Exec Meeting @ 2011-05-12 18:00:00
Exec Meeting - B2.03 – 6:00pm
Welcome and Apologies for Absence
Present: Edward McCutcheon, Fergus Cooper, Liam McNamara, Oliver Bell, Timothy Green, Harry Austin, Alex Ware, Matthew Wilkinson and Scott Griffiths.
Apologies were received from Louise Formby.
Qualification Ratification
Harry informed Exec that there was a DM qualification on the Tuesday screening of The King’s Speech (10/05/2011). The DM committee voted to pass the trainee. Exec voted to ratify the qualification; 7 for, 0 against and 2 abstentions.
Digital Cinema Progress
Alex informed exec that the purchase of the digital cinema equipment had gone ahead as previously discussed. The total cost for the system is £24,800.
The technical committee are in the process of deciding whether particular upgrades are necessary – the possible upgrades are a server upgrade (£700), the FIPS (Federal Information Processing standard) upgrade to increase security (£2000) and the HDCP (High-Bandwidth Digital Copy Protection) + FIPS upgrade to allow alternative content (£2500). The current view of the committee is that the server upgrade would be useful, but the FIPS / HDCP upgrades could be considered at a later date.
The installation timeframe is largely up to availability from our end, as AAM can conduct the work to our specification. The options are July, August or September (during Summer vacation), though L3 needs to be free from conference use for the required time. Exec was made aware that the Proj Box may require some rearrangement in order to accommodate the digital projector.
Notable additional costs include a total c. £3,200 per annum for a service contract (£1,200) and warranty (£2,000).
The cake was brought out (it was Vanilla sponge)
Financial Situation
Due to the recent purchase of digital cinema, the society is currently running on low cash reserves. Publicity this term cost £1,600, the outdoor screening is predicted to cost £3,600 in total. Deducting all known outstanding costs, we predict to have c. £700 at the end of term. This figure does not take into account the c. £3,200 which will be spent at some point on the digital cinema service contract and warranty.
Membership tax
After a vote at the Societies Convention, from October the Students’ Union will no longer charge a £1 membership tax – instead, the price of Societies Federation membership will increase by £4 for current undergraduate students.
A vote was held as to whether we reconsider ticket prices for next year, in light of this new information. The motion was the keep with the current plan; 7 for, 2 against and 0 abstentions. The ticket prices shall remain as detailed in previous minutes.
Funding opportunity – Vice Chancellor’s Office
Ed informed Exec that we could obtain funding from the Vice Chancellor’s office for society activities. There was some debate as to whether our proposal should centre on the purchase of digital cinema, or the Outdoor Screening. It was decided to put a proposal pack together for outdoor screening costs. [We have since received £500 towards the cost of the Outdoor Screening.]
Olie left
Outdoor screening
Status: Future Projections (projector, rectifier and screen) have been paid in full. Alex is finalizing an order to submit to Panda Hire (sound system and cables). Multiple quotes are currently being obtained for the van hire, including from KVR who we have used in previous years. The film has been booked.
Food: One quota of free pizza from Dominoes will be available for those crew helping with the set-down and tidy-up post screening. There will be a barbecue available on Tocil Field, with crew members providing their own food.
Dominos: The idea has been proposed to invite Dominos to sell pizza at the Outdoor Screening. We would also need to clear the proposal with KPMG and the University. A vote was held whether to approach the relevant authorities; 8 for, 0 against and 0 abstentions.
Publicity: We are likely to be able to display an A0 poster outside SUHQ for a token printing fee. A vote was held on whether to display a poster; 7 for, 1 against and 0 abstentions.
Crowd control: A discussion was held as to whether road cones could be used instead of, or in conjunction with, crowd control barriers. Ed is to enquire with the University concerning availability.
Olie returned
Clothing: Much discussion was had as to the types, designs, colours and subsidies of outdoor screening clothing. Points were raised for t-shirts vs polo shirts, levels of subsidy and for which design to include on the shirts. It was voted to have a screen print on the reverse of each item of clothing (5 for, 2 against and 2 abstentions), and the design was chosen by single transferable vote – the winning entry in the ‘Design a shirt’ competition was submitted by Robert Gardner. The colour was selected to be navy blue (5 for, 0 against and 4 abstentions). Concerns were raised by Alex about the anonymity of designs in the competition; however the majority of Exec did not support these concerns. The degree of subsidy and the colour of the screen print were to be discussed on the mailing lists at a later date.
Free Pizza
It was decided that one quota of free pizza would be consumed at a crew social to be held in L3 and organised by Fergus, and a second quota would be reserved for after the Outdoor Screening.
Trainee DM
Harry informed Exec that a trainee duty manager had become a significant cause for concern, and that the DM committee recommended his removal from the training scheme.
This trainee had consistently turned up late, or not turned up at all, often with late apologies or no apologies at all. The trainee had also received multiple warnings including an email from the previous Chief DM with a clear ultimatum, acknowledged by the trainee. Evidence of the above was made available to the Exec.
A vote was held to remove the trainee from the DM training scheme; 8 for, 0 against and 1 abstention.
Inventory
Ed reminded the relevant parties on Exec that the updated inventory needed submitting to the Students’ Union forthwith. Alex informed exec that the tech officer relevant parts would be updated this coming Monday at a tech session.
New Constitution
Exec were informed that several clauses in the constitution were found to be a cause for concern in terms of equal ops regulations. Fergus is to update the new copy of the constitution and send it to the mailing list for further discussion. A general meeting is to be held prior to submission to the Union.
Cleaning
Tim reminded Exec that the toilet needs cleaning once in a while.
Time and date of next meeting
The next meeting is to be held on Tuesday 24th May. The time will be discussed on the listing at a later date.
AOB
Period of schedule: It was proposed to drop the Sunday screening at the start of the Autumn term. Exec seemed generally opposed to this change.
Digital cinema: Alex proposed minimizing the number of digital prints shown in Autumn term, citing the need to train projectionists on all available shows. In opposition, it was remarked that the society needed to show enough digital prints in order to familiarize a number of projectionists with the new system. It was decided that further discussion would be held at the coming proj meeting, and again at the programming meeting.
70mm projection: It was raised whether the society will have the capability to keep showing 70mm films after the summer, due to the potential cost and the number of qualified 70mm projectionists leaving the society. It seems clear that the expertise will still exist and that the cost is not prohibitive, and so we should continue to project films provided they continue to be of a playable quality.
Digital projection training: Tim proposed attending a digital projection training course. Tim is to find the information himself and report back to Exec with times, dates and costs etc.
Alex informed Exec that the new speaker driver had arrived and was awaiting installation.
Exec were informed that some emails had been sent to the qualified projectionist mailing list that others found to be insulting, unproductive or otherwise unbecoming of the society. It was decided that the proper complaints procedure would be reiterated at the next projectionist meeting, as well as the use of Anonymousqproj email account.
It was reminded that the filmsoc website should be kept up to date, and have new content on more regularly.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:43pm.