Collaborative #2: UWOL Around the World

[Bob Safay]

Trond, count me in. I am sure I can come up with some very good footage to include in this project. I will be traveling to Alaska this summer to video bears, whales and other wildlife. Bob Safay

[Trond Saetre]

Thank you Bob, I'm glad you could join!

[Mike Sims]

Before we get at loggerheads and possibly have a disagreement I think it should be pointed out that we seem to be talking about two quite different and potentially mutually exclusive prospects.

In Scenario One (which I think is the newer of the two) interested individuals, with a five minute limit, write, shoot and edit their own segments- much like producing an entry for one of the Challenges. Some poor sod then comes along and does their best to put these disparate elements together much like stringing beads or pearls.

In Scenario Two (which I think is the one we started out discussing) someone, or small group of ones, writes a coherent story. The story is about the UWOL Challenge. It is not about us per say. We and excerpts from our previous entries are merely elements used by the writers to tell the story and the editors to illustrate it. Extra footage from around the world that some have generously offered could be used as establishing shots to illustrate the transglobal nature of the contest.

In thinking about this I have come to believe there is a simple compromise. We could, in essence, do both. I suggest we proceed with Scenario Two. For the credits we adopt the style used often by the National Geographic Channel. The credits would include copywrite information and a statement- “For production credits see…” with a link to a web page that we set up. This would show the credits for everyone involved in the collaborative project as well as full credits for each of the original videos excerpted. It should also probably include a list of the titles and authors of all of the entries. There would be a “For More Information” link. This would go to a page with links to the UWOL Rules, an explanation of how to participate for any viewers interested (hopefully there will be some!), DVInfo, the UWOL Facebook page, the UWOL Vimeo page etc. There would also be a link to “Meet the Players”. Anyone that wishes to do so could make their own video (the pearls from Scenario One). We could put these on the UWOL Vimeo site in a “Meet the Players” portfolio (with permission). It would also serve the function of the player profiles from the old UWOL Challenge website which needed to be updated.

I think the Coordinating Committee needs to quickly make a judgment here, before anyone gets too emotionally invested in one camp or the other. We don’t want anyone saying “They didn’t take my suggestions so I’m dropping out”. Our strength is in our community after all. I will, of course, abide by what ever the CC wishes, but I think the compromise will lead to an end result with much wider audience appeal.

[Trond Saetre]

Originally Posted by Mike Sims

...I think the Coordinating Committee needs to quickly make a judgment here, before anyone gets too emotionally invested in one camp or the other. We don’t want anyone saying “They didn’t take my suggestions so I’m dropping out”. Our strength is in our community after all. I will, of course, abide by what ever the CC wishes, but I think the compromise will lead to an end result with much wider audience appeal.

We are working on it.

Btw, as of now, the Coordinating Committee (CC) is only Paul Wood and myself. Still waiting to hear back from Dale if he accept or not. So we might have to ask for another 3rd member of the CC later.
That, combined with me being overloaded with work the last few days, have caused some slight delays for the CC to get together and do any planning. Sorry.

I believe that the film should be somewhere in between the two scenarios you mentioned. And by that, I mean it is both about the UWOL comunity/group, and that it would also be good to present the members.

Also, we must try to keep it simple.
We (CC) will get back to you all as soon as we can.

[Mike Sims]

Quite right. My mistake. We all need to give you guys time and space to find your footing. I shall refrain from making more suggestions or offering more opinions unless or until asked to do so.

[Trond Saetre]

Mike,
And everyone:

Never be afraid to speak your mind or bring your ideas, suggestions or criticism, good or bad...
I appreciate everything all of you do to make this a success.
This will be the biggest film production I have been part of, so I am always open for your inputs.
And then we'll try to extract the best parts of it to make it as interesting as we can.

Here is how I see the next couple weeks:
1. Within this week I really want to have the CC up and running with 3 members.
2. Within next 2 weeks (but as soon as possible), I hope the CC, based on both own thoughts and all inputs we have got so far, should have the rough guidelines.
3. After this has been accomplished, the script/ more detailed plan can be developed.

Any comments about this is most welcome.

[Steve Siegel]

I'm trying to write a little introduction to UWOL to see if it would be a satisfactory opening to the program. In doing research I have tried to view the movies for UWOL #1. Either by entering the address for the UWOL archive site or going to old UWOL posts on DV Infonet, I get hijacked to a page about an underwater casino. Has the UWOL archive been removed? Anyone know how to look at old UWOL contests?

[Trond Saetre]

The film archive is intact. When the uwol webside was taken down, the files were moved to dvinfo.
Chris Hurd posted the details in the "general collaborate" thread.

Steve,
Thank you for the intro writing.

[Dale Guthormsen]

Tronde,

I thought i responded that i would be glad to be on the Cordinating committee. I will be glad to serve in any capacity.


dale

[Trond Saetre]

Dale,
Thank you. I just wanted to ask specifically for that task, so there would be no risk of any misunderstandings.
Please check your email inbox, and I will need your email address as well for the "behind the scenes" work we do.

..........
Ladies and gentlemen, we now have the Coordinating Committee set:
Dale Guthormsen,
Paul Wood,
Trond Saetre

[Lorinda Norton]

Letting my mind wander back to the early days of UWOL Challenge it rested upon a few things I want to see. You can throw the concept out if it's not keeping things simple enough, but I'm going to toss it in from the peanut gallery. This is completely random from maybe one minute of daydreaming, so there are dozens of great moments from all of your films that will come to mind later. Forgive me if I get names wrong or mix up films.

I would like to see:

Behind-the-scenes footage or stills from Per Johan's blind when he filmed the breathtaking footage of the owls flying straight for the camera. And I want him to narrate it.

A montage of David Gemmel's work with BTS of the kangaroos. Also, I believe he already has a production still of the blind he used in a film at a bird sanctuary or lagoon. And I want him narrating.

Mat Thompson's thoughts on how he created the Fisher King.

Those two boys from (I think) the UK who made the floating blind that got battered to bits by a storm. It was hilarious, and I wish they would come back for more.

Gordon Hoffman's twilight scenes of that amazing array of wildlife from one of his early films with BTS of tools or techniques he used "back then."

Stuff like that and lots more. :)

[Trond Saetre]

A little update:
Much work is going on behind the scenes now. And as I see it, CC is head of the schedule I indicated earlier.
Hopefully we can present the general theme and rules/tech talk within this week or maybe earlier.

I'll keep you updated.


Lorinda,
Thanks. We have your ideas in our minds. Also thinking thart some of the prvious winners should use some of those winning films.
CC is working on the basic details/ guidelines.

[Trond Saetre]

Hey everyone :)

The CC has now completed the basic rules - theme - guidelines for the "Around the world" project.

Please have a look at the attached document.



----------------
Dale,
Please confirm if you have received any of the emails I have sent to you here through dvinfo. (I don't know your email address)

[Trond Saetre]

Now we need to confirm the volunteers for the various roles/tasks in this project, to narrow it down a bit.

Script: CC suggest Steve Siegel. Do you accept?
Script will work in cooperation with CC and narrator - details to be determined

Narrator:
This person will have to work closely with the script writer. It can be the same person writing the script, but can be a separate person.
CC request suggestions and volunteers.

Editor: (This will be a big job, so probably 2 (maybe 3?) people could share this, but there must be one "main editor".
CC suggest Mike Sims lead this team. (based on his previous volunteering).
CC request suggestions

Music:
CC kindly ask Geir Inge (based on his mentions), if he wants to produce some of the required music.
I also believe several of us (me included) have some kind of royalty free music/scores we can use.

Footage:
Everyone is required to submit footage. See the attached document in my previous post.
We also have several people offering B-roll footage from various locations around the globe.
Lorinda also mentioned some people who have great footage we could use, let's keep that in mind.

In addition to the names mentioned here, we are of course open for all suggestions and I hope to see more names.


If I have forgotten anything, bring on the thoughts and ideas. :)

[Steve Siegel]

Yes, I'm proud to accept. This should be a lot of fun. I wrote this little intro. Comments and criticism, please.


In 2005 Chris Hurd's respected chatroom-news site and public blog called the DV Infonet Forum opened a page devoted to video shooters who cared about trees, animals, scenery and everything outdoors. What should it be called?

The name “Under Water Over Land” was coined , temporarily, until someone came up with a catchier one. But it stuck, and soon dozens of videographers were writing to each other on "UWOL".

Photographers have always had sites on the Internet where they posted their photos and have colleagues comment on them. Occasionally a videographer tried to put up a clip for commentary. The photo guys didn't know what to do with it. It was like a badger showing up at a dog show. Interlaced vs non-interlaced. What's that? Audio clipping? Say Wha...? What do you mean you don't have ISO? Are you like stupid or something? For the videographer, such forums were worthless.

With Under Water Over Land, real amateur nature videographers could talk to other real nature videographers. After a while a contest was proposed, and the UWOL Challenge was born.

We all admire and revere Sir David Attenborough. More than one of us would like to be him. Or at least be one of the National Geographic, or BBC guys who go to wonderful places and capture on film or tape or chip new things, rare things, beautiful things, and then get to show them to the world. Lo and behold, shooting for a UWOL contest let ordinary folks do just that. We were real nature videographers with the same feelings, the same problems and the same pride as the pros. It felt good.

Of course contests have rules, and UWOL's were set so that even a little hand-held camcorder could compete with any pros among the group. The files had to be tiny. The views were like postage stamps.
The assigned contest theme was broad enough that anyone could fit his or her favorite subjects into it. The first theme was “The Living Skies”. We saw plenty of clouds, plenty of sunsets, and plenty of birds in that first contest, and everyone had plenty of fun. And there was real criticism. Useful criticism and explanation. With time the quality of the entries kept improving. People experimented with ultraclose-ups, time-lapse, focus-stacking, audio, you name it. Now, after seven years, pros really don't do much better than UWOLers.

From the beginning, it was evident that UWOL had international appeal. Early entries poured in from the US, Canada, Britain, Ireland, and Norway. Since then, word has spread, and now the sun never sets on UWOL.

So sit back and enjoy some nature video. This is not a big budget show about an endangered species, but look and see what ordinary folks with a lot of passion can get out of a camcorder and a pair of hiking boots. Here are the people of UWOL.