UWOL #9-The Osprey-Martin Vavra

Martin Vavra · June 26th, 2008, 12:13 AM

Have the new deinterlaced video up now. Check it out here.

http://www.vimeo.com/1234502

David Gemmell · June 26th, 2008, 06:52 AM

mmm, very nice Martin...

Peter Damerell · June 26th, 2008, 06:54 AM

I have never seen an osprey struggle to get airborne for so long after a catch! That must have been a large fish or it became snagged in the kelp. Either way it made for one of the most dramatic pieces of footage I have seen in an uwol film!

This was an ambitious film with a challenging subject so congratulations for taking it on and doing so well. I would suggest that when filming the bird over head you zoom out slightly so it is easier to keep the whole bird in frame the whole time. You can then pull the image in slightly in post production.

The music and commentary were great.

Since you are a science teacher I thought you might find the following paper on ospreys interesting. It a neat little study into how they use species specific successful hunt data to determine where the best fishing grounds are located.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal...f/329239a0.pdf

If you would like the full article I can access it for you. Just send me an email.

Greta film I look forward to seeing more of your work.

Pete

Catherine Russell · June 26th, 2008, 06:59 AM

Hi Martin:

Wow, that was amazing footage. I am deeply impressed with how well you could follow the Osprey in flight so smoothly with it so zoomed in. You along with Per have amazing skill at that! Your science school-teaching comes into play here with well researched, interesting and informative information. Great job.

The first entry I made in UWOL I had the same compression questions. Here I came up with a fun movie and then getting it to 50-60 mb killed it! I threw out questions to everyone as well and people recommended the software package Sorensen Squeeze. If you can spring for the cost, it is very well worth it. It made all the difference in the world to be able to have very high compression and still have it look crisp. It also allows for you to tweak your settings (not a black box kind of thing) which helps to get those movie clips under the requirement. Just a thought!

Well done Martin!

Cat

Martin Vavra · June 26th, 2008, 09:59 AM

I have committed to a lot of new stuff. I want to leave the teaching thing to become a wildlife videographer. I want to live the true meaning of Under Water Over Land. I am working on buying a dive housing for my GL2, and hope to upgrade to a hd camera or something with better abilities in sd. Probably try to go XL2 or XH way. Sorenson is now on the purchase order, it is just a matter of swinging it. Being a teacher wanting to turn my business from what it was into something bigger, and potentially riskier, is not monetarily supported by my teaching pay.

Thanks so much for the great words! This was my first entry, and to be honest, the direction I want to go in life. I hope this serves as the first of many more to come!

Chris Barcellos · June 26th, 2008, 10:27 AM

Great footage Martin. Sometimes we think of nature as this mechanical thing, where everything happens in a particular way. The struggle for the meal you captured here reminds us that there is no "sure thing" and that even with all the special gear the osprey is provided, it is still a struggle.

I think the same can be said of wildlife videographers-- depite the gear and equipment, it is a struggle to get the shot-- and you came through on this one.

Lorinda Norton · June 26th, 2008, 04:29 PM

My heart was in my throat during the struggle between Osprey and fish. Wow—I’ve never seen anything like it. Thank you for capturing and sharing such dramatic video, Martin.

Marj Atkins · June 26th, 2008, 11:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martin Vavra

If there was one thing that I would take a lesson on, read a book about, or would love to be mentored in it would be video output and that whole world of compression and transcoding.

Try this for starters - a little outdated but has the fundamentals.

http://www.adobe.com/products/premie...rimer_0306.pdf.

Martin Vavra · June 27th, 2008, 08:51 AM

The link doesn't seem to work. It tells me the page is no longer available. Thank you though. I will see what I can find on adobe's site.

Marj Atkins · June 27th, 2008, 12:50 PM

That is a real pity - it is pretty comprehensive even if a tad behind technology that is moving so fast these days. I will send you a copy if you don't have any success - really worth it.

Your video on the Osprey is both interesting and informative. I admire the way you managed to stay with the bird in flight. I think I would have cut out the untidy footage between the start of the dive and the Osprey’s landing in the water. (The brain usually sorts out these in-between bits.)

Watch your horizon lines - those in your intro were not quite level. (You can always straighten them up in post if all else fails!)

Mike Beckett · June 28th, 2008, 07:45 AM

Martin,

Well done - what a great film.

The establishing shots worked well, though a couple of the opening ones had non-level sea on the horizon that looks a bit odd. Also, the voiceover, while very well delivered, was a bit overwhelmed by the music sometimes.

But wow! there are some good shots of the Osprey there. I particularly like the ones where the bird is hovering in mid air, and you've got a great close-up.

Ospreys are very rare in the UK and Ireland. The BBC's Springwatch season this year spent some time with an osprey nest. I always thought of them as inland water birds rater than sea birds, you learn something new every day.

It must be painfully difficult to capture the Osprey diving for the fish. The BBC show mentioned above showed Simon King using an ultra high speed camera to capture the osprey dive. I'm not sure if web surfers from outside the UK can see the videos on that site, but if you follow my link in the last paragraph you can see the 28 second version of the dive - incredible! But he probably had $100,000 of camera and tripod there.

Back to your film! The struggle for the fish was incredible. Very well done, a great entry.

Bob Thieda · June 28th, 2008, 08:31 AM

Martin,

Nice entry.
I watched the .mov version because I have them on disc and am watching them at work.
So I did have some pixalation issues, but I still enjoyed it.

Your VO was very good and I learned quite a bit about your Osprey.

And the shots of it hovering were outstanding.

Bob

Oliver Pahlow · June 29th, 2008, 11:57 AM

Martin,

Those were some great shots and nice VO. Did you do your own music for the background?

Oliver

Martin Vavra · June 29th, 2008, 09:45 PM

I did do the music. I took loops from a loops CD I have for ACID and put it altogether. This was only the second time I have done such a thing, the first was on Garage Band. That was about three years ago. I really didn't so too much other then find the loops I liked and put them in the order I wanted.

Meryem Ersoz · June 30th, 2008, 07:55 AM

Hi Martin, and welcome to UWOL!

What is it about the osprey? The most fascinating bird on the planet. All the world loves the osprey (except maybe the fishes...) You got some excellent footage of this most magnificent animal.

Most people have to study up on compression for their first few entries, to get the settings right, so you're not alone.

June 26th, 2008, 12:13 AM	#16
Martin Vavra Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Talent, Oregon Posts: 29	Have the new deinterlaced video up now. Check it out here. http://www.vimeo.com/1234502 __________________ Martin Vavra ~ Galaxy Sailor Productions www.galaxysailor.com

June 26th, 2008, 09:59 AM	#20
Martin Vavra Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Talent, Oregon Posts: 29	I have committed to a lot of new stuff. I want to leave the teaching thing to become a wildlife videographer. I want to live the true meaning of Under Water Over Land. I am working on buying a dive housing for my GL2, and hope to upgrade to a hd camera or something with better abilities in sd. Probably try to go XL2 or XH way. Sorenson is now on the purchase order, it is just a matter of swinging it. Being a teacher wanting to turn my business from what it was into something bigger, and potentially riskier, is not monetarily supported by my teaching pay. Thanks so much for the great words! This was my first entry, and to be honest, the direction I want to go in life. I hope this serves as the first of many more to come! __________________ Martin Vavra ~ Galaxy Sailor Productions www.galaxysailor.com

June 26th, 2008, 10:27 AM	#21
Chris Barcellos Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Elk Grove CA Posts: 6,838	Great footage Martin. Sometimes we think of nature as this mechanical thing, where everything happens in a particular way. The struggle for the meal you captured here reminds us that there is no "sure thing" and that even with all the special gear the osprey is provided, it is still a struggle. I think the same can be said of wildlife videographers-- depite the gear and equipment, it is a struggle to get the shot-- and you came through on this one. __________________ Chris J. Barcellos

June 26th, 2008, 04:29 PM	#22
Lorinda Norton Wrangler Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Southwest Idaho, USA Posts: 3,066	My heart was in my throat during the struggle between Osprey and fish. Wow—I’ve never seen anything like it. Thank you for capturing and sharing such dramatic video, Martin. __________________ Lorinda

June 27th, 2008, 08:51 AM	#24
Martin Vavra Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Talent, Oregon Posts: 29	The link doesn't seem to work. It tells me the page is no longer available. Thank you though. I will see what I can find on adobe's site. __________________ Martin Vavra ~ Galaxy Sailor Productions www.galaxysailor.com

June 26th, 2008, 06:52 AM	#17
David Gemmell Major Player Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Bendigo, Australia Posts: 234	mmm, very nice Martin...

June 26th, 2008, 06:54 AM	#18
Peter Damerell Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Truro, Cornwall, UK Posts: 51	I have never seen an osprey struggle to get airborne for so long after a catch! That must have been a large fish or it became snagged in the kelp. Either way it made for one of the most dramatic pieces of footage I have seen in an uwol film! This was an ambitious film with a challenging subject so congratulations for taking it on and doing so well. I would suggest that when filming the bird over head you zoom out slightly so it is easier to keep the whole bird in frame the whole time. You can then pull the image in slightly in post production. The music and commentary were great. Since you are a science teacher I thought you might find the following paper on ospreys interesting. It a neat little study into how they use species specific successful hunt data to determine where the best fishing grounds are located. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal...f/329239a0.pdf If you would like the full article I can access it for you. Just send me an email. Greta film I look forward to seeing more of your work. Pete

June 26th, 2008, 06:59 AM	#19
Catherine Russell Trustee Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Lyons, Colorado Posts: 1,224	Hi Martin: Wow, that was amazing footage. I am deeply impressed with how well you could follow the Osprey in flight so smoothly with it so zoomed in. You along with Per have amazing skill at that! Your science school-teaching comes into play here with well researched, interesting and informative information. Great job. The first entry I made in UWOL I had the same compression questions. Here I came up with a fun movie and then getting it to 50-60 mb killed it! I threw out questions to everyone as well and people recommended the software package Sorensen Squeeze. If you can spring for the cost, it is very well worth it. It made all the difference in the world to be able to have very high compression and still have it look crisp. It also allows for you to tweak your settings (not a black box kind of thing) which helps to get those movie clips under the requirement. Just a thought! Well done Martin! Cat

June 27th, 2008, 12:50 PM	#25
Marj Atkins Major Player Join Date: May 2007 Location: Johannesburg South Africa Posts: 768	That is a real pity - it is pretty comprehensive even if a tad behind technology that is moving so fast these days. I will send you a copy if you don't have any success - really worth it. Your video on the Osprey is both interesting and informative. I admire the way you managed to stay with the bird in flight. I think I would have cut out the untidy footage between the start of the dive and the Osprey’s landing in the water. (The brain usually sorts out these in-between bits.) Watch your horizon lines - those in your intro were not quite level. (You can always straighten them up in post if all else fails!)

June 28th, 2008, 07:45 AM	#26
Mike Beckett Trustee Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Antrim, Northern Ireland Posts: 1,569	Martin, Well done - what a great film. The establishing shots worked well, though a couple of the opening ones had non-level sea on the horizon that looks a bit odd. Also, the voiceover, while very well delivered, was a bit overwhelmed by the music sometimes. But wow! there are some good shots of the Osprey there. I particularly like the ones where the bird is hovering in mid air, and you've got a great close-up. Ospreys are very rare in the UK and Ireland. The BBC's Springwatch season this year spent some time with an osprey nest. I always thought of them as inland water birds rater than sea birds, you learn something new every day. It must be painfully difficult to capture the Osprey diving for the fish. The BBC show mentioned above showed Simon King using an ultra high speed camera to capture the osprey dive. I'm not sure if web surfers from outside the UK can see the videos on that site, but if you follow my link in the last paragraph you can see the 28 second version of the dive - incredible! But he probably had $100,000 of camera and tripod there. Back to your film! The struggle for the fish was incredible. Very well done, a great entry. __________________ Irish Railway Videos on Youtube

June 28th, 2008, 08:31 AM	#27
Bob Thieda Major Player Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Carol Stream, IL Posts: 541	Martin, Nice entry. I watched the .mov version because I have them on disc and am watching them at work. So I did have some pixalation issues, but I still enjoyed it. Your VO was very good and I learned quite a bit about your Osprey. And the shots of it hovering were outstanding. Bob __________________ Bob T.

June 29th, 2008, 11:57 AM	#28
Oliver Pahlow Major Player Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Woodridge Illinois Posts: 237	Martin, Those were some great shots and nice VO. Did you do your own music for the background? Oliver

June 29th, 2008, 09:45 PM	#29
Martin Vavra Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Talent, Oregon Posts: 29	I did do the music. I took loops from a loops CD I have for ACID and put it altogether. This was only the second time I have done such a thing, the first was on Garage Band. That was about three years ago. I really didn't so too much other then find the loops I liked and put them in the order I wanted. __________________ Martin Vavra ~ Galaxy Sailor Productions www.galaxysailor.com

June 30th, 2008, 07:55 AM	#30
Meryem Ersoz Wrangler Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Boulder, CO Posts: 3,015	Hi Martin, and welcome to UWOL! What is it about the osprey? The most fascinating bird on the planet. All the world loves the osprey (except maybe the fishes...) You got some excellent footage of this most magnificent animal. Most people have to study up on compression for their first few entries, to get the settings right, so you're not alone.