UWOL 8: Magic Hands by Cat Russell

[Catherine Russell]

Hi friends;

Well this one is ... different. Not much else to say! I was stumped with this topic and having it interesting. This was the only thing I could come up with and if it didn't work out, there was no plan B, in the shark tank I would go! I hope the "transformations" are obvious enough both in the background and foreground. It loses a bit in a small-size format since the focus is on clips that are less than full screen. Whether it's sun or snow, it's still springtime in the Colorado Rockies!

I'm excited to see what everyone else was able to come up with but I'm caught up in a few other things at the moment but hope to start reviewing soon.

Apologies this entry is in standard def... the brand new hd camera is shipped off for fixing with less than 6 minutes of filming on it! Blaaaa, so it goes.

Here's the link: http://www.uwolchallenge.com/challen...magichands.mov

Cat

[Trond Saetre]

Catherine, you keep surpricing us. I never know what to expect from you.
And I like what you produced this time too!!
Guess I have to go back to the books to read more about how to properly use AE, haha. That is impressive work you show us. Must have been quite a job to make those hands move like that?

Nice scenery you have there.
One detail: I wish the "screen in the middle" would have covered more of the screen. Now some of the video was a little hard to see. But still, very well done!!

[Bryce Comer]

Wow Cat,
Another surprise from you! It would seem that your creativity is endless! I have been busy downloading films tonight & watching them without even taking notice of who's films they were, & i had no idea this was yours until i recognised the farm. Seems like when i watch your films now it's like going to a place i been before, but each time, it's a different experience alltogether! Fantastic! Most people would look out into their backgarden (ok, in your case you seem to have a very large back garden!) but see the same thing day in day out. I can see you see things differently, that shows in your films!
I liked your "Magic hands" approach, but thought the coloured spinning thing was a bit too much, i would have liked to see just the hands working their magic, and maybe bringing the size of the picture up a bit more before going back into those magic hands.
Bummer about the camera though, i hope it is fixed for you for the next round.
Yet another great entry from you.

Bryce

[Mat Thompson]

Cat the creative !! It was certainly a interesting idea and doubled up of the tranformation theme. Technically at this viewing resolution it was difficult to see the slides and I'm sure it would be much better viewed at a higher resolution. Overall an interesting and truely 'Cat' piece...you keep uwol and intesting place for sure!

[Bob Thieda]

Unique! Original thinking right there.

Nice shots in there, but as has been said, the resolution limits of the challenge really hurt the video....
I think the hands could have moved all the way to the edge or even off screen and let your video expand more...

But still....Very creative stuff...

Bob T.

[Catherine Russell]

Dear Trond, Bryce, Mat and Bob:

You guys are being very kind in thoughts and words. I feel that this is not exemplary of the standards of UWOL and what you all have made it be. It's more of a, "out of the shark tank at least" caliber of clip.

I couldn't agree with the critiques more... each and every one. I hope some day, my creativity can come together with stunning cinematography to score a knock out contribution.

I am honored at the watch. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Cat

[Dale Guthormsen]

Cat,

What a creative work!!!!I would love to hear some specifics on how you accomplished this cool piece!!!

My only complaint is that I need to see it in high resolution so I can enlage the image to better see the footage!! Perhaps on could scale the hands down so the pictuer could be larger.

You have great creative talent, I am jealous.

I truly enjoyed your entry!!! unique!!!!

[Rob Evans]

Hey Cat,
Your entries never fail to put a warm smile on my face. You know the saying that some dogs look like their owners (and vice versa)? I think we have an analogy in the UWOL world where "some films think like their creators". That must have taken some time matching all the motion points up, and it was well executed. Cat, have you ever thought about doing kid's programming? I think you could really suceed at it.

Cheers!

Rob

[Ruth Happel]

Hi Cat,

This was, as always from you, a fun film to watch. The magic hands were amazing- how did you do that? They worked so perfectly in their motion of shaping the footage, it was perfect timing. As others have said, it would have been nice to have the video a bit larger to see more clearly, but the whole piece worked together really well. Thanks for bringing your creative ideas to UWOL!


Ruth

[Catherine Russell]

Hi Dale, Rob and Ruth:

Thanks for the watch and the support! Like I mentioned before, I'm a bit insecure about this one and you guys are lifting me up, lots!

Rob, I never thought of kids programming.... the only kids I usually deal with are the 4 legged hoofed variety!

Sincerely,

Cat

[Bruce Foreman]

Cat,

We can be our own worst critics, sometimes this should be a good thing but there are times when we should step back and see what others think.

With your entry you stepped into territory a lot of us haven't. To me the only "exemplary standards" of UWOL or any other mutually supportive venue is the standard of effort.

You did something quite unique here and it doesn't have to meet perfection standards to be highly creative and entertaining.

I liked the magic. Feel good about it, it is a very neat accomplishment.

[Chris Barcellos]

Had lots of fun watching this one. The hands were very neat. With all these entries, I don't make my wife watch everything, but I do pick out a few that are neat for her to watch, and yours was on the list!

[Dale Guthormsen]

Cat,

Bruce said something here that I think warrants reinforcing!!!

The measure is the effort put into them, boy is not that the truth!!

Most of us are not professionals!!! measuring ourselves by professional standards is probably not the most encouraging light to look at ourselves.

I think most of us work pretty hard to turn out something reasonable.

I love this piece you produced!!

I still want to hear how you did the hand thing in particular!!!, actually the whole thing!!

[Meryem Ersoz]

I would have just shortened it up...as it is, it clocks in at 3:35, already past the limit, so off you go to the woodshed with Bruce and Dale! You folks are too experienced to be breaking the rules, a hideous punishment awaits you...

I think if you shaved a minute off, you would have a good film. I like the effect, it just erodes over time. The close-ups seem to work the best in the small frame, is that our friend Meaghan?

I like the juxtaposition of the magical with the mundane, the eggs in the nest, the rooster head, it reminds us of how magical the mundane actually is....

[Catherine Russell]

Meryem!

Let's talk rules! Am I wrong here? The movie lasts exactly 3 minutes, then the credits run after that. Is that not acceptable? I made certain that is how it ran. If I'm mistaken please let me know and I'll go back and review the rules. Never mind... I'll review the rules anyway!

Yes, it is our friend Meagan... my goodness, everyone is remembering my goats names! We are family by now are we not?

Since we are family, I will share are family's recent hardships... one fox, a single loan fox has systematically decimated our flock of chickens over the past 3 months. It is a traumatic and stressful time at our ranch. We have put in 9 foot fencing.... it walked through like water. t\his weekend electric fencing, live trapping go in. Two nights ago was the latest hit... 9 killed before we ran in on it. We are now down from 42 to 25 chickens (1 crippled and convalescing in my office). The chicken in this film may or may not still be alive, we had 3 which looked almost identical named Ruthie, Robin and Rose. Hope springs eternal though... we now have 16 beautiful baby chicks and 2 Chinese guard geese. Life is good.

Dale, Chris and Bruce, and Maryem:

Thanks for the kind words and support. Maryem, you too! Everyone could have come down really hard on this clip and have not. Thanks for good advice, critique and support.

Sincerely,

Cat