As always, interaction between the players is encouraged.
What goes great, what did not go as planned, and everything in between, about the making of your*
UWOL 54 films.

Hope all of you find a cool idea for your entries. Your imagination is the limit of how you interpret the theme.

Don't be afraid to ask if you have any questions.
Have fun, and bring it!

It's been pretty quiet here. So far haven't got much video shot and haven't got much of an idea for a story. It looks like I'm in for a cold snap for a while with some snow so things could change.

Gordon

Been quiet both in the forum and over here too, Gordon.
The young one is on a school trip, so no filming for her yet. Has some available time next weekend, so fingers crossed for the weather will cooperate with her.

Well, I have camera gear ready. Has not been a good season for videoing wildlife! Id like to participate.

Dale, feel free to make an unofficial film. Since signup is closed for this challenge, it can't be included in the judging process, but you can have your own feedback thread.

In general:
Signup threads are usually available the last two weeks prior to the theme release. With very few excemptions, the signup closes prior to theme release.

I've been filming several times a week in a lot of different places, but my biggest challenge is that I'm using my new Black Magic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K. The complexity of learning it -- every thing must be set manually on each shot -- AND starting off new with DaVinci Resolve has been quite a challenge.

I have some ideas yet still not sure on a storyline, but I'm gathering a good bit of footage this month and, at the very least, am learning a TON!

Here's some stuff I shot two days ago. (I'm lucky to be able to visit some remarkable places.)

Exploring near Machu Picchu - YouTube

Looking forward to see what you come up with, Phil! Nice footage!

Looking great , Phil! Ive got some ideas left over from the last challenge (which I failed to do anything about), so will give it a go when the weather picks up a bit!

Thank you, Trond and Paul. I'm having so much fun with the BMPCC 4K. The learning curve for the camera and DaVinci Resolve is the most I've ever had to deal with, but it's definitely worth it. I took a couple of days off to fly to Lima to buy a Rode Wireless Go mic system so I can maybe add some decent dialogue along the way and will be back home tomorrow to start filming again.

Hope everyone's projects are coming along nicely. I'm looking forward to seeing what all of you come up with!

Phil, how do you like the wireless go? I'm thinking about buying the same.

Hi Trond. I haven't used the Rode Wireless Go much, but the little bit I have tested it is extremely encouraging, It's really easy to use and, of course, the size makes it incredibly convenient.

I tested it indoors in a room with hard walls/floors and a lot of echo and found the sound was surprisingly clear. I also used it with a a Rode SmartLav mic and the sound was even better. I didn't test distance because I just don't see how that will be necessary in normal situations for me.

As suggested by someone else, I used it with a Blackmagic Pocket CInema Camera 4k and had the output on the Rode set as high as possibly so I could reduce the gain in the camera. This gave me clear sound, though I'm not sure if the difference could be heard in any normal situation.

I'm extremely glad I bought, but haven't used it a lot as it hasn't been needed for my current project. I'm hoping to try some more "National Geographic" kind of stuff next month once we finish with the UWOL competition and will post what I come up with so you can get a better idea.

(I'll be in the Amazon rainforest again in about 10 days so I'll get a chance to see how it works there. I'm really curious to hear how it picks up ambient sounds along with my voice. My old Sennheiser G3 wireless system picked up just the right amount which I generally liked when talking outside.)

Sounds promising. I was thinking of using it with my Rode videomic, sending the audio directly to my Canon XF300 camera.

Hope you get a good and productive time in the Amazonas.

Phil, I envy you. I remember exploring and videoing Machu Picchu back in 2009. We had to breakdown and sneak my Canon XL2 into the park to avoid paying the $400.00 fee for a video camcorder. I was so sorry to read about those stupid tourists that were arrested there a few weeks ago. Bob

Hi Bob, I had a similar problem with a Sony Z1. The guards were convinced it was a a professional camera but because it had a fixed lens they eventually decided it wasn't. The camera was a new model at the time and importantly for them the lens details didn't appear on a list the had, so they excepted that I was a tourist!!

I was mostly surprised last week (on my second trip there this year) that I was able to take my larger backpack into Machu Picchu. They are a bit picky about backpack size. I was more worried about protecting my BMPCC than anything. I get the shot that I wanted there so it worked out okay.

More than anything, I really miss being able to take a tripod in, but I understand the reasoning. The one shot I'll use from MP will be the only handheld shot I'll be using in my UWOL project.

The BMPCC looks like a photo camera so they don't say a word about it. I spend a lot of time talking to many of the workers there so I think I could get away with a little more than the usual visitor anyway as long as I don't go too far. (That's already got me access to some areas off limits in the past. Personal relationships go a long way in Peru.)

On the day I was there back in 2009, there were only about 200 visitors all day so I had the place virtually to myself to explore and film with my little camcorder (and a tripod). That was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I made an attempt at filming a "Travel Channel"-type video that is embarrassing to watch now, but really wasn't all that bad. I had a lot of fun doing it.

Great Day at Machu Picchu on Vimeo

I'm curious if it's difficult for all of you to deal with color correctly. Or is it just me. ;)

I've shot so many different locations this month in all kinds of lighting, times if day, altitude, cloudy/sunny/dark environments, etc. I've been frustrated and will probably not worry about it as much as I should since this is the last week, but I'd like to do better and mixing so many lighting types into a single short project is driving me crazy.

I'm getting a lot better at sound, but I still have to deal with the dreaded VO this week.

Doing it all in DaVinci Resolve which I just started working with isn't making it any easier. What do you use to do your editing?

Hope everyone's projects are coming along well. Can't wait to see what you come up!

Phil it's not just you. I have trouble with it also as a lot of my stuff is also shot under different conditions and times of day. I shoot when I can get a chance to and at this time of year it could be all white one day and more brown the next, sunny, cloudy, windy, raining, snowing, above freezing or bitterly cold like it was for a week, ten days ago. I think that's pretty well what it's been like this month. I'm sure I could use more of the stuff I shoot if I knew what I was doing.
I use Edius for editing and it works with my laptop. I've played around with DaVinci Resolve some and I think I would use it more but 16 doesn't like my laptop and is a bit unstable. I might try an earlier version again as it worked better.
As for my project I'll have to get busy and get some footage. What little I have shot so far is a little to graphic for UWOL .

Gordon

Phil. I shoot on the Canon XF705 in 4K HEVC and do my color correction in DaVinci 15 and render the videos as individual clips. After that I move those individual clips into Vegas pro 15 for final editing and then rendering to 1920x1080.

It's time to start editing and hope I have enough shots to put together something remotely resembling s story, though it's likely going to more of a theme than a real story. I've figured how to get acceptable sound -- not good, but usable -- to add a VO track in Resolve. Like everything, it's completely different from what I'm used to in Premiere Pro, but it's really not too difficult. Thank goodness for YouTube tutorials!


Gordon -- You're making things sound so much better down here! I've actually been lucky as the rainy season was unusually bad during November and December, but unusually light this month which made it a LOT easier to get out. I have been to the Machu Picchu area twice this month and have had exceptionally good weather to film both at MP and in the surrounding rainforest. Even in the winter, I don't have to deal with the tremendous weather challenges that you must face.

I'm really curious to know what you shot that is "a little too graphic" for UWOL!

I've been lucky with Resolve. My laptop is almost 2 years old now, but I bought a pretty decent one before I moved here knowing I would need it for video editing. The only crash I've had so far was likely due to not doing a fresh reboot before starting to work. I don't do anything needing much, though I'm surprised Resolve allows me to edit in 4k raw without a hiccup.


Bob -- I thought about going back and forth between the two editing programs I have, but I've had some real crash problems with Premiere Pro and don't want to deal with that at the last minute. I'm finding DaVinci to be really stable and works well with raw 4k files.

I'm curious why you render to HD instead of 4k? I know most people still watch streamed video in HD, but I hate to lose the resolution. I'm going to render to both this time and see what they look like. Probably the HD will look just fine, of course.

I climbed out of the Shark Tank this time. My entry has been submitted. I'm really looking forward to seeing what all of you have done this month.

Way to go Phil. Hopefully I can put something together today. My footage is all over the map so it will be a challenge. As for what I thought was a little to graphic for UWOL was the coyotes pulled a deer down on the ice on the creek. With the ice surface being white in colour the patches of blood really stand out.

Gordon

I hope you can get something put together today. Mine was all over the map, too -- literally. I did a ton of hiking in some really cool places this month. Thank goodness the weather was unusually dry. Carrying a lot of equipment including a heavy tripod wore me out more than once.

I've been shooting on a large Blackmagic BMPCC 4k. When I finished up last night I put it in my bag to forget for awhile. This morning I picked up my Canon DSLR and it felt so tiny in my hands! It's photography for me for a week or two now so I don't have to carry so much around.

A few entries submitted so far.
If you think you might make it, but haven't received the upload details yet, hurry up and send a quick email to uwol@dvinfo.net.

Well Vimeo says they have it. Hopefully it will work for Trond.

Gordon