UWOL #6 "Stormynight" by Trond Saetre

[Trond Saetre]

The NIGHT theme was the hardest theme I have ever made a video for.
A real challenge to film something in between work and the bad weather we have had recently.
But when I sign up, I have to finish, so I had to come up with something. Out of about 115 minutes raw footage, I managed to squeeze out about 1,5minute completed video. Well, a lot of the raw footage was for the timelapses, so it wasn't that bad, haha.

A week and a half ago we had a strong storm in my part of the country. And my short video shows a little of that. I did not focus on any story this round. The objective was to give you an idea of how the weather was at that time.

Everything except for the beginning and the end is shot through windows. There was no way I wanted to expose my camera to the heavy rain and wind.
(Wind gusts up to 74knots). The shots of the trees are filmed through my livingroom windows. Everything else was filmed while I was at work.

Hope you enjoy my strong little storm.
Any feedback will be welcome.


Now I'm off for a business trip the next few days, but I'll comment everyone's videos and do my part of the judging when I'm back again.

[Meryem Ersoz]

that rain in the window produced a pretty nice effect, especially in the 2nd shot. i didn't realize what i was even looking at for awhile. i thought it was fire, at first, so i was surprised when it came into focus as rain streaming down a window. it was very beautiful, though...a nice shot to have in your library.

up until this round, none of my entries have hit the 3-minute mark. i think we get it in our heads that we have to hit that target, but sometimes it is fun to watch something short...no one ever complains that a 30-second TV commercial is too short!

[Catherine Russell]

Hi Trond:

You pulled off a great entry under such obstacles! Well done! I have to agree, Meryem's best pick of the film was the slow transition to the focus of rain on the window.... very "Per" - like and used to great advantage here. It had all the makings of being very artistic if you had had the opportunity to develop it a bit more. You Norwegians amaze me! You pulled this off with great time-laps photography and skill. Way to go Trond!

Cat

[Brian McKay]

Trond the opening had me confused until it came into focus...how many times have I seen rain on my window but never pictures it the way you have presented it. The rain going horizontal across the parking lot was a great shot good thing you were indoors my friend.

Very enjoyable.

Brian

[Ruth Happel]

Trond,

You got some really spectacular footage. And the amazing thing is, a lot of it was just through your ability to take the everyday- rain on a window- and make it magical.

I like the way the window comes into focus near the start. But even more, I like the scene right after, the rain coming down the window in focus. With the fiery lighting, it really reminded me of a lava flow. If I hadn't known it was a window, I could easily have believed it was. Such a powerful image from just a window.

The time lapse footage was also really nice- made the whole video move in an interesting way. It seemed the power of the storm sped everything up. I really enjoyed watching this.


Ruth

[Vidar Vedaa]

Hello Trond

You made ouer wheter so alive in this film,the wheter and land make
the people.So you present a film whid over great elements.Teknical
impressive!!!

VV

___________


Weblink: http://web.mac.com/vidarjohannesveda...Bekkedrag.html

[David Gemmell]

Hi Trond,

Gee, what a night!
Certainly understand your feelings about filming from indoors.

You captured some nice shots - particularly leading into your entry. Also liked your shots of the water drops on, and running down the glass. Nice out of focus, then focus approach - which mixed it up nicely.

Music selection worked well and so did the fast forwarding at the end - with the storm gone and a beautiful sunrise ahead. Nice.

[Geir Inge]

Hi Trond.
Well I guess we both had the same weather conditions to fight against in this round of uwol. But that's a part of the challenge :)
Beautiful little short this one and you capture the rain storm pretty well I think. You show some great editing skills too and the timelap in the beginning was awsome. Dramatic music, well suited for the scenes, but I would have liked a little windy sound, eh? Just a minor detail and my personal taste I guess. Give my regards to your sister Trude.
Wish you all the best and maybe we should plan a gathering at Runde when the Spring arrives?

Geir Inge

[Dale Guthormsen]

Tronde,

I agree with the likes of the others.

I rreally think your music added all the character to your film, without it it would have been flat!! I heard one audio gliche near the end, but perhaps that was my computer.

fantastic effort and footage!!

[Bob Safay]

Trond, very well done. The composition, along with the sound track was pulsating. I especially liked the transitions from way out of focus to perfectly sharp, and then, you go from window pane to outside. Great use of rack focus. You really caught the fury of the storm. Stay dry, Bob

[Per Johan Naesje]

Trond, "Det stormer på Vestlandet ser jeg!" (eng: You got a real bad weather at your place!)
Seem like you got the best out of the bad weather, those winds was huge, how was the air-traffic that time?
I liked the close up of the rain at the window.

Well done!

[Trond Saetre]

Hi everyone, thank you very much for your feedback.
I'm now home from my business trip, so it's about time for me to watch all the videos and give my comments too.

Originally Posted by Geir Inge

Dramatic music, well suited for the scenes, but I would have liked a little windy sound, eh? Just a minor detail and my personal taste I guess. Give my regards to your sister Trude.
Wish you all the best and maybe we should plan a gathering at Runde when the Spring arrives?

Yes, a little more natural sound could have been good. But I had one restriction, because I cannot record any live sound from any air traffic control room. Maybe I could have held the microphone just outside the door for a few seconds. I'll have that in mind for a later time.

A gathering at Runde would be great. We should make it an international meeting this time!

And Trude said hi back to you, Geir Inge.

Originally Posted by Per Johan Naesje

Seem like you got the best out of the bad weather, those winds was huge, how was the air-traffic that time?

The air traffic was a bit limited because of the wind. But the airport did not close. A few of the landings were kinda "spectacular".

Originally Posted by Dale Guthormsen

I really think your music added all the character to your film, without it it would have been flat!! I heard one audio gliche near the end, but perhaps that was my computer.

Dale, I will check into the audio gliche you mentioned. But so far I have not heard it on my computer.
Anyone else noticed this?

Link to the video:
http://www.uwolchallenge.com/challen...tormynight.mov

[Bryce Comer]

Hi Trond,
Some truly artistic shots in some truly atrocious weather! I too liked your use of focus to add real interest to your shots. I kinda feel bad knowing that you had such bad weather, while here in Oz it was relatively good weather for most of the challenge. I have definately learnt a lot from watching your film, & how you put it all together.

Bryce

[Trond Saetre]

Bryce, thank you for the comment. I appreciate.
Yes, you have better weather than me most of the time, but that's part of the challenge.
I'm glad you liked the video. I learned a lot from yours too.

[Gordon Hoffman]

Trond
Yes I can see why you didn't want to take your camera out in that. A couple shots a little shaky but I still think you did an excellent job. Like others I like the way you used the focus. Nice work.

Gordon Hoffman