UWOL Announcements and Discussion - Talk Amongst Yourselves!

[Jeff Hendricks]

Originally Posted by Meryem Ersoz

Let me throw another scenario out there. In theory, you could post an entire 20-minute film in your first feedback thread and spend the next 8 months massaging it. How you use your 4 feedback opportunities will be flexible. At the end, UWOL will archive your final product, but not your drafts. But while it is in progress, we will keep copies of your draft "live" for feedback.
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well Jeff if you would read instead of skim you might not ask such dumb questions.

[John Dennis Robertson]

I love the idea...It feels like forever since I have last been here

[Trond Saetre]

I will definitely keep doing the regular "short uwol" videos.
But the concept of the Long form is absolutely interesting too. It is a great way to push your own skills long steps forward.

[Kevin Railsback]

I love the idea of a long form UWOL project for several reasons. But the one that appeals to me the most if getting feedback along the way.
We have such a diverse group of filmmakers from all over the world that I think it's kind of our secret weapon to make our films better.

I really look forward to putting my idea out there and saying this is my vision, this is some of the stuff I've shot, what do you think?

Oftentimes you're so close to a project it's hard to be able to step back and take a look at it with fresh eyes.

Can't wait for the starting gate to drop on this one! :)

[Trond Saetre]

Originally Posted by Markus Nord

I’m been thinking about to coproduce a UWOL film with some other player (like Kevin and Bob) but expand it to mix different countries in one film, maybe this would work in the long competition. Just see if any one would like to make something together :)

Markus

Hei Markus, making an uwol film together, either the regular short, or the long form, could have been real fun.

[Mat Thompson]

Hi guys.

Of course I think the idea of the longer format piece is a great one. For those that choose to take up the challenge it will also show just how much 'story is king' and with it be a valuable education in longer format writing and producing.

I have to raise a concern about both film length and timescales. Twenty minutes minimun really is a much longer format but more so a year gives a lot of potential for 'drop out'. I know the critique phases should keep things bound together. But a year is a long time to maintain momentum within a competition format and it would be quite deflating to both take part and run things to see 10-15 starters fall away to just a couple of finishers.

Now feel free to tell me if I'm just being pessimistic here but something is telling me a 6 month timescale and a 10 minute minimum might be more realistic !!??

[Kevin Railsback]

Mat,

I can see your point about going out a year vs. six months. It's going to take some dedicated filmmakers to work on it for that period of time.

I still like the year 20 minutes plus though. I think the long form is set up to be something more for people who want to do something more than just hobby shoot.
So the original short form would still work for those that just want to have fun but the long form would be something for those that want to take it to the next level.

What's a half hour shoe on the tube now about 24 minutes?

I think it's going to be a huge challenge for me to sustain people's interest for twenty minutes. But I figure with opportunities to get feedback and suggestions I can do it.

But, I'll certainly go along with what everyone else wants to do.

[Jeff Hendricks]

I still like the 1 year and 20 minutes because like Meryem said you can feel free to turn in your 20 minute film on the first date and then make fixes from there based on feedback. So you don't have to take an entire year to complete a film you can finish in 1 month or 6 months or 12 months depending on what you are able to accomplish.

also

If it doesn’t work out right we can change the timeline next year...after all it's only 365.25 days.

Jeff

[Markus Nord]

Originally Posted by Trond Saetre

Hei Markus, making an uwol film together, either the regular short, or the long form, could have been real fun.

Sounds good Trond... We can begin with a short one...

[Jim Montgomery]

How about collaborations? It is tough to make a film "by yourself". The film I worked on was 12 people for 8 weeks to produce 80 minutes, so that means 3 people for two weeks to get to 20 minutes? Plus 13 weeks of pre-production and 13 weeks of post.

Ya, I would be game.

Jim

[Mike Beckett]

I think it's a great idea, running both. I'm not sure I have the stamina for 12 months though, I think I would find myself getting bored with something that ran for that long, especially if it was a more rigid theme that someone else had decided upon.

Seeing as we are having fewer "short" contests, what about making them four weeks rather than three? Or am I just being selfish? I can't be the only person who only has weekends free and faces the gamble of unpredictable weather. Not a big issue, just a "would be nice"!

[Per Johan Naesje]

Meryem: I think this will be excellent, and I support 4 short one and 1 long one! And if the short one could be extended in time, e.g 4 (5?) weeks of production, would fit better for me.

[Meryem Ersoz]

Per has returned! Good to see you, my friend....

I'm glad to see a positive response to this idea. So many of you are becoming so good at the short film, I think this will be a good challenge.

Here's a few thoughts.

1) Yes to collaborations - you may even sign up openly as a team if you like, fine by me - longer films tend, by nature, to be collaborative to some degree

2) You are not bound by the 1 year/20 minute concept - 20 minutes is a minimum, but your mileage may vary -

anywhere between 22 - 24 minutes is the common producer's specs for a TV broadcast. it depends on the broadcaster. 54 - 56 minutes is common for hour-long programming.

also, you have one year to complete it, but you can certainly wind it up sooner - submit it to a festival or whatever...

4) regarding the time frame of the short-form contest - given that these are fewer and further between, i'm happy to extend it to a full month (4 weeks), unless anyone has any strenuous objections to that change? it will actually make all the planning easier....i think 3 weeks puts the right amount of pressure on everyone, but if having few rounds means wanting to spend more time shooting and crafting your short films, i'm open to it.

5) Another scenario to consider for the long-form - You may not even shoot a thing for the first round, you may spend your first feedback round scripting and researching and getting feedback on your ideas and concept before you even get out there -- you may even storyboard a bit, instead of running around randomly chasing images. You may have to spend time lining up interviews, etc. There will probably be a good deal more pre-production than you are accustomed to...you don't have to use your feedback thread just to post footage...I expect that most of you will put up some footage, because we all like shooting, but you can upload other ideas, scripts, projects outlines, etc., and we will have an ongoing conversation, similar to "tales of wonder and woe" where you can share your successes and failures and help each other out with how to work out the problems which you encounter.

[Markus Nord]

Why not have a 1-2 mouth signup and script writing + feedback (for those who want) and then 10 mouth with 4 feedback threads to finish the film. I would love to discuses and work on my script first and then start the contest. The biggest and best thing with UWOL is the enormous skill tat we all got together. If anyone doesn’t want to share each idea it’s up to them. I would love to bounce ideas before… ‘cause that’s my weakest point.

Markus

[Jeff Hendricks]

Originally Posted by Meryem Ersoz

5) Another scenario to consider for the long-form - You may not even shoot a thing for the first round, you may spend your first feedback round scripting and researching and getting feedback on your ideas and concept before you even get out there -- you may even storyboard a bit, instead of running around randomly chasing images. You may have to spend time lining up interviews, etc. There will probably be a good deal more pre-production than you are accustomed to...you don't have to use your feedback thread just to post footage...I expect that most of you will put up some footage, because we all like shooting, but you can upload other ideas, scripts, projects outlines, etc., and we will have an ongoing conversation, similar to "tales of wonder and woe" where you can share your successes and failures and help each other out with how to work out the problems which you encounter.

what a wonderful learning experience this will be too...to be able to see how other people organize and prepare.

it will be beneficial to me anyway because I always struggle with that part of filmmaking.