I went out this morning and managed to find my animals but today's footage is disappointing. I'll try again tomorrow.

Disappointing footage aside...

it's nice to know you are feeling well and are back to normal these days Mike!

Mike,

Good to see you are after it!! here things are starting to look dirty and muddy, still lots of white stuff!!

Spent all day pondering what to do, I have a tenative plan. Will get opening shots tomarrow morning if it aint snowing and the light is good. I have the music in mind, just have to play it and record it, then write some words for it or voice over, then I will shoot the shots.

Kind of a Kevin approach, musci first then shoot.

should be able to pull this one off, but trying to make it my best yet will be the goal!!

thanks for the real challenge Cat!!!

My plan is that a plan must develop during the next week and then shoot during Easter.

Unfortunately I won't be able to upload/submit until a day after deadline, (the 25th), so this round it will be only an unofficial youtube version from me.

Hey Trond:

Since you have informed us ahead of time that you cannot submit until the day after the deadline, and it is so close to the deadline, then their is grace for you friend and you should still be able to compete with the others.

By the way, why would you not be able to submit until the day after... and perhaps you will finish early enough to submit early instead of late?

All the best to everyone!

Cat

I have my own tale of wonder and woe...

I've been randomly selected for jury duty starting April 25th. This may turn out to be trivial in terms of commitment, but one never really knows until it happens. The timing is not great for this since that is the week you all will have submitted your films for review. *sigh* I don't expect any time conflicts, but this is a bit extraordinary!

Cat

I guess it's a plus to be married to an attorney. No jury duty. I guess they figure you know too much about the law or something. But I'd love to be on a jury.

Dark and gloomy for the week and weekend here.

Had my film idea before the theme even came out so I'm going to try and make the idea fit the theme. Might be disaterous who knows. Have to find my music track first to set the mood.

Hey Trond:

Since you have informed us ahead of time that you cannot submit until the day after the deadline, and it is so close to the deadline, then their is grace for you friend and you should still be able to compete with the others.

By the way, why would you not be able to submit until the day after... and perhaps you will finish early enough to submit early instead of late?

All the best to everyone!

Cat
Thank you Catherine, I really appreciate.
I'll be up in the mountains away from internet access during Easter.

How early I can finish depends a lot of when my new toy arrives, but I'll try my best to make something before Easter.

Well I drove about an hour and a half to get what is my most essential footage. I got to the access road and this is what I found.

It kind of puts a dampener on my whole plan, kinda breaks the heart!

Ouch! Sorry, Dale. Looks like that’s the no-access road.

I’ve run into a temporary scheduling problem and so far only have shots of one of my subjects standing stock-still and looking extremely bored.

Trond- What camera did you get?

Hey Dale...

Can you help me out here? I can be really slow at times :).

You found ..... no road? no animals? no sun? no girls sunbathing on a beach? too much snow?

Whatever it was that was disappointing never gets you down for long. We know you too well!

Cat

Ah, Mike beat me to it to clarify. So, you can't snowshoe along what should be the access road?

Cat,Mike,

I can always find animals, we know most by name at this point, eg. "The door Jam Buck", "Moby Dick" the grouse, etc.

Trying to get something more interesting than my usual stuff, and then actually tying it into the theme so it actually makes sense, Now that is another story.

To be honest, right now is about as ugly a time here as you get, Dirty snow, Mud, Hazey skies, shaggy animals.

Yes light exposes the ugly as well as the beautiful, but I doubt anyone could win a video contest doing that!!! LOL!!!

Trond- What camera did you get?
Canon XF300 :)
Still waiting for UPS to deliver my baby from B&H.
Hopefully they soon agree with themselves about delivery date.
Crossing my fingers for tomorrow. (that's the 3. date UPS has told me)
Off to Sweden early next week for the PAL-upgrade. Thankfully Canon agreed to perform the service in one day while I am waiting.

Great theme Catherine.
I cant help thinking about it, though my focus should be on my exam next week.
Still I think I need to write manus this time. It seem too difficult without one.
Hope to see the light ;)

All the best on your exam Geir!

We are thrilled you have decided to enter in this round and take up the challenge, even with your academic demands.

Here's to your success on both!

Cat

While I have altered my theme for obvious reasons, I was out for 5 hours yestereday and got some beautiful footage. It appears the new glasses are helping!!! I am going to keep things simple this round.
Not sure if I even want to do a voice over.

rule 11 is really prevailing today. I got my opening shot and did not even have to wear a Parka!!!

I had a good day today. I got some actual behaviour instead of just static shots. I met a young woman who volunteered to help out by wrangling critters. It’s so unusual to meet someone willing to just drop what they are doing and help a stranger, especially when it involves crawling on hands and knees in the mud! I haven’t been able to review the footage yet, but I think I got what I need and some of it might be nice. I just hope some of it is in focus! I need new glasses too!

Hi guys:

This post is a tale of woe but not entirely appropriate here on a film making thread. We are however lovers of wildlife, so I'd just thought I'd let you know in case you haven't picked up on this yet (here in the U.S.) and give you a link to where you can find out more about it if you wish outside of the UWOL forum.

The last-minute budget deal agreed to by Congressional leaders on Friday night will strip endangered species protection from gray wolves across most of the Northern Rockies.

To find out more about it go to NRDC: Natural Resources Defense Council - The Earth's Best Defense (http://www.nrdc.org/)

Cat

OK, then I have written my manuscript, and I am happy with it.
Haven't got time for any shooting yet, but I hope to do so next week.
Also that I can shoot something (anything) that'll fit my manuscript.
Weather forecast is not good for the next days at my place, but I hope the sun will show up.
Wish I had some more sparetime left, but I'll guess it's a part of being an uwoler, haha,
always running out of time.
Hope evryone is doing fine and got their plans running :)

There, now I have my camera upgraded to PAL in addition to NTSC. Finally I can begin to think about what the camera is supposed to do, shoot film.
My brain, please turn your creative thoughts on. I need to come up with something good this time.

Tronde,

while you are racking your brain for ideas you should work on a preset that will enrich your shots a bit. Canons come stcok a bit on the flat side with the idea of doing the rest in post. I personally like to have my cameras shoot as close to the end result as possible. Just a thought.

Dale, I agree with you. I want it as good as it can be right out of the camera.
Since you also are a Canon user, any tips/basic guide lines you could share?

Tomorrow will be a day with trials, hopefully not too many errors, and learn as much as I can about the camera.
Maybe that will be the theme for my entry: "Will I see the light?" :)
Rule 11 is definitely with me.

Having a hard time concentrating and focusing.
All I think about is getting my online biz up and running. So, I start thinking about the theme and the next thing you know I'm mind mapping my guide or working on SEO for my content.

Been out shooting, just not excited about Iowa at this time of year.

Hi Kevin:

So can you find a way to wrap the theme up in your new online business? Produce something that's actually for your business first, that just happens to relate in some new angle to the UWOL theme second.

I'd say go with the flow. If that is where your energies are focused right now, then capitalize on that momentum. But if we can put our creative thoughts together, hopefully we can come up with a way to tackle both at once? Don't think of it as shooting for UWOL, think of it as shooting for your business but you get to premiere it to the UWOL community first!

Cat

Going from SD to HD video isn't supposed to be easy, or is it?
All of a sudden, Premiere Pro does not play my cineform avi files anymore. So until that issue is sorted out, I can't even edit any footage. (My Premiere CS3 is to old to handle the native mxf files from the camera).

Oh well, still many days until the deadline. Have to be optimistic until the last second.

Hope all of you are doing well!

Hi Trond:

If you have compatibility issues, you might want to try using Squared 5 Mpeg Streamclip software.

It's free and takes just about every film codec and converts to just about any film codec.

You can check it out here:

Squared 5 - MPEG Streamclip video converter for Mac and Windows (http://www.squared5.com/)

I use it all the time. My HD camera saves as .TOD files which are unusable in Adobe After Effects, etc. Using this conversion software is part of my routine.

Worth a try anyway.

Cheers,

Cat

Thanks Catherine, as you say, it is worth a try.

Hi Trond. Sorry you are having problems. My switch to HD wasn't smooth either. I also recommend Mpeg Steamclip. I used it until I upgraded to CS5 and didn't need to anymore. Other than the editing problems, how is the new camera working out?

Ok, its mid april and it has been snowing all day andmay continue through the weekend, UUUgggg!

When I moved here in 1980, also mid April, there were dust devils blowing across the dirt fields!!!

Will be going an hour away tomorrow for some finishing shots, Joy, Joy!!!

I have the script written, wil likly build it in the morning.

We are having fun with this one, and I even have a couple shots I really like!!



Hope you all are holding to rule 11!!!!!!

Mike,

Which settings do you use for MPEG Streamclip? Are you on windows or mac?
I am trying out all the different ones, and it appears that no matter what I use, it degrades the image quality more or less.

Still trying to figure out why Cineform (NeoHD) all of a sudden stopped cooperating. That's a big mystery.

But the camera itself is amazing. It's rule 11 all the way when I'm using it....
(Until it's time to edit, for now)

Tronde,

No doubt many of the presets will be the same: this should give you something to tinker with.



Dale’s rich preset

Gamma 2 Knee L Black P Ped 2 Set -1 Sharpness 1
HDF M DHV 0 Cor 1 NR1 0 Nr 2 m CMX 2
Cgn 3 CPH 1 RGN 0 GGN 0 BGN 0 RGM 1
RBM 1 GRM 0 GBM 0 BRM 0 BGM 0


I tinkered with this to bring my Sony and my Xlh1 to be as close as possible.

As you know, I prefer more saturated colors.

I am off in a bit to get my final shots.

It is about + 12 / about 50 F, prretty nice really, chances for snow the next two days though!!! LOL



My cineform HD Link is not working either, weird!!!!

Will work on that tomorrow I reckon. always something, eh??

Dale

Thank you, Dale!

I will try your presets, and also a few other presets I found when I searched google.

I still have lots of trouble with the NeoHD.
Posted in the Cineform forum, and filed trouble ticket. Still no answers.

So you also have trouble with HDLink? I noticed one other over in the Cineform forum reported the same a few days ago.

Good luck with your filming! I look forward to see what you come up with this time.

I managed to get the majority of my remaining footage this morning but I missed a crucial shot which will tie the other stuff I’ve been doing together. Oh, well. Back to the “salt mines”.(well… sort of…)

Trond- I ran Mpeg Streamclip on Windows XP Media Edition. I used it to convert AVCHD files so I could edit with CS2. I’ve never used MXF files so I’m not sure my settings will be any help. I always had to use the Advanced settings and tweak the saturation and contrast. The sliders are very sensitive and just a little on either side of whatever turns out to be right will make poor files. After converting I always had to color correct and sharpen in Premier to make it look good. MS is just a temporary solution so you can edit something before the deadline. I’m still hoping Cineform comes through for you in time. I think it is your best bet in the long run. I wish this were more help.

good evening,

Well, I believe that I have all the shots I need to complete, If weather gets better and access makes it possible I will have two awesome shots to add, if not I will still be happy. I have had more laid back fun with this one than most. Today I had snow blowing on me at times.

Trond, wishing you luck in sorting out the editing problems. I want to see what that camera can produce ! My idea was to go out and get some good shots, well lit and focused which I did on the first and second day after the theme was announced. Now I have no idea what to do with them...maybe an abstract montage type of editing effect cut to classical music will do the trick.

Bill, the video straight out of the camera looks amazingly good in my eyes.
Still having a havoc with Cineform and Premiere. Not exactly sure which one of them is causing the trouble, as reinstalling everything did not make any difference.

So this round I'm the one having all the "woes" while the rest of you are supposed to do the "wonders" :)

I have seen the light :))

For some weird reason, Premiere now can play the Cineform avi files if I choose a XDCAM EX preset, but not if I use a Cineform preset.
Weird, right?

Anyway, seems like there might be a tiny little hope that I can make something for UC20 after all. Wohoo.
And off I go. No net (except for on my phone) until the day after the deadline...
From now on, it's all about rule 11. :)

Looking forward to see what you all can come up with. It's a bright tough theme.

Congratulations Trond! Good luck on your trip.

I had some fantastic good luck myself today. Not only did I get the shots I missed yesterday, I got two shots I never even thought would be possible. Once again another young lady helped me out. One subject is a critically endangered species (thankfully not legislatively delisted through malicious trickery) that, the last I had heard, had not even been seen in over twenty years. Apparently, they showed up again earlier this year and are being seen regularly. They have a very limited range and are only found in one specific spot. There are very few photos and I may have the only video so far. I will be going back after the deadline with different kit in an effort to get even better footage. Pretty exciting stuff! I need to shift gears now and start editing. I need to learn a new technique this time and I hope it doesn’t slow me down too much to finish.

I hope everyone is well and proceeding to plan. Best wishes.

Hey Mike:

What is it with these young ladies that seem to appear from nowhere in the Texan outback ready and waiting to be your assistant? ;-)

Your rare capture on film is quite exciting and I can't wait to see what it is.

I'm looking to upgrade soon to a new Mac and CS5 software. There really isn't a choice because everything is geared for Intel-Mac and thus upgrades to older software won't work on these new systems. How do you like it (the CS5, I mean)? I'm really excited to try it.

--------------
Nice job Trond, sticking with it and meeting the challenge.

I'm getting excited for your entries, everyone!

Cat

Hey Cat,
Are you switching to a Mac from a PC? If so, what was it that finally drove you over to the Dark Side?
Mac's are just so much more expensive to buy, and to repair or replace. I have just upgraded to CS5
myself, and find it pretty much the same as CS4, except with more latitude in types of formats it will accomodate. If you have a Mac, why didn't you go with Final Cut Pro?

Beats me, Cat, but I suspect it has a lot more to do with the subject and almost nothing to do with the guy behind the camera. I’m still pretty excited about that footage although it’s probably nothing exciting to look at. I can’t say more yet without revealing too much.

I really like CS5. It was a big step up for me from CS2. I had to build a new computer to run it and, although that wasn’t hard, I had more hiccups with the new hardware than I ever did with the software. There are only two things I don’t like. First, CS5.0 came with Soundbooth instead of Audition and it’s pretty cheesy in comparison. Second, they intend to extort a further $400 from me to upgrade to CS5.5- I find that seriously irritating. At least it comes with Audition…

Hi Steve:

I'm a Mac gal through and through. I have and use the Apple products like FCP, etc. but I'm an After Effects gal as well. AE is where my heart is. But of course, AE isn't sold anymore as a stand alone but is bundled in with all of the CS products. Adobe makes lots of money that way! So upgrading the Mac, means upgrading all the software that can run only on the Intel version of Mac and being forced to buy stuff I wouldn't otherwise buy. Ah, we live in a monopoly world n'est pas?

How's your new camera working out? Nice to have you pop in on the forum!

Hey Mike:

This is good info, thank you! As far as your suspicion that the interest has nothing to do with what's behind the camera, I think I will beg to differ on that one. I don't think us ladies are willing to crawl through the mud for just anyone! :)

I've said before that this is turning out to be the year for raptors here. It turns out that now a Bald Eagle pair have a nest in a cottonwood not far from our house. I'm hoping to attempt some footage later this week if I can. I'll keep you all posted!

Steve, I need you here for filming the female Northern Harrier who is still here! She is always in motion!

Cat

That’s exciting news about the eagles Catherine! I look forward to seeing some footage. Also, around here, areas which are frequented by Harriers by day generally have Short-eared Owls by night. They become active around dusk. It might be worth a look…

Good afternoon,

Well, I pretty much have a rap on it!! Being it is only 3 minutes I had to cut out all kinds of nice footage I would have liked to use.

Holding to Cats Challenge, I think this is likly the nicest piece I have put together.

I’m not through yet, but I can see light at the end of the tunnel! (Time is running out- got to get the last of these light jokes in now.) I’ve used the whole three minutes and let the credits run longer, as is allowed. The credits are an animation and I just hope our judge knows it’s OK…

Well, I've finished my exam and been out trying to get my script on tape.
Dale: there's a word I've seen been used by you, is it "darn"?
I'm not sure what it meens, but I think it fits my need of using it right now.
I have until tomorrow morning to get some last scenes on tape, but will I manage to do so, that's the big question?
Then I have to edit the hole crap and get it uploaded.
I've had snow, wind, rain and sunshine, so the weather is there, allright.
Still I have to get my object on tape. So far it's been mostly seagulls and it's not what I'm after.
Then yesterday I noticed that when I use the original lens (I have an Canon XLH1 camera) when focusing, the picture some kind of "goes" from side to side before it stands still. Maybe there is something wrong with the camera or the lens? Anybody have the same experience?
Hope all of you have been lucky and I'm longing to see your videos :)

Geir,

Few thoughts,

Set the flange setting Page 26 in manual)

Make sure image stabilaization is off.

Also, is it the view finder? if you have a fu 1000, pull it off and try the original and see.

I saw that a couple years back and do not remember what it was about. If your view finder is at fault I have a spare color one I could loan you.

Edit, I remembered, I had a fall in the snow banged down breaking the tripod head and also damaging the viewfinder. I no longer carry them attached over the shoulder!!


dale

Geir,

Few thoughts,

Set the flange setting Page 26 in manual)

Make sure image stabilaization is off.

Also, is it the view finder? if you have a fu 1000, pull it off and try the original and see.

I saw that a couple years back and do not remember what it was about. If your view finder is at fault I have a spare color one I could loan you.

Edit, I remembered, I had a fall in the snow banged down breaking the tripod head and also damaging the viewfinder. I no longer carry them attached over the shoulder!!


dale

Thank you Dale. I'll check it out tomorrow, now it's midnight over here :)
Hope you're doing well and I'm looking forward to see your contribution to this round of uwol.
I'll give a sign if it works.

Dale,
I know exactly what you are talking about. Some years ago I was carrying my Canon L2 (remember that one?) over my shoulder on a tripod when I felt the weight go away and heard a crash. It was smashed into a million little pieces. Since then I always anchor my camcorder with two screws, and attach the whole thing to the arm of the tripod with a short bungee cord. Can't wait to see what you have got this time.

Steve, Dale- Have you guys seen this?
Duckbill Outdoors | Heavy Optics Carrier (SPOC) (http://duckbilloutdoors.com/tmp_spoc.php)
It looks interesting. Sounds like Geir Inge's problem is specific to that lens.