my uwol # 1:

thought the only wild primates in europe would make a good subject for the wild-theme. so i used my trip to southern Spain to visit british overseas territory gibraltar, where the monkeys live on a rock above the city.

this was the first shoot with my new canon xh a1, so i used this trip to get to know my new baby. this is the first 'real' camcorder i own, so i don't have to mention that the shooting was great fun. new camcorder, monkeys, what else can you ask for?

shooting was fairly easy although i unfortunatetly didn't have too much time to spent on the rock.
i decided to use only handheld shots for the film, 'cause it gives you the feeling of being right in the middle of the monkeys. the steady shots slowed it down way too much and kind of made it all look bigger than this intimate spot actually is.

the music was originally composed for this film by a musician whose done all the scores for my films so far. i decided not to narrate the film myself, because i think germans speaking english only sound good, if they already have a very strong accent in their mother tongue. unfortunately i don't have that, so i used a women's voice that i thought fit the story well, because it doesn't sound too much like usual wildlife narration.

this was great fun and i'm already looking forward to uwol # 4 and your feedback.

Thanks


Link to the film: http://www.uwolchallenge.com/challenge3/TS_UC3_monkeysrock.mov

Hey Tom....welcome to uwol...great first piece ! These guys look great and a lot of fun to watch !

I like your choice of theme and you gave some interesting information in the narration and it was well delievered, although I'm not sure about speaking to the subject...'hello little monkey' this off balanced things a little for me.

You had some very nice shots in there although I think everything was hand held. Shooting from a tripod in some cases would have really helped I think. I really liked some of your 'grooming shots', I love the delicacy of the nimble fingers. Some of your opening shots were also a little under exposed.

The music seemed a little 'harsh' overall but I can see what you were going for.

Overall great first piece fella, some nice shots, informative and very watchable :)

Mat

Hi Tom.
I think your film is informative and give us a insight to the Gibraltar monkeys.
We learn about these monkeys at school and it was nice to see them in uwol.
Maybe the voiceover should be a little bit higher, or you should lower the music a bit. I shouldn't be the one saying this, but a tripod would be giving you steady pics of the apes in the tree, etc.
All in all a great film and I wish you good luck in uwol.

Tom, I really liked your film. It was very well edited and the score substantiated the footage in a nice way. As mentioned use of a tripod in some of the establishing shoots would have been better. I think you handled the Canon XHA1 in a nice way, very clean and sharp!

I put this on my top five list.

Initially, i felt that some of the shots were a little on the shaky side and could have done with the use of a tripod, BUT.. the more i watched it, the more i liked it - alongside the moody music it takes on the feel of an arthouse thriller - and it worked for me! Narration was precise, cuts were great and helped establish quite a menacing feel. Great film.

What can I say, the maternal side of me loved this movie. The caring, cleaning and gentle touch of these magnificent primates simply took me in. What a unique opportunity to see these animals in this way. Way cool.

Cat

A very well made video Tom! I enjoyed watching it.
Thank you for sharing!

Hi Tom. Sounds like it was a great vacation to me!

I liked your film. It looked like it was de-interlaced though, was it?

Even still, I think it turned out to be rather nice!

Best wishes!
~Gabriel

thanks for the feedback, everyone.

i'm aware of the the tripod issue. some shots might have been nicer, if they'd been steady, but as i described earlier, for me the film felt more tense without the steady shots. still at some points i would have liked it to look a little less amateurish-shaky. next one is gonna be a tripod one.

Gabriel: as it's supposed to be watched on a computer screen, yep, it's deinterlaced.

thanks again, this was a great challenge. so many good films... very nice.

tom

I really liked this film a lot. I studied primates around the world for about 15 years, but never got to Gibraltar, so it was a treat to see them. I liked the handheld style for this film, almost felt like from the perspective of one of the monkeys clambering over the rocks. Monkeycam! Great job.


Ruth

hi tom: welcome to the UWOL Challenge. it's great to have new players who bring such fresh material and fresh perspectives to the game. awesome monkeys! (i managed to squeeze one into my entry, too, but nothing as brilliant as some of these...)

Tom,

I really liked the entire story!!! nice short and succinct!!