fantastic range of members across all years of study, all ages and across
all departments (were not just limited to film students); in terms of socials where we organise
themed nights, meals and many others; and in terms of workshop content where we teach our
members about many aspects of film making and then give them the opportunity to put them into
practice.
List 3 key achievements over the year (you can list more than 3 by extending this grid).
Achievement
Why did the society do this?
What did you learn?
Get members
a. -We have achieved this by having a stall at both
We learned that we
initially interested fresher’s and re-fresher’s fayre to advertise the
needed to make a bigger
and keep them
society widely and get 17 regular members, a
impression at the fayres as
engaged
huge increase from 0 at the beginning of the
our modest stall didn’t
throughout the
year. We have also made use of the societies
stand out from the crowd
year.
planner and advertised through that, online
as much as we would have
through social media and through wide postering. liked. We’ve learned
b. -We have had a number of different socials this
about the socials are
year including a pub crawl at the end of last year, members are most
a campus bar crawl, a Disney themed social, a
interested and have ideas
Christmas social, a meal at 5 and Lime and a meal for future ones.
at Son of Sombrero. This diversity of socials
aimed to engage all members and facilitate
socialising outside of the weekly workshops.
c. -We ran weekly workshops which were planned
in advance and structured to enable our
members to produce a piece of film work at the
end of each semester.
Provide an
a. -We aimed to do this once a month and were
We learned that Sunday
opportunity for
able to set up more regular film screenings in LTL, afternoons aren’t the best
introducing people often 2 or 3 a month.
time to show films to the
to new films of b. -We collaborated with others in the union, the
university and found how
FilmSoc Annual Report
different genres
and less
mainstream films.
To screen films
that are not
c.
Hollywood
produced e.g.
independent films,
world cinema, old
films, etc.
To aid, promote
and support
members in all
aspects of film
making. Then to
hold an event at
which we
showcase the
work our
members have
been doing.
French society to set up a screening of The Artist,
the Vegetarian society and with Bakita to set up a
Halloween screening as part of alternative
Halloween festivities.
-We showed a wide variety of films over the year
to encourage as wide an audience as possible and
introduce people to less well-known films.
-We run weekly workshops in which our
members have been taught and guided through
the processes of film making. We have run
workshops on storyboarding, script writing, how
to use the HD cameras, microphones and editing
software, as well as teaching safety and best
practice as these are the things that most interest
our members.
-At the end of semester 1 we held an open
screening of the 3 short films our members had
produced to show off their work and to show
anyone interested a taster of the film society. We
will be holding a second screening at the end of
this semester to showcase the work we are
currently doing.
hard it was to draw a big
audience outside of our
society so we advertised
through other societies
with more success. We
learned about the
limitations of the ‘Film
Bank’ but discovered
many films we otherwise
wouldn’t have.
We’ve learned to be very
flexible with the schedules
of workshops we devise
for each semester as
unforeseen difficulties
come up or if our
members express an
interest in taking the
project in a different
direction. We’ve learned
to be better teachers, to
be clearer and break
actions down into simpler
steps, it’s easy to forget
how hard it is when you’re
just starting out.
In your experience, what does the year in the life of your society look like?
Time of
What is the society
How do you make this
Which committee members
year
doing?
happen?
(positions) lead?
July/
Preparing for freshers Use of online communications President and secretary
August
fayre. Putting together to prepare materials and
lead meetings. Film
the schedule of
action plans for freshers –
students (treasurer and
workshops until
clothing, artwork, boards etc.
social sec) input their
Christmas to ensure
Meetings to discuss the most
expertise into workshop
that they can be
important parts of the
schedule with president.
planned and
equipment and the best way
Secretary prepares
equipment booked in
to teach it.
materials and social secs
time. Planning the first
plan social and begin
few socials.
advertising.
Treasurer buying anything
needed – posters etc.
September Freshers fayre –
All the preparatory materials
Secretary to encourage
/October
drawing new
come together for fresher’s
members to join online.
members and holding fayre. Introductory sessions
President and social secs
introductory sessions
include name games, ice
primarily leading workshops
for them over the first breakers and film related
(all contribute) and social
few weeks. Engaging
‘getting to know you’ games.
secs leading social activities.
our members with a
Our first social was a campus
social and beginning
pub crawl to ensure that all
FilmSoc Annual Report
on the project.
November
/December
1st project comes to a
close before
Christmas. We held a
screening night to
show the finished
pieces to anyone who
was interested. Begin
planning for next
semester’s activities.
Christmas social.
January/
February
Workshops are
suspended over exams
and being after
reading week.
Refreshers fayre
draws new members.
New project is
launched and begun. A
meal social is planned.
March/
April
Project in full swing.
AGM materials are
being prepared.
Working on
completing grading
handbook. Social is
organised for before
easter.
May/June
Final project ends and
a screening of all films
are held. AGM is held
and new committee
chosen. Workshops
end for exams. Socials
planned for before/
after exams
fresher’s felt confident in
finding their way around and
showing them the spots on
campus.
Helping everyone complete
the editing of their projects to
a high quality. Booking a
lecture theatre and
advertising the screening of
independent work. Christmas
social is organised and booked
for the last week of term and a
date is found for our
members. Committee plan
next semester’s workshops
and prepare for refreshers
fayre.
Refresher’s fayre materials
have been compiled and all
committee and some
members give support and
advertise at the table.
Introductory sessions are run
again for new members to
integrate with the old ones.
New project launched and
tailored to preferences of the
members. 1st social of the year
is a meal to allow all members
to socialise.
Workshops continuing.
Meeting to reflect on the year,
how we have achieved the
goals in our development plan
and how we hope to end the
year. Socials are planned and
advertised. President
advertises being on the
committee and all committee
members give overview of
their roles.
Workshops structured to
editing of projects. New
committee given handover
package/sessions from
outgoing committee. Social
secs help new committee plan
and advertise final socials.
Committee meeting to
brainstorm what has
worked and what hasn’t
and all draw up schedule for
next semester. President to
write workshops. Social
secs organise xmas social.
All help in workshops. All
prepare for refresherssocial secs and treasurer to
produce artwork and
advertising. Secretary to
organise paperwork
regarding re-fresher’s.
All attend refresher’s.
Secretary to email all who
signed up. All to lead
workshops, president to do
introductory sessions. Social
secs to organise and
publicise social.
All to lead workshops.
Secretary to book AGM
date, prepare report and
inventory (with treasurer)
and send off. All to prepare
handover
packages/sessions for
incoming committee.
President work on grading
handbook. Social secs to
organise meals and nights
out and advertise them.
All to help members during
workshops. President to
speak at AGM. All to do
handover sessions.
Previous committee assist
new committee in planning
final socials. New
committee begins planning.
FilmSoc Annual Report
Please propose some key activities/aims for your society in the future:
Aim/activity Why would it be good?
Who should be involved?
More
Increase awareness and size of society. More
All members of the committee
members
members allows the society to embark on bigger
and the society should
projects and to do bigger trips.
advertise to friends and bag
presence at fresher’s fayre.
Film trips
Members are interested in seeing films and going
All committee to plan trips,
to festivals. They would be attractive trips not just
particularly treasurer and
to those in the society but to those outside too if
social secretaries.
advertised well. It would raise the profile of the
society and give the members addition film
opportunities.
Raise
The screenings allow anyone to get involved with
All members of the committee.
profile/find
the watching side of film without committing to
President to decide film,
better time
regular workshops. Getting a bigger audience
secretary to book, social secs
for
makes these more worthwhile and could
to advertise and treasurer to
screening.
potentially be a way for the society to make money examine money making
if it was a success.
possibilities.
Reflections over the year:
This year has been a challenge and we feel a real success. We started the year with no members
coming in from the previous year due to the society being very new (3 months old when we took
over) and last year’s members moving away to placement and graduating. We have built up the
society through promotion and our presence at fresher’s fayre so that we now have a strong
membership of 17 regulars. Despite not having a workshop structure from the previous year to build
on, we devised a timetable and planned each workshop, learning to modify and be flexible when our
members needed more time or more assistance. We have listened to our members and tailored the
society around their interests, even leading to us having to learn more about certain areas outside of
our expertise. We feel that we have come together as a committee to support one another in our
roles and in the work we have done to ensure the success of the society.
Next year:
We hope that membership will continue to grow next year, with our members already brainstorming
ideas of how to attract more members at fresher’s fayre and through advertising. We hope that the
film society will become more established on campus and continue and grow in showing free films
on campus and attracting a wide audience to see these. We will prepare a handover package and
session for the new committee so that we can give as much information specific to the film society
and to each position as possible, making the handover process smooth and enjoyable for all.
Thank you for completing this annual report form.
Please email the report as an attachment to socreports@ussu.co.uk with your society name as the
subject line 2 weeks before your AGM takes place.