Wild on the shore 77 MB mediaplayer (http://home.tussa.com/gibb/gibb/wildontheshore.wmv)
Wild on the shore 83 MB quicktime (http://home.tussa.com/gibb/gibb/wildontheshore_big.mov)

The coastline of Norway concedes of thousands of islands, fjords and high mountains which rice from the shore. I think it’s a beautiful and wild landscape and in my uwol#3 film, I hope I’ve managed to capture some of it. Many a ship and many a sailor have found their grave, over the years on these shores, so it can be quite a challenge at times, especially in the winter.

“Wild on the shore”, is mostly filmed on location at the little island, “Runde”.
Runde has 150 people (resident) who lives on one side of the island, but each year at springtime, nearly one million sea birds invade this little island, just to mate. The birds lives on the other side of the island, where the cliffs goes straight down to the sea. Most of the island is preserved by the government because of the birds.

I’ve been climbing mountains to get the intro clips, and it took me one day to get 7 min on tape. I’ve been 3 days on Runde, crawling the cliffs, getting some bird poop in my hair (well, what’s left of it), trying to get some birds on tape. I instantly fell in love with the puffins. That’s where I got the idea of composing my own music, “The Puffin Dance”, I think it fits the movement of the puffin when it walks on the cliff and when the gulls circles around over the sea. I tried to capture the white tale eagle when she was hunting kittiwakes, but didn’t succeed, but in distance you can see her at the end of the film and all the gulls are “taking off” the cliffs. I’ve been one day on board “Aquila”, a little boat, but 2 hours on tape almost gave me nothing to use. It was all too shaky, because of the waves and the engine shaking the boat. But I’ve used some of it. Tripod was useless on board Aquila.

Narrations in the beginning, is done at home, but the one in the field I had to do 17 times before I was satisfied. It was fun though, because some tourist walking by above stopped and wonders what crazy guy crawling down there, talking to himself, in plain English. So they all thought I was a foreigner :)
All sounds from the birds, it’s original, this include the razorbill, puffin (when they hide in their caves when the eagle comes), the skua and the gulls and gannets.
The skua is incubating, not on the cliffs, but on the moor. Tourists from different countries are visiting Runde each year, many of them from Germany, just to photograph the birds. The cave where you see the kayaks goes 120 m into the cliff.

Close ups of these birds: Puffins, Razorbill, Brown skua
In distance these birds: Kittiwakes, White tale eagle, Gannet, Common shag and different gulls.
I thought of putting in text, the name of the species, but I found it disturbingly. So there it is my story for uwol #3. Now it’s for you to rip it off, be gentle.

Equipment:
Camera: Canon XLH1
Lenses: Canon HD 20 and Sigma 17 - 200mm
Editing: Avid Liquid 7.2 pro
Music: Acid 6 pro
Tripod: Libec H55

Fantastic Geir Inge
Du så vel ikke gullfuglen i klippene også.Inponert!!!
Good luck.

Best Regards
vidar vedaa

You got some very nice scenery there, Geir Inge!
Watching your film made me feel like I was right there myself.

Well done!

I really liked your entry Geir Inge. This show the wild island and birdlife in a very nice and impressive way. Your self componed music substantiated the footage very well. And the way you commented this in a real "David Attenborough" way, nice!

Well done, this is one of my favorites in this round.

Greetings Geir!
Very impressive entry! Beautiful scenery. I especially loved the closeups of the puffin faces. I agree with Per, the narrator reminded me of the David Attenborough approach. Sadly (for me), I cannot enjoy the sound on any of the entries as I watch from work and have no speakers! So all my comments apply to your visuals only! Geir, keep up the hard work...we enjoy the fruits of your efforts!

j.

All I can say is ... I love this kind of stuff! The puffin footage is awesome. I love those colors on the bill and if you read about these small birds they have a very interesting biology as well. I can imagine great effort went into capturing and putting together this piece. Congratulations on your efforts, Geir. Thanks so much for letting us see this marvelous view of your land.

Rick

Hey Geir.

I really like your piece. It has a kind of 'shooting' off the hip style but at the same time some really nice angles and mix of quality shots. At first I was unsure about the 'to camera' narration but in the context of the film I think it fits and adds a nice personal touch. I do think you should have drawn a conclusion 'to camera' as well though and it would have balenced things out better. I would have also liked to have found something out about your subjects...if your narrating then why not educate a little too!

wow, wow, wow great puffin shots...I love these birds and they are just so photogenic, really nice shots there.

Great piece Geir...really nice. I've only watched 3 films so far but the standard is high this time !

Great film Geir,

I'm very jealous. You were 3 days on Runde and got this amazing film! I'm going to analyse your shots and see if I can steal your ideas for my next film.

Thanks for all your feedback.

Rick: It was great filming these scenes and you can get really close to the puffins. When I film animals or birds, I always get some information about them, gathering information about the species in a folder/cover.

Mat: I see what you mean, and agreed. I had plans you see. Close ups of the puffins while I was talking about the birds. I've got some of it on tape, too :) but I was constantly interrupted by some schoolchildren. You see the rumours went on the island: "An english film maker has arrived" - and it was me. So most of my narration on location was spoiled. I did think of doing it at home in peace, but there was no time. All the scenes taken on land I use tripod, except the one of the skua.

Geir:

This film blew me away. Stunning filming and photography. Wonderful narration. Fabulous Geir, it was exciting to watch. Wow, thank you for this contribution. There was nothing I didn't like. How you put youself into the film and some behind the scenes shots showing us what it takes to get the filming you did. I also noted the thanks in the end, not only to the boaters but the birds. Awesome. I never once remembered to think about the bird shit on your head watching this film! Beautiful work.

Cat

A very nice piece of work. Those puffins were amazing.

I knew yours would be one of my favorites as soon as I started watching it. Great work.

Bruce

Great job. This film was riveting. I loved the way you combined so many different shots and camera angles- above, below, close, to get a total sense of immersion in the habitat. It was the closest I could imagine to really being there. And your score, combined with the recordings of the birds, fit so well, and made it come alive. Some of your footage is stunning- and the puffins are spectacular.

I like the way you narrate the film, an extra dimension that allows the viewer to join in your experience. As you sat on the precipice, I was glad it was you and not me :)

Excellent job all around, in the field and in the studio with the edit. You integrated both phases really well.

Ruth

Geir:

Thanks for inviting us into your back yard. Your appearance in the film certainly personalized it for us, gave us some scale, gave us a general point of reference. Very "Nova" like.... Super job...

As always your film was a special treat. The views from the cliff were absolutely breathtaking and your images of the puffins enchanting.

One of our photography club members was stationed on Iceland and managed to get to where he could get still photos of puffins, that was my first look at them.

I really enjoyed the way you narrated to the camera some, gave me a chance to feel like I got to know you a little better, and I think that worked well for your film too. Your music "Puffin Dance" seemed to fit the moving video perfectly and I feel if you got enough raw video to expand this it would stand an excellent chance of being "picked up" by some venue such as the IFC.

I really wanted this one to go on longer.

And once again, with your permission, I would like for our local photography club to see this.

Thanks, all of you, for all your kind words and advices, I appreciate it a lot :)

What I'm most dissatisfied with in my own film, is the ending.
I had plans for some narration about the birds in the end, and wanted to shoot this in the field, lying on the cliff in front of the puffins. But as I've told before, too much people came looking at me, believing I was some kind of an english film maker :) I put a lot of effort in planning this in front of making this film, by studying different birds, research at Runde, talking to old people who knew about the birds, etc.
My seccond idea was to make some voiceover at home, and so I did, using a greenscreen, as I intended to put some of scenary in behind. Then I got a call from work that I've been chosen to be a host for a youth conferance for "Mid-Norway" 15 - 17 june. Thats a great challenge too, you see. So I had just the nights left for working with my, "The Wild", and the time didn't fit the deadline. I did some small changes though, just before schedule ran out. I put the kayaks in the cave, but I had to slow it down by 50%, because it's shot from the sea, onboard Aquila.
Though I have plans for this film, it'll have to wait a bit, my first priority is working for the youth in our county.

To Bruce Forman: You're welcome to use my film in your club, and I'm flattered that you ask me. Thanks.

To Meryem: I think you've given me some of your stomach flew, but I reckon it'll pass in a few days :)

I really enjoyed this film.

Great mix of stunning landscape shots, human interaction and the puffins!!!
One of my aims in life is to see them in the wild - missed them in the hebrides by a few days some years ago and also failed to make a spot on Lundy at the weekend. Maybe i need to head north ;-)

Thanks for sharing this,truly inspiring stuff!!!!

Rob

hi geir,

you had me with your appearance in front of the camera, and like others wrote before, you could have used that oncreen presence more often, just because your narration is very entertaining. great images, stunning landscapes, really makes me wanna go there one day. great film. good luck.

Geir,

Being a bird person myself, I loved the birds and the rugged scenery was awesome. something you will note that I do not have much here in the northern Prairies!!! so it is a great pleasure to see such nice footage!!

great Job.

Really nice Geir! I very much enjoy the personal approach.

I really enjoyed this film alot! The footage of the puffins make you want to just reach into your screen and grab one! It looked so sharp and full of color!

I actually liked the footage from the boat... It gave you the feeling as if I were there with you on your adventure..

Thank you so much for sharing this film! It was absolutely amazing!

Best wishes!
~Gabriel

I overlooked these ones, so to...

Grant Sherman: Thanks for feedback, and if you can get something out of looking at my film, it's an honour for me, but please don't be jealous, you got Lundy :)

Rob Evans: Thanks for feedback and you're welcome to Runde, at any time :) If you want to see the puffin, the best time of year is now, or in these months, april - august. I tried to film the puffins on the nest, but it was a bit too early.

Dale Guthormsen: Thanks for kind words and I must say I envy you the prairies. The most fantastic in this competition is the different sceneries we'll able to see, from different parts of the world. It's just great and for two days now, I've been lying sick in bed just watching some great uwol-movies, but now I'm back on my feet :)

Gabriel Yeager: Thank you for feedback. Well, I wasn't sure how to put this film together, at first, even though I had a script. It was really too much, in the beginning. The rough country on Runde is something you just have to see for your self. There is something going on all the time, all around you, it's a pulsating and hectic world of birds. So at first I just stood there - watching.
Couldn't get the finger on the trigger, so to speak. After 3 days of filming I couldn't deside what to put in my 3 min, so I came up with the idea of just using the clips plain and raw as they where filmed and just as the life on Runde is. The scenes from the boat is a bit shaky, but it's just as it was, but I didn't get seasick, lucky me :) I wish I could use some more scenes from the cave, "The green Grotto", though, but thats life. You win some and you lose some.

I've got Lundy but you got more in 3 days than I did in 3 weeks :)

Geir:

That's it, I've decided that when I grow up I want to be just like you LOL.

Bloody amazing absolutely bloody amazing every last second of it your film tops my list of the best of the best.

Brian

Brian, what can I say, just that I feel very humble and thank you very much.

Felt like I was watching something on Discovery, you make a great host. Beautiful shots and very rich filmmaking.

My favorite shot was that of the bird that seemed to be shaking its head violently; interesting to see the different bird beahviors. It is the behaviors of animals that I respond to most because at times wild animals seem to be so human, you captured that very well for me.

Good work,

Jeff

Thank you so much, Jeff, thats very nice of you to say.
Well, in the winter, when they are far out in the open sea, the bills and their feet are almost grey colour, and they are also a slight more darken in the cheek. In the spring when they come to land, their beaks and feet are turning this beautiful orange colur, as you see in my film, and they also increases in size of beak as it matures (i think this is the right word?).
The colour and size of the beak is a ( well my english isn't that good, so excuse me if I'm using the wrong words) sign/badge for it's "quality" helping them chosing partners. I think the movement you refer to, is a way of, both showing off and as a signal, "here I am" and, "this is my place".
When their gaping with their beak it's also a way of showing aggressivity, the wider the beak, more upset is the bird. They also communicates in the way they walk, and stamp their feet, it's where I got the idea for my music, "The Puffin Dance". Keeping a low profile the say, "I mean no harm, just passing through". Often used when they cross eachothers territory.
The puffins only visit land to breed, from march/april to mid/late august, rest of the year they live far out in the open sea, in all kinds of weather, so it's a very tough bird, indeed.

As I've told earlier, it was my intention with a slight different ending, my time didn't fit the uwol deadline, ( I had to work a bit in my real job) so I chosen to put in a clip of the brown skua instead, as a roar to the wild :) The skua is a very rare bird, not so many of them, and it was shot from the hip, so to speak, on my way home late one of the 3 days I was on Runde.
I hope this was in a understandable english :)

Geir Inge
I hope your feeling better. I must say this was a very nice video. I've liked all of yours but this is the best so far. I've never been to the ocean so I enjoy these kind of videos. Well done.
Take care.

Gordon Hoffman

I'm doing fine, thank you Gordon.
Those uwol-films sure work as a great medicine :)
It's "Pentecost/Whitsun" holiday in Norway ( i'm not sure of the english word) so I hope to get some sea otter on tape this weekend. Per Johan phoned me yesterday evening, and was going to Dovre filming muskox.
OK, thanks again.

Just a PS.
You have to take a trip to the ocean, it will be a memory for life.

Hi Tom.
Thanks for comments and tip.
I did some more narrations in the field, as I've told before.
But maybe I'll show some of my clips that didn't reach uwol, but it'll have to wait until next week.
When I was on Runde filming I met a guy from Germany, Frank, a photographer.
There are many from Germany visiting Runde and Norway each year, so if you have a chance going there, give me a call, and I'll show you around. It's a beautiful place.
This weekend I'm another island, trying to film some sea otter, but the weather isn't on my cameras side, it's raining. I'm borrowing a friends computer at the moment to write this.

Wow Geir, this has some awesome shots. A good sequence of composed clips, really showing off the landscape. And also the subjects, the birds.
You also did a good job with the intro, and on camera.

Hei Geir Inge.
Utrolig flotte bilder du hadde på filmen. Sjølv har eg høgdeskrekk og vil aldri klatre ned i ura. På Herøynytt-videoen hadde du også med ørner. Savna kanskje at du hadde navn på fuglane på engelsk då du prata engelsk. Det er vel ikkje alle som kjenner til Lundefuglen.

hi geir: i've been keeping my mouth closed until after the judging, but i just had to chime in and say what a pleasure it is to see you developing your craft. you took a huge leap forward with this video. very professional, interesting camerawork, and a pleasure to watch. what a pay-off, to see the players grow in such a short time.

Now I’ve packed my bags and do leave for Oslo tomorrow morning.
I promised to put some of my clips from Runde to this tread, and here they are.

First to Martin: Thanks for comments, yours in Norwegian, but I have to answer in English, hope you don’t mind :)
I had in mind writing the names of the birds in my film, but I found it too disturbing. It was my intention to narrate the film in field, but it was spoiled and I didn’t have a field monitor with me, and so time ran out for me. Look at the clips and you’ll see what I mean. You mention another film from Runde where I caught the white tale eagle, but I felt I had to use the bird clip filmed in those 3 weeks I had available, confirming to the uwol rules.

Meryem: Thank you for kind words. I’m going on holiday 16th July; can you say anything about when the uwol#4 theme will be announced? I got to have one of those T-shirts :)

Ok, here are some rejected clips from my uwol3 film.
Filming wildlife isn’t easy and I’m sure you’ll agree on that.
You can’t plan how the animals/birds will act, etc.
Filming over several days, the light and weather conditions will change.
And then there is a time schedule, giving it an extra pressure, but I love that one :)
I reckon most of us competing in uwol have a “normal” job, and that filming is mostly done in our spare time, at least it is for me.
I must mention one thing, the shooting ratio. I’m working hard on that one and 4 hours on tape putting it in to a 3 min film, gives a high shooting ratio, and it comes back to me in the editing process.
Some advices filming on new places and here’s what I did:
I “google” Runde and found some information, just to get to know the island a little better.
I phoned up an old Lady and she told me a lot about the birds and where to find different species.
She wouldn't let me mention her name in the film, so thats why I'm not mention her in the end.
I wrote a manuscript and rehearsed in front of my camera.
I learned my text so I could speak to the camera without manuscript in front of me.
What I didn’t do so well, was planning how much time to use from the very start until the film was finished.
When it comes to my greenscreene, this one is just for rehearsel, I've got one thats ironed too :)

Behind scenes Uwol#3 (wmv only): Rejected (http://home.tussa.com/gibb/gibb/Behindscenesuwol3.wmv)

Thank you for sharing the behind the scenes, Geir Inge.
Not easy to do handheld video and zoom in at the objects at the same time. Been there, done that myself.

Have a nice trip to Oslo.

Wow, that was nice to view. I think you manage to show some of the pain and hard work it takes to make a good uwol contribution.
As I've said to you before you have developed so well in your filming skills.

I look forward to come over to your place this weekend. Runde seem to be a place where I will get those magnificent shoot of seabird that I've strived for some time.
And it's about time that we meet in person next week. Think we have something to talk about and exchange some great ideas.

It's funny, you are going to my place in Oslo and I'm travelling to your place this weekend, so we will not meet before next week!

Be careful with the urban life in the City, Geir Inge ;-)