UWOL44 - Lessons in Life by Kevin J Railsback on Vimeo

Due to a crashed hard drive, I lost almost all the original footage that I shot for the challenge.

I was in the Shark Tank but luckily an extension was given for those of us still trying to complete a film.

October in Iowa is usually gloomy and pretty windy. Most days of the extension were too windy to film much of anything.

When we had a couple good days here, I made the most of it and tried to film as much as I good. The shorter days certainly didn't help.

The last day of the challenge was here and I still didn't know the story I was going to tell with the footage I had available. I just started editing clips together in hopes something would pop into my head. I'm not sure where the idea came from but hopefully it makes sense.

I wanted to make it longer but the lack of footage would have made it too repetitive so I cut this one short.

Feel free to blaze away with this one. :)

Hi Kevin.

A great story and a good perspective on life.
We need more of this kind.
Not to get us sentimental or paralyzed, but to make us stronger.
The best moment is at 1.16 when the deer flashes eyes into the camera, just when you ask us to open our eyes.
It's your VO, yes?
You must continue with that - you have a good VO.
At times a bit like the voice of Jeff Bridges - Yes, I mean it seriously :)
You have a good mix of different clips, but I miss some more close-ups.
Does not have much more to add.

Thank you for sharing it with us.

Hi Kevin,

I remember a few weeks ago Mr Railsback telling me he didn't have enough footage, he wasn't good at making a story to his films. Well, you proved yourself wrong, buddy!
It is a very strong story you tell, and together with the footage, you made it into a great film.
Good to see you have a great mix of different shots, from aerial to down low, close ups and wide.

Your VO is good. Really easy to understand, but please lower the volume of the music, especially when you have music together with VO. As it is now, I felt that the music sometimes was competing with your VO about the attention of the audience.

Right around the corner we see... an eagle! How cool is that! But I wish we had seen more of the eagle. Maybe the bird taking off... and fading into the next sequence?

As Geir Inge said, the deer looking into the camera, whoa! Very nice shot!

Well done, Kevin!

That's no good having a hard drive crash. I'm trying to get my Bluray drive burning to backup projects, but it's giving me coasters after maybe 15GB on a disc.
It's great you were able to use the extended time to make something and piece it together. I can't really add anything to the comments made already. It worked well as a piece, had a nice variety of shots, some good wildlife shots. Would be great to have seen the original plan, but you made this work. Particularly when finishing this round proved difficult for many.

I think you belted this theme out of the park - it was emotional & inspiring, I know the footage is what we're trying to weave a story or theme around but it seemed secondary to me, I was listening to what you have to say - and you said it well.

Kevin, it's fantastic video. It was beautiful in its simplicity. Perfectly arranged shots coupled with fantastic narrative. The tone of your voice was perfectly matched to the background music. You told a great story about life. A story that a lot of us have to remember. Thank you. Bob