Announcement - UWOL Challenge curtains call

[Trond Saetre]

Hi everyone.

For a long time there has been only a handful participants and submitted films to the challenges, which is really sad. This has made a big negative impact on my motivation to keep running the UWOL challenge.

I guess part of the reason is the general trend in the world, that the most important appears to be "publish right now", without caring about content quality.

I have been part of UWOL since before it all started in January, 2007. (I missed the signup window for the first challenge though). Throughout the years, I have gotten to know a lot of the participants, and even met some face to face, which is awesome. Many friendships for life has resulted from the challenges. Our "get together event" in Bristol, UK in 2016 was really fantastic.

It is with sad heart I now announce the end of an era.
The UWOL challenge has now come to an end, after 16 years and 64 challenges.

The owner of DVInfo has been a great resource and sponsor, funding our Vimeo account and letting us use his forum to run the challenge.

A big warm thank you to Chris Hurd!
We could not have done this for so many years without your continuous support.

And a big thank you to each and everyone who has participated in the challenges! It has been great to see how those of you who has been with us for a long time, have improved your skills as film makers. And the impressive quality you all produce. The purpose of UWOL has been reached!


The Vimeo page will be handed back to Chris Hurd, so if anyone wants to make UWOL alive again, please contact him through the forum.

Thank you all! It has been an honor and great pleasure to run UWOL for so many years.

[Meryem Ersoz]

Thank you, Trond, for carrying the UWOL torch for so many years. Sixteen years is an amazing run, really, for one good idea. So many films made under this banner....so many adventures.

Shout out to the other founders, Mat Thompson, who is no longer with us, and to Kevin Railsback, extraordinary lover of nature and shooter of water.

And thanks to anyone who enjoyed their time doing this and getting to know their planet a little better.

And finally, thank you, Chris Hurd. To everything there is a season.

[Mark Hartopp]

Ho! Sad. I Dashed here thinking I needed to signup for the next challenge. I will miss the UWOL. I did manage to win one competition so I feel I'm part of history. So a big thank you to everyone here who made UWOL possible and to the community of filmmakers who love to film the ball we call Earth.... Or is it flat?

Can I make a last-minute suggestion, how many of us would like one last competition? To go out with a bang. On a positive note. - All Good Things Come To An End.


Thank Trond Saetre

[Bob Safay]

I am so sorry to hear this, but I guess we saw it coming. As you said there were just a few entries each month and even that number was dropping. These challenges gave me a reason not only to improve my video and editing skills, but they gave me a reason to get out into nature. Trond, thank you so much for taking care of the UWOL challenge all these years, and a special thank you to Meryem and Mat. I entered UWOL#1 and now UWOL#64. I will miss you all. Stay safe, Bob

[Geir Inge]

One word: sad
Thanks to everyone who has made our little globe a better place, by contributing their films to the uwol world.
Thanks to Chris Hurd for giving us an online playground.
To all of you who have guided us through it, and especially to you Trond who has kept it going for so many years.
Unfortunately, I could not participate in this round as I ended up in hospital again.
Maybe we should have one more final round in honor of Mat Thompson where we have no theme?
Just freely make a film of a given length, where we can use what we have in stock of film material?
Anyway, as some of you say - everything has to come to an end.
In recent years, there has been less and less room for the wild and untouched nature.
Literally both on TV and in real life, and that is also the case for UWOL.

Thank you and stay safe everyone.

[Mick Jenner]

Hi, like all the previous posts am saddened UWOL has come an end. It was set up to give nature, wildlife videographers/ cinematographers somewhere to hone their craft and learn from others whilst at the same time having fun doing so.

Meryem, Kevin, Mat and latterly Tronde have all played a big part making this happen and of course Chris who has generously facilitated this platform to allow it to happen. I send you all a big thank you.

The idea of one last challenge sounds great but, I'm not certain its a good idea. The last few challenges have had many sign up but very few entries. I would hate it if that happened again having one last hurrah.

I personally think this thread should be used for us to all say goodbye to UWOL. Thank you to all my fellow entrants over the years, Its been great and I will miss the buzz waiting for the the entries to be posted each round. I have made some good friends here over the years.

Sending you all best wishes for the future, Mick.

[Trond Saetre]

Thanks for all the positive comments.

As Mick said, I don't see any good reason to have another final challenge, risking just a couple entries. That would just give a bad ending.
For me, UWOL has been a big part of my life for all these years. Some has even said I am UWOL, and they are probably not far from the truth. Makes it extra tough and sad to put it to an end.

When that is said, I hope and encourage you all to follow up the friendships and connections, which has developed throughout the years of the challenge, regardless of how many or few, recent or long time ago, challenges you have participated in. You are all part of what I call the UWOL family.

[Phil Murray]

Like everyone else, I am sad to see the UWOL to come to an end, but even more, I want to say how much I (and everyone) appreciates all you have done.

Thank you so much.

[Paul Mailath]

organizing a competition like this (albeit a small one) month after month, year after year is quite a task - seeing the entries dwindle to a few must be disheartening. I've entered a few times over the years and missed the deadline for a great many more. I kept putting my name up in the faint hope that I would come up with a great idea and actually get off my arse and make it. - it was usually one of the other but rarely both.

A big thank you to everyone involved over the years, particularly Trond - it's been a great community. While I can see the point in not going out with one more, while this forum lives, is there any reason we can make a film with the general requirements and post it here?

If you have some existing footage or a good idea about anything, maybe we can just make it and post it here without having a competition as such - I know that having a theme & deadline creates some energy but that hasn't worked particularly well for us, mainly due to the low numbers of active people in the group (and that's a symptom of the world we now live in) maybe UWOL would take off if it was a Tik Tok challenge filmed a phone ( no thanks).

[Trond Saetre]

Originally Posted by Paul Mailath

While I can see the point in not going out with one more, while this forum lives, is there any reason we can make a film with the general requirements and post it here?

If you have some existing footage or a good idea about anything, maybe we can just make it and post it here without having a competition as such

Nothing prevents this. It will not be organized by me, but anyone is of course free to step up and organize something if desired.

The UWOL Vimeo account has now been handed over to Chris Hurd, so any questions about permission to use that site, must be directed to him. (CH has paid for the Vimeo accunt)

[Geir Inge]

I'm not sure, but there is another site where some has uploaded videos:
https://www.dvinfo.net/forum/under-water-over-land/

[Mick Jenner]

Hi,agree with Geir. The UWOL challengers came about as a result of the https://www.dvinfo.net/forum/under-water-over-land/ There are still videos posted there so there is is a means for for uwol style videos to be posted. The UWOL challenges were name after that forum "under-water-over-land"

[Bob Safay]

Happy New Year. I really miss these challenges. It was something I really looked forward to. Bob

[Trond Saetre]

Happy new year, Bob!
Yes, UWOL was much fun!

[Geir Inge]

Happy New Year!