Tales of Wonder and Woe: UWOL-Long-Form 2009

Kevin Railsback · May 13th, 2009, 03:02 PM

Well, I still haven't shot anything for my long form. BUT, something fell into my lap that is PERFECT for me.
So, I begged Meryem for a bit of an extension so I could get this one in the can.

I can incorporate some of the footage from the first round of my original idea into this one.

So, if I can get this interview in the next couple days I think I'll have a project that I can really get into.

Waiting to hear back to see if we're a go or not.

Mike Sims · July 3rd, 2009, 02:23 PM

I just got back from my latest trip to the desert. It’s hot. The highest official high temperature while I was out there was 113ºF (45ºC) although I informally measured over that each day. The coolest it got was 84ºF (28.9ºC). Re-radiation from the rocks was intense. There’s nothing moving except at night. By 7:30 AM the heat shimmer is noticeable. I don’t think any of the footage I shot will be useable. If this heat wave doesn’t break soon I may have to rethink my project. I guess this may be my comeuppance for getting so much work done early this year while many of us were waiting for snow to melt! Think of Per Johan’s round two difficulties with the Capercaillie, only instead of sitting in the blind think of sitting in the oven…

Back home it’s a relatively cool 102º.

Steve Siegel · July 4th, 2009, 05:55 PM

Mike,
Talk about extremes. I just got back from shooting in Alaska, where the winds were steady, the rain was constant, and I had to wear thermal underwear. Better than the heat, though.

Dale Guthormsen · July 5th, 2009, 09:48 AM

Good morning,

Well, every place, season and situation offers challenges to be sure.

We have had cool temperatures wind as usual but actually some semi still days!!!

I have been getting some footage for part one of my long form, everything is about two to three weeks behind time frame wise.

I wil be asssembling footage the next two weeks, also have also have initial stages shooting in the next few weeks.

Here is a couple snap shots of our subject, code named "Chip"

Dale

Dale Guthormsen · July 28th, 2009, 02:54 PM

I was wondering how you all are coming along with your features!! The end is not that far off!!!

Was previewing footage, important stuff, only to find a bug landed on my lens and I never noticed it concentrating on my subject!!! It stands out now!!! mzy hzve to use a bit of it anyway>

Know a way to take the bug out???

Mike Sims · July 30th, 2009, 06:58 AM

Ouch Dale! I did a video about a birding contest that had interviews in a salt marsh and I had the same problem. Mosquitoes landed on the lens during the interviews and I didn’t detect it until I got home. In one case the background was static so I was able to deinterlace and export the clip as stills. In Photoshop I replaced the bug on each frame with background from the last clean frame and then re-imported as video. It worked pretty well. In another instance the background was a crowd of moving people. I found a shirt that was very similar to the one that the talent was wearing and shot a close-up of my own arm in that shirt and pretending to swat a mosquito. Once the bug landed on the lens I cut away to that shot and when I cut back it was gone. Ugly but it “worked”.

Steve Siegel · July 31st, 2009, 04:06 PM

As I recall, UWOL entries can be posted to sites that accept big files, for viewing, but the judging has always been done with the actual UWOL upload. Will that be the case with the Long Form? I can't imaging squeezing a 30-60 minute entry into 180 MB. The rules are a little unclear on this point.

Meryem Ersoz · July 31st, 2009, 09:53 PM

We have not instituted a file size limit on the finished long-form pieces yet - at the time the rules were instituted, we had no idea how many players (and therefore how much bandwidth...) would be required, so it has been a little tough to anticipate. We probably won't make a final determination on this until we approach the final shake-out after the October round and have a few model compressions upon which to base the decision.

Hope this helps...

Dale Guthormsen · August 1st, 2009, 10:06 PM

Here is a new one for me!!!

all my footage, irreplacable of course, from my spring shoot the audio and video are out of sinc!!!!!!

what would cause that??

always something!!!!!

Meryem Ersoz · August 8th, 2009, 03:30 PM

Who's still playing? Can't wait to see how the long form marathon is taking shape...

Reminder that your deadline for round 3 footage is next week!

Steve Siegel · August 8th, 2009, 05:06 PM

I may be the only stupid one out there, it's taken me three years to figure this out. In case anyone else has problems squeezing their movies into the UWOL file size, using a one-pass export instead of two-pass makes all the difference. It cuts the file size in half...duhhh.

Per Johan Naesje · August 8th, 2009, 11:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meryem Ersoz

Who's still playing?

Well, I´m still in. I´m finishing the entry today. But this round is just to "stay alive" for me!
I´ve been doing mostly a talking head piece, with some footage from earlier uwol, just to keep interest for what I´m talking about!

This summer has been too hectic both for me and Ole Arne. He has been traveling much in his day time work, so we actually haven´t meet for a couple of months now!

So I believe that it´s going to be much hard work during this fall, to get a piece finished in the end. But as we all say, when it´s getting hot - first of all have fun (Rule #11) :-)

Bryce Comer · August 9th, 2009, 12:09 AM

Well, i will certainly try to get something put together for this round, however, like Per Johan, it will be a "stay alive" submission. I have been really busy with my day job lately, & have been living away for work. That has meant i haven't been out filming at all in the last couple of months & haven't had a chance to edit anything, so i am running a bit behind where i would have liked to have been at this point in time. I still need some particular footage to make my end film work the way i would like, so hopefully i can get that footage, if not, i'm not sure how it will all work out. I do have an interview set up with a government biologist, so hopefully i will nail that, & that will add a lot to my story.
Good luck to everyone still in the game.
Bryce

Geir Inge · August 9th, 2009, 12:42 AM

Hi Meryem.
I am still in the LF.
Like the others I'm struggling a bit to get something finished for this 3rd round.
Also my exams keep me busy :(
Still, I will try to mix something together, just so I can keep my head over water :)
I have seen your ULF 3 video Steve at EXroom and it was great. I think our films a very much alike, so I have to try to make mine a bit different :)
I am also planning an interview with the leader (prrsident) of Birdlife Norway (The Norwegian Ornithological Society).

Geir Inge

Mike Sims · August 9th, 2009, 06:40 AM

Meryem- To keep with the new “theme”, I’m still in but I’m also having more troubles with this round. It’s mostly because I left the editing so late. I was under the weather a few days and I find that when I’m ill I make very poor editing choices. I’ll have something done but it won’t be as polished as I had hoped. The desert has been very hot but they’re not experiencing the drought we are here at home, so- I’m scheduled to be off for the field again next week with a very long shot list. Fingers crossed.

May 13th, 2009, 03:02 PM	#136
Kevin Railsback Trustee Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Cedar Rapids, Iowa Posts: 1,544	Well, I still haven't shot anything for my long form. BUT, something fell into my lap that is PERFECT for me. So, I begged Meryem for a bit of an extension so I could get this one in the can. I can incorporate some of the footage from the first round of my original idea into this one. So, if I can get this interview in the next couple days I think I'll have a project that I can really get into. Waiting to hear back to see if we're a go or not. __________________ --==Kevin==-- http:naturephotostudios.com.com

July 5th, 2009, 09:48 AM	#139
Dale Guthormsen Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Saskatchewan Posts: 3,048	Good morning, Well, every place, season and situation offers challenges to be sure. We have had cool temperatures wind as usual but actually some semi still days!!! I have been getting some footage for part one of my long form, everything is about two to three weeks behind time frame wise. I wil be asssembling footage the next two weeks, also have also have initial stages shooting in the next few weeks. Here is a couple snap shots of our subject, code named "Chip" Dale Attached Thumbnails __________________ DATS ALL FOLKS Dale W. Guthormsen

July 28th, 2009, 02:54 PM	#140
Dale Guthormsen Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Saskatchewan Posts: 3,048	How you doing I was wondering how you all are coming along with your features!! The end is not that far off!!! Was previewing footage, important stuff, only to find a bug landed on my lens and I never noticed it concentrating on my subject!!! It stands out now!!! mzy hzve to use a bit of it anyway> Know a way to take the bug out??? __________________ DATS ALL FOLKS Dale W. Guthormsen

July 30th, 2009, 06:58 AM	#141
Mike Sims Major Player Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 880	That bugs me too. Ouch Dale! I did a video about a birding contest that had interviews in a salt marsh and I had the same problem. Mosquitoes landed on the lens during the interviews and I didn’t detect it until I got home. In one case the background was static so I was able to deinterlace and export the clip as stills. In Photoshop I replaced the bug on each frame with background from the last clean frame and then re-imported as video. It worked pretty well. In another instance the background was a crowd of moving people. I found a shirt that was very similar to the one that the talent was wearing and shot a close-up of my own arm in that shirt and pretending to swat a mosquito. Once the bug landed on the lens I cut away to that shot and when I cut back it was gone. Ugly but it “worked”.

July 31st, 2009, 04:06 PM	#142
Steve Siegel Major Player Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA Posts: 840	A question looking ahead to the end As I recall, UWOL entries can be posted to sites that accept big files, for viewing, but the judging has always been done with the actual UWOL upload. Will that be the case with the Long Form? I can't imaging squeezing a 30-60 minute entry into 180 MB. The rules are a little unclear on this point.

July 3rd, 2009, 02:23 PM	#137
Mike Sims Major Player Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 880	I just got back from my latest trip to the desert. It’s hot. The highest official high temperature while I was out there was 113ºF (45ºC) although I informally measured over that each day. The coolest it got was 84ºF (28.9ºC). Re-radiation from the rocks was intense. There’s nothing moving except at night. By 7:30 AM the heat shimmer is noticeable. I don’t think any of the footage I shot will be useable. If this heat wave doesn’t break soon I may have to rethink my project. I guess this may be my comeuppance for getting so much work done early this year while many of us were waiting for snow to melt! Think of Per Johan’s round two difficulties with the Capercaillie, only instead of sitting in the blind think of sitting in the oven… Back home it’s a relatively cool 102º.

July 4th, 2009, 05:55 PM	#138
Steve Siegel Major Player Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA Posts: 840	Mike, Talk about extremes. I just got back from shooting in Alaska, where the winds were steady, the rain was constant, and I had to wear thermal underwear. Better than the heat, though.

July 31st, 2009, 09:53 PM	#143
Meryem Ersoz Wrangler Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Boulder, CO Posts: 3,015	We have not instituted a file size limit on the finished long-form pieces yet - at the time the rules were instituted, we had no idea how many players (and therefore how much bandwidth...) would be required, so it has been a little tough to anticipate. We probably won't make a final determination on this until we approach the final shake-out after the October round and have a few model compressions upon which to base the decision. Hope this helps...

August 1st, 2009, 10:06 PM	#144
Dale Guthormsen Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Saskatchewan Posts: 3,048	Here is a new one for me!!! all my footage, irreplacable of course, from my spring shoot the audio and video are out of sinc!!!!!! what would cause that?? always something!!!!! __________________ DATS ALL FOLKS Dale W. Guthormsen

August 8th, 2009, 03:30 PM	#145
Meryem Ersoz Wrangler Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Boulder, CO Posts: 3,015	People get ready! Who's still playing? Can't wait to see how the long form marathon is taking shape... Reminder that your deadline for round 3 footage is next week!

August 8th, 2009, 05:06 PM	#146
Steve Siegel Major Player Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA Posts: 840	I finally figured it out I may be the only stupid one out there, it's taken me three years to figure this out. In case anyone else has problems squeezing their movies into the UWOL file size, using a one-pass export instead of two-pass makes all the difference. It cuts the file size in half...duhhh.

August 9th, 2009, 12:09 AM	#148
Bryce Comer Trustee Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Rossland, British Columbia Posts: 1,024	Well, i will certainly try to get something put together for this round, however, like Per Johan, it will be a "stay alive" submission. I have been really busy with my day job lately, & have been living away for work. That has meant i haven't been out filming at all in the last couple of months & haven't had a chance to edit anything, so i am running a bit behind where i would have liked to have been at this point in time. I still need some particular footage to make my end film work the way i would like, so hopefully i can get that footage, if not, i'm not sure how it will all work out. I do have an interview set up with a government biologist, so hopefully i will nail that, & that will add a lot to my story. Good luck to everyone still in the game. Bryce __________________ There's never enough hours in the day!

August 9th, 2009, 12:42 AM	#149
Geir Inge Trustee Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Larsnes, Norway Posts: 1,343	Hi Meryem. I am still in the LF. Like the others I'm struggling a bit to get something finished for this 3rd round. Also my exams keep me busy :( Still, I will try to mix something together, just so I can keep my head over water :) I have seen your ULF 3 video Steve at EXroom and it was great. I think our films a very much alike, so I have to try to make mine a bit different :) I am also planning an interview with the leader (prrsident) of Birdlife Norway (The Norwegian Ornithological Society). Geir Inge __________________ Geir Inge B. Brekke Visit me at: https://vimeo.com/gibbfilm

August 9th, 2009, 06:40 AM	#150
Mike Sims Major Player Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 880	Meryem- To keep with the new “theme”, I’m still in but I’m also having more troubles with this round. It’s mostly because I left the editing so late. I was under the weather a few days and I find that when I’m ill I make very poor editing choices. I’ll have something done but it won’t be as polished as I had hoped. The desert has been very hot but they’re not experiencing the drought we are here at home, so- I’m scheduled to be off for the field again next week with a very long shot list. Fingers crossed.