The good, the bad, and everything in between about the making of your UWOL 34 entries.
Bring the stories.

Good luck everyone, and pay special attention to the important rule 11, HAVE FUN!

Well so far I have not had to get down onto the ground to film. I went out on Saturday to find out what was possible and came home with some useful shots of birds and insects busy on the ground. I did not go with a story or shot list so I'm not sure if I will use them or not. We are in autumn now so some of the more useful birds for this theme are no longer breeding - like the bee-eaters, swallows and kingfishers.

I am going to have a look around my back yard to see what I can find there because I have an idea beginning to germinate - no pun intended. Work will restrict my time a lot this round so I want to do something very simple.

I do hope that you will find your migrating toads for this challenge Geir - would fit perfectly with this theme!

Martin - if I lived at the coast I would definitely look for subject matter on the beach too - will be very interesting to see what you come up with.

Well, I have a plan of sorts for a very down to earth subject. Not quite shot list, but at least a start to get a story in a semblance of order.

Now to get to work! Lots of luck and inspiration for all this round.

I am as currently without a plan, which means the long drive is essential .

Theme this time around is more specific then general hence i would again scout for species that may fit in the theme. Currently its the peak of summers here in India and temperatures are soaring at 40 and 42 C which means that there is something in the field of my interest .

https://scontent-arn.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/s720x720/1521839_10152672375474050_8911999974619040595_n.jpg?oh=6bb4b70e2fab892f23ed957523a5fbea&oe=55DF82E2

This image was made last year, so let me see if i can manage to get some footage of these guys around now, tomorrow out on the first drive to find them .

I am looking forward to the Toads of Geir Inge

vishal

Wow Vishal - I hope you find them they look amazing. I would certainly like to know more about those strange creatures.

I was wrong about the swallows by the way. Was visiting a site today that I knew had a couple of Greater Swallow nests which I thought might come in useful somewhere in my story. While I was filming the nest, and to my surprise, an adult bird flew into the nest and after a period of noisy greetings left the brood for more food. A bonus - if I can fit it in. :)

Not this challenge I know but I though you would like to know what happened to the long tailed tits I filmed for the last challenge. They successfully raised a brood that fledged yesterday. I believe the number of chicks exceeded 9 young (difficult to count exactly). The attached clip (one clip in real time not cut or added too) shows the parents feeding the young, but the first bird feeding them is probably one of last years young. Its well documented that other long tailed tits assist with feeding at the nest.
Long tailed tits feeding young at nest on Vimeo

Mick,
That's really nice to see a follow up from a previous challenge. Not often that happens.
Thanks for sharing.

Vishal,
I hope you find that colorful animal. Would be fun to learn more about that exotic creature.

Mick,

Nice to see the chicks feeding.


Interesting that climate variation is hampering every chance of the shoot. We have had rains, the lizards need high temperatures for their display, they tend to display on a small rock and have a hole right under it to retreat in case of any danger in the air, the rains for few days has left the holes filled with water at most of the places which has made the lizards abandon the places, did try and got only a few individuals however none of them displaying, the colour is seen but the flamboyant display is missing. On these rocky outcrops the season brings breeding of the lizards and a crested lark. Unseasonal rains helped me with my first challenge as it gave me lot of water shots is now playing a spoil sport .

Managed some footage but i am not finding it interesting at all , will keep trying.

cheers
vishal

Hi to you all.
Wow, that lizard is something else. Hope you find them and best of luck to you Vishal.
Thank you for uploading the feeding sequence, Mick.

I have not been able to shoot enough material yet, still some days to go. I have been one short trip to the bird island of Runde and got a glimpse of the puffin, and one trip to the Austefjord where the toads have their residence. I'm leaving next weekend to stay one week at Crete/Greece, so hopefully I'll manage to shoot something up coming weekend. I have 2 ideas for this round and one of them includes the puffins and the other one includes some famous toads. We'll see what happens when I get down to earth ;)

...to stay one week at Crete/Greece..
Hike the Samaria gorge if it is open and weather permits. And bring your camera!
It's a spectacular scenery.

Well, I had a fairly good idea straight of the bat; there are a couple of troops of monkeys close by I have been looking for an excuse to film for ages. One is a group of Colobus (who are arboreal), and the other a group of Vervet's (who are terrestrial & arboreal). Its understood that most monkeys started off as arboreal creatures, but changing factors led to them coming 'down-to-earth' so to speak, and over time this led to evolutionary changes in the species, bipedalism in humans possibly being one such result. This probably would have been the most traditionally wildlife orientated film I would have had for UWOL, as I usually veer off in a more human direction.

However, the preamble to the theme sort of threw a spanner in that idea, so I went back to the drawing board to come up with a more 'earthy' theme in the literal sense. I think I may have an idea that will work, but I will have to start investigating it fully next week to see if its doable in the time left, the challenge being that it involves a lengthy process that can't be rushed.

In one sense this idea would work out better for me as it sort of fits with my ongoing ascetic dogma for film work. Time will tell....

Hike the Samaria gorge if it is open and weather permits. And bring your camera! It's a spectacular scenery.

Thanks for the tip, Trond.
My wife and I have been several times in Crete, it is a great island.
We have never gone through the Samaria Gorge and it remains to be seen whether we do it this time, although we both love hiking.
I can never go anywhere without my second companion, (read: the camera) haha.

When it comes to Uwol 34, I am on shaky ground.
That means I have come to a point where I have to make choices. I have two main options, puffins or toads.
No matter which of the two I choose, I'm missing some sequences and I wish I had some more time to dispose.
I have been 2 trips to the bird island Runde and 3 trips to Austefjord (toad countries), yet I have not filmed everything that I wanted.
I have to work a bit on it and see how this ends.
I'm not so fond of the shark tank, you see.

Hope everyone is doing well and working with great Uwol videos.
It is a challenging and great theme, so I'm really excited to see your videos.

Did a little filming of "this and that" at ground level over the weekend, hoping a suitable idea will pop up soon. The initial idea turned out to be no idea after all. Over to plan B.

Good to see some ideas are turning into films around the globe.
Good luck everyone, and have fun!

Finally have kind of an idea for my film.
Not sure if it adheres to the preamble but I haven't put together a film in so long I'm really not worried if it doesn't.
The more I think about it the more it really isn't going to take place at ground level but I'm ok with that. I figure if it comes down to following the preamble and not making a film or making a film that doesn't follow the preamble, I'll make the film. :)

That's funny Kevin, I had the same thought just an hour ago.
I saw this video: http://www.dumpert.nl/mediabase/6654542/9378b833/vetste_knikkerbaan_van_nederland.html
and got inspired. I went to the forum and reassured myself of the theme and thought, I should settle for not concentrating on the ground itself, but the things that live of it. A story with soil as a foundation perhaps.
I nearly decided to skip this round but now .. still 20 days left .. let's make something!

Martijn,

What's the worst that can happen? Everyone says we didn't follow the intent of the theme?

Otherwise I guess I could plant a corn seed sandwiched between two pieces of glass and make a four minute film of the roots spreading through the dirt.

If I can make my film it will be because of what happens at ground level but not all be shot at ground level.

Well I am with you too Kevin (and Martjin). I think that the theme works best when its left entirely to the discretion of the contestant. At the sake of repetition, I would say that in the past there would be literal interpretations of the theme, as well as more allegorical or metaphorical interpretations, and the contest was all the more interesting because of it. You never knew what people were going to come up with.

Down-to-earth is an expression in the English language, meaning pragmatic, and it could also be interpreted in other ways (such as arboreal creatures coming down to earth, or airborne creatures). From the extreme sport side it could be interpreted as any kind of landing, from kitesufers, or paragliders. For the time-lapse aficionados it could be used for meteor showers etc. For the drone guys it could have been a goldmine of ideas.

However the preamble (and subsequent discussions about it in the theme thread) made it clear that the theme was to be funnelled down to a more literal interpretation, at ground level, in the soil etc. So, the preamble has been one of my woes this round, rather than a wonder, but I'll try to work with it.

But as you say Kevin, its better to make a film that skirts the theme rather than make none at all. My last UWOL entry went that way (flew too wide of the theme), but ended up being one of my most popular non-professional videos afterwards.

Guess i am still going with the literal interpretation and sticking to the ground level as possible, few days of dry spells has given me better time in the field.
Not sure if i have the shots that i need but may be will start editing and then figure out the missing shots and again scout for them if possible.

Hopefully this plan works

vishal

Ahh Got some footage and lost the story , interesting

Currently i am with decent footage but absolute zero on the story line, now thats a big problem.

Guess i need to take a break and leave the project as it is for a week and then re look at it, may get a idea of how i can do it.

Does any one face such a issue, i was so intent on getting footage that traveled a lot and got footage, and in the act lost what i wanted to make. Guess thats why the commercial films have all jobs segregated, story, script, editing, cinematography, etc.

currently lost somewhere .....................

It is not unusual to lose the original story along the way or even to have to abandon it outright because something expected either didn’t happen at all or it happened in a manner not expected. There is still lots of time. My problem has been that I got a late start (We have had an unusual amount of rain and my field work contracts ran longer than anticipated.) When I did get started I did not have any story idea. I just started shooting to see what I could come up with as Kevin outlined in the start up thread. Although I have collected some clips that might fit the theme it wasn’t working for me. I didn’t have any idea how to fit the footage together much less tell a story. I was uncomfortable because I’m usually- “The story is the plan. Plan the shoot. Shoot the plan.” Then I use the nuggets from the type of footage I have been getting so far as B-roll for the story. The problem was that I had no story and no idea for one. It was looking like the Shark Tank for me it seemed. -- Then I had a strange encounter in the dark. No doubt I will relate it in full in my feedback thread if I get that far. The upshot is that I now have an idea of how to connect my disparate footage together and tell a story. Now to figure out if I can make the story interesting. It will require a good bit more shooting but, as I said, still lots of time. The main thing is don’t anyone give up because it isn’t going smoothly. Inspiration can come when least expected.

Same here, Mike. I have shot a few things, and hopefully I will be able to use it whenever a bright idea show up.

Sometimes during previous challenges I have finally got an idea just hours before deadline, and still managed to deliver. It can be done.

Still plenty time until deadline.
(Next time the theme won't be directed as detailed as this one.)

Goodness! the things that don't go on at ground level! Wow.

Good to hear things are progressing for some. Really looking forward to seeing the videos this round.

I have been rushing around trying to finish 2 short films for another competition (the Rode Reel film competition that was advertised here), but it finally came together.

If you'd like to help out a fellow UWOL'er then please go and vote for me (through Facebook or if you have a Rode microphone account) and even watch the 2 videos:

Soundcheck - The Remix #?MyRodeReel? (http://www.rode.com/myrodereel/watch/entry/246)

Meanwhile, I am back on track with this project - I have a shoot scheduled on this Thursday morning to see if I can get a grip on the story. Its an interesting, natural, and very earthy story, if only I can figure out how to tell it...

Simon,

The video is nice , voted.


I am still finding my story.

vishal

Thanks Vishal, appreciate it.

Filmed some more footage early this morning, have another shoot scheduled this Saturday, hopefully that will be enought to provide for the story.

I'm aiming for something very minimalistic here though...

Voted for you, Simon - I think.
Hit the yellow "vote" button, and then nothing happend as far as I could see.
Good luck anyway!

Wish you all the best Simon!

My story took quite a dramatic turn on Saturday when I was busy scrounging around looking for supporting footage for my original story.

Thankfully I now have my rough cut laid out. (I wasn't sure I would manage to finish an entry this round - just goes to show.)

Well, my plan A didn't come off, mainly due to time pressures, and I arrived in the UK yesterday evening for a visit my family, (armed only with a very minimal camera kit), so now to formulate a plan B, find a location, and get something done.
Still plenty of time......

Also voted Simon - I enjoyed the film too.

I am not sure this time around i may be able to finish , or land up in the Shark tank.

As i reviewed my footage i have something missing and now can't get it, can i request to use exact 2 seconds of footage filmed in April 2015. Not sure i will have it in during my final edit if i do one but i feel it may be helpful.

As of now i have completely lost track of this and getting worried.

vishal

Hi Vishal - You may use previously shot footage as per this rule:

"Previously shot footage, as long as it is a minor part, for educational or illustrative purposes, was shot by yourself, and not the main story/feature of your entry, is permissible. The use of this footage must be declared in your feedback thread."

By way of encouragement - I have a suggestion that may help regarding your story. Don't lock yourself into one idea or one angle only. Try to find other things with which your lizard is associated in its environment and pad your story with those things like you did for your fox film.

You could read up about the lizard, if you haven't already, so you know what shots to look out for and film. Keep your story short if necessary. You don't have to make a four minute film! Do a one minute film if that's all you can pull together. The main thing is to finish something.

Also if your story is short why not use the opportunity to do a narration this time. Tell us briefly about your subject - basically what is going on (or not going on) in your story. Just work with what you have and at least learn how to do something along the way despite the challenges you have. :)

Thanks,

Was going to use the footage of a kestrel, they migrated back this month so no footage is gonna be available now, however now decided to drop it.

Let me see if i can come up without it.

vishal

...can i request to use exact 2 seconds of footage filmed in April 2015. Not sure i will have it in during my final edit if i do one but i feel it may be helpful.
Yes, this is within the rules.

Rules 5:
5. Material – Material must be original and shot for the purpose of being judged in the current contest. Previously shot footage, as long as it is a minor part, for educational or illustrative purposes, was shot by yourself, and not the main story/feature of your entry, is permissible. The use of this footage must be declared in your feedback thread. The use of effects templates from Motion and After Effects, Livetype, etc. is permissible without limit. You retain the rights to your video.

I’m still having profound rain issues here. After a five year drought, this year is proving to be exceptionally wet. Three days without significant downfall is the longest stretch in the last month. We are expecting another 4-5 inches this weekend. Are you sure I can’t change the theme to “Down to Mud”? :)

15-20 inches of rain yesterday. Down to mud would have been perfect for me too.
Hang in there, Mike. I'm sure you can find some interesting mud to show us.

Thanks to those for watching my Rode video!

The shoot on Saturday was cancelled due to circumstances out of my control, so I won't be able to complete this until the next shoot scheduled on next Sunday; the last day of the contest! So I'll be cutting this one tight.

I managed to get some footage over the weekend, and am cobbling together a story - so looks like I will keep out of the shark tank this month!

@Simon Wood,
This Reggae/Rap vid is great, I'd hire you if I was in a position to do so :)
@All
I'm in the Sharktank .. didn't produce :(