Don't panic (well not yet, anyway...) you do have this week to post, until Nov. 21st, midnight anywhere in the world...

sorry for the mass slaughter of computers, these fat files can tax systems....

Meryem! You're here! Can you let us know what you have decided the long format restrictions are so we can get on it?

Thank you, thank you! We need the voice of our leader at a time like this!

Cat

email sent with instructions to all the officially remaining players (you're not out until you formally miss a deadline, even if you have declared utter failure and exhaustion)...if you don't get it within the next hour or so, shoot me an email and i'll re-send...

Looks like i'm going to be tight against the wall on this one - I had this weekend planned to record a final series or v/o's - guess what? I've had a chest infection for pretty much most of the last 5 days. Oh joy. Should work out ok but will deffo be a few late nights this week. Good luck to the rest of you who haven't finished yet!!

Rob:

Take care of yourself and feel better. You're right in the mainstream having an epic at the very end. We're all having issues of some sort!

Cat

Good Morning,

I should have read this friday!!!!!

In a great panic to have up by the 15th, and now I notice I had until the 21st!!!

Rob, you take care of yourself!!!! my son got deathly sick from a "simple" lung infection!! Took months for him to recover!!!!

Don't overdue it trying to complete!

Nice going, Dale! Glad you got it done.

Is anyone else suffering from Post Video Stress Syndrome? I didn’t realize how tired I was. All I did was sleep yesterday. I still have Studio Burn (extreme Studio Tan from too many hours editing) and Project Fatigue (from too many weeks thinking about the same thing). With the deadline now the 21st, I should do more- but I don’t trust my judgment. I know there are a hundred tweaks I can easily make that will be an improvement if I come back to it in a few weeks time with fresh eyes. For now, better to leave “well enough” alone…

I thought remember the deadline was the 21st. I looked at the Contest Rules yesterday and I read the the week of November 15.
In Norway, monday is the first day of week.

So, I did suffer by the Post Video Stress Syndrome yesterday.

My video is uploaded and I feel relaxed today.

It's a good point, has anyone actually added up all the time they have spent on this project?
I haven't , but I'm guessing with all the shooting, arranging, planning, scripting and editing it's probably a couple of hundred hours!! eeek!

Rob,

I spent 5 trips a long way from home turf three of those were three or more days. I shot around 20 hours of footage. When shooting fast flying falcons there is a large measure of unusable material!! I have some serious SD footage that will be integrated into the television version (it was shot outside of challenge parameters).

The hours Editing is rather staggering!!! Worse yet, I could have done a whole lot more!!!
I am certain between field time and tech time I am long over a few hundred hours!

To be honest, the challenge was my primary motivator to do this project, and I was really worried about having to large a file to have it even looked at!! Originally I had planned three parts, because of my injured fall season I could not get the fall footage. I would have been even more stressed than I already was condensing it into one 40 minute effort.

Knowing that now, I would do the entire thing different: shoot in SD, narrow down topic to just a single aspect, Select a toipic not quite as volitile as the one I chose.

I learned more than I ever thought I would!!! I now realize there are a bunch of things I must work even harder at (audio in particular).

Everyone has been so helpful in all kinds of ways from motivation to techno stuff I am ever so appreciative!!!


Anyway, today I spent outside (it is actually a balmy 48 f) working in the yard doing the clean up that should have been done in early October. It was kind of a refreshing break after tha last four days!!!! Now I am setting down with some laugvulin scotch and saying, "AHhhhhh!!"


Life is about learning!! Yu need one life to get it, a-a second to optimize it!!

Anxious to see all your real talented efforts!!

Hi all:

Dale, I like your comment about life and learning. My dad used to have a sign in his office that read, "I lived half my life before I realized it is a do it yourself job!".

This morning dealing with the animals, I stumbled onto a Kodak moment. Meet Bob (the goat) and Peaches (the chicken).... enjoy.

Cat

Ah .. you see Cat - that's why he takes so long to get moving and to "get to bed" ... he sleeps during the day!!! Bet the chicken sneaks a shut-eye too when you're not looking. There's definitely a conspiracy going on there!

So glad five of you have managed to get your films up! I will scrape through with a movie but that's about it - will have no time to sit back and think about it - never mind tweak it. Boy what a week -so far no late nighters... but I daresay that's coming....:) Arn't you just so glad you're finished!? Sigh.......

Hey guys

Well done to all the finishers. Looking forward to watching the results and you really have accomplished something pretty special !

I'm toast! - Some of you will know I've been working on a film about the stag beetle for a few years and this has had to take precedence with film festivals deadlines looming.

As far as long form goes, I have interviews planned for this week and next and I have plans to produce this piece as a DVD all about wildlife gardening....so stay tuned.

Many thanks
Mat

Sense the end was moved to the 21st I am going to resubmit mine if I am allowed!!

I burnt a BR disc and found a couple major glitches I never saw on my computer, almost embarassing!!!





Mat,

Your beetle stuff is awesome, look forward to seeing the film festival version!!!

I'm toast!

Is that as in the underdone, squashy variety that breaks down when you butter it, or the incinerated carbon sink type?

Sorry to hear that fella, but knowing that the work will not have been wasted is good news....

Really sorry to hear that Mat. It is difficult trying to do one film, never mind two, at the level you are doing them. Best wishes for your stag beetle film - judging by the snippets we have had, I am sure it will do very well!

Go for it Mat!

You were considering the long form deadline as an inspiration to get a rough cut finished for future work. You don't need a rough cut deadline, you have your own inspiration and we all want to see the final work when you have it done.

Rob, forever the humorist in your comments... on top of a lung infection to boot!

Marj, I think you might have something there as far as the conspiracy thing! :-)

Cat

What I have learnt from the Long Form....

Never be worried about asking for help or advice.
Interviewing, filming and monitoring audio at the same time is not easy.
Train somebody to do sound.
Write questions down.
Write answers down.
Take wildlife guide in camera bag.
Wear sunscreen.
Plan stuff first, not last.
Think more about continuity of techniques throughout a piece.
Hornets aren't as scary as you think.
Wasps are still quite scary.
Weather is one of the biggest factors in filming outdoors.
Filming birds in woodland requires a lot more time and patience than you first think.
Find experts in their fields, and listen to them.
Research your subject - ask informed questions.
Don't eat the red mushrooms.
Fear of heights disappears when you're looking through a camera!
Record better atmos audio, all the time.
Ask heathrow airport to divert all flights somewhere else on filming days!!!
Nature is truly wonderful.
I can do it!

Looking forward to seeing all your films,

Cheers!

Rob

<<I can do it!>>

sweet music to my ears...

Well you guys!

As Mat put it so eloquently ... I'm toast! Everyone was able to achieve reasonable compression sizes and reasonable download times but me. I'm certain this disqualifies me from the get go.

All the best to the rest.

Cheers,

Cat

Bah! What's a few hundred mb's between friends?

;-)

Thanks Rob...

But if you phrase it, "what's 7 minutes versus 27 minutes between friends", it rings a bit differently.

It's the game we entered into, we have to be technically savvy as well as creative.

But thanks for the kind words anyway!

Cat

okay, I tried downloading again, and instead of 27 minutes, it indicated 12 minutes...

so it varies.

I'll just leave it alone and let the chips fall where they may.

Cat