Tales of Wonder and Woe: UWOL #7

[John Dennis Robertson]

Hey Paul ,dont feel too bad. I never knew what number I was but unlike you I never had the guts to ask.....My son just happened to mention "oh I see you are number 26 dad "

[Mihali Moore]

Well hello all.

I have been following this thread religiously to see how things work round here and thought it about time to post something. As a newbie, it's nice to see so many people with a common interest, supported with friendly online banter and ultimately sharing their films with each other. Glad to have got on board.

I have almost finished my film, a few tweaks here and there and it should be ready to upload by Friday. Although not I'm amazingly happy with the film (a tough theme methinks, ended up going with a story slant rather than wildlife footage!) it did get me out there shooting, so I guess that's the main thing.

I look forward to seeing all you films.

Mihali

[Mat Thompson]

Hi Mihali and welcome

I've got a feeling your not up to speed with the way the challenge works. You need to have signed up for the challenge in the sign up period and in the sign up thread on this board as well as send Meryem (Co-ord) an email. I'm guessing as this is your first post you haven't done this ??

Edit : If you have a side agreement with Meryem....no problem. If you use Meryems 'pending' activation post as your entry number when it comes to naming that will be great :-) !

[Brian McKay]

Hello Mihali & Mat:

I noticed that Meryem signed Mihali up pending DVI account approval....I think your good to go.

Meryem can varify.......Mihali good luck.

Brian

[Per Johan Naesje]

Hi Mihali,
welcome to this community. As Brian correct notice you are sign in by Meryem, in this thread:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showpost....2&postcount=78

Looking forward to view your film. It's always exciting to see what new participants comes up with!

[Meryem Ersoz]

it's always lovely when i see all of the questions answered by the players before i even finish my morning coffee. i see that all the rule-based issues are already discussed and resolved, and i haven't lifted a finger. excellent! Per, you win Honorary Contest Co-coordinator bragging rights this round, for doing all my work for me this morning! thanks, my friend!

i was out looking for crows first thing this morning. once again, i'm empty-handed! the well-walked dog is happy, however, and i took in some much-needed fresh air....

[Per Johan Naesje]

Originally Posted by Bruce Foreman

Vista still isn't my favorite OS but it looks like that is what the PC "Darkside" is going to be stuck with and it is more usable than I thought

Bruce, thanks for your review of Vista OS for editing purpose. I've heard so many weird stories about that OS from many friends of mine!

The bad thing about this piece of junk is that you can't (almost) buy any new computer without it!
And particular for people like us, who do more "technical" matters, than ordinary web surfing and word processoring, it's definitive not the OS of our choice!

[Dale Guthormsen]

Per Johan,

I went to a 64 bit dual core computer a year and a half ago and the first thing I found was vista was a royal pain in this field!!!! I cleared it off the computer and downloaded my xp pro on it and all has been well sense.

If xp becomes obsolete I may try on a different operating system, go mac or whatever!!

Great to see so many people wrapping up their videos, Can't wait to see them.

[Annie Haycock]

Others may be wrapping up their videos, but I'm having to admit defeat.

It wasn't for want of trying. I went 350 miles east to Norfolk, had a vague idea that took greater shape in the first day or so and then shot over three hours of video. I got back with four days to sort out still photos, requests for survey work, requests for copies of reports, deal with the architect and other problems involved in the house extension, and get a short video made.

I downloaded everything onto the hard disk. First on the laptop, which decided to freeze up. Then on the desktop, which seemed fine except that when I played back the videos, there was no sound. Hmm. I tried again with just the twenty minutes of video I had decided to edit, but still no sound. Copied the file to the laptop, and yes, the sound was there. So I edited down on the laptop, then tried to record a narrative. I get either a big noise, or nothing. The video won't work without the words.

I do not have time to rethink a video without words, or to find out why recording the narrative isn't working. And I will be away for the next twelve days, without access to a computer or the internet. So I will miss the deadline.

But I have learned quite a few things, especially about operating the new camera (Canon XH A1). In particular, I was wondering why I kept finding the shutter speed had gone up to 1/750! It was because the button that controls the shutter speed on the A1 is in the same place as the one that you use to control exposure on the XM2, and I was using it when sometimes I should have been using the aperture ring - which the XM2 didn't have. And I know I must be more careful with panning shots - I am still doing them too fast.

But it has been a good learning experience, and the quality of the video picture (when I have taken out the bad bits) will be great.

Hopefully I'll have sorted out the problems by the next UWOL challenge.

[Bruce Foreman]

Originally Posted by Per Johan Naesje

The bad thing about this piece of junk (Vista)is that you can't (almost) buy any new computer without it!
And particular for people like us, who do more "technical" matters, than ordinary web surfing and word processoring, it's definitive not the OS of our choice!

I had contacted HP Customer Support and told them I "REQUIRED" a downgrade OS replacement from Vista to XP. I was advised that the a6130n was built with Vista compliant only components and was not supported with XP drivers.

My son works for Dell (server development) and he told me Dell was still configuring some of their Inspiron series with XP and I considered ordering one of those. But Vista is what we are going to have and by simply configuring for best performance instead of best appearance it does run a lot leaner for me.

I went to Dell's refurb pages and latched onto a quad core (Vista, of course) with 4GB RAM and a separate ATI Radeon graphics card with 256MB dedicated on board, so I should be in better shape when the new AVCHD flash memory based Canons hit the market in a few months.

I am getting along much better with Vista. I do tend to float with the flow at times.

[Mike Blumberg]

After 7 days in below 0 weather, snow and -40 to-50 wind chills I have returned from a very sacred and moving time with eagles.

I have been within feet of eagles as they live their lives in the wild in winter for several days, with the quiet and peace of the snow falling, ice fog, and the crispness of the snow.

For me this has been one vary sacred moments in time that nature has provided me as an observer.

I can report that the HVX and the P2 system worked in the coldest of environments and that the only problems were the tripods freezing up not the cameras.

The footage is more than I ever expected and I will try to meet the UWOL deadline of the 22 but if I don’t for there is so much footage I will get a non-competing clip up for your review.

And a very special thanks to Kevin, who has helped me by freely answering so many questions over the months about the HVX.

Mike Blumberg
Arrow Maker Productions
Nature is the Contributor. I am an Observer of the Contributor.
http://www.arrowmakerproductions.com

[Kevin Railsback]

Mike glad to hear you're out shooting some great footage! Look forward to seeing it!

We'll have to get together one of these days and go out shooting. Probably be in your neck of the woods since there's pretty much nothing around here. :)

You'll find that everyone here is willing to lend a hand be it shooting tips, locations, equipment suggestions, you name it. So, take your shoes off and stay a while. :)

[Paul Mailath]

Now I'm getting nervous - my footage is up, but it's soooo bad - it shouldn't be.

Still, It will be interesting to look back in a year or two and see how much I've improved - I fully intend to be up there with you guys (well maybe not level but at least within earshot)

[Kevin Railsback]

Paul,

You're probably being to hard on yourself.

First of all, you finished! That's saying allot right there. I only finished 4 out of the 6 last year. So no matter how bad you think it might be, the fact that you finished and have a film that you wouldn't have had before says something right there.

I think we all have seen improvement in our work since we started UWOL. The feedback is great to learn what works and what doesn't.

The most important thing is that you had fun getting out there and making your film. You'll develop the areas you feel that you're not happy with.

Go back and look at some of our early films last year and look at the later ones. You'll see we've all become better filmmakers thanks to each others help.

I still might not be at the level I'd like to be but I know if I keep plugging away and everyone here keeps encouraging me and giving me feedback, I'll get there.

And again, congrats on finishing!!!

[Meryem Ersoz]

yeah, for those of you concerned about the quality of your productions--we're all here to learn and help each other out, period, regardless of your existing skill level.

my, when i look back at the first thing i ever shot, it's a great idea wrapped in a complete technical embarrassment, but that's the only way to learn.