Hi all,
Well it's great to be here again, rather than in the shark tank like last round, although, i must admit i nearly slipped in there again this round. I've been finding it hard of late to find the time to do anything but work, so to have the full 2 days off over last weekend to work on my entry was pure bliss.
I had done some really long hard thinking over the first 3 & a half weeks about what i might do for this entry, but in the end, time was what killed all my other ideas, oh well, maybe some other time for them. In the end, my idea was a fairly simple one, & one that was very enjoyable & relaxing for me. The time i spent filming this round was fantastic, & i learned lots, now it's time to learn some more with all your help. One thing i will say though, is how i struggled to tell my whole story in 3 mins. Something i thought would have been easy in the beginning, but would prove to be a lot tougher than i would have ever thought. In the end, i think i got my message across, but it was certainly a shorter version, with a lot of things left out that i would have liked to have talked about. (Again, maybe another time)
Anyway, i hope you enjoy it, i certainly enjoyed making it.

Regards,

Bryce

Hi Bryce,

Fantastic! I loved every second of your video. You had a great story, awesome footage, so rich colors...
Thank you for sharing your part of the world!
I felt as if I was there with you, experience the same things as you did there.

Hi Bruce

I like this entery,facinating wood and good compocing.
And you have some grait color.Nice work!!!



Best Regards
VJV.

______________

Bryce,

Nice camera work, colors are awesome as mentioned.

Favorite shot is at 1:09 the sun behind the tree looking over the lake!

A good job on a huge topic done in a few minutes!!!

the hard part is cutting out footage in my book!!!

great nature audio too!!!!

I enjoyed every minute, all three of them!! wanted more.

Excellent piece Bryce:

The footage was great (the spider web was killer), you narrated very well and told the complete story. Great interpretation of the theme. Awesome job!

Cat

Hi Bryce,

I just watched your film and I have to say you are another one of those people who is blessed with fantastic scenery. I have to agree with Catherine about the spider web, I'm always looking for a huge spider web to film.

Oliver

Have you been studying Geir's films? Your presence in this film works really well, you have a nice full voice, and I admire how you people can frame your shots and then walk right into it and start talking so professionally and coherently.

Very nice lighting that you managed to put into this, especially considering you had only a couple of days to put it together.

The spider web rocks!

Great message and use of the theme...

Very nicely done!

Told a complete story....

I particularly like the spider web and the red moon shot. The transition from the beauty of nature to the logging operation was well done.

You appear very comfortable on camera....

There was one zoom that seemed to change speed briefly, but I didn't notice it the first time I watched....

Again, very nice!

Bob T.

This was a great film with an important message. You managed to get quite a bit in, though you spoke of wanting more time- the logging, burning, forests with deforestation- you really told the whole story in the video. You are a wonderful nature host- good pacing and level of information in your narration. The music was a good choice, and enhanced the message. I also really like your use of nature sounds- lush when the forest was lush, silent after the trees were cut- subtle but effective. I really enjoyed watching this.

Ruth

good stuff - I liked that opening shot panning around and the web

I wonder if the chainsaw sound might have been better without and soundtrack behind it - sort of raw (maybe you already tried that) but wow, what a moon.

I liked the reintroduction of the music toward the end but there was a zoom in to a possum in a tree that was a little short - I couldn't tell for sure what it was (that may be my eyes of course).

the last shot with you narrating on screen was great, very natural. There was one sound that bugged be - I think it came from the background music, it sounded like a Jews harp - I was looking around to see if someone had a watch alarm or if my cpu was giving me a warning tone.

all in all a great piece, a complete story.

Hi all,
Thank you all for the feedback on my film. After finishing this at the 11th hour, i was pretty happy with what i had put together & thought i had made some improvements over my last effort in round 6, but after watching all the other videos, i realised that i was still a long way behind the improvements others were making to their works!

I'm glad the spiderweb has been mentioned, it was my second choice of shots of that web, the other shot i had i thought was much nicer, but i had to leave it out because of time restraints.

Dale, i too like the shot of the sun coming up. I actually shot that with timelapse using a slow moving tripod for the pan, & the fog in the valley below does look like a lake the way it moves.

Bob, i'm glad you mentioned the moon. There is a story to that shot. On the first day of shooting, i had to go out in the evening, so after getting home, i rushed to get ready. I was right on time when i walked out the door to drive into the city to where i was going to meet some friends. As i walked out the door i just happened to look to my right, & there was the moon, as red as red can be. Well, needless to say, i was late to dinner! The red colour was due to all the smoke in the air from the controlled burning they are doing to the east of Melbourne at the moment, & through all that smoke, the moon looks red. The following night was a full moon, i planned to shoot it again, but this time with a tree in the foreground, unfrotunately though the wind came up & blew all the smoke away. In the end, i had a shot that i had taken the day before of a tree, with a beautiful blue sky behind it so i was able to use that shot & key out the blue sky, darken it so it appeared to be night, & put the moon in behind it. I was quite pleased with the effect, but i must say, wow, you should see the original in HD!

Thanks Paul for your comments. I was trying to create some drama to the shots of the chainsaw & burning logs, & had infact tried to bring in the music after the chainsaw, but the clip then was too short for the music creation program i used, & it didn't sound right at all. I think too, that that piece of music comes in too suddenly, & that i think detracts from it. The 2 zooms you speak of i agree were horrible, but the shots fit with what i was trying to get across with the selective logging, & unfortunately i didn't have any other shots i could put in there. I also agree with your comment about the music at the end. This was the first time i have used Sony Cinescore for my music & am not sure if i can take that part of the song out like i could with SonicFire Pro 4. I will have to look at learing to use Sony Cinescore better though, as i thought the type of music worked fairly well.

Hi Bryce,

I can identify with the work problem - at times I was working such long days I wondered if I'd get anything done at all for this round. The three minute limit caused me pain too, I kept ending up at 5 or 6 minutes and being surprised every time.

You've got a great voiceover for a nature film! And there's some super bird shots in there at the start. The cut to the chainsaw and the fire was almost painful to witness, but was well executed. The red moon was positively evil.

Lots of well framed shots here, and beautiful colours. The birdsong takes me back to Aus, waking up to that wonderful noise each morning. My next holiday just can't come soon enough, you're giving me an appetite!

Those forests are incredible. It never ceases to amaze me just how resiliant they are - they practically NEED fire to survive, and time and again I've walked through forests that have blackened eucalypts yet are just teeming with life. Remarkable.

Every shot seemed to be just about perfect in framing and exposure, and the story was interesting and well told. You have a great on screen presence. Very well done.

Thank's Mike for your comments.
We really had similar stories to tell with our films, just on different sides of the planet! I had started out with a more damning story to tell about the logging in Australia, & to be honest, there is a lot to be said for what goes on, & what has gone on in the past. However, i was pleased to see, upon closer inspection, that things do recover quite quickly, & that selective logging is becoming more the normal practice. With our extremely fragile ecosystems here in Australia & an extinction rate of animals higher than any other place on the planet, we really do need to look at every possible way we can reverse this trend.
On a technical note, thanks for the comments, i really was helped though in a huge way by the beautiful light mother nature provided.

Bryce

Where to start?.With my limited skill I could find nothing "wrong", but oh so many things right.Your Vo is good...I need to work on attaining that level.All shots were great and a message well told and portrayed

Hi John,
Thanks for your comments. I think it's funny how you say you like my VO & want to improve on yours, but i feel exactly the same about mine needing improvement & would love to get it to the same level as yours & others here on the forum. I guess it's just easier to listen to others voices than your own. Still, one of the best things about all the people here is they are all very humble, & that's why i think we see such big improvements with every round. With so much talent here in this group, & the willingness of everyone to help eachother out like they do, i can see someone here making it big one day.
Thanks for the encouragement.

Bryce

Hi all,
i have just re-read all your comments, & noticed that a few of you had commented on my on screen presence, so i thought i would share a funny story with you on the subject. While i was doing my shooting, i had a fair idea of what i wanted to put together, & had for the first time even put a bit of a shot list together the night before, so thought i was pretty well prepared. It wasn't until i started shooting that i decided that it might work if i was actually in the shots telling the story. Of course this meant that i had no script prepared, so it took a few takes for the 3 on camera shots that i did. The funny thing was when i was editing it all together, i couldn't help but laugh at myself, as every time i was not happy with what i had just said on camera, i would walk away, do a little rehearsel to myself, then walk back on screen, only to say something completely different! Each time i wasn't happy with the take i would walk away cursing myself about being an idiot for not being able to get it right. Better make a mental note to myself, next time i had better make a shot list & a script!
Thank you to everyone for your feedback.

Bryce

Bryce,

An outtakes reel would be nice. Might need the bleeper though!

I did something the same when recording my voiceover in the bottom of the wardrobe. I recorded it all in one sitting, and then had to edit it down to get out all the re-takes, fluffed lines and unwanted noise. Lots of "Then, the moment I've bee.... Then, the moment I was... *siiiigh*.... Then... Oh for ***** sake..." and at one point "Oh *****! Cramp!"

I've resolved to swear less next time.

Hi Mike,
Yes you're right, it would need some bleeping in there that's for sure. I might make one one day, but first i will have to get my films a bit better so that people can tell the difference between my out takes, & my actual films! :)

Bryce

Hi Bryce.

Nice film and with some awesome colours.
I like the whole film but maybe my favorite shot is at 1.10, sun/lake.
Also like your audio, and your camera work is great.
I guess most of us do have full time job on the side of uwol,
but in spite of that, it never stop amazing me how great these uwol films are.

All the best.
Geir Inge

A really nice video Bryce. Your opening scene is really stunning - as are most of your forest scenes. The incidental shots of the sun and moon are individually powerful images too - your red moon is amazing.

(Although only a personal opinion, I think I would have used the sunrise scene just before the final rehabilitated forest scene because there is a golden light on those trees that seemed to correlate nicely with the light of that sunrise. There seems to be quite a big jump in the quality of light between the sunrise and the scene following it where it is placed now, making it seem a bit arbitrary.)

I think the scene showing the chain saw cutting through the tree trunk is very effective and dramatic but found the end of it a bit of an anticlimax. I thought I was going to hear the loud crack and see and hear the thud of a tall Eucalyptus come crashing down. (Perhaps you could have cut the clip slightly shorter and inserted the sound effects to give the impression of the whole tree coming down not just a small slice?)

Your story is well told. I almost feel I am there with you in those different forest scenes - the only thing I am missing is the beautiful smell of eucalyptus, especially after you pull off that little twig ever so casually - nice touch added to your very warm, easy and informative presentation!

Something to watch out for if you are going to continue the trend of being an on screen presenter (and I think you should) is to watch the exposure on your face. In the first two shots your face is under-exposed when you move into the shade so we do not get a good, clear image. I am not sure how you would go about doing this when you are on the opposite side of the camera. As I have never tried anything like this myself I can only guess as to how you could go about it - perhaps have someone along with you or a dummy head or something with which to set it up! Otherwise I would try to judge it by the ambient light. Try to get yourself into a place with good light - choose a spot with the light coming from one side to help with definition and avoid backlight that will cause silhouette and light coming from the front that will tend to flatten your features.

One thing I miss in your story is a clearer reference to time. In your introduction you stated that the eucalyptus trees are very slow-growing, but I was left with an impression at the end that things recover quite quickly so why worry. I’m not sure how long the rehabilitation would take if the trees are slow growing. Certainly not fast enough to save the current homeless species.

I think this is a very good movie especially given your time-constraints. Look forward to seeing the next one - just love seeing all these wonderful foreign places each with all their unique diversity.

Wow thanks Marj for the feedback,
I love your idea of bringing in the sunrise shot before the last scene. Cutting shorter the shot of the tree being cut down would have also looked much better, & of course with some better sound effects would have made it more realistic. That was in fact what was left of a tree after a storm we had here a few weeks ago, i simply cut it down a little closer to the ground but there was only really about 3 feet of it left above where i made the cut, so unfortunately i couldn't get a great crashing sound.
I did have trouble trying to tell the whole story in the time without babbling on for the entire 3 minutes, something i didn't want to do. My original intention was to show the destruction of these mighty forests, & the impact logging has on the native flora & fauna in these areas, but time simpy didn't allow me to tell the whole story, so in the end i decided to put a more positive spin on it, & show how even after the destruction of the logging, the forest can come back. The time taken for this to happen however, was something i was not able to really get accross well, & as you have mentioned, i did not relay that message well. To give you an example of the time it takes for the forest to grow back, the last part where i walked up towards the camera & put my foot up onto an old tree stump. That stump would be somewhere around 300-400 years old. The trees around me at that point were all around 30 years old. The important message i had originally wanted to get across was that many native marsupials, & birds here in Australia need trees that bear hollows to live & breed, & they don't form in these trees for anywhere between 350-400 years. So by clear felling these sclerophyll forests, we are displacing pretty much all of the tree dwelling wildlife in that area. Some will move on & find new places to live, but most will not. It's that simple.
So you see, there is certainly much more to the issues of logging than what i have put forward in this film, but i think the real issues need far more than just 3 minutes to properly explain. In the end i wanted to keep it light, & try to be as positive as i could.
Thanks too for the tips on getting my exposure right, that first shot of me was pretty bad. I actually had the camera in full auto thinking that i would get the best results that way. It wasn't until i had started to edit it, with no time left to re-shoot that i really saw how bad it was. I'll definately be trying to set things up properly the next time i try this.

Geir,
Thanks for the encouragement. For my second go at this, i'm pretty happy with my results, especially as i only had the 2 days to put it all together. I only hope i can put some more time into the next round, & give it the very best i can do. If i can get nearer to the quality of the winning films from the last 2 rounds i will be very happy.

Thanks again,

Bryce

To give you an example of the time it takes for the forest to grow back, the last part where i walked up towards the camera & put my foot up onto an old tree stump. That stump would be somewhere around 300-400 years old. The trees around me at that point were all around 30 years old. The important message i had originally wanted to get across was that many native marsupials, & birds here in Australia need trees that bear hollows to live & breed, & they don't form in these trees for anywhere between 350-400 years. So by clear felling these sclerophyll forests, we are displacing pretty much all of the tree dwelling wildlife in that area. Some will move on & find new places to live, but most will not. It's that simple.


Now that's the little bit of info I was missing and I feel would have rounded off your movie nicely. 300-400 years!!! Long way for those 30 year old trees to go still! ouch.

Hi Marj,
Yes i agree that that was what was missing. You are a credit to this forum. Your feedback is very constructive, informative & precise. I think your attention to detail is exactly why you are in the winners seat right now. (not excluding your obvious film making skills of course!)
I actually did one take with exactly that information, but i had no script, & what i said in front of the camera changed with every take. In the end, that one ended up on the cutting room floor, (virtual though it may be) in favour of one where i actually got all the words out without bumbling through them.

Thanks so much for your feedback, i really appreciate the time you have taken to offer it to me.

Regards,

Bryce

I must say Bryce that I in turn appreciate your response. Most of the time I write my comments with a great deal of fear and trepidation because I am very worried that I am going to step on someone’s toes or bruise someone’s ego by scribbling all over their work of art. There is such a fine line here. I am never sure when I am going to overstep it.
This is a fun challenge and one where we can share our efforts and our expertise - even if a bit flawed. Yesterday I laughed at myself because I know there are so many lurkers out there who are experts in their field - sound or camera work etc. and here I am dishing out unsolicited and probably debatable advice. Anyway Bryce I really am grateful that you have accepted my small offerings so graciously and trust that I haven’t overstepped the mark somewhere else.
As Bruce said (Cat’s thread) the measure here is the effort that is put in, and as Dale responded:

“Most of us are not professionals!!! measuring ourselves by professional standards is probably not the most encouraging light to look at ourselves. I think most of us work pretty hard to turn out something reasonable. ”

Well Marj,
I think everyone here is more than willing to learn, & you have certainly helped me learn a lot from the feedback you have given me. I don't think there has been a round yet that i have either been a part of, or for that matter, just seen from the sidelines that i haven't learnt from, simply by watching all the films. The feedback is a very important part of the learning. I think the feedback offered by our peers is a huge help in the continual improvement of the group. Although i have only taken part in 2 rounds (i missed out on #7 as i was away) i have watched all the films from previous rounds, & have seen huge improvements. A lot of that improvement i think has come from simply getting out & making films, but without the direction that the feedback & encouragement we all give eachother, i can't imagine that improvement would be so great.
I only wish i was able to offer the same quality of feedback to others that you have given me.

Thanks,

Bryce

I don't think there has been a round yet that i have either been a part of, or for that matter, just seen from the sidelines that i haven't learnt from, simply by watching all the films. The feedback is a very important part of the learning. I think the feedback offered by our peers is a huge help in the continual improvement of the group.


I agree - my experience exactly!!