I have an outline for my UWOL challenge film and am attaching it for review. The "working title" is somewhat misleading because I envision something more than a simple retrospective.

I am attaching my proposed film content outline for now, and later this evening will try and get some representative video up as well. Due to the fact that all my material is either under large amounts of snow at present (smile), or in archival vaults 1000 miles away in West Glacier Park headquarters or the Montana State Historical Museum in Helena, most of my compilation and shooting will occur later this year. The good news is that I will be "forced" to make a number of pilgrimages "home" to Montana to acquire what I will need!

Hi Chris,
Wow this sounds really interesting! Great too that it will force you home to get things done! Can't wait to see some footage, maybe for the next update. There are so many beautiful parks around the world but to not only see what the park has to offer but to see how it was formed (geologically) & formed by man, & all the history etc will be really interesting.
Good luck with the project.
Bryce

Bryce... thanks I hope it will be worthy of interest. Stay tuned I will have some footage up by midnight if all goes well.

Well, it was 2 am when I finally got it uploaded ... I'll try and get a link on here today. It isn't what the final will be and there is no narration, and I just threw a soundtrack on it to keep you from falling asleep, but ...it gives you an idea in some measure of what my approach on subjects using stills will be.

Chris S.

A link is here:
http://www.uwolchallenge.com/longform/Swanberg_GlacierParkTurns100_UWOLLongForm.mp4

And a link to HD on Vimeo:

Glacier Park Film Project Early Trailer on Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/3291609)

Now before anyone says anything about the online text being up for too short a time....

Someone once told me, "Have the dumbest person in the house read the video text, and add 10 seconds to it, and you will have about the right time for the text to remain on screen." Well I live alone so I did that. I think since I wrote it I may have read a little fast <g>. Look past the glaring errors. I and the product will get better, and even in this short rough post I have expanded some on my knowledge bases, and that is what this is all about, no? I harbor no illusions ... seeing others ideas and knowing their talents... but for me, it will help me stay on target and up my game along the way.With kind offers from others, and extended, we can all benefit synergestically from this as well.

Looking forward...

Chris S.

Wow Chris!

You have some great footage there! What a beautiful park, and I think the encounter on the trail with the mountain goat was fabulous! How lucky are you! We have similar film choices and my DREAM would be to capture on film a moose and Rocky Mountain Bighorn sheep.

One very important comment on your film... can you narrate it instead of using text? I found myself working really hard to keep up with the reading and I either got through the text without seeing the footage, or vice-versa and sometimes neither. If you narrated the story it would free us up to simply marvel at your cinematography.

All the best!

Cat

Cat...

Thanks for your comments. Due to time constraints, I elected to use titles on this clip. I plan to use voice over narration in the final form - just probably not mine. I understand what you mean about trying to read those all too short titles and by the time you either finish or it disappears on you part way through, the image below was lost in that frustration. Sorry, a bad choice on my part.

Not far from where that goat encounter occurred, and a few years prior, I encountered a small herd of Big Horn sheep. For some reason, and unusual for Big Horn in my experience, these sheep seemed not to care about human presence at close range, and I was able to observe them from a distance of about 75-100 feet for an extended period as they grazed. Worse yet, they were in a large field of Beargrass and it was a good Beargrass year, so the scene would have been incredible on film. But it was Me, and no camera. Maybe lighting will strike twice and I'll have a camera next time.

Chris

Hi Chris,
very interesting concept you're showing us here. It will be very nice to watch more live footage when you got it.
For now I will comment on what I saw in this film. Your opening scene was very well done. It's not easy to do a pan of almost 360 degrees in such a fluid and steady way. I'm impressed Chris!
The text appearance and lenght has been mention, and I agree that narrating will be better.
The stills was nicely made in the Ken Burns way.
There was some compression flaws in your uploaded version to the uwolchallenge.com site, but I think you'll manage to work that out in time for the final entry.

What stunning scenery and what a fascinating place Chris! The music you have chosen complements the majesty of those peaks well - their beauty is certainly on a par with the landscapes of our Norwegian friends who always have the most unbelievably amazing scenery in their films.

You have certainly timed this one well with the centenary of the park being celebrated next year -hopefully you can have your film incorporated in some way into the parks centenary celebrations!

I have read your outline - you have an ambitious plan, but it sounds very interesting.

I like the way you have handled the photographs and illustrations. I am assuming that some of the stills - especially of the flora and fauna and tourists - will be replaced with your own live footage.

How did you do the single-celled bacteria clip? It is beautiful.

Hi Chris.
Great scenery and some awesome bacteria clips.
It's a very ambitious project, and I like it.
Are you doing this on your own or together with someone?
I guess you will have to do some mountain hiking and carry all your gear on the back?
The project is a bit similar to Cat's or am I wrong?
If so it's not the first time. I'm not that strong in english reading :)

All the best
Geir Inge

Per: Thank you for your comments. I undoubtedly will need to learn a little more about the best way to represent my clips in a highly compressed format, and by next time we'll see if I have mastered that aspect. I may try and redo this one with VO narration, but if not, from now on it will involve that. The comments and criticism of the choice to use titles in this round is well founded, and even that was a point of learning for me.

I have to admit I was very pleased with the opening pan. I have found that unless the pan involves some foreground object such as grasses or trees that will show motion (blowing in the wind for example) scenery pans can be well accomplished by stitching a panorama of still photographs and panning that in the NLE (in my case Sony VEGAS), which is what I have done in my intro here. It is 5 still photos stitched together in an editing program and then the resultant image was panned.

Marj: Thank you for your kind words. I have been in love with this scenery since my earliest childhood remembrances, and it yet never fails to take my breath away when I am there again. I hope to do an even better job of showing the beauty when I have more opportunity this summer and fall to capture footage for this project - and yes, including video clips of flowers and fauna. As for the bacteria clip - it is actually from Digital Juice "Jumpbacks". I was excited when I found it in HD, and I thought it was perfect for my needs in this. The music is from SonicFire pro - "Americana". Reminded some a little of music from "Dances with Wolves".

Geir: Thanks for commenting. Yes this is planned as a one person endeavor, but I may enlist some friends to help me carry stuff into the backcountry this summer in that otherwise singular pursuit. The whole U.S. National Park permitting thing will undoubtedly be an issue, especially if I want to also shoot interviews with park personnel. And yes, it does bear some strong similarities to Cat's entry, and in fact she has graciously offered to assist me with some of my needed animation work.

wow, that's a gorgeous opening shot...really captures some of the magnificence...

looks promising!

I am very excited to see how your film in it's final form...so far it is really nice to watch and very well done. The part I am looking forward to the most will be the effect the mountain men had on the area because I really love that chapter in American history...

Question;
How are you going to go about getting permission to use the images and music? I am asking because I need to figure out how to get copyright permissions with my film too.

Jeff... all my music will be royalty free - at least that is the current plan. The music I used in this "toe hold piece" was from SonicFire Pro - royalty free. My images will either by my own hand and camera, or from USGS (copyright free) NPS (copyright free) or the State of Montana Archives (copyright free). I may have acess to others that would be so old they would also be copyright free - the issue there will be access more than copyright. Same is true of old paintings (such as from Charlie Russell etc). I will be exploring those issues and access this late spring.

I am curious what I might encounter in my desire to interview NPS folks (geologists, archivists, etc.) and what permissions that may entail beyond a release from them. I do expect I will be asked to pay their salary back to NPS for the period of time I need to utilize them - assuming they will even agree in the first instance and further assuming I do it during normal work hours. I think I am going to have to be at my most charming and disarming in this process. Any anecdotal experiences others have had in this regard would be helpful.

Does Glacier NP have restrictions or fees for shooting on site as well (like Yosemite)?

Yes. While in theory ALL National Parks share the same restrictions and fees, how they are implemented and applied is the real question. My initial position is that this film is being created for this contest and as such is non-commercial. I wonder how a backcountry ranger would view me using my Z1 on a jib? I'd like to get this issue out of the way and documented as such to avoid problems.

Wow Chris,
I just looked at your film on Vimeo & i must say that was some really nice footage! Like everyone, i loved the opening shot. Text was a bit too quick for me too, maybe you need to add 15 seconds for me! :)
I too like the ken Burns effects on the photos, but personally like to see a little less movement in them. I find with this effect, less is more. My opinion only of course, but maybe you could try it & see what you think.
Wow the bacteria were cool too! How did you get that footage? So many talented people here in this forum!!
Really looking forward to seeing this when it is finished!
Bryce

Chris,

You haver some awesome footage and I think you have some real good infortmation coming too!! I love the glacieal comparison! Can't wait to see how you make out after a couple more visits there to add to the repretoire of footage and hopefully more animals and birds to add to its depth!!

Bryce: Thank you for your comments on the motion and timing in the stills. I have done a few slide shows, and have often thought that like excessive zooming and wild transitions for a newbie moviemaker, the excess of motion in slide show might be off putting for many. I genuinely appreciate your observations in that regard. Overall I fully agree, and in defense can only say that I was rushing this piece to try and get it up, and over-rushed many aspects. The good news is that by pushing us a little now, we will be better prepared later. I will certainly evaluate with great care the degree and speed of motion in my stills.... and of course go watch a few Ken Burns films once again. All the comments have been welcomed and I will heed them all.

Dale: I really hope to capture some good footage this summer and fall. I doubt I will ever match some of your awesome bird footage, but you and others with your unique talents here have certainly inspired me to reach higher in my own endeavors.

USGS's website is rich in glacial comparisons and wonderful photographs of that in the public domain, and I plan to have a not insignificant segment devoted to that and their disappearance. (Geologists are for the most part very computer savvy folks and the USGS website is a veritable treasure trove of all kinds of geological information and images.) For example, the Park had around 150 glaciers in 1850. By 2030 it may have none. A sad note for a Park named for its glaciers, no?

I am at the moment "poor" in my quantity of HDV images from Glacier, and hope to spend significant time there this year remedying that. Wish me luck and I will study the work of the others here to help train my eye and try and capture images worthy of this challenge to edit into my next posts here.

I like the scope in this film, lots of different elements and am looking forward to seeing how you put it all together. With talking heads, photographs and footage there will be alot to keep the viewer interested.
With regards to the Photographs, I think less movement works better. That may be just my opinion, but slow moves seem to hold the eye more.

The beginning is excellent, particularly the microscope shots.
I also like the historical material and photos.
The nature is breathtaking.
I hope you will use the same music in the final version.


Finn-Erik

Chris,
Well, I’m late enough to your thread it’s difficult to say anything about your footage that hasn’t already been said other than- Wow, I really enjoyed it. Here are a couple of very nit-picky points. The “bacteria” in the clip were actually protozoans. It didn’t matter because it worked. Stromatolites are certainly cyanobacteria. I wasn’t aware any had ever been assigned to genus Cyanobacter. Now I have to go look it up. I love things like this that make me rethink things I thought I knew. The goat clip was precious. At the end where it looks back at the hikers I half expected it to run up or down the rock face. Common names for plants can be very interesting. Around here we call genus Nolina “bear grass”. It’s also not a grass but an agave. Bears will eat the roots if very hungry. Will you be mentioning Waterton Lakes and the International Peace Park? A very good first showing. Can’t wait for more.

Mihali: Thank you for your comments, as well as your observations. I am hoping to expand this significantly by the time of the next posting which will allow me to demonstrate some of the ideas others such as yourself have expressed.


Finn-Erik: I am delighted my "placeholder" was enjoyable for you. The music has received pretty good approval and their is a strong liklihood it will be at least a part of my final soundtrack. Also, of necessity there will be a lot of historical material so many stills.

Mike: What can I say other than you caught me. I think I'll still stay with that microscope view clip, but we'll keep it our little secret, ok? Your comment on Cyanobacter got me curious as well, some time ago I had been told that and just a quick review of literature strongly suggests, as did you very kindly, that it is wrong. Now I will have to dig deeper for the genus of this fossilized cyanobacteria. I'll credit you as my scientific fact checker. (grin) Thanks. Oh and, yes Waterton and the Canadian/American Peace Park status will be included in the final version, as will something about the Park's status as a Biosphere Reserve and a World Heritage Site. (While I enjoy each of the Park hotels for a different reason, the Prince of Wales Hotel is the most scenic and awe inspiring to me, so I will definitely find a place for it in the final version.)

Not much that I can add to what has already been said. I was thinking while watching the opening pan, that the only way I could do such long pans reasonably smoothly would be to pan across a photo, and then you said that is what you had done. The bear grass reminds me of the Asphodelus spp found in Mediterannean areas.

I look forward to learning more - both about the Park and about how you are filming it.

Annie: It is so much fun to hear the feedback in this contest. It is instructive, constructive and at the same time confirming. A lot of what we know and do is the same, but it's nice sometimes to know you are not out here mucking through something wondering "does anyone else do this"? (Like the stitched panorama photo pan).

I love sharing this place, which is very special to me, with others. I hope I can do it justice. You and others have heightened my need/desire to include birds in this film as best I can.

That said, a sad sidenote may be in order here. I have been visiting this park since the late 1950's and seen many changes. This sidenote chronicles one of the saddest to me.

There is a sizeable lake in the park known as Lake McDonald that drains into a larger drainage that flows into a very large inland lake about 30 miles away known as Flathead Lake. For years Flathead Lake was home to a species of landlocked Kokanee salmon, that spawned in the waters near Lake McDonald in the fall. Bald eagles from every corner of the region would come...every fall, like clockwork... literally hundreds of them, to feed on the dying fish. It was a sight to behold the eagles dropping into the water to bring out large fish to eat.

Then.......along came man's better idea. I may get some of this wrong as it happened after I moved away to go to college in the late 60's...so I bear correcting from anyone more knowledgeable.... but in an effort to improve certain fishing in Flathead lake, a species of freshwater shrimp (Mysis) was introduced into Flathead lake to encourage that desired fish's size and number. Those shrimp also fed on the plankton that the Kokanee fry lived on.. . the double whammy...The shrimp in turn vastly increased the population of those "desired" fish ... but those were also fish that ate the salmon fry, already less due to the competition for food.. and did so to the point the salmon became extinct in this ecosystem. So....The eagles come no more. Otherwise I would have some fabulous footage to share of the Eagle's salmon feast! But now it exists only in my mind.

Hey Chris
Wow when this piece first started I was blown away by the BIG feel it had. You have some stunning shots and put it with some great music. I really like that bacterial stuff as well, how was this done? Is it CG?

What struck me straight away though from your plan is you go back SO far through time, but then the bulk of what your story is about is humanity. I find this a little strange in structure. If its a human story of this area then I would intro the park in a much wider way. A 'brief' natural history of this place could take hours in itself and maybe isnt even necessary with the bulk of the story you are telling. Maybe as you build things up I will change my mind about this but it struck me straight away so I felt it was well worth noting in a critique.

Great stuff fella, I'm going to be very interested where you take this. My choice would be make the human story 1 section and tell the natural history throughout the rest...but then thats just me!

Mat... thanks. Actually your comments about the scope being a little much including geology got me thinking, and you have an excellent point. I think I will still work it up as best I can, but in the final edit, it may get cut to be the start of a separate short, not included in this film. Thanks for the honest perspective.

Chris

Wow... this challenage has really taken me all over the map.... mostly tracking down old historical photographs.... from Montana - West Glacier, MT(The Park Archives), Helena, MT (State Archives), Bozeman MT (Museum of the Rockies) - LA (The Autry museum), and Minnesota (State Archives - Great Northern RY Archives)... I will be visiting the Park at the end of May and will spend several days with the archivist.

Whew... I really did not realize the breadth of where this would take me, but am looking forward to it all. It has been great fun, and greatly illuminating. The journey has eclipsed the destination in many ways.

I really haven't explored yet the possibilities with the USGS folks... maybe later on. I think the right connection there could be real gold in terms of the glacial disappearance aspects and comparison photographs.

For the time being, I think the suggestion of abandoning the ancient geological (non-glacial) aspect of the Park is a good one and do not plan to include that in this work presently. Maybe a stand alone production at a later time - yet, I do find it fascinating - the fact that the only fossils at the surface are billions of years old.

Doing the DVC Challenge and this have proved a little more than I banked on, but I will have another placeholder up for the 2nd go around.

Well, I uploaded my 2nd submission tonight to the UWOL site and to vimeo. As soon as I have the vimeo link I will post it here in this thread.

Chris

{edit} Vimeo file here : http://vimeo.com/4643439

PS. If you have the time, please view the HD Vimeo version, it really is pretty important for some of the stills to be meaningful.

Hi Chris:

This is an historical documentary extraordinaire. The effort of your research is apparent, and we will all be the beneficiaries of that. Nice narrating. Your beginning and choice of music give the big cinema feel to it. I'm thankful you have chosen the VO over the subtitles ;-). This is a start to a formative piece of work, where after UWOL it could be shown on TV in public broadcasting, or in schools?

Looking forward to seeing some footage of the park itself.

All the best,
Cat

The effort of your research is apparent

This is a start to a formative piece of work, where after UWOL it could be shown on TV in public broadcasting, or in schools?

Looking forward to seeing some footage of the park itself.


Cat... thanks for taking a look. Yes I actually have amassed hundred of pages of historical materials and writings (and not surprisingly am finding internal inconsistencies) but have few photographs, and of course almost ZERO actual footage I can use yet.

As I have been working on this, it strikes me that my endeavor could almost be done using stills, which of course is not what the UWOL Challenge is about. This "Placeholder" post was more designed to seek feedback on my handling of stills as it was anything else.

I will spend time this coming trip acquiring some footage within the park, and am pondering ways to incorporate that into and throughout the final project other than in solely the latter sections of the finished work. Obviously though, the main purpose at present is to visit with the Park Archivist and see what is available (and at what cost) for my use in their materials.

As for current filming, the main road through the park is not even plowed as yet and with a late storm may not even be plowed by Memorial day (their unofficial opening date). Winter looses her grip slowly in these parts.

Finally, while my use of HDV would minimize the potential markets for my finished piece, I have envisioned a final use for educational and entertainment purposes - provided I can produce a high enough quality product. Whether I get there or not, my skills have already improved just as a result of the effort. I ran out of time, but had planned to change background pics in the "talking head portion" but doing that piece gave me some chromakeying practice, and also let me experiment with a teleprompter.

Your graphics are magnificent, and I am jealous of your access that is allowing you to get those beautiful shots of the Elk, for example.

Chris

Hi Chris,
I got some odd looks while sat on the tube going through central london tonight watching your film - I was smiling! I'm really encouraged and inspired but the methodolgy and approach you are taking, and your narration really sits well with the visuals and information. I'm fascinated by your story of this wonderful place - looking forward to seeing lots more of it!!!! Good work, keep on this line!

Thank you Rob. I'm glad I could make you smile. Your recounting of watching it in the tube made me once again realize how small our world is these days and how this contest spans continents.

Yes I think I have found the right approach for at least the early part of my film, and will be working on having the early historical part in rough form by the next submission date.

Maybe you can view the next submission in Picadilly Circus?

Chris

You have an impressing natural ease when you talk to the camera.
It is a seldom talent. I think you should utilize this in your final film.

I think your film project will be great in the long format.

I don't seem to be able to get to the vimeo link ? Its says its for private viewing only....strange as others have viewed it ?

Thanks for the heads up Mat.. I've fixed it - should be viewable now.

Finn-Erik: My mother would be happy. Thank you for your kind observation. Like most folks who prefer life behind the camera, I have never felt myself photogenic nor my voice particularly good for VO type work. We are our own worst critics. I do a fair amount of speaking before large groups and my self consciousness disappeared long ago... maybe that is a plus. I'm curious what others think - could my voice serve as a VO for this film, with a little polish?

Well firstly PLEASE tell me you were reading this talking head material from some sort of prompt cards/screen. If not you are a VERY gifted speaker indeed. If you were you are still a very gifted presenter. You are a very calm,confident and erudite speaker and it was a great way of telling us about your plans, decisions and reasoning.

However I have to say when it went to your VO only it lost something. I think most of it was in the recording itself but it did also seem to drop a level in personality. This is worth considering for the next stage. I also have to say that the narration seems to come thick and fast. This is a visual medium and a strong film should be led by the imagery, the VO should support and add to it and not just stream in the background like a book reading. I understand you simply don't have a lot of the footage at the moment but I thought it was worth raising this a critique anyway.

As I said previously, I'm really looking forward to this story and you have ooodles to get across, indeed this filtering of the information is certainly going to be a tricky part of your process.

Great stuff.
Cheers
Mat

Mat - thank you for your assessment, and kind words in the first paragraph. To be honest, I was using some free teleprompter software on my computer, and I had relocated the monitor to the camera position. It's a great litle shareware product called easyprompter:
EasyPrompter - Portable Standalone Version: the best free OFFLINE teleprompter. (http://www.easyprompter.com/portable.php) that I first read about on this site.

I did that intro 4 times, and each time found places where a little ad lib was added. Otherwise that intro was standard interview lighting with a green screen background and captured with a SONY ECM-44 lav mic moleskinned to my chest just out of sight. (Note to self: SHAVE the area where you plan to moleskin ANYTHING to your body before EVER doing something like this again!)

Your comment on the narration is excellent feedback. I was using a studio mic on a stand and had intentionally boosted the bass frequencies for my voice in the mixer )and was also using a tube preamp which furthers emphasises the lower frequencies,) but it ended up feeling/sounding muddy. In addition I was nearing the deadline so more or less wrote and read a script (with my usual ad libs) and then added photos to the timeline to match the VO, then added minor motion effects. I did the reading once, and the hour was growing late. (Note to self, do VO's early in the day when you are fresh).

"More enthusiastic VO with better tonality, timing and tempo" is the note I made for myself based on your comments, which I fully agree with.

That is one of the great values of these periodic showings, the feedback you receive from like minded film makers and the helpful critiques that enable you to alter your product as you go along. Thanks for yours.

Chris

Well done Chris,
This for me was a definate improvement on the ken Burns affect. I loved your VO, you have a great voice, very easy to listen to, & i have to agree, it was an awesome talking head piece that came across as very professional. Now it looks like you have the speed & movement sorted out with the stills, i wonder if some of the transitions could be smoothed out with a cross fade here & there, also, maybe you could try using a still from the opening & blurr it slightly to fill the frame behind the photos. Please understand though, i'm really just thinking out loud, & am wondering if it would work that's all.
Anyway, well done on the 2nd part to your film, i am really looking forward to seeing more now after having seen this latest part.
Regards,
Bryce

Bryce: Thanks for the vote of confidence. As I was putting the stills on the timeline, and stretching them to fill the needed length time-wise and then adding motion, it occurred to be that often they would not fully fill the frame. Your idea is as good as any, but I need to go back and watch some more Ken Burns stuff to see how he handled it.

I was troubled by the transitions too, and never could decide on the best way to do it, fade to black, cross dissolve, etc. Again I will be watching Ken's work with a more critical eye. I hoped that my "technical" audience would comment on the speed. I also need some slow pans acros the stills, but only the last picture here really lent itself to that.

I'm learning and feedback here is an important tool in that maturation process as a film maker. So, thanks... to you and again to everyone else. Also,for those reading this, you don't have to be a contestant or even a film-maker to critique what you see and offer your suggestions! I gratefully accept and consider all.

Chris Swanberg

ps. If you watch the vimeo clip, I suggest you click on the full screen button too, not JUST the HD.
pps. We should all post a short talking head clip just so we have a sense of who our fellow film-maker's are!

Chris, awesome done! I liked it very much.

Your VO is perfectly done to my ears. As a foreigner I picked almost every word on the first play, which I seldom do. Take this as a big compliment, Chris!
If I should be picky - audio level is a bit low. Also there's a change in audio, starting at the Ken Burns visuals. The VO is only in one channel, with soundtrack in the other. I think VO in both channels will be better.

Your chroma keying was perfect made too. But as mention by others, changing backdrops a couple of times or three would have been better as the sequence with the talking head was a bit long to me. Or you could have done some Ken Burns cut-ins for a few seconds.

I like your concept very much, think you have a very nice and interesting piece here. Good luck on your trip out in the wild. Hopefully you'll get the footage your after.

Hi Chris

I am not sure that I can add any more to what others have said here. I agree that you have done a very good job of narrating - you are very easy to listen to - and your handling of the photos is very polished. I am looking forward to seeing how you incorporate them into your film.

It must be pretty frustrating not being able to get out and get into something more concrete as yet but you have at least made good use of the time to do some very thorough research by the sounds of it and that will pay off in the long run I am sure.

Chris,

Not sure what else I can say that hasn't been said already.

I think you should definitely do your narration as your are obviously very good at it. You have a very clear voice and I think you come across very well. A bit more emotion wouldn't go a miss. You have done a lot of research and I look forward to seeing some great footage next time?

Great stuff.

[QUOTE=Chris Swanberg;1143674]...I was using some free teleprompter software on my computer, and I had relocated the monitor to the camera position. It's a great litle shareware product called easyprompter:
EasyPrompter - Portable Standalone Version: the best free OFFLINE teleprompter. (http://www.easyprompter.com/portable.php) that I first read about on this site.

Actually, it's freeware - use it as much as you like. All the features are enabled and there's never any nagging :)

Freeware with a developer intent of making it perfect.... "he" just keeps fiddling....I am making a donation, and suggest others who use it do likewise.

Now, for a full screen version <g>.

Per: Thank you for taking the time to view my submission this round. With the encouragement I have received I think maybe I WILL do the VO for the final piece. You raise some good questions about matching sound and sound levels, as I progress I will pay more attention to that. Also when possible I will try and use the same microphone set up the same way.

Marj: Thank you for your comments. In less than 2 weeks I will be able to make significant progress hopefully. I am not sure how much actual Park footage I will be able to capture. I checked the Park website today to see how they were coming on getting the road over Logan Pass plaowed out... here is what it said, with minor edits for brevity:

Road Report: May 18, 2009
Present Locations:
West Lakes Road Crew: Has completed the plowing …full width of the road surface up to the Loop; …the crew is encountering a lot of rock and tree debris on road surface with snow depths around 15'-20' in the slide areas 5'-10' out of slide areas. Cut lifts of snow down to rotary plow depth from Grouse Point to Bear Grass. Weather temperatures were between 35-40 degrees with some fog in the early hours of the shift.
Hudson Bay Road Crew: …encountering snow depths of 25 feet. No progress today because of avalanche conditions. Avalanches were sighted in the Siyeh Bend area early afternoon today.

Mother nature hasn't quite yet decided summer, or for that matter, spring, is due quite yet.

Mihali: Thanks for the vote of confidence. I have definitely taken to heart the comments regarding to a little more up beat inflection and emotion in the narration. We'll see how I do. I may in fact post something before the next submission just to garner some feedback, if the contest permits that and the participants don't mind.

Hey Chris,

Glad to see your focus on the people aspect of the park. I really think that that is a good choice, I am a firm believer in "people are interested in people" (even wildlife lovers seek out what they can learn about themselves in watching the behaviors of other species)...just my opinion. So I applaud your decision. Like I said before I am really interested in the short era of mountain men in the US and I really perked up when you started talking about and showing the images of them and the traders. I firmly believe that once you have this entire film put together that you will have a piece that will be of interest to a great many people…hopefully PBS or some other station will show interest as well.

Do you plan to use any live footage aside from the astounding intro in your film?

I think your Ken Burns effect is coming along nicely. What program are you using to do that? After Effects?

One suggestion is that you might want to enlarge the map a little more or start the zoom in earlier so we can read it. I did not watch it in HD so that may have been the problem but in sd I could not read it at all until you started to move in closer.

Looking forward to more...nice job

Jeff:

Chris is off to Montana doing looking for material. Perhaps footage may be in the works this tiem, and Chris will be going back at least one more time after this to shoot more footage. Right now there is alot snow clearing to be done in the passes where he intends to shoot....

Jeff: Thanks for your comments. I know about the awful looking graphic at the small resolution... I recommend youwatch it on vimeo, it looks good the whole time. I am PLANNING to use live footage, but at the moment am being told I need a permit and insurance, even for this contest. I am engaged in diplomacy with the very nice folks there, but while they clearly want to work with me, feel constrained by NPS rules. (ARGHHH)

Meanwhile I spent 2-1/2 very productive days with the park Archivist, a remarkable lady named Diedre Shaw. I have a little over 100 images on order. Tomorrow I will be visiting the Montana State Historical Society and State Archives.

The Park is open, but only for a short ways in, as the road through the park is not yet plowed and for whatever reason they are keeping people well away from the Going to the Sun Highway where the work is progressing (I thought it was silly not to let us part way up to a turnaround miles from where they are working). Even down low where the snow is gone, wildflowers have not yet bloomed, and the landscape is mostly grass, weeds and brush coming back to life.

As is to be expected water is running everywhere, so I spent a few hours today trying to capture water.... beautiful turquoise "glacial flour" carrying water that refracted that unbelieveable shade you often see in photographs and don't believe. From rivulets, to waterfalls to roaring rapids..I'll put something together on my return home and throw it up on Vimeo.

USGS is on site in the Park with their glacial comparison project and more or less said "If we have it it is yours"... and "how can we help?". Terrific folks. I may do the chapter on the disappearance of the glaciers and put it up early too.

So, the trip has been a bonanza for the early portion of the film, but mostly bust for any moving images of lasting impression.... I do have an hour of HDV tape though.

Chris

ps. I was not aware but Ken Burns is working on a 9 hour series on the National Parks, and was apparently there before me <sigh - me, Mr. Day late and a dollar short>.