UWOL26 - Water and Rocks - by Trond Saetre

[Trond Saetre]

As usual, this was a big challenge.
I had two available days to film my plan, and it all depended of good weather, and especially little wind.

From wide open U-shaped landscape, to narrow V-shaped gorges. The idea was to show how water (and the ice age) has shaped some of the landscape, and we follow a river from the mountain plateu Hardangervidden, Norway.

Filming the waterfall from the air, turned out to be the challenge of challenges.
Weather conditions gave me only a few minutes flight time, and from my position, I could not see the waterfall. Gave me about 10 seconds of useful footage of the waterfall itself.
Then a tourist came running all the way to the edge of the cliff... One meter further, and he would have landed about two hundred meters below. Scary! But it is unfortunately a common happening in that area, and not always with happy endings.

Hope you enjoy!
http://vimeo.com/saetrepictures/waterandrocks

Water and Rocks - YouTube

[Mikael Ewald]

I enjoyed this film very much. Beautiful landscapes and steep cliffs. The voice works very well and something i have to learn from.
Nice edit and music.
Works fine for me.

/Mikael

[Catherine Russell]

Trond!

Oh my, the aerial shots were breathtaking and stole the show! You only had two days to film this? It's beautiful! I understand there were lots of technical logistics behind the scenes to produce this and you pulled it off well. Nicely done. The voiceover, music, fantastic scenery and creative work with shots of you in the movie all worked together for an enjoyable piece of work.

I think the water wins... every time :)

It's so nice to be back this round and sharing in your work again.

Cheers Trond!

Cat

[Trond Saetre]

Mikael,
Thank you for the feedback.

Catherine,
I'm very glad you enjoyed. It was a fun challenge.
Already thinking about how to extend this film into something more.
The original plan included a lot more shots and different locations.

[Steve Siegel]

Beautiful, sharp footage, well-framed. I always love seeing your country, and especially the aerial shots with the little airplane. I think those are illegal over here.

[Trond Saetre]

Thank you, Steve.

No, in the USA, aerial filming and photo is legal for "non commercial" work. Basically, it is legal as long as you don't get paid for it.
FAA are in the process of regulating UAV / RC aerial filming, and is expected to have completed this by 2015 (or possibly 2014). Until that is completed, aerial filming is strictly non commercial.

Over here, you can also do commercial aerial filming and photo, but to get approved, it is a long and extended process.
We also need a security clearance and approval from the national security agency in Norway for any kind of aerial film or photo, even when doing it just for fun.

[Paul Wood]

Very Nice, Trond!

A lovely story about the rocks and the water, with beautiful scenery and excellent photography!

I see you also managed to use some aerial footage- I would have liked to see more, as the landscape looks so different from up there!
Thank you!

[Trond Saetre]

Thank you, Paul!

I filmed almost 5 minutes from the air, but the strong gusty wind made the little quadcopter bounce around way too much. What you see in the film, is actually all I found usable.
Hopefully I can film more up there later this summer to make an extended version of my film.

[Kevin Railsback]

Trond,

Nice film as always!
We tend to think of rocks as tough and water soft, but in the end, water will always wear down even the toughest of rock.

Would really like to see what you can do with the quadcopter in better conditions.

I've toyed around with the idea of getting one for a tallgrass prairie film I'm working on. We'll see.

[Andrew Hood]

Trond you picked an awesome spot to go and film. I really liked the shot looking down on the falls from above (about 1:58) - I take it you could only get that angle hand held?
And shortly after, about 2:10 really shows how carved the landscape is. Hard to imagine that much ice covering the valleys.
More aerial footage would have really given you more angles to work with, but wind beats copter - another fluid winning out over a solid. It certainly looked like you were risking it all to get some of the shots ;-)

[Trond Saetre]

Kevin,
Thank you for the feedback. I might get a chance to film a little more of the area later this summer.
The quadcopter is very easy to learn and use. (Geir Inge also has the same type as I do - DJI Phantom)
If I should buy again today, I would also check out the hexa F550 size, since the small phantom has a very limited payload capacity. But I am happy with the quad I have now.

Andrew,
Thank you for the comments. Yes, filming of the waterfall was a mix of handheld, with tripod, and also aerial shots.
For those shots I was standing behind a fence on the edge of a 200-250m high cliff. But you can also see how that one tourist was running towards the edge of the cliff in another shot. Crazy! I was afraid he would take that "one step too much", as several others have done the last years.

[Geir Inge]

Hi Trond.

Thank you for giving us Hardangervidda and the valleys down to the fjord.
Water has amazing powers, even indoors. I know, because I had water leak in my living room earlier this year, haha.
Many beautiful scenes of the landscape, decent music and the fine posing in front of camera, down by the river.
You stay within the theme, and show us how the forces of nature work.
Top notch!
So good that you use the Chopt, maybe I wish more clips from the edge of the cliffs.
A little tip if I may be allowed, perhaps it would have been nice with some close-ups of flora or rocks, as cutaways? Just a suggestion, though.
VO is straightforward and you have a nice flow in editing.
Our country was created by erosion, glaciers and rivers, and soil plates colliding.
You bring it to us in an informative and enlightening way, it was a very nice experience to watch your video.
I think you made a big jump forward with your filmmaking, through this video.

Thanks for sharing, "old chap" ;o)

[Trond Saetre]

Hei Geir Inge,
Thank you for the feedback.
Agreed! Some more B-roll / cut aways would improved the film. I'll keep that in mind.