Quick Focus

Westwood Video/Film Club
124 Molimo Drive
San Francisco, CA 94127
Contact: Bill Navin
Phone: 415-585-4586
Meetings: 3rd Friday, 7:30 p.m., Forest Hill Christian Church, 250 Lagunda Honda Blvd.

Pacific Video
110 Gene Autry Way
Anaheim, CA 92805
Contact: Bill Myatt
Phone: 714-832-8016
Meetings: 3rd Wednesday, various locations

San Jose Movie & Video Makers
302 Jackson St.
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
Contact: Charlie Steffes
Phone: 408-245-4826
E-mail: hayu4@juno.com
Meetings: 1st Friday, 7:30 p.m., Kirk Center, 1601 Foxworthy Ave., San Jose

John A. Martin
5540 2nd St.
Lubbock, TX 79416

Darrel Johnson
13121 Chirping Sparrow
Tustin, CA 92780-3971

Errol F. Fielder
PO Box 470366
Los Angeles, CA 90047

Free Listings
Let new members know about your group. For inclusion in our user group listing, submit your request to "User Groups," c/o Videomaker, P.O. Box 4591, Chico, CA 95927; fax (530) 891-8443; e-mail editor@videomaker.com. For a list of existing user groups and/or video enthusiasts seeking or willing to organize a group in your area, send an SASE to our mailing address.

Web Listings
Expand your user group's horizons by posting your information on the Videomaker Web site. Send your request to "User Groups" at the above address or visit http://www.videomaker.com/usergroups/.

Online Forum
Visit the Videomaker Online Forums at http://www.videomaker.com/forument.htm to network with other user group members and organizers.

User Group Startup Kit
Videomaker's user group startup kit contains everything you need to start and run a successful user group: how to find members, publicize meetings and conduct screenings; sample newsletter, newspaper ad and meeting agenda; discounts off Videomaker merchandise and more. For more information, call (530) 891-8410, ext. 242 or e-mail customerservice@videomaker.com.

Web Watch
ZuluTV
http://www.zulutv.com
Zulu Broadcasting will air your live or pre-recorded video events on the Web. Visitors can see live events about people, places, cultures, seminars, festivals, conventions and local interest stories. Video artists are invited to contribute to the site by submitting a short, edited piece to the ZuluTV Great Destinations collection.

Entry Deadlines
The Chris Awards honors corporate, independent, television, educational, documentary, industrial, entertainment-fictional and non-fictional video production. Entrants compete in more than 90 categories within 12 subject-area divisions, including divisions for students and screenwriters. Winners are honored with prizes at the Festival Screenings in October. For entry information, contact the Columbus International Film & Video Festival, 5701 N. High St., Suite 200, Worthington OH 43085, 614-841-1666 or visit http://www.infinet.com/~chrisawd. The entry deadline is July 1, 1998.

The Canadian International Film/Video Festival is open to all non-professional video productions less than 30 minutes long. Entrants must qualify as amateur (no financial or commercial objective), independent (videos made with the help of professionals or that may have commercial use in the future) or pre-professional student. Entry forms and tapes must be received by June 15. For forms and guidelines, contact Ben Andrews FSCCA, Festival Director, 25 Eugenia Street, Barrie, ON L4M 1P6 Canada; telephone 705-737-2729; e-mail ciaff@iname.com or visit http://www.crcn.net/~timber/Canadian.html

NAB Highlights
April saw the 75th anniversary of the National Association of Broadcasters, an organization that began at an AM radio station's Chicago studio. 600 people attended the first NAB convention at New York' Commodore Hotel; 100,000 filled the 75th version in Las Vegas.

Tagged "The Convergence Marketplace," this year's show was more prolific for consumer videographers. Most of the familiar companies were there, as were some new players.

One you'll be hearing a lot about is Applied Magic (http://www.applied-magic.com). The company was founded in 1994 and has been manufacturing professional audio (On Stage) and video (On Scene) nonlinear editing boards for the Windows NT platform. At NAB, Applied Magic announced a tidy standalone nonlinear editor for under $2000. The standalone system, named Screen Play, offers real-time dissolves, fades, wipes, picture-in-picture, graphics overlay, fly-in effects, titling and audio editing.

Screen Play comes with a keyboard and mouse, a PCMCIA slot for importing digital still photos, a parallel port for printing still images, S-video and composite video input/output, microphone and headphone jacks with volume control, DVD-ROM or CD-ROM expansion bay, 4.3GB hard drive and a 3.5" expandable hard drive bay for additional storage. All the user needs to add is a TV or video monitor. FireWire input will be available as an option in the next upgrade. Applied Magic expects to ship Screen Play by late summer. A working prototype was not available at NAB.