Hi guys and gals,
What is uwol without wonders and woes.
You all know what this thread is all about.
Hopefully more wonders than woes.

And everyone should stricktly follow rule #11; Have fun!

Now, let's go out and shoot our days.

I've got my music picked out for this one. I've got it narrowed down to two tracks.

I think I do things back asswards in that I don't even know what I'm shooting yet but I already have my music picked out and I'll make what I shoot fit the music and not the other way around.

Seems that my most liked UWOL challenge films have been ones where I had the music picked out in advance and made the shots fit the music.

So, we'll see if this holds true for this one as well or am I just talking out the wrong orifice like I usually do! :)
Hopefully I'll have the beginning of an idea today and can start getting some shots.

Good luck to everyone!!!

UPDATE:

Well, I've come up with an idea. Or at least this idea keeps popping into my head and won't allow me to open up my mind to other ideas. Course, that always frustrates me to no end because there are a million stories out there and my mind locks onto something whether it's a good idea or not and won't let me think of anything else.

So, I have this idea. I just explained it to my wife and I could tell right away that she is not following it at all. So , that concerns me because usually she can at least understand the concept. So she has no idea what the heck I just talked about for this idea I have.

So now I'm really in trouble. :) My mind has locked on an idea that I can't even explain to my wife and have her follow along. Gonna be an interesting ride. :)

Good afternoon,

Well, this was not a title I had picked. Mostly because the the things we do have been blocked out by cold and to much white stuff. the only access in the countryside are the few graded dirt roads the school busses have to drive. So I am going to have to stretch the very small creative zone in my nogan.

think I may try Kevin's approach, come up with the audio first.



Dale

My approach wasn't exactly the most planned.
Went out a few minutes after I learned the theme, but not sure if I got any useful footage at all. Maybe I should try a tiny bit planning too.
But I had a good time.

Music first? Maybe that could be an idea. Never done that before for uwol.

Good luck everyone!

"A day in the life". Is the theme.
Could be that of a tree, a home, a person, a rock, a family, a company, a project, a car, a plane, a mountain, a religion, a town, an office, a hat, a cat, or a cat in a hat, almost any object, or idea that life revolves around during the day. I'm imagining a timelapse of the park nearby. Or of my cat sleeping under a bush all day. The wheel of a car as it drives through town. A homeless shelter. A composer. I'm thinking of the time limitation, 3 minutes to fit an entire day, and what story can be told to enlighten, and entertain. The possibilities are endless. Something great is about to happen.....

I forgot to add, fiction or non-fiction, since as film makers we are not constrained to the mundane.

Bill,

Yes to everything: UNDER WATER OVER LAND behind the theme.


3 minutes makes it the challenge.


Dale

Well, pretty much got shut out my first day of filming today. Saw some things but the shots just were flat and not very exciting.

So, back to the drawing board to see if I can find some spots that fire me up and want to capture them.

I saw some of the names on the list so I figured I'd better go all-out.
Wrote a 2 page script, got the shots and sequences in my mind, checked to see if the title is Trademarked, and it's clear. Got the tools dusted off. I'm ready to rock n' roll.

You can't copyright a title anyway. Look how many films have been called Titanic. Eight I think. :)

Good evening,

6 hours in the wheels with camera gear, no footage.

However I had lots of time to sort out my title, plot and tenitive voice overs. At least I know what i will do. I am pretty sure I can get the necesary footage.

Title, unless disaster strikes: 'Day in the life of a Refugee"


Good Luck everyone!!

You can't copyright a title anyway. Look how many films have been called Titanic. Eight I think. :)

Well, that's a historic vessel. Not sure I can make a short film titled, 'Star Wars', 'Harry Potter', 'Jerry Maguire', or 'Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief' without looking over my shoulder. I'm just hoping I can pull this off and raise some eyebrows in the UWOL community. ;)

Good evening,


Here is one for you people.

After being sick most of the night (ate some bad food at the rink while preping for a shoot coming up), laying around till lunch I finally felt like eating. Stir crazy I loaded up the cameras and tripods after checking to make sure they were ready to go.

I got out in the field, turned on the h1 with the big lens on it (of course I had a perfect shot to get), no image just a dark screen!!! I disconnected the lens system, put it back together, nothing!!

Last time this happened I had blown the fuse in the camera because the fu 1000 plug had been slightly pulled out. Cost 400 dollars last time, anxiety set in in a big way!!!!

I turned around and headed home.

When home I started checking things out and was saying a few choice french words when it dawned on me that the brightness dial on the fu 1000 may have been turned all the way down; yep, that was it. Now how did i do that after checking it out first??? Seems I can mess up anything!!! Considering I have a two camera shoot in a few days I was sweating bullets. Guess I need a third hd camera as back up.

A quick hook up to the tv, color bars pulled up, recalibrated the fu 1000 and set the peaking dial again.

I got back out for an hour and shot some footage but do not think I will be able to use it as it was pretty windy (my usual nemisis) and shooting at the far end is pretty tuff, even off a good pod.


Hope everyone is having fun!!! I wonder how everyone defines having fun?!


Dale

I got back out for an hour and shot some footage but do not think I will be able to use it as it was pretty windy (my usual nemisis) and shooting at the far end is pretty tuff, even off a good pod.

Hope everyone is having fun!!! I wonder how everyone defines having fun?!
Seems like you and I battled the same wind. And my good old Manfrotto tripod/501 head did not like the cold weather. (about -15 to -20C and about 30mph wind).
Panning smoothly, well I could forget that.
And the handheld shots I attempted are mostly too shaky for anything but a homevideo.

Oh, and "having fun" is defined as doing anything related to video, especially uwol. :)

Hi Dale and Trond,

High winds and snow! I have have just had nothing but rain, rain and more rain. Hope the weather bucks up soon. So sat indoord and recorded these goldfinches at our feeder in the rain
Goldfinches at the feeder in the rain. Edited useing Edius on Vimeo

Mick

PS Dale please to hear the camera probs were operator based and nothing more serious

Good afternoon to you all.

Well, I have bought me a new toy, Vegas Pro 9 for this round of uwol.
I am used to edit in Avid Liquid, so Vegas will be a new experience for me.
Though I have allready noticed that the Vegas layout is very much similar to my audio tool, Acid. So I hope that will help me out a bit.
Still I have to try and fail as usual I guess :)
Also I have bought me a new Samsung Led TV (100% HD) only 3 cm thick, and for the first time I am able to watch my own videos in HD.
Just one word: Awesome!

So what am I to film this round.
One thing for sure: there will be snow.
When it comes to creatures I'm not sure, but some birds maybe.
I think I will do most of my filming up coming weekend as I got Saturday and Sunday off work.
For the occation I leave you with two photo (taken 31 jan and 4 feb) to show our landscape right now.
View from the fjord and me skiing ;) I'm glad the last one is a still photo and not part of a video :/


Good luck everyone.

Geir Inge

So there I was, sitting out in the snow waiting for crested tits to land exactly where my camera was pointing (and in the end they did) wondering what on earth I could do with "A day in the life" and then it came to me. A day at Glen Feshie, where I am at the moment. I was the last of my free days between stills photography workshops, and I had spent time in each of the hides, and an afternoon along the river getting some scenic and close-up shots. Now all I needed was dawn and dusk. Unfortunately the lovely sunsets of the previous few days had come to an end and the sky was clouding over. Yesterday morning the last of the workshops was to begin, but I thought I might have enough time to get the river with mist rising at dawn. Except that it was snowing and the grey dawn would not fit with the video I had taken the previous two days. And this morning there was a couple of feet of snow on the ground, and again no chance of those dawn shots. Tomorrow is forecast for more of the same, so I guess I'll have to find another subject when I get home. Snowed-in at the moment, so there may be a delay.

Well, I finished the first draft of my script today. The only other time I've taken the time to write a script for UWOL before was for The River. But, I'm trying to take Mat's advice of story being king and try to actually have one.

So, I'll let it percolate for a few days and then come back to it and see how I feel about it.

It's certainly outside the box thinking on this one that's for sure.

So, I have my music, I have a first draft but no footage yet. :)

I'm just wonder (I'm new), can I use a short clip I made before the contest in my video? Its only ~10seconds but fits perfectly with the story I'm trying to tell and I can't reshoot it (it was shot in the ocean on vacation).

You have all had some good luck, I haven't even been able to get out.
Packing taking it's sweet time.
I have the idea, just have to get out and shoot. With lots more snow coming this weekend, I will be able to start.....

I'm just wonder (I'm new), can I use a short clip I made before the contest in my video? Its only ~10seconds but fits perfectly with the story I'm trying to tell and I can't reshoot it (it was shot in the ocean on vacation).

Graeme, to answer your question, check out uwol rule nr 5:

These contest rules are re-printed from our dedicated website at: The UWOL Challenge - Wildlife & Outdoor based film competition (http://www.uwolchallenge.com/contest_rules.htm)

5. Material - All material must be original and shot for the purpose of being judged in this contest....[ ]...You retain the rights to your video.
Since this round is an "unofficial do it yourself challenge", and the clip you ask about is a very short one, I suggest you ask Dale, since he's the one running this uwol 15.5 challenge.

Good evening,

Internet has been down for two days.

Graeme, Read the rules and try to adhere to them the best you can.

I personally do not care if you use a few seconds of a clip;

However, the real challenge is doing it in the time frame and we have a month on this one.

Some others have used the odd graphic and such that was not created just for the challenge.

Good Morning,

Sometimes it never seems to end. I shot some possibly great footage and then the camera would not give me an image through the lens even though it had a screen. Tried everything out there, no avail!!! I had the fx 1000 with me so I carried on and did get a couple shots I will be using. I was specificly looking for slow motion action shots. I have not used this feature yet, but I was really impressed at the 240 frames a second for 6 seconds. I will be working hard to get more of this kind of footage.


To windy to film this morning so here I am.

When I previewed all my h1 footage, everything was out of focus or distorted (conditions were perfect). I took the camera apart, put on the regular lens, all was well. When I reassembled the big lens I noticed the lens was not held firmly and square up to the ef adapter!! Upon inspection of the Lens and the ef adapter I noticed a screw was missing out of the bayonet ring and the ring was loose on the adapter. I tightened all the other screws up and it worked again!!!

I went out for two hours today but it was to sunny, a balmy -2 degrees and using the telephoto I had all kinds of heat wave distortion coming off the snow!!! I shot a few test shots and it is back in action. I took a slo motion of a white tailed Jack rabbit at a full run in slo motion., not the most aesthetic shot in the world but pretty cool. Only wished the feature was for 15 seconds!!!
Below is the first real effort as using the slo mo on the fx 1000, shot yesterday.

kevin, listen to the rythm of the falling rain doesn't suit but I played my version I did not use back when you mentioned this tune just for fun. I need a snow song I guess.

slo mo Jack on Vimeo



Having fun,


Dale

Dale,

What are you useing/ how are you manageing to record slow mo with the H1

Mick

I'm on the south coast of a Hawaiian island and the sirens have been going off since dawn.
The tsunami is supposed to hit in 2 1/2 hours. I'm looking for higher ground, and hoping for a day in the life of a non-event.

Mick,

the slo mo was with a sony fx 1000, not the H1!!

I have not done any post work on this type of footage yet, such as deinterlacing and changing frame rate, or doing a further time stretch by deinterlacing with interpolation and then messing with velocity.


dale

Thankfully the big waves passed us by. Now it's time to get back to work on UWOL 15.5.
I need to find some rabbits around here, that's some pretty good footage from
D. Guthormsen. Reminds me of the old Disney nature documentaries we'd watch in grade school.

Hi Bill,

Pleased to hear that nothing too bad came your way

Mick

Bill, good to hear the tsunami didn't do any damage.

Dale, I'm impressed how you always seem to find all the animals out in the wild.
I have a hard time finding anything but lots of footprints in the snow.
The rabbits, foxes... they must be pretty good hiding from me.
Looking forward to see your slow motion shots!

Bill, I'm glad to hear everything turned out well.

OK, then.
My weekend off didn't turn out the way I thought it would. Do they ever?
Had to step in for a colleague with the flu, so no videoing for me as I planned.
I did managed to catch a photo og the sunset.
Eh, how I wish I had some days off :/

I got some filming done today, I'll have to check it out over the week and fill in the blanks where I can.

For the first time in any of my uwol films, I actually have come up with a (good?) plan from the beginning to the end of my video, before shooting a single frame. A productive morning it was.
(Well, if we don't count what I shot a week ago, which was for another idea and can't be used anyway)
Hopefully I can film my day this upcoming weekend.

Tronde,

I hope you can get your shots for your film.

I have started the intro of mine and have a couple marginal shots, Just can t seem to get the shots I want!!

dale

Got most of the shots this morning, but heavy snow showers ruined some important shots.
So it doesn't seem I can film all in one day, as I originally planned.

Notice to self: If the pause/rec button accidentally is hit a second time, there will be a nice green thing saying "pause" in the viewfinder, and the swans will not be recorded!!
Luckily some birds are like famous people, and want to stay close to the camera lense.
Got a second attempt, this time it said "rec" in the viewfinder.
Hmmm, now I need to change my story a bit to get them to fit into my video.


How is everyone doing?

I'm serving jury duty (an ugly case that is emotionally draining). I haven't yet shot anything or really even been able to seriously think about it. It's frustrating, but I guess just a small thing in the bigger picture. There's still lots of time and, so, hope.

Good afternoon,


First:

Mike, Seems to me getting out and focusing on the outdoors is the best way to relieve stress!!

Second:

After numerous bad weather days, mechanical failures (my 4x4 broke off the drive shaft a couple days back!) We finally got out this morning: Foggy to start which was just fine. I got some shots I was wondering if they were going to happen this round. Fog cleared off and about noon I had the opportunity for close ups which are real hard to orchestrate this time of year.

Most importantly, NO WIND.

I am rendering a job right now and as soon as it is finished I am heading back out for afternoon/evening opportunities. Have to take advantage of the perfect weather, it is so rare here!! I am really looking for some natural audio to fit my short. So far no luck at that.

Hope all is well with everyone and you are getting out there.


Dale

Music track laid down? Check
Script Written? Check?
Camera gear cleaned and packed? Check
Hard drive space for footage transfer? Check?
Enough Time to go out and shoot? Check
Plenty of snow needed for challenge idea? Oh HELL NO!!

What the heck!!! We have arctic weather until I decide I want to do a film that will need some snow and now we're in the forties with no chance of snow and in fact we're going to have rain which will melt down the rest of the snow out in the areas I want to film!

So, scrap that idea and back to the drawing board for a new idea.

Now I know why I don't bother planning anything and just go out like the day a challenge is due and just shoot whatever there is and be done with it!

kevin,

spring is always turbulent, never know what will happen. I have been shooting in cold white out conditions every time out. Now it was at 40 degrees today and the melt is on. that may have some influence on what I do in the end too.

I still have three feet of snow in my yard, but dirt patches are starting to show up out in the prairies.

Good luck with that!!! You always do something cool no matter how you go about it!!!


Dale

Kevin, I have plenty snow for you over here.
(Even though we had 28F and rain yesterday while I was skiing!!!)

Have filmed some for my video, but now I'm thinking about maybe do something totally different instead, and try a humoristic twist... We'll see.

The snow is going, at last! slowly to be sure, but it warmed up to +5 today!! I sat out on the deck and enjoyed the sun!!!

things are moving along. some audio to do, and try to improve on my shots if time permits.

Was out several hours today and was glad I had our most essential vidogaphers equipment along.

Picture posted.

That's pretty funny Dale! :)

Well, I have a new idea floating around in my head. Hopefully I can bring it all together and put something down on the timeline soon!

Good afternoon.

Pretty funny picture Dale, got to have one of those :)

Well, over here at the mid west coast of Norway the snow melts and the Spring is just around the corner.
I have been doing some videoing the last two weeks,
but still I have been unsure about how to aproach the theme this round.
But then it all came to me as I get to think about you Kevin, always finding the piece of music first.
And that's exactly what I've been searching for the last few days.
To find a suitable piece of music, and I think I just did today :)
The music is from an old norwegian composer and I think it will fit my winter scenes perfectly.

I have a question though about the uploading procedure:
How do we upload our videos this round?
Have I overlooked this piece of information or haven't we decided yet?
Also thinking about the video format and size of file?
What about uploading to Vimeo and/or YouTube?

Geir Inge

Geir,
I don't think there has been a final desision yet about the uploading.
If we can't upload to the uwol site as we use to (since this is a DIY round), I think uploading to youtube and/or vimeo is a good idea. Upload to either one or both.

As for format and sizes, I suggest:

If uploading to the uwol site:
Standard uwol rules for file size and video formats apply.

If uploading to youtube/vimeo:
Format and size according to their requirements.


Dale,
What do you say?

Downloading,


For now, I think we should definitely download to vimeo or Utube.. Generally the standard they use is just fine, 1280x720 for hd and 720x480 for standard.

On the 20th I will make a thread for lincs.
On the 22nd I will make a thread for comentaries.


Sound good???

For a three minute file with good resolution most files would come in around 100 mbts which will down load nicely for most people.

Make it the best quality you can, heck it is only three minutes, eh?!!

Meryem is to busy to be involved right now, if later she wants them on the web site we can then make the obligatory 60 mgeabyte version.

I am really looking forward to everyones versions of the theme!! I am always amazed at the diversity of interpreting a theme, its awesome.


CURRENT STATUS OF MY FILM:

I have my three minutes compiled, I am trying to get better versions of a few of the clips. Today I did 150 miles (into the city and back) took the cameras and was rewarded with one good clip I have been hunting for!!! Trying to get some divesity in the mix but everything is so wild this time of year it just isn't easy. I am stilll missing one animal!!!


Dale

Dale, that sounds good to me with only youtube and vimeo.

One thread with all the links is a great idea!

Instead of having only one single comment/feedback thread, may I suggest that we do as we normally do, that everyone has one separate feedback thread?

Yes,


That is a better idea!!!


But I do not think they should go up before the 22nd.



Dale

I agree about no feedback thread before March 22nd.

How about we say "no feedback threads should be posted until AFTER Dale post the thread with all the links to the videos."

Well, went out for 2-3 hours today. Rain, rain, rain. Lots of shots of wet moss and lichen.

And yesterday...a hawk and beaver. Unfortunately, I have a slow lens so in fading light, I did my best and then bumped up the values for these screen grabs from the video.

Ryan, some great pictures you've got there.
Looking forward to see your video and the beaver.
I can not remember we have had one of those in Uwol?

Geir Inge

Ryan,

Very nice images!@!

The Hawk is a red shouldered hawk, sometimes referred to as a red bellied hawk. Very nice raptors!!


Well, seeing all the nice color and possible compositions makes me somewhat jealous.

All my images are totally low contrast, white on white so to speak. here are a few screen grabs.

I was away for a couple days, melt is on and the country side has changed so much I do not know if I can really add any new shots to what I have so far. I am really after two more shots. Probably wont get them, and if I do they may not fit the overall atmosphere of my video.


dale