Hope everyone is doing fine?
I (almost) always try to keep in mind our 4 min limit.
And it helps me to think in small terms, like there are 8 sequences each 0,5 min.
Tomorrow I wish for blue sky to get a glimpse og the solar eclipse. The weather forecast is not too promissing.
Bye for now.

I got the beginning and the end of my film. Now I just need everything in between, and a new idea for a good story.
The hard part: It will all have to be different locations and seasons.

Geir Inge, seems like we are hoping for the same. Trying to convince the weather gods that the forecasted rain and cloudy weather should be delayed.
Sun is supposed to be 93% blocked on mainland Norway.

Well, Mick got it in one. I’m trying to warn against falling into the trap of thinking that it [music video] is easy. I find it anything but so. I’m also trying to Challenge those thinking about doing this to try and take it to the next level.


Aw gee Mike - that's not nice - and to think I have a music video in the bag already. I have no tolerance for music videos either but I do have such pretty images . . . . and I always talk too much . . . so just for once . . . maybe . . .

Actually I would far rather see a music video here than no video at all!! I know it can be equally hard to do a narration especially for new-comers, besides we have had some beautiful music videos here.

Mmmm . . . I smell a challenge here.

My apologies, Marj. I am trying to be nice about this. Perhaps I should make this explicit statement. This is entirely my own opinion and I fully recognize and support the fact that everyone is entitled to have and express their own opinions to the contrary. I also would rather see a music based video posted rather than no video. I do recognize that some music videos are exceptionally good. I think my own problem with them (with regards to the UWOL Challenge specifically) stems directly from the great amount of pride I have felt in what I perceived to be a fact- that the quality of the UC videos has been steadily improving over time. A sudden flurry of interest in music videos (which were much more common here in the past) in some ways feels to me like moving backwards. Obviously, I need to stop worrying about a “problem” that hasn’t actually presented itself yet and may never do so.

A challenge, hmmm? Perhaps I should challenge myself to make a music video…

HaHa - Now that is what I like to hear! You're on Mike (and Kevin!) and anyone else considering dropping out - a music video is your challenge! :)

Oops - nearly forgot Mike - better get yourself out of the shark tank fast before those sharks make a meal of you!

Woke up to cloudy sky and it means I'm not able to shoot the solar eclipse.
It's taking place right now and will be about 94% at my place and 100% on Svalbard, around 11 am.
The weather forecast say it will be shiny weather from 3 pm, but that's a little bit too late :(
Parts of Europe are being treated with two another celestial events this Friday: a supermoon and the spring equinox, when night and day are of equal duration.
Maybe I'm lucky to shoot the super moon tonight?

I have a question to you folks and Trond:
As for now, I'm taking pictures from national TV (NRK) which has direct transfer from Svalbard and the eclipse. Is it possible for me to use a picture that I take of this TV event?

Unfortunately not Geir. You will have to get permission from the owner of that footage.

Going back to the music video discussion - one of the problems noted by Mick is that the shots need to be lined up very accurately with the beat of the music.

Now even if you are not doing a music video per se, here is one way to do it: Drop your music into your timeline; add a marker to the first beat of each bar of the music as it plays by tapping on the asterisk key. (Your 'marker' shortcut key may be different for your NLE but just do a search for it. I work in Premiere Pro.)

This is a simple and accurate method (if you can keep time) albeit a bit tedious to tap to the beat of the music for three or four minutes.

Now adjust your shots so the beginning of each is on one of the markers.

Unfortunately not Geir. You will have to get permission from the owner of that footage.....

Perhaps I should have clarified the issue a bit.
I am aware of how copyright works and if I use another person's property, it is my duty to ensure lawful use.
My concern does not apply to copyright, but rather the rules of Uwol.
I mean to use a photo, or clip from TV, to convey something in a larger context.
This will also be an indoor photo.

Ok then, this time I have had to change my plans and script several times.
Hope you all have your hands full and doing fine with your respective Uwol33 projects?

Export Settings

This is interesting , i really went up and down the forum and searched answers to HD export settings from around 2009 onwards and it seems the question is right, what are best export settings from Premiere Pro/ CC/ FCP. However the answers to this are as ambiguous as anything i have ever seen. Guess this is part they teach at film school and tell the students , if you share this we will cancel your degree.

Not sure why this is so, i do understand this. It may just be that everyone would be finding their own best settings and then keeping it to their heart.

Believe me this is same all over on the Net too not restricted to this site.

i find it very interesting.

vishal

Here you go Vishal,
This should help.
https://vimeo.com/help/compression
On the right hand side of the page are all the tutorials for compression settings for pretty much all the nle's.
Regards,
Bryce

I’m sorry, Vishal. In my earlier comment I foolishly assumed that you had already seen the page that Bryce just gave you the link to. What I was saying is that I follow those guidelines and if I don’t like the results I tend to increase the data rate. The settings here are recommendations not limits. The tutorials only go up to CS5 but procedure hasn’t changed much since then. Note that by default Premier tends to set keyframes a bit farther apart than recommended by Vimeo. If you have questions about any specific settings do be sure to let us know.

I don’t think anyone around here has been to film school! (yet) ;)

Mike,
I did see the Vimeo settings as they were shared in the last challenge .

Guess my question is what is the base broadcast ready settings used by people. Say we record at 100 mbits or 200 mbits and render out in 5 mbits (vimeo) simply degrading the quality by 20 times or so.
This is the reason why i wanted to understand what is that we use for broadcast.

Sorry for my question being mis-leading.

vishal

I have a question to you folks and Trond:
As for now, I'm taking pictures from national TV (NRK) which has direct transfer from Svalbard and the eclipse. Is it possible for me to use a picture that I take of this TV event?
Sorry, didn't notice this one until now.

Are you talking about a single frame or a sequence from the tv show?
A single frame you haven't shot yourself (tv or from other sources) would probably be fine for UWOL, as it would be to illustrate something in your film.
This has been done a few times in the past, if my memory is correct.
(If copyright issues permits)

Taking a sequence from tv is a very dark grey zone regarding both copyright rules and the UWOL idea itself. Anyone better than me on the copyright rules on this one probably can help you there.

We don't have any rules that specific covers this, but we have "previous shot footage", which is meant to be things you have filmed yourself.

The idea with UWOL is that everything should be what you have produced yourself.

In the past Mereym allowed some brief use of public domain material on a case by case basis. If this is still to be allowed, within a couple of days imagery is likely to be posted online under Creative Commons license if past eclipses are anything to go by. What about using a shot taken by Geir Inge of himself in front of the television with the news report on the screen in the background? A grey area indeed. I doubt we have any experts here on Norge copyright law.

Vishal- Broadcast settings are another thing entirely. Each broadcaster will have its own requirements. It would be a good idea to learn the specific requirements of each broadcaster you hope or expect to work with. The BBC requirements and PBS Redbook are both linked here somewhere on DVInfo. A search may find them. In general, I think 50 Mbs is going to be about the minimum data rate for non news reporting broadcast. There will also be other settings to consider. You might ask a question over in the “Open DV Discussion” subforum where DVInfo members used to routinely dealing with broadcast are more likely to see it. Also, you might send an e-mail to Mat Thompson. He’s a really nice guy and has a lot more broadcast experience than the other UWOLers.

What about using a shot taken by Geir Inge of himself in front of the television with the news report on the screen in the background?
This would in my opinion be within the UWOL guidelines, as it would be made for the challenge.

Thanks for the input to my question about using an indoor image of TV broadcast.
I'll see what I end up with, in the end.

Here on my part of the world, the weather has changed as rapidly as some changes his shirt.
Which leads to that I constantly have to change my plans - still, I'm not complaining :)
On the contrary, the whole process is a bit exciting, because it is constantly changing.
Coming two days promise cloudless sky, so maybe there will be opportunity for good shooting.
I have behind me two trips to the toad habitat, unfortunately without result.
Think I need to contact someone who has knowledge of the toads, maybe I can get some good advice.

A little late out of the starting gates again this round. The better weather days we had I was sick for, and whilst I was capable of venturing out I didn't want to prolong illness. Maybe I'm not suffering for the art enough. And a couple of other chances was back muscles giving me a headache and lugging around the camera with tripod wasn't going to happen.

I did manage a recce (scouting trip) to the national park and ventured onto a track I'd never taken before. It's not the recommended walking track but an access trail (park management and fire access) but not prohibited either - although it felt a bit rebellious taking it at first. Started out gentle but had a decent amount of vertical later on. Got some photos of a wallaby whilst ascending, before it got spooked. Also got a couple of snaps of a female lyrebird (really want to get a male) returning. Could hear the grunts of a Koala on the early parts of the trail, but couldn't see which tree it was in.

What I did find, back on the regular trail, was a couple of mounds just off the track that look like a lyrebird made them - not sure how recent they are, but the scratching on the edge of the trails nearby looked recent. Hopefully if I get there early one of these mornings and wait, it might show itself for a little while. Or maybe I'll fluke something else that's active at twilight. Might be an 11th hour (put together at the final few days) entry.

Thanks Mike.

I have been travelling for some days now, not really looking for the footage of this current film but to just scout for places, this was more of a photography trip rather than any videos .

Today i will combine the video with the audio track and see where i am and what all needs to change , this time around i may again try and upload early if all goes well.

Andrew,
In the Monsoon series of BBC i saw a shot of the Red Kangaroos back lit in Golden light very magical feel to it. Remember a shot in a older documentary of these running late evening against the setting sun was a shot which made me look at it again and again. I am excited to see your entry would surely be interesting one.

Looking ahead to see every bodies entries this time around.

vishal

Just wanna give my comments to subject of music video.
Music is nearly always used in the intro and at the end of a programme/video/film.
If you use music in the rest of the video, I think is up to personal taste.
However, many people do feel that wildlife films should have no music, just the natural sounds from animals and the original recordings. And we are after all a group of wildlife filmmakers, I guess?
Still, most of wildlife videos do have music in it - just to fill the silences if needed to, or to match the mood or build a drama.
I ask myself: Why would I make a video?
The answer for me is given; I will tell a story.
A story can be told with just pictures and music, but the mood of the music must fit the images.
Only then the viewer will be given the opportunity to understand the story, when the pictures and the music tells the same story. This requires good skills.
Personally I am of the opinion that a wildlife video should have music, original sound, a storyteller, and if necessary foley sound. Sound is often underestimated in our videos.
As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I always try when I make videos: To think in small sequences, even when we are talking about a small videos on 2-4 minute.
Lets say a sequence is 20 to 30 sec, that way it will be easier for me to merge a story.
A wildlife video is often about an animal, a group of animals or a landscape area, such as the habitat of an animal.
For me, this is what it's about. To tell a story about our nature, convey the dangers of pollution and how we can take care of biodiversity.
Actually, take care of each other :)

Geir Inge,

Thats so very well put together.
Today i included the music track to the video and felt that it had a lot missing, then thought of adding the elements that make up the environment where we shoot, so the sounds that we hear when we are shooting.
This made me add sounds that depicted the moment, linked sequence and later looked at the complete piece and it made more sense.
Guess after this experience i feel that the music really is there to form a underline binder to the full video, intensity or pitch may define it being active or passive in certain parts of the film, The visuals have the first priority for me, second comes the natural sounds in the area of shoot, then comes music score.
Since i am so very new to this world of film making i absolutely dont have the confidence in narration at the moment, however i feel that narration in itself is so powerful if rightly used that i can tell the required story.
So when i get confidence to use Narration i may reduce the 3rd element of Music score .
Till then it will be a integral part.
vishal

First entry is uploaded. Well done!
Will we get two digit uploads this time... Hope all do well. Still plenty time until deadline.

Hi Vishal.
Nice to hear your project is moving forwards.
In uwol history (correct me anyone if I'm wrong) many types of videos has been shown.
Videos with music, videos with music and foley sound and text or narration and videos where you can get a friend to read the text.
I can mention a few that have delivered great videos: Kevin Railsback, Ruth Happel, Per Johan, Mat Thompson, Catherine Russel and many more.
I wish these videos could be found, it's great learning just watching them and showing we have many opportunities making wildlife videos.

I need to upload my video tonight, tomorrow I will travel with my wife on Easter holidays to Bergen (Tronds hometown).
I look forward to seeing all the entries.

Ahh finally completed it.

Ready to upload

vishal

Hi Trond,

I was unable to reach you by e-mail. Would you publish the upload code here?

Steve Siegel
rm4birds@yahoo.com

Steve, email is sent to you with upload username/pw.

8 entries uploaded, including my unofficial one.
Will be published in about 5 hours.

I forgot about this topic again .. I hope next time I don't for it's part of the uwol experience :)

I try to make up with a a short story of my "plan."

When the theme was announced my first thought was; "nice, time to make some eye candy"
Then I thought "weather, clouds, freezing cold on my bicycle to go places were my toes will freeze and hang around for 1,5 hour ... this is serious".
So I checked the cloud radar on the internet very often since then and whenever I had time and the conditions where looking promising I dressed up with 2 pants, a shirt, 2 sweater, a jacket, warm socks, gloves and went out.
The plan developed to having sort of a diptych with about 1,30m morning and 1,30m evening, where in the morning I wanted to film deer and hare, and in the evening the water birds, + a timelapse of sunrise and sunset to introduce the parts.
In total I was able to get out 5 times in the morning, seeing deer every time I arrived, but, in spite of hours of waiting, didn't get them in front of my camera .. need to change my tactics here...
I was able to film a bit of hare and some lovely birds and scenery.
6 evenings I have been out to shoot water birds and as always they were there to be filmed.
First day I forgot my memory card :( Only 2 days had a sunset without clouds blocking the sun half the time. On the other hand, a sky with clouds and a setting sun can get really magical.
This theme was/is very interesting for you have a possible time frame of about 3 hours a day, and you rely on the weather conditions. But when things get right it's just stunning.
The editing workstation I use is at my friends place and I planned to start editing a week before the deadline, I started 2 days late, first selecting the shots and pre rendering them to HD (Cropping, panning/tilting and zooming the lumix "4k" footage). Unfortunately the guy was ill and wasn't able to give me feedback on what I was doing, like he did with my first edit.
Even worse, the second day I went there his appendix ruptured about 10 minutes before I came in and had to get him hospitalized immediately. Surgery same night, still in hospital ...
Still I wanted to finish this job and I'm glad I did.

I am amazed by all the entries, there are so much wonderful shots and productions!
Golden hour ... the best things in life are for free? (as are the worst things)

Dear Steve, Andrew, Martijn and Trond.
Usually I use to give my comments regardless of what others have said.
This time, I must unfortunately make an exception, because I run out of time and I have to prioritize my job and my sick and elderly father.
I've seen all the videos, up to several times.
You who have not received my comments, I apologize so much to all four of you.
I always start at the top of the list and work my way down.
This does not mean that your film who have not received my feedback is bad, quite the contrary.
They are pretty good.
Again, I apologize so much.
I will try to do better next time.

Sorry to hear about you father Geir. Perfectly understandable that you focus on the essential things in life.
Your dedication (and feedback) is always appreciated, but don't feel that you've let anyone down. You've given us lots in previous rounds, going above and beyond the call of duty, and you always strive to be fair to everyone in that regard.

I hope things improve, and that we get to see another Norwegian adventure in round 34. Maybe you'll get to see the toads, it just might not match the theme.

I am reediting my film and cut nearly 26 seconds of it, kinda difficult as to how much to to cut.

How to be ruthless with this ?

vishal