Well this challenge was and adventure. This is the first time I've done a screen play. I spotted these really strange looking ducks at the park (actually Egyptian geese). I'd never seen that type before. Their eyes made me think of a vampire. After goggling "vampire duck" I was reminded of the "Count Duckula" series. I decided to do a search for a real vampire duck.

My wife Debbie was going to play my investigative reporter, but teachers never seem to have any free time. I got her in one scene, then had to change the script, since I lost my voice over source. With time running out, I just used titles for the lines.

I know, it's a little corny, but it was a fun learning exercise.

I shoot the video in Spring, TX at Meyer Park using a Sony HVR-A1U. Hopefully my audio will be better next time. I finally got my “Wind Cutter” on the last day of shooting.

I’ll post a link as soon as I get the HD version up on my web site.

I can’t wait to see all the great videos.

The video clips are available at the links below:

428 x 240 30p MOV (53.5 MB)
http://www.wilcoxvideoproductions.com/Video/SonyHVR-A1U/4_UC7_SearchfortheRealVampireDuck.mov

1920 x 1080 30p HD WMV (175 MB)
http://www.wilcoxvideoproductions.com/Video/SonyHVR-A1U/4_UC7_SearchfortheRealVampireDuck.wmv

1440 x 1080 60i HDV M2T (572 MB)
http://www.wilcoxvideoproductions.com/Video/SonyHVR-A1U/4_UC7_SearchfortheRealVampireDuck.m2t

Ouch! For some reason I just lost everything I posted as a reply! Anyway trying somewhat again...

Victor! Being somewhat of a kindred spirit with a theme around a duck I just had to see your's first! I loved this! What a wonderful film! I watched this from beginning to end with a smile on my face. I have never seen Egyptian Geese before, thanks to you! And thanks to Rob for identifying them for us! Oh how that moon was almost full, what would have happened then? This was cute and fun and upbeat and beautiful. Was that a beaver also termed as a ... (checking on the name of this animal is how I lost everything in my reply!).

Thanks for the effort in this.

Cat

ahh, another one I cannot play. It just locks up on the page and gives me the big Q-you. I'll comment when I see it.


more anticipation.....


I got it to play using Flip4mac as a WMV.

This one was fun, it should be shown to kids too, as it has the feel of a children's book. Nice footage, the star effect worked well in the water as the nutria swam away(was that in post?) and the birds were quite amusing as well.

Victor, your first screen play!? I think you did a good job on this one! You showed us some birds which is not common where I live and it was very interesting to watch.
There was som minor flaws in transtions between clips, where you could actually done som smoother transition both with sound and picture. I think you know what I mean?
Overall an interesting piece to watch. Keep up your good work!

I hade a problem viewing this film, some framed just froze up (of was it suppose to do that?), I try watch this film from the UWOL website later. Some ideas… you could have done a have body shot on the reporter and put the text above the camera so we didn’t se the paper. The way you used the music on the “silent animals” was a bit distraction, maybe a silent natural sound would have worked better. Well, I watch this one again and se if it don’t freeze up.

Makrus

Nice way to get some bird footage into your presentation. Those Egyptian Geese really do look like vampires with their black eyes, and I enjoyed your premise. Too bad you couldn't have found a dead egret somewhere to finish the story...maybe a pile of white feathers? Looking forward to your next entry.

Victor,

Another fun enjoyable film.

You had some really good footage in there.
Loved the shot of the mockingbird and the squirrel peeking around the tree combined with the text was perfect! It played just right for your story.

Like Markus mentioned a head and shoulders shot would have played better for the reporter. Also some cutaways of the lake with the VO would have broken it up a bit.

I think you held the shot of the mockingbird a bit long though. A few beats after the text faded you could have gone into the next shot and that would have tightened it up a bit.

I think the first music was a bit country and campy compared to the second song which I thought suited the whole vampire theme a lot better.


Like Per mentioned some of the transitions like of the cardinal and then the cardinal taking flight were a little rough.

Your film reminded me of something that when fleshed out a bit more could certainly be something fun for kids to watch on a Saturday morning.
So, I think you had the spirit of Count Duckula beside you on this one.

it certainly was a fun, entertaining film!

you sure packed a lot of critters into this piece and integrated all of them in a very clever way that fit the storyline...

my main criticism is that the reporter voice and feel had a different voice and feel than the titles...you should have just committed to one or the other, to keep it consistent, it would have tightened it up a bit. i kind of prefer the titles, actually, for the element of humor they introduce and the way they make the animals the source of the "lore" of the vampire duck.

one of the things i love about UWOL is the constant education on the natural world...egyptian goose, who knew? and it is interesting that the EG seems to have made a happy home in texas, straight out of the UK. most interesting.

nice footage, i rather enjoyed the long take on the mockingbird shot, mostly because it gave me time to appreciate the nice, contrasty color in that shot...

First a big well done in getting your wife to be the voice for your movie...ok first part any way.As everyone has mentioned,nice bird footage.entertaining video to watch

and it is interesting that the EG seems to have made a happy home in texas, straight out of the UK. most interesting.


Even more interesting, it's also an alien species here - it's actually native to Africa!!! They do get about a bit ;-)

Victor, I was just sat in the breakout room at lunch watching this, I actually broke out in laughter and got some rather strange looks from everyone. Rather than trying to explain I was watching a film about vampire ducks, I put my head down and kept watching. I felt that perhaps the reporter intro could have been a little differrent, perhaps with a few more rehearsals would have done the trick - just felt a bit rushed.
Overall, it reminded me in essence of a guy called Johnny Morris, sadly passed away now - he presented a show called "animal magic" where he would use his big vocal range to mimic the voices of all the animals on screen with hugely comic results. I have great memories of this (no doubt he helped to introduce a whole generation to wildlife in an accessible way) - and your video has really brought that same feel. Thanks!!!

I'm really glad someone else saw the humor.

What can I say; Debbie is married to the producer.

Actually, I dragged her down to the park Friday evening. It was the first time the school teacher’s schedule and the weather cooperated and the light was almost gone. I was here first performance and we had no time to rehearse. Next time I’ll use cue cards. I think the crowd thought this was a real news case. I wish I’d thought of Catherine’s intro. It was great. I may use it for my remake. By the way, the beaver like animal was a nutria (plural, anyone know the singular form?).

I haven’t had time to view all the entries yet. I spent weekend with the producer’s wife and student’s at regional DI (Destiny Imagination) competition. More video...

Most of the comments were about what I expected. This is the first time I’ve use cuts without dissolves and reserved the dissolves for transitions. Something I read in “Video Maker” magazine. I’ll be going back to dissolves and longer dissolves for transitions. I didn’t care for the results. I’m eager to re-edit this one, now that there’s no deadline to meet.

FYI: all scenes except the reporter interview were shoot using the Sony VCL-HG2037Y 2x telephoto conversion lens.

Victor,

Hugely enjoyable and just a lot of fun!!

You have some great footage!!

I really liked the shallow depth of field on numerous shots!! Was it just low light or was it planned?? Planned of course, eh?




Just a great idea for a story? what will you think of next!!!???

Victor, this was really nice to watch. Well done.
Great to learn about new birds too.

As has been mentioned, I would have tried to hide the paper Debbie was reading, to make it a little more realistic. Now it was too obvious she was reading a manuscript.
Other than this, I think everything was put together very well.
Keep up the good work!

Nice film Victor and I liked that your wife helped you out.
Also like the way you speak to the animals/birds to solve the mystery.
Music and editing is all nicely done.
Thank you for sharing.

Geir Inge

Well, I will say that I have to agree the movie would have been better served with just the titles.... there was also the one jump cut that was awkward towards the beginning. and with that out of the way...

I really liked it! Great humor, and I especially love the squirrel. He who should not be spoken and all. ;) Quite the fun project, and those geese really do scare me. :)

C

Hi Victor,

My boys and I just watched your film and it was a lot of fun.

I thought the variety of shots (and the quality) was very nice, and the whole adventure theme was well thought out. Your wife has a wonderful voice for the opening and yes, a head and shoulders shot may have worked a bit better - but I thought this was minor. Keep an eye on the camera shake Victor, it catches the eye (well my eye) very quickly. I think disolves would work with this sort of movie - but they need to be done well. I like to overlap my disolves on the time line, so that as one piece of footage is disappearing, the other is appearing. For me, this works better than disolving to a black screen, then the next piece appears. Just a personal thing ofcourse.

The Egyption Goose is an odd looking bird and I think the Vampire Duck adventure worked well.

We all enjoyed watching your entry very much. Well done.

Hi Victor

An interesting and different piece. You had a huge variety of species and some great shots, that woodpecker is amazing! I did feel I wanted to see more levels to the shots. From a wide into a portrait or maybe use a reveal. I just think that would add some extra dimension to the piece. I do understand you needed to move things along fairly quickly though. I also think you could have introduced the texts more creatively to add more variation to your theme.

Nice film, fun and great diversity !

Nice work Victor. Very strange looking subject. They look like I feel sometimes - like something just doesn't fit. Good job out there. I look forward to your #8

When you asked someone to identify your bird I didn’t even bother to look as I don’t know much about the birds of the USA. Little did I know that it was nothing less than our ubiquitous Egyptian Goose - a bird that you see round every pond in these parts. It is such a common bird that no-one takes much notice. Go to John Dennis Robertson’s UWOL 4 movie “African Miracle” - nice footage of them there (1:05)
It’s rather special to think you found it all the way over there. I’m wondering just how that happened.

Your movie has good clear images of birds and a light-hearted story to go along with them.

I am a bit puzzled as to why the news reader has her say then disappears never to return - not even when the “duck” has been found. I’m also puzzled as to why you changed from live commentary to text along the bottom of the screen. A bit of an anomaly. (Okay - Understand now - having read your thread. I agree with others who suggest that it would have been better to go with the text only under these circumstances.)

Finally I found a few minutes to look at another UWOL video! And what a fun one it was. Some pretty good ideas in there.

Some things I think might have improved it -

The bird song clips were great, but too long for this short story.

Some of the transitions could have been smoother

I couldnt quite figure out the music - I thought it would have been better to use one style (eg the first one), if not one piece, for most of the video, and then perhaps something more spooky towards the end.

But hey, at least you managed to get something finished and submitted, which I didn't due to dates clashing.

Looking forward to your next submission

Hi Victor,
Well i have finally got to your film, & i love the idea you had for this one. Ok, some technical problems, but i think others have mentioned them. I think you & Catherine Russell should get together & make some more of these types of films as i found it similar to her last entry in UWOL7. I loved that one, & loved yours too. I really think you 2 have hit on something here, something that would be very informative & entertaining to the whole family.

Bryce