Collaborative #2: UWOL Around the World

[Trond Saetre]

Steve, good to have you with us on this one. I had to bail out of the previous long form, so I'm really looking forward to this project.

We haven't had time to talk about the details for the theme yet, but please see the posts by Geir Inge in this and also the "general" Collaborating thread..
His suggestions are pretty much the guidelines for the theme so far.

I really hope someone will chime in and help with building a script, since that is far from my strongest side.

[Trond Saetre]

This is our guidelines so far, until we develop the theme details.

Originally Posted by Geir Inge

Uwol was conceived in 2006 by Chris Hurd and the first competition (Uwol # 1) in January 2007 with Meryem Ersoz as our guiding star and leader.
What if we made ​​a film about us participants, being a part of Uwol and what we do?
After so many years we have accumulated a lot of material, from all continents.
Uwol is best known among us who participate, not that known for the rest of the world.
What if we made ​​a nature video with Uwol as theme and starting point?
A film that deals with how we work together across continents and countries, with the Internet as a venue? And we are celebrating the 25th round?
I think it will be of great interest for many TV stations around the world.
Few of us have met, still we talk to eachother as good old friends.
I think it will be a scoop; "world cooperation of nature videographers".

This is only a thought, but why shoot new footage when we have so much unused and ready to be broadcast? It does not matter whether we use what we have presented in Uwol.
In Norwegian we call it recycled, which is good for the environment ;o)
This will be a feature film that shows "Best of Uwol". The job is to edit the monster :/
AND pick the right tracks.
AND ask Chris if we can use this forum.

Imagine, 5 minutes on each will be a feature length nature films from around the world.
What do you say, is it worth considering?

Well, I've used Google translate to this post,
so you can do crossword puzzles work and reshuffling words so it is proper english :)

[Steve Siegel]

While we're looking for a theme, I put together my idea of a mission statement. It's rough, and perhaps a bit melodramatic, but maybe a start.

We live in a changing world. Demands of family, work and community keep growing for just about
everyone. Our connection to the land, and to the natural world becomes smaller with each generation.
For many, what they know about Nature is what they see on television, or on a computer screen, and is
often produced by huge corporations with huge budgets and the latest in cinematographic gear. What they
present is always spectacular, always rare, always memorable, always expensive, and usually beyond the
experience of most of us.

But there is another way to bring the wonders of Nature to light. Working just below the radar,
for several years an international group of men and women have roamed the world with their video
cameras and collected images of tiny amoebas, of huge mountains, of birds, mammals, insects and
people, of the sky, and of the sea. They call themselves UWOL: "Under Water, Over Land". Although
few of them have ever met, they act like family. Several times a year they produce short videos that
they share among themselves. Our world is their vision, and their vision is often as professional as
anything you might see on the BBC or National Geographic.

These are folks like you and me, students and working people who spend their weekends and spare
moments seeking out the little secrets that Nature holds out for all of us, and shows to those
who take the time to look. From the Arctic to the Southern Ocean, on all the continents and Oceania,
here is some of their best work. This is UWOL.

[Trond Saetre]

Steve, that's words of wisdom! I really like what you wrote there.

[Paul Mailath]

I'm happy to help out with shooting down here and narration/VO (my other job)

[Trond Saetre]

Good to have you with us, Paul! :)

[Geir Inge]

Hi Trond, you do a great job and I thank you for it.

Although I can not help so much with editing, VO, manuscripts, etc.
Maybe I can make an attempt at music, if not someone else will do this?
Promotion is perhaps not the most important role, but I can try to make a list of festivals for wildlife films?
Some festivals have registration fee, others do not.
Wasa is free to attend, and it seems to me a very good festival.
Then there are the television channels in the respective countries, which all have to contribute - to the list?
Maybe promotion is not that important now in the beginning?

Steve:
The intro you have written is awesome. I do not think it is melodramatic, but rather reflect the facts.
You have the vision of Uwol, purpose and meaning. It's a good start.

[Trond Saetre]

Geir Inge, thank you.
And it is good to see more people join in.

I agree with you, no need for any promoting at this early stage. I was just doing a brainstorm, trying to come up with what we need to do, sooner or later in the project.

[Owen Dawe]

Hello All,

I'm responding to an email in my in box today from Trond. This project sounds most interesting. I'm from New Zealand and would probably be interested in the second theme. But having said that dairy farming is a big industry here in NZ. I grew up on a farm but have no farming contacts I know well enough to work with.

Regarding scripting and narration. This would have to be left to the end so the script writer has the finished footage to write around. It would be up to each individual to write their own rough script so we have something to shoot to. As regards narration I think it would add to the international feel if each contributer supplied narration with their own footage. The different accents belong to the topic covered in each country.

It does sound a very good idea.

[Trond Saetre]

Hi Owen, good points about the script and narration. And welcome aboard.

[Per Johan Naesje]

Thanks Trond for your mail about the collaborative project!

I will be traveling a lot in Norway, Sweden and Finland this summer for stock footage, so I think I should be able to contribute with some great footage (scenery, mammals and birds)

Geir Inge: I could help you out about the Herdalssetra, as I´m planning a trip to the west coast of Norway this summer! Maybe we could meet and do some shooting together?

Great to see so many uwolers already aboard!

[Trond Saetre]

Per Johan,
If your film projects take you to Bergen area, I'd be more than happy to give you a hand if needed.

[Mike Sims]

Rather than multi-quotes from the same post (which I think can get hard to read), please consider that everything below in quotes is quoted from Trond’s post #14 in this thread.


“…suggest people for the different tasks.”
O.K. Here goes.

“Organize/ Coordinate: My suggestion so far: Trond Saetre, Dale Guthormsen and Paul Wood or Mike Sims…”
I will be willing to help here if needed but really I think you three will make an excellent team. I propose we call you the Coordinating Committee and give you final say.

“Directing”
I’m not sure how this differs from coordinating- that’s something the Coordinating Committee will have to work out. If we need a Director I think it should be Geir Inge. This was his idea and I would like to see how he would develop it. One task for the Director which comes to mind might be writing and recording the questions for the people we will interview. He (or she) could then send the recorded questions and ask the recipients to record their responses themselves and send us the footage.

“Script writing”
I think Steve would be a great choice for this. He could collaborate with other interested parties (Marj would be a great addition if she is willing) and we could call them the Script Committee. They should strive to come up with a draft script quickly (in this time period before the beginning of the next round in June) and put it up for review. We could all make comments much like a feedback thread in the contest. The Coordinating Committee would have final say on revisions. Then we would be in a position to seriously start production right after the next round. (We don’t want to let either of the collaborative projects interfere with the contests or take up so much of anyone’s time that they are unable to participate in the Challenge.)

“Filming: I believe everyone should be part of this.”
I agree. I think everyone that might appear on camera should strive to record themselves and any other filming duties which arise should be spread as widely as possible.

“Editing”
This is something I would like to help with.

“Narrating /VO”
I have consistently been impressed with the quality of the narrations by Rob Evans and Geir Inge. Paul Wood also has a great voice.

“Music: I believe this must be royaltyfree, same rules as the regular uwol challenges?”
Agreed. Let’s not overlook that we have some accomplished musicians in the group. We should think about whether some bespoke music is within our capabilities.

“Promoting? I'm thinking about the film festival Geir Inge mentioned...”
Yes, and I have a couple of others in mind as well. Dale has mentioned broadcasts by local television stations. This may be a bit ambitious but I think we should strive for the highest production value we can achieve and see where it takes us. To that end I propose we use the structure of a commercial television program. For example, fifty-two minutes with semi-independent segments allowing for a half dozen commercial breaks but structured such that it could play uninterrupted on a noncommercial channel. We can make it longer if the material warrants, but I think our best bet for distribution is going to be the one hour format. We have a number of television professionals on DVInfo that could probably give us advice.

[Mike Sims]

As more people come onboard we are getting more and more ideas. I’m not saying that any of them are bad or should not be considered, I’m just saying it is getting easy to lose sight of the original idea. I think we need to refocus. To that end I am going to try and use the little exercise I have been doing the last few rounds where I try to summarize the story in one sentence. Please feel free to disagree, revise or edit in any way. Here goes:

We are going to make a video about the history of the Under Water, Over Land Challenge, its origin and evolution, with back stories being excerpts from notable entries from the past and cameos of participants in the field or studio producing their entries for the upcoming round.

[Trond Saetre]

Agreed! All suggestions you made, are good ones.
And a reminder of the "focus" is good to have once in a while. Like Meryem said, it is very easy to escalate the project way too much. So to repeat her words of wisdom:
Let's keep it simple and structured.


I have also received a mail from Michael Jenner that he has much footage he can share from various locations around the world.