ah yes, the ol' feedback thread!

I had a lot of ideas for this one. If I had enough time, you'd be reading a thread for something called "In Search of the Jackalope" but instead you're joining me for a short glider ride through the Colorado skies.

I received a gift certificate for this trip as a Christmas gift, and I decided to use this theme to test out the possibility of using gliders for aerial footage--my studio shoots a triathlon for TV broadcast, and I was thinking that, if this test run worked out, I might add some of this type of footage to the broadcast in July. It's always better to check these sorts of experiments out, in advance.

My idea was to intercut this footage with birds, to show the animal/human contrast, but I totally struck out on that account. Those birds don't always cooperate when you want them to...I did finally get some decent footage of the birds, but it just didn't intercut well in the edit. So I had an effect in mind but couldn't pull it off. It's always interesting to witness the difference between what gets in your head and what the final outcome is.

So enjoy two minutes of hovering over my beautiful city, because that's all I managed to get! It was an adventure, though...

Meryem, sure that was an adventure for you. Your aerial footage was very nice, nice colors and exposure. It can not be easy to control in the cockpit of a small glider?
It was some hard cuts in the start and end, but that was minor.

Thanks for showing us your adventure!

yes, inside the glider, i shot with an HV10 and stabilized it with a stiff piece of foam rubber to brace the camera.

the outside stuff shot with an HV10 on a monopod....so super-light rig through. the HV10 is not a good birding camera! but i'm having a little tendinitis in my elbow, so i have been shooting super light set-ups whenever i shoot for fun, to let it heal...

none of that jib, studio tripod, and long lens stuff like you do, at least not until everything is right in the elbow!

Hi meryem I can't find the link to your video.

Alan

hi alan:

go here: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=115643

click the link, mine's the first one on the list...you have to right-click or control-click to download--the good news is that you can download all the films from the list, not just mine...

we are having some techie difficulties and had to throw up a stop-gap list for downloading....

it's a very modest offering this round...one of those where i had big ideas, and only a short time to actually execute...

I liked it...
It brought back memories of the time I went for a ride in a glider....

I was anticipating the moment the tow cable was released, but you didn't have that in the video...shucks.

I liked it...
It brought back memories of the time I went for a ride in a glider....

I was anticipating the moment the tow cable was released, but you didn't have that in the video...shucks.

let's just say that bit of footage was a little on the shaky side, along with the big full-on zoom that i had of massive long's peak. it would have made you a bit sea-sick!

Meryem,

Thanks for the tow! As a glider pilot, I appreciate your efforts. Winter is not always the best time to try and catch birds on the wing from a glider. Usually, you'll have more luck shooting them inside thermals, which are more prone to form in warmer conditions. Ridge soaring and wave soaring are great in winter time though.

I have vivid memories of soaring in Phoenix, and looking up at hawks riding the same thermal as me, seemingly in formation together.

Meryem,

I liked the Glider video, have you considered using your last shot"the bird taking off" and inserting it as shot two, after the wide shot pan of the airfield and the plane taking off.

Bob

Meryem:

Made me want to try that adventure... I have toyed with getting into one of those one of these days, and now you got me excited to do it again.

Meryem,

Nice use of a title to set the mood of your film.

Your music sure fit the piece.

I think it turned out just fine without having the birds to intercut.

I'm a little confused though. It looks like it's a high wing plane that's pulling the sailplane but then when it cuts to the interior shots, it's a low win plane.
It looks like your plane is actually coming in for a landing as the other plane is pulling the glider. Obviously you can't be in two places at once so you have to take some creative license.

The only other thing was that in your first aerial shot from the glider you could hear the wind noise but in subsequent shots you've eliminated it.

I bet it was an incredible experience even if you decide not to use it for the marathon this year.

It was very peaceful, serene and relaxing.

Would have been nice to have had some soaring birds but it wouldn't be a challenge if things were easy now would it? :)

The high wing plane towing the glider at take-off looks to be an O-2 BirdDog, and the low wing airplane towing the glider that Meryem is in is an "AgCat". You'll also notice the little piece of yarn taped to the outside of the canopy near the top of the frame, that's the glider's "Yawl" indicator.

Nice aerial footage, I bet it was hard to keep that lil HV20 as still as you managed to do. With only one camera it would have been difficult to get shots of the same plane taking off to cut-in, so I understood that. I liked the piece, made me feel like I was right there in the cockpit.

What a wild ride.You are very good at keeping that camera very still in flight,or is it just very calm up there in the glider?The flight did not look too long,so I am sure with more time up in the Glider you would find even more inventive ways of filming.

you folks know a bit too much about airplanes and gliders! i can't sneak anything by you people. my shooting strategies are unmasked!

i thought it would be more interesting to cut back and forth from interior/exterior shots, so the film would not be too monotonous, shot from one perspective. the exterior shots in the take-off segment are a different glider and different airplane.

if you freeze the frame of take-off, that is not me in the front seat, ho ho it is my stunt double! (actually, it's a guy, and a complete stranger to me...).

the magic of continuity editing was supposed to make this appear seamless, but you people are too dang observant. you've unveiled the gaps in the narrative.

and who invited the glider pilot aboard to give me away?? just kidding, richard, it's great to have your input and knowledge about gliders...loved your story about riding thermals with the hawks.

it would have never occurred to me to take this trip, without a gift certificate to goad me. but i'm glad i did. why i love UWOL is that it shows me corners of the world that i might not otherwise encounter.

i think i did okay steadying the footage, for a first effort. i think i can do a little better, if i do this again for our triathlon broadcast. it was only a 15-minute flight, so there wasn't a ton of time to acclimate to the shooting environment. some of my best-looking footage was actually dumped because it didn't fit the continuity of the 2-minute version.

but it was an ADVENTURE and an interesting camera experiment. thanks for the comments, my friends!

i thought it would be more interesting to cut back and forth from interior/exterior shots, so the film would not be too monotonous, shot from one perspective. the exterior shots in the take-off segment are a different glider and different airplane.

If only the glider had been in there you would have gotten off scott free . I bet a good 75% of the general public wouldn't have even noticed the planes, all these darn editors around here and their eagle eyes!

I have continuity problems in mine too, like sliding door positions between cuts. Drove me crazy to let it go that way, but what can you do if you can't reshoot it.

Hello Meryem…

I don’t mind that it is a top winged/low winged airplane, that doesn’t matter to me. But I think that you could hade shown the disconnect scene earlier in the film so the viewer would get “the flying free feeling” quicker. Now I felt like we got pulled up in the sky and pulled, and pulled and then disconnected, but strait to landing. May be you could have put in some shoots from the ground with a glider in the sky, and same with the landing.

Nice film, I like aerial photos…

Markus

Hi Meryem


Arealy nice film,It´s get me thinking to fly may hanglider again
the filing and silence when gliding around,Is great.Werry fasinating.


Great-film


VJV:

__________________

Meryem,

first, I really liked the music with it!!

I wanted more ariel shots, perhaps less with the tow plane.

The link to the gulls was a great idea, had you got them up in a soar it would have been perfect, this time of year there is not a lot of soaring weather for the birds though.

thanks for sharing!!

Hi Meryem,

This was an interesting film to watch. Nice to see how things look like from the pilot's viewpoint once in a while, and not only from the control tower at the airport where I work.
We have a couple of gliders operating from the airport as well.

Seems like you did a good job stabilizing the camera inside the cockpit of the glider.
As been mentioned, I also miss the moment where the towing cable is detached and the glider becomes "free".

Good choice of music.

Hi Meryem!

I thought there was some stunning footage of the plane leading the glider up in the air. The music certainly fit although I'm not the greatest fan of opera. As far as the interplay with birds and plane.... a great excuse to get up there again!

Thank you for this! We live in a beautiful neck of the woods do we not?

Cat

Meryem,

I liked the way you intercut the planes and didn't have a problem with that. I could understand you couldn't film the planes taking off- unless you wanted a really wild and most likely bad adventure :) - so for me it was artistic license, and enhanced the feeling.

I also especially liked how you began with the sound of birds, moved to the ethereal music that truly fit the feeling of being in the clouds, and then heard the gull calling as we came back to earth and it took off to the sky. A nice bookend for the aerial footage- which was amazing for 15 minutes- surprisingly steady (and I am prone to video motion sickness- thanks for not showing too many wild shots)!

Ruth

Hi Meryem.
What shaky scene? I couldn't see a thing as I was moving from side to side and up and down all the time. Just kidding you :) hope you don't mind?
As I first started to download movies the other day and my popcorn sequence ( that's when I'm looking at the films) started today, I understand this will be a great round of uwol. Many good films and different plots.
I like your story, maybe you could have short'n the first half a bit and given us some more scenes from the sky and landing? You live in a beautiful country and I would have liked to see some more of those Rocky Mountains.
I have once been in a helicopter and I know it's difficult to get it all right. You have to base it all on your one shot, no way back to do it again, eh?

Great adventure and thank you for sharing Meryem.

No I have to wait until evening to watch more great uwol films.
I have a meeting with the police, making a story for the news :)

All the best
Geir Inge

Meryem, what a great adventure. I remember going up in a glider in ND and loved it. That feeling when they first drop the tow rope and you are free. Great footage from up there. The only comment I have is that I would have liked a little narration to sort of set the mood and explain what is going on. The HV10 give nice video. I am impressed. Bob

Hello Meryem!

I haven't read all the feed-back you've got, so some of this might have been covered by others.

I have always dreamt of flying one of those, must have been a great experience :o)

I would have liked to see more filming from the actual flight, and not so much "take-off/landing"-studies. And maybe it would have been cool to see some clipping between your flight scenes and the birds flight (even from the ground), making it kinda "from the birds eye".

But I liked it, and I loved the music :o)

Espen

Meryem,

I really enjoyed it!

The thought of gliding that close to ground over civilization scares the bejeezus out of me. (I think I've seen one too many plane wrecks)

I really like the music selection, and I also don't think you needed the birds. The adventure for me was in the gliding itself. And the landing. :)

C

Hi Meryem,

Wow, what an adventure, and one you filmed very nicely! I thought the footage was very stable - given the small space in a glider. The audio was also nice - that constant hiss as the glider slices through the air. Ah the memories. The title text written with a cloud effect was also a nice touch.

Couple of suggestions;

the opening shot of the tug at 00:25 may have had a greater impact with a glider attached, ie the tug coming into the frame followed by a glider - maybe this sort of shot slowed down a bit?

I also would have included some shots of the glider cockpit, hooking up the glider, wing shots as you thermalled - with wing pointing to the ground in the turns, etc.

Some gliding birds mixed in with the glider scenes would also have worked well?

Loved the music selection - absolutely perfect. It really complimented the overall feel of your entry, which I enjoyed very much.

i have some shots of the glider cockpit, of course, but since it is an older rental glider, they just looked rather worn and grubby--didn't really contribute to the overall effect!

i also have footage of the hook-up and tug, etc., but none of that coincided at the editing point--once i made the editorial selection to intercut between interiors and exteriors at take-off, then the pacing for the take-off was set by that selection...

same thing, as i said before, some of the best aerial footage didn't make it in, because with all the lapses in between acquiring clean footage and shaky footage, it would not have fit with the continuity of the subject or the feel.

oh, the tough editorial choices we have to make! so limiting, at times!

Meryem
I just love this movie! I have watched it over and over just out of sheer enjoyment. Wafting on air listening to Delibes.

As usual your style is just so easy. There is a sense of vast spaciousness and that glider is just so elegant. I enjoyed watching the scenery going by - especially enjoyed the Rocky Mountains.

Your title grabbed my attention from the start - very neat! The airplane taking off across the runway set the scene nicely for a lovely surprise - I have not seen a glider taking off before this, let alone been in one, so this was a special experience. I liked the editing cutovers from outside to inside the craft even if they were different aircraft. (What a special gift to receive - so glad we got to share it with you!)

P.S I would love to see those birds you visualized combined with this footage. I think you should still collect those video clips and do it - it will be outstanding. The birds you have inserted at the end don’t have quite the right feel where they are - you needed Kevin’s geese at the end gliding in so effortlessly.

P.P.S. I’m really glad I didn’t experience your bumpy landing on my flight! :)

The birds you have inserted at the end don’t have quite the right feel where they are - you needed Kevin’s geese at the end gliding in so effortlessly.

)

...that's pretty funny you say that, because i told kevin the exact same thing...

i had a little trouble with the whole bird thing, outlined in "wonder and woe"--mostly woe, because i couldn't find any birds, anywhere, in 3 days of going out and looking in all the usual spots...these showed up right as i was leaving my shooting location and had to be somewhere, so i grabbed what i could...

the wildlife doesn't always share the "your vision" part of "our world, your vision"....

thanks for the feedback...

Meryem, my mom AND wife went up in one of those together in Hawaii once. I was in the tow plane. Always wondered what it was like, and now I know. Very nice job capturing the scenery from such cramped quarters. I can barely do it on the ground!

Next time I'm emailing you about music.. ;- )

i also have footage of the hook-up and tug, etc., but none of that coincided at the editing point--once i made the editorial selection to intercut between interiors and exteriors at take-off, then the pacing for the take-off was set by that selection...

same thing, as i said before, some of the best aerial footage didn't make it in, because with all the lapses in between acquiring clean footage and shaky footage, it would not have fit with the continuity of the subject or the feel.

oh, the tough editorial choices we have to make! so limiting, at times!

I can't "nit pick" on this one and I'm not going to, either. Showing something like this, telling some kind of a story, getting it all together and such all with a max 3 minute limit is one helluva challenge (Is that why it's called a challenge?) Flight is just plain fascinating, and glider flight has to have a special kind of magic to it and you gave us some of that.

The quiet soaring scenic from up there was worth the whole film, but I thoroughly enjoyed what you showed us in the beginning leading up to that and the footage on the landing was awesome in my book.

In my aircrew days I used to love standing behind the pilots in C130 and C47's watching as the air field grew closer, the runway loomed faster and faster. On one B50 mission I even got to ride the landing in the bombardier position forward of the pilots.

You brought some of that back for me.

Guess what i got given as a birthday present? Yep - a flight experience in a glider ;-) I just hope that the weather is as conducive for filming! Amazing shots from a difficult environment and very nicely summed up by the closing shot - poingant ( sp?) indeed ....

Enjoyed your film very much. As a pilot I love any footage taken from the air. Every thing looks so beautifull from a couple of thousand feet. Looked like you had smooth air. Good footage of tow plane and your city. I hope you as much fun filming as I had watching.

Hi Meryem,
Nice film! I loved the way you brought the music in later in the film rather than going with the temptation that most of us have to put music to almost everything. The first part needed no music at all. I must admit i was waiting in anticipation the whole time you were gaining altitude for the time when the tow line was released, but it never came? If it were my film, i just know that would have been the time i was fiddling with my camera for some stupid reason. Bit of a pitty you couldn't get some footage of a bird soaring high up in the air rather than the gull flapping its wings, that would have been more in line with your adventure. Looks like it must have been a great adventure though up in that glider! Jeez, the things we must do for this UWOL challenge. :)

Bryce