UWOL #24 | Central Park Turtles | Toni Dolce

[Toni Dolce]

Hi there!

Wanting to take advantage of some of the wildlife in Central Park, I chose to focus on the interaction between the turtles, humans, ecosystem, and other wildlife. On a bigger scale, I wanted to subtly highlight the interesting interaction between the solitude and simplicity of a park within the hustle and bustle of a huge city.

Being out in the wilderness shooting the little guys was fun! It was interesting because we would sit there for awhile before any movement was made by the turtles and then smile when we caught something on camera! When editing, I was amazed by the different personalities that were captured. Whether they were sunning themselves, swimming, being gazed at or photographed by the tourists, or being fed at Turtle Pond, you could sense there were more to these creatures than just a hard shell.

This was shot over the course of two days and we rented an extender to get the really up-close and personal shots.

Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 7D
17-40mm f4
70-200mm f2.8 IS II
2x II Extender
Sennheiser MKH 8040

The soundtrack is the song Off Kilter Happiness off of the album, Manhattan Ramble, by Mike Boschen. Mike is a friend of ours and recorded this solo trombone album capturing the sounds of his instrument against the backdrop of the city. Here's a blog post about the recording process!

Thanks for watching and commenting on my video!

Toni

Central Park Turtles

[Trond Saetre]

Hello Toni,

A big welcome to the uwol family :)

How interesting to see turtles in the middle of New York.
Loved the close-up shots. And you tell a great story.

Well done, and stay with us!
Looking forward to see more of your films in the future.

[Finn-Erik Faale]

I really like your film. It is technically good: Images, sound, editing and compression. The voiceover is very clear.
The trombone music is sometimes a bit disturbing to the voiceover.
I have listened to your euphonious cd-soundtrack. Maybe we will hear your song on the next uwol challenge?

You have made a fine film within the theme "interaction".

[Markus Nord]

Hi Toni, welcome to the UWOL family.

I liked your film, nice mix of wide, tight and close-ups shots.
What I don’t like is the music, it’s “new Yorkish” (is that a word?) but I feel it’s too distracting, especially at 0.13 when the VO say “Enjoying the peace and quiet of the Central Park”. in my opinion a sound track should enhance the mood in some way, and I don’t feel this one is doing that during the whole film. Maybe in the beginning and in the end… to get that “New Yorkish” feel to the film.

But then again, the shot is nice, sharp and clear… well done!

[Paul Wood]

Hi Toni,

I really enjoyed your film - great subject, interesting voice over, and I thought the flow was good.
I didn't have a problem with the music - actually I thought it added a flavour of ¨New York¨1

[Simon Wood]

Toni?!

Not content with shaking up the DV Challenge with an extraordinary first entry, you now pull the same stunt with UWOL entering at the 11th hour and pulling off this great little story?!

I agree with what everyone else has said, so I won't go into detail here. I also didn't care for the music too much at first (thats just me though; I kind of put trombones and clowns in the same category for some reason) - but I came around to it in the end. I do think it works well to remind everyone that these turtles are in the middle of the city, and having the recording of said instrument take place in the city was a very cool little touch.

Bravo!

[Ruth Happel]

Toni,

I am flattered you said I helped inspire you to jump to UWOL. I have been here at the UWOL challenge for years, and really enjoy the camaraderie. Plus, being a nature girl, it is my perfect venue. But like you, I am (will always be?) a New Yorker, and loved this flashback to life in the big city.

Many years ago, when I was an undergrad at NYU, I loved to hang out at Central Park for my nature fix. My brother and I both unwound by being street musicians, so for me the soundtrack was perfect, i felt as if there was a musician standing right next to me at the turtle pond. You totally put me in the moment.

Turtles have always had a fond spot in my heart, so I was thrilled to see turtles, street music, and NYC combined. A minor suggestion, but probably really hard to do, would have been to show some of the other turtles. I think they are elusive, so can understand them not being included. Also, I had to replay the end credits to figure out the music, so if you could have held that longer, or let it just stay up at the end, that would have been great. I will head over to itunes to check it out.

Thanks again for letting me go back to NY- it has been over a year since I've been, and this makes me "homesick".

[Steve Siegel]

A lovely film, Toni, and a great first entry. I too thought your music was quintessential New York and was just right. One thing I would have enjoyed would have been the names of the 5 species of turtles you mentioned as native to New York City. A totally amazing place. Someone recently discovered a frog, new to science, living in Staten Island.

[Mike Sims]

Hello Toni. I confess that I had missed seeing your DVC entry so this was a pleasant introduction to your work. As I see you have learned, with wildlife you can never have enough telephoto! I’m not a big fan of anthropomorphism in general but I think doing so here, along with the music, really drives home the point that these turtles are every bit as much urban creatures as the people obviously enjoying them. Nice solid production values all around. I hope we get to see more.

[Bill Thesken]

Toni, after watching Alexis Vidrio which was excellent, I thought we might have ninja turtles doing battle in Central Park!
Your voice over is pretty well done, nice tone inflection, every word clear as a bell. I was listening with headphones and about a third of the way through I couldn't figure out what the annoying background noise was, and then realized it was the noise of the city. A helicopter seemed to fly over my head from the right ear to the left which actually gave the piece more realism.
I laughed when I read Simon's comment about: 'trombones and clowns'.
A very cute short, and we did have some intrigue at the end with the bee.

[Toni Dolce]

Thanks for the comments!

I think it's so interesting to read about the musical divide. Half of you like the music and half don't. Cool.
Am glad that you mention the "New Yorkish" feel. As Ruth pointed out, it was like a street musician was in the park and we happened to record him while sightseeing.

Bill, the airplane going overhead is part of the musical track. Mike's entire album is him playing solo trumpet at different areas around NYC. For instance, one of the tracks is him on the subway at 2am playing and in the background you hear the automated voice saying the station stops and train type. It's definitely a different kind of album.

Thanks again for the feedback!

T

[Geir Inge]

At first I was not sure if I like or dislike the music, you see I have never been to NY, it somewhat felt hectically.
I’m born and raised in Norway on a little island with 250 people – where everybody knows each other. Yes, there can be too much quietness, haha.
Still, after some thinking I decided to I like it, after all it’s a big city like a melting pot of different people and cultures, at least so I've heared ;)
Thank you for bringing it to me. I’m not sure if I’m getting this right but you mention people leaving their pets (turtles) in this pond. To me this touches a sensitive issue as I don’t think people should treat living creatures this way, just throwing them away when we’re tired of them.
On the other hand I’m happy there is a pond in the park so they can survive.
Your film has great colors and your story is both captivating and informative.
Editing is fine and so is your VO. I’m sure the effect people, turtles and the park have upon one another is on the good side of life.
I’m looking forward to see more great videos from you; this one certainly had a positive effect upon me.
I think I have to plan a big city vacation for me and my wife :)

Thank you for sharing your video and welcome to our Uwol.

[Andrew Bove]

Originally Posted by Geir Inge

. I’m not sure if I’m getting this right but you mention people leaving their pets (turtles) in this pond. To me this touches a sensitive issue as I don’t think people should treat living creatures this way, just throwing them away when we’re tired of them.
On the other hand I’m happy there is a pond in the park so they can survive.

It's likely that all the turtles in Central Park are there due to humans via pet releases/escapes/etc. The park website says that the turtle population began in the 1980s. During the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” craze a lot of people had turtles as pets without realizing that they can live 30 years or more if well cared for, and become large in size! It has also been said that some religious groups will “rescue” turtles from food vendors and then release them into the wild in order to “save” the animals.
In any case, the park is a favorable environment for red eared sliders, and with few predators around, their population has grown quite a bit since then.
Turtle Pond

[Dale Guthormsen]

Wow,

All those people in one small green patch!! How nice the turtles can actually survive in the park!! I did not even know central park had a pond!!

You did a nice job making a short film on a really lethargic subject!! I loved the close ups of the turtles, very nice indeed.

I hope to see some more films of yours in the coming events!!!

Welcome aboard.


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