Collaborative UWOL Project?

[Gordon Hoffman]

Well this would be up my alley. That's one reason I never got my video done for the UWOL Challenge, I've been calving cows for the last month and a half.

Gordon

[Simon Wood]

Haha! Guess you've got no excuse then. One more country to the list!

[Paul Wood]

Well, as i just finished a project on forests - I vote for cattle farming as well - sounds like it would be a good first choice!

[Dale Guthormsen]

Good evening,

I certainly could shoot a cattle theme.

But to be honest, I feel the biodiversity of our planet will give a lot better theme that more people would enjoy watching!! It would then allow each area to be highlighted, or even do a Microcosims theme so each participant can nail down something that will not have to be to grand!

How about a planet tour from the jungle to the northern forest to even the concrete jungle.

"The Uwolers world" Representing where and what we do outdoors or environments we do it in.

UWOL impressions etc
Just some thoughts.


dale

[Mike Sims]

Wow. That's an incredibly good idea, Dale. Why don't we do both.

[Markus Nord]

This sound good peps! I've been thinking of this senice I started UWOL back at challenge #6.
The farming idea is interesting, but I would like to have an environment touch, how are the world changing and how is this effecting the farmer. Is the farmer consurned about the change?

I like the biodiversity of UWOL world too, the world we live in or like the UN film theme that was going on during wintertime, the forest we live in, city, jungle, tundra, rainforest, lack of one ( how is this effecting the living creatures?), the farming forest (that lack biodiversity) or the forest under the waves, kelp, seaweed, or coral reef.

When we decide on a theme and basic story, I think that one or two should write the storyline and "produce" the film (just an idea).

[Trond Saetre]

Originally Posted by Dale Guthormsen

How about a planet tour from the jungle to the northern forest to even the concrete jungle.

"The Uwolers world" Representing where and what we do outdoors or environments we do it in.

I like these thoughts very much.
And Markus is also coming with great ideas. :)

Good to see tbe ideas are coming and so many seem interested in joining this adventure.

[Geir Inge]

I see that you guys are trying to plan a lot of fun ahead.
And yet we are not finished with Uwol 25, haha - but it sounds like a good idea.
Not to pour a sour lemon into the slurry, but I think it is wise to think carefully before starting.
This mingling of ideas in the forum is a good start in this respect.
This reminds me of ULF. It's an interesting thought, but still ...
When we see that many of us are registrants for uwol rounds, before falling off in the end,
I think it's wise to put a time frame, then select a direction of the movie,
what should be filmed and then see how many are left.
Still, my experience is that if it gets too much pressure on the individual,
even if it is voluntary to participate in, some fall off towards the end.
I also believe that some questions should be asked:
Maybe one should select a coordinator for the project?
How will the ownership of the finished product be?
How and to what one should be able to use the end result?
What if there are four participants from Scandinavia and only one, or none from other continents?
Should there be a limit of participants, or...?
The answers to these questions will be helpful for planning
and perhaps also helpful in the choice of topic approach to the film.
I agree with Dale, that perhaps the film should show variation in their respective areas, more than just one species - like a cow.
Although I know several farmers, the idea of a more diverse and broader approach is more appealing to me.
What about the film's main direction in which the link between the various contributions are approximately as follows:

Simon (Uganda):
Filming in Africa and is talking around about "his" animal or whatever.
He says: And now we want to see what Dale is bringing us from his place; Saskatchewan in Canada.
And so on ...

These were just some thoughts from me and it will be interesting to follow.

[Simon Wood]

Hi Geir,

You are right in everything you say. But at the moment we are just brainstorming, and a production would be some time off. Committing to the project would also be an issue, as if one person fails to deliver his part it could potentially waste everybody else's time.

Your mention about coordinator is a good point, I was about to mention the same thing myself - that is going to be a key issue in order to orchestrate the different people in different remote locations.

With as far as creditation is concerned; there would have to be joint & equal creditation and joint & equal ownership. No single Director, only Partners in production. This would be the fairest solution. The process would have to adhere to Rule 11 too!

With regards to the the idea I envisage, there would be an organic story that would unfold from location to location, not an episodic film where one location simply hands over to the next. But thats not to say that an episodic film wouldn't happen, because we are still discussing the various ideas.

One thing I would be interested in asking about the forest/environment theme would be how would it work with the narration? Would we get one person to narrate the different segments in order to keep a continuity between the different sections?

With the cattle theme, the idea would be to focus on the individual animal as the continuity between the different locations. But the wildly different habitats and cultures would be the diversity of the film - the contrast between the lifestyles of different people doing the same thing would be where the interest would be. This juxtaposition of different means to the same end is what I think the audience would find interesting (so the movie would not really be about cattle, the cows are simply the 'macguffin' that forms the common thread between the different people). But as always, I prefer stories that involve real humans (and I have a preference against narration) - so this is simply me coming up with ideas that suit my sensibility in filmmaking.

But of course I am interested in all the ideas that may emerge here!

This doesn't have to be a one off thing, or limited to one idea. It doesn't have to happen now, or have any particular deadline. This would be a means for us UWOL fanatics to keep working during the off season and pool our resources when we want to expand into new territories, so to speak.

As Aristotle said; "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts". So essentially, our combined locations and experiences could potentially create a greater film than any of us could do individually in one locations.

[Paul Wood]

I think that in 25 posts we have identified that there is an interest in a collaborative film project - and that inevitably there are some obstacles to be overcome in order to make it a reality.

Collaboration is the way all major films are made, but that probably requires a degree of compromise from some of us individuals along the way, both in the artistic sense, and in giving up some freedom of choice.

I would guess we are all reading this because we are keen film makers, and enjoy the challenges set by the DVInfo team, but maybe we are solo shooters most of the time (certainly my own case), and are unsure of how this project would fit - into our own time schedules, and our ideas of how to produce films, like the excellent submissions this round.

I reckon the best way to find out is to give it a try!

Chris Hurd and the DVInfo team have given us an excellent forum to discuss our ideas, to see if we can reach a consensus, and I hope we can bring the idea into reality!

Perhaps I could suggest some steps:

- Decide on the theme - first in general terms, then develop into more detail.

- Interested parties to ¨sign up¨to the project.

- Plan what roles will be required from within the group - director (coordinator), editor, technical expert, camera, etc, and agree who will do what.

- Decide a realistic timeframe, taking into account everyone’s possibilities of free time.

And I’m sure there are more!

Just my thoughts, and I realise that I am one of the newest to the group, so please excuse my forwardness!

[Paul Wood]

Just to pick up on the themes discussed- I planned my first film submission on the idea of milk, but it turned out to be the story of a farmer.

Perhaps instead of us talking about cows - what if we said Milk?

Most of us use it each day - but how does it get to our supermarket shelf?
what environmental impact does our bottle of milk have?
Lives of truck drivers
Dairymen
Farmland and forest
Antibiotics in the food chain
and of course, cows and calves

I guess you could take other ideas and turn them upside down to get some inspiration!

[Dale Guthormsen]

Good Morning,

Geir's advice is good, it will be very much a exercise in organization and lastly execution.

Definitely a person willing to be the central director ( I mean this as an organizer/administrator)
Definitely a person to do final editing
Definitely a person to narate as needed
Definitely a script writer.

Obviously everyone will likly have some job to do; what in particular will slowly sort itself out.

I have only ever considered myself a camera guy and I like the idea of people with special gifts being optimized.

The most difficult part will likly be picking a theme that can be universally and uniformly addressed so there is continuity. After that the rest is just time and work!!!

So, before we make any decision to go with it a theme should be struck, then one could see what actual efforts of participation would be involved.

I have no doubts with the skills and people involved we could even get the final product televised. Heck I have had things televised and I am not half the film maker most of you are!!!

Dale

[Simon Wood]

Some interesting ideas going around here; now that the current UWOL competition is over, perhaps we can start looking into this in a bit more detail.

When I started this thread my initial idea was that we UWOL shooters could look at doing a collaborative project with the idea of collaboration instilled into it from the beginning stages (in terms of collaborating to work on a 'theme'), the filming stages (where we all film pretty much simultaneously with a start date and finish date), and then the post stage (where we all edit our section and send it off to one final person for the final mix down). Thats pretty much in the same spirit as the UWOL competition, and seems fair enough. Definitely this is something that can still happen if we are able to hammer out all the details and make it happen.

However, in retrospect I think that the initial idea is a bit flawed, as by being collaborative in all stages of the production means that it could take a very long time for everyone to agree on the details through all of the stages, and then actually make it happen through the whole process. Films don't happen by committee, I guess, and that would be the reason why you generally have a 'Director'.

Probably we are looking at this from the wrong angle. After some thought on the matter I would propose the following alternative idea:

1) A UWOL member thinks of an idea for a collaborative film. Just for examples sake lets say Trond wants to do an international film concerning "Dwindling Forests".

2) Trond posts a new thread in the UWOL pages with a Collaborative Tag, and states the theme he wants to explore, for example: Collaborative UWOL Project - Dwindling Forests - Trond Saetre.

3) He then states the theme and a rough synopsis of what he wants to investigate. He can then ask for a number of people to voice their interest to participate in the film. If he has specific geographical needs then he can state these in the thread to help filter his requirements.

4) Interested UWOL shooters can then reply to the thread stating their interest, and offering their services for the film. At this point the interested shooters can also offer up their ideas for helping to collaborate on the film. As an example Paul Wood could come in and say; "Yes he is interested, and he would be available to film a section on the Amazon coastal forest". He might mention whether or not the impact on animals is relevant, or would it be better to interview people effected by the deforestation (or even interview the people employed to cut it down).

5) Trond comes back to the thread and considers the new ideas, and assembles an overall plan for the film based on the interested parties and what they can offer. Shooting dates are arranged and post-production plans are agreed upon.

6) Once an overall plan has been arranged by the Original Poster, the individual shooters film their sections, and send the footage to Trond for final editing (or they handle the post workflow as per the agreement).

7) Presumably it would be in the UWOL spirit to have equal credit for each persons section; but perhaps there would be a: "Conceived by Trond Saetre" or "From an Original Idea by Trond Saetre" credit in addition to the regular ones?

So, this would be essentially a platform for we UWOL filmmakers to collaborate on original ideas, and assist each other with international projects. UWOL members would just post the idea, and interested parties are free to join in, or not, depending on whether the idea interests them.

We all pretty much know one another (in terms of our location, what equipment we use, what style we favor, and what our individual strengths and weaknesses are). As I said before: The whole is greater than the sum of its parts; so I think its a great opportunity for us to get involved with and make something bigger together than we could ever make alone.

Trond and Paul - you will excuse me for using your names as examples (its just I couldn't write about myself in the 3rd person) and it seemed easier to use real regional examples!

[Trond Saetre]

I see I have a lot of hard labor waiting for me, haha.
Simon, don't worry. I don't mind being used in your example. :)


Anyways,
Many great ideas and thoughts are brought in already.
As for credits/ ownership of the finished film, in my opinion that would be an equal share between the participants.
I believe it will be best if one person do the final edits / put everything together.
But this does not exclude the participants for doing a rough edit first. The procedure must of course be agreed on in advance.

I agree with Dale about his suggestions of dividing the workload, and having one or a few making a script and controlling the progress of the project.

[Paul Wood]

No, no problem with using me as an example, either :)

I would be quite happy to go along with these suggestions - as I said, picking a theme has got to be the starting point, and Simon's suggestion is a good one.
I'll try and work up a couple of ideas, and post when done.