UWOL 50 - "The Jungle Calls to Me In Colors" by Philip Murray

[Phil Murray]

This was shot mostly in the Madre de Dios region of the western Amazon rainforest. The jungle is a very special place to me and I wanted to contrast it with my home city, Cusco, which is really dreary and colorless this time of year. (Had I know how to get decent sound from a voiceover that might have been more clear! Maybe next time...)

Weather during the rainy season here limited that days I was able to get out and much of this was shot from a canoe so stability was hard to achieve.

Still, as I've said before, I learned SO much and can't wait until next month to do even better.

Please share all the suggestions, critiques, and comments that you wish. I want to learn as much as I can from everyone so I'm open to anything. (I'm extremely critical of it myself so I'm curious to see if others see it in the same way that I do.)

UWOL50 The Jungle Calls to Me In Color by Philip Murray on Vimeo

[Chris Hurd]

I thought it was beautiful. That one shot of the bow of the canoe signals an entire shift in your presentation; it was a highly effective transition in my opinion. I especially like how you incorporated all of these various jungle critters into your work. My wife loved it as well -- thank you so much for giving us a look at Peru, off the beaten path. Much appreciated!

[Gordon Hoffman]

Phil I thought you did very well. Enjoyed the ride. If you could of got your narration in that would have been great. Glad you got it done.

Gordon

[Chris Hurd]

There's one shot in here (at 01:01), eyeballs and snout just above the waterline.

I ask myself, is that an alligator, or a crocodile?

And then I remembered how you can always tell the difference between the two:

One sees you later; the other after a while.

[Trond Saetre]

Hi Philip,

Very nice to see the jungle. All the different animals and vegetation, and the narrow river boats, it is so different from what we have in Norway.
As Chris said, the shot of your canoe, was a good transition!
Narration, or some texting, explaining more what we see, would have improved the overall quality.

Not sure which editing software you use, but I believe most of them has an option to stabilize your shots.
In Premiere Pro (which I use), it is called "warp stabilizer." This could have been used in the clip starting at 01:22.

All in all, well done! I enjoyed watching.

[Paul Mailath]

I loved seeing the city, it was a great introduction and reminds us how far apart we are. Your transition to the jungle was terrific, both visually and with the change in the music - wonderful.

The film left me wanting more of the jungle, the exotic

[Mick Jenner]

Hi Philip,

As you have indicated a voice over would have really enhanced your entry as you would have been able to emphasis your story more.

The opening sequence of Cusco, a place I love, was well edited and colour graded. The atmosphere at high altitude does make colours much more subtle as you have shown, you have then gone on to contrasting that with the vibrancy of the rain forest with a great selection of clips . A good interpretation of the theme.

Really enjoyed

Mick

[Phil Murray]

Originally Posted by Chris Hurd

There's one shot in here (at 01:01), eyeballs and snout just above the waterline.

I ask myself, is that an alligator, or a crocodile?

And then I remembered how you can always tell the difference between the two:

One sees you later; the other after a while.

Hey man, it's a caiman!

Sorry, I couldn't resist. :)

[Phil Murray]

Originally Posted by Trond Saetre

Hi Philip,

Not sure which editing software you use, but I believe most of them has an option to stabilize your shots.
In Premiere Pro (which I use), it is called "warp stabilizer." This could have been used in the clip starting at 01:22.

I did experiment with Warp Stabilizer a bit, but couldn't get a good result that I liked. For many of the shots, I was in a boat with some young 20-somethings from Spain and Germany who were having more fun flirting with each other than looking for wildlife so the canoe was moving a bit more than I would have preferred.

Most of the monkey shots were poor. I don't like handheld stuff, but shooting fast moving animals like those foraging monkeys, it's necessary. And the others in the group were moving all over trying to get their own pictures so the boat was moving quite a bit.

I'm likely going back next week with just a photo camera to see what kind of pics I can get.

[Phil Murray]

Thanks for all the comments. I agree 100% that voiceover would have made a big difference, but that will have to wait until I get a little better with some of the technical aspects of creating a piece.

Had I not waited until the last morning to add VO, I might have had time to work things out!

The jungle is a fun place to work, but it presents all kinds of problems. Sunny days make for all kinds of contrast problems. After 14 years of extensive travel in the rainforest, I'm pretty good at spotting animals both large and small. (Even the guides that were required for entry into the national reserve last month commented on how much I knew and how I often spotted things they didn't see.)

Focusing on moving animals amongst the trees and the leaves is incredibly tough. Birds are usually found high up so you get a seriously backlit situation with the sky behind. And, frankly, even in reserves, the animals keep their distance so you need a really good long lens and serious stabilization to get good shots.

Despite all that, the jungle is the place I feel most at home so expect more stuff from there in the future. That was what I was going to convey in the voiceover that was left out. ;)

[Paul Wood]

Hi Phil, I also loved the images, and I won’t comment on what has already been said. Seeing Cuzco again was great - there seem to be an amazing amount of concrete buildings since I was last there!

Overall, the images were super, but, you would have benefited from a bit of a storyline to explain them better, for those viewers who don’t know the region- for example a map or satellite view of where we are.

A great entry, and looking forward to seeing more of a region I love!

[Bob Safay]

Phil. having been to the Amazon as well as both the north and south Pantanal I fully understand some of the challenges of trying to capture fast moving animals from a moving boat. I thing you did a great and now I expect to hear VO in your next presentation. I enjoyed seeing Cusco again, a lovely city. And like you I love the jungle. As others have said, the transition from city to jungle was great. Bob

[Geir Inge]

Hi Phillip.
Great film and the contrasts between city and jungle are evident.
Nice editing with good choice of music.
I think the film follows the theme and is a good contribution, with several special and exotic creatures.
Thank you for sharing.