UWOL 18 The Other Things

[Dale Guthormsen]

Good Morning,

On my second attempt to get this posted, the server was not available last time.

I enjoyed working on this until the deep freeze hit and then my subjects were all gone the next day I got out. Somewhat Disapppointed I just left everything and finally decided to not do something new, just go with what I have. It marginally fits the theme and I am missing a few shots it should have.

I thought they were due Saturday so I blitzed on it for a day and submitted it.

I did have plenty of fun working on it.

Here is my link

The Other Things on Vimeo

[Trond Saetre]

Hi Dale,

I love the colors of your opening scene. And whoa, that must have been thousands of birds in that huge flock. Amazing!
I'm impressed by how steady your filming of birds in flight is.

The volume of your narration is a bit low, compared to the volume you have for the natural bird sounds on location...
Maybe check into this.
Well done!

[Mick Jenner]

Hi Dale,

Loved the varity of clips and of course the autumnal colours and light. I agree with Trond and would say a better mixture of sound would have made a big difference.

Enjoyed wathching

Mick

[Mike Sims]

Hey Dale. It’s always kind of iffy trying to get things done this time of year, isn’t it? (Although our southern hemisphere players are probably thinking “Alright, about time, too!”) Your prairie sunrises certainly are spectacular. Nice job there. The sight and sounds of those snow geese flocks reminds me strongly of the marsh here in January and February. In a way I’m glad to hear that the waterfowl have left your neighborhood because it means they are on their way here (not here yet!). You’ve made another very enjoyable video this round. Congratulations.

[Finn-Erik Faale]

Dale,

You have made a fine video. I am impressed by several shots with the falcon in front and the flying geese in the background. I agree on what is said about the sound levels.
My ears are sorting out great classical guitar playing.

[Catherine Russell]

Hi Dale:

I am taken aback. Your filming of birds in flight is becoming your signature. There was plenty to feast on here. I was under the impression from your comments in wonder and woe that you were just unable to come up with anything. I have never experienced flocks of this magnitude and can only imagine what it must feel like standing there filming them in their midst. To me, your filming is showing hints of mastery. The sunrise scenes were rapturous.

I am intrigued as to why you felt you needed more footage to fulfill the theme? To me, the intimate detail of this film is the patterns of your birds in flight. There was so much in that! Whether linear and formed or completely frenetic the birds in motion captivated and moved me. That was your strength Dale. They way you interchanged slow mo with real time kept it moving and alive. Keep it up!

Cat

[Steve Siegel]

Dale,

I agree with Cat. You have mastered birds in flight, especially in slow motion. One of your geese shots was reminiscent of the artist, Francis Lee Jacques. Gorgeous. Your last scene is priceless. I can imagine some nature filmmaker 100 years from now digging it up to show what we had back in the old days. Keep filming those raptors.

[Mat Thompson]

Hi Dale

Well you have some amazing shots in here. Indeed some of the best I've seen in any of your films and in top notch as far as uwol goes too!

It's a shame however your production value was brought down by the use of other sub-standard material. On one shot you'll show a lovely tracking bif with great control. Then on another you'll keep in little zoom corrections, none defined moves and parts of a shot that could be edited out and increase your overall production value. (In my opinion 0:38-40, you should have just cut straight to the second better shot.)

You could also have increased your production value by doing a better dubbing mix. The geese for instance - Try recording a good minute of quality audio of them. Then use this in your audio mix instead of the actual recorded sound that has different properties, levels and other mush.

I would have also liked a stronger story to glue things together more.

Your closing shot is awesome....wow !

[Bill Thesken]

Dale, I finally got a chance to watch this. Holy cow that shot at 00:23 is amazing. I cannot believe how many birds are in that frame. I watched it twice and it was still shocking. What a racket they must make in real life. Those slow motion eagle shots are real nice. 3 minutes is not enough time to cover that subject. I'll bet you could put together a long DVD and market it.

[Dale Guthormsen]

Good evening,

First, thank you all for taking the time to watch this entry.

The geese seen in the mob was only a small group of the larger flock. The numbers were down this year as there was so much water in the prairies many chose to stage in other areas of the province. The major group is in the hundreds of thousands, a ducks unlimited biologist comes up to visit us every fall, his acessment was about 750 thousand this year. It truly is a specticle and we often go out at 4:00 in the afternoon to see them lift off for the afternoon, but for shear beauty sunrise or sunset is the best time to enjoy them. we have often taken the chairs out in the evening, a bottle of merlot and set back and enjoy. the sights and sounds are food for the soul.

Try as I may I could not get shots of the sub adult making a kill. I have footage from two years ago I could have dubbed but that isn't fair game.

I also went to get pecking order shots, but as I sat in my blind my farmer friend came out to work in the field I was actually in, end of that. Had I just phoned the night before he would have not bothered so I had to have a laugh at myself over that!!

The real surprise this year was just prior to the start of compitition we stumbled into a juvinile peregrine eating a snow goose she had killed. then while filming feeding I did manage to get a second falcon that zoomed by as the geese were feeding causing the flock to lift. she was buzzing the geese looking for ducks feeeding among them, so that was the short shot I did get.

the blooper of course was the second shot of the coyote, tad out of focus. Now I have been having trouble with focus for a couple years. So I went to the eye doctor last week and boy have my eyes degenerated a lot the last while!!! Look out after I get them in a week or so!!!

I am working on two long form videos, Spring and summer in the prairies and Fall and winter in the prairies. The spring/summer one is perhaps a year away from completion, and the fall winter at least two more unless I get real lucky on my winter shots as they are hard and slow to get.

Oh yea, by the way, the color in the sunrise was not color corrected.
We have a saying here, "You do not watch a sunset here, you become part of it!!!"


Mat
Thank you for the critique , I agree with what you said. Audio is a huge challenge for me. It actually did not sound half bad on my computer, but to be honest I probably should get some proper monitors or what ever it is I actually need, to be honest I don't really even know.

[Markus Nord]

Hi Dale

I think that most thinks have already been writen... I just want to put in my words that I Liked the opening shots... superb colours. You got some nice eagel shots there...

keep 'em coming

Markus

[Chris Barcellos]

I swear I posted comments here already, but I must not have hit the submit button.

I loved the film, and the wide shots of the multitudes of birds. Not something many of us will see. An amazing display.

I also enjoyed seeing the juvenile balds. It was interesting that the National Geographic film Great Migrations had done a similar exposition on bald eagles and their juvenile forms. Your film demonstrated their ground activities more.

Thanks for another great insight into your locale.

What are you shooting with these days ?

[Rich Ryan]

Dale you have some spectacular shots here. The opening scenes are grand. I would have liked to see more of the geese; they are an awesome sight in these numbers.

You had the makings of two excellent stories here: the relationship of the geese and the peregrine or the sub-adult eagles. I'm not sure that it worked very well to combine them.

The sunrise color were really beautiful especially considering it was not color corrected.

[Per Johan Naesje]

Dale, you always surprise me with great bird footage. And this time it was very amazing. It must be unbelievable to be there observing such large flock of bird take off and flying. It´s seem that their large number almost make day to night!

Most have been said about the technically. Maybe you should give you some more time in the editing process. As Mat mention you got beautiful shots but suddenly on or two sequences degrade the overall impression!

Anyway this is one of your best so far, Dale! When you got your new glasses your films will be a real killer :-)

[Dale Guthormsen]

Good Morning,

Thank you for the commentaries and taking the time to watch my entry.

Per Johan, Most of my slo motion stuff (720p at 240 fps for 6 seconds) is with a sony FX1000. It is also quite good for static shots, not as good at high action shots because of cmos sensors and rolling shutter I reckon). I shoot most of my wildlife stuff with the Canon xlh1. The Keeping color continuity between the cameras is a bit of a Job. I like them both for different reasons.

Ryan, Actually the original intent was solely to show the close up intricacies of snow goose behavior. However before I got the shots I needed a deep freeze hit and they were gone in a day (you could hear them flying over all night long), hence I moved to showing another relationship, "the other stuff" based around the specticle of the snow goose.

Again thank you everyone for taking the time.