This has been a real cold and snowy winter at my place
So I decided to show you some of the non migrating birds and animals we have during wintertime
The film is shot in my neighborhood from a hide, being able to get real close to some of the more shy birds, like the Eurasian jackdaw - (Coloeus monedula) and the Eurasian Jay - (Garrulus glandarius)
The colors of the feather for some of our birds is just beautiful, against the white snow it stand out really nice
There was some problem during the sound recording as the main airport of Oslo is just a couple of miles away and some of the planes passing overhead at arrival and departure, so my excuse if the sound is lacking in some of the sequences!
I used a computer generated text to speech installment for narrating, not to bad hopefully!
For those who would like to know, here is a list of the species seen in the film:
- Eurasian red squirrel - very common on bird feeders, can come quite domesticated!
- Western jackdaw - quite shy, appears in small groups, feeds on everything they can find!
- Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella), colorful, been very common, feeds in large groups
- Eurasian tree sparrow (Passer montanus), common sparrow, feeds in groups
- Eurasian blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus), one of the most common winter birds, love nuts and seeds
- Great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) more common at feeding stations lately, feeds on nuts and seeds
- Eurasian sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus), common to be observed where there are smaller birds
- European goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) beautiful colors, red, yellow, brownish, feeds in small groups
- Eurasian jay - more common on feeding stations but shy, operate often in pairs
- Great tit (Parus major) the most common bird at the feeding station, but decreasing in numbers!
- Eurasian bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula), here seen the male with its beautiful red colored chest, seed lover!

Technically
This is shot with the Canon C200 in MP4, 4K, 8bit - 59.94p
Lenses used - EF 70-200 f2.8 IS II USM and EF 300 f2.8 IS USM with and without extenders (1.4x and 2.0x)
Sound recorded with a pair of Sennheiser ME67 microphones
Edited in fcpx, all footage slowed down to 50% in a 29.97p timeline and exported as H.264 in HD 1920X1080
Music licensed through Musicbed - Uri by Tony Anderson

UWOL45 - Winter into the forest by Per Johan Naesje on Vimeo

Hi Per Johan,
Wow that was lovely!! I especially liked the music. Where did it come from? I didn't see any credit for the music in the end credits & was wondering if you scored it yourself?
Another thing i really liked was the subtle camera movement you had, especially in the beginning.
The build up of tension with the sparrowhawk was great & added another dimension to the film.
I was unable to put together a voice over this time around due to loosing my voice. Like you, i looked at the text to voice options & i have to say, i thought your worked out quite well. If i could offer anything that might make your film better though, i would suggest trying fiverr.com There you can get voice overs done super fast, for a very reasonable cost. There is also the option to have the script proof read & changes made. Something that may be worth the few extra dollars for getting the translation spot on. I'm sure this is something that is done on all large productions that are distributed in other countries around the world, the great thing about fiverr.com is though, the costs are so incredibly reasonable. As an example, i paid about $7 Canadian for my VO.
It's great to have you back Per. Thanks for sharing your lovely film!!
Regards,
Bryce

Thanks Bryce
Forgot to mention the music in the description, but the song is Uri by Tony Anderson, licensed through Musicbed. I think it fits nicely into my film!
The opening scene is done with a homemade motorized slider system. Shot with a wide angle EF 17-40 f4.0 lens
I will look into fiverr, thanks for the suggestion!
The Sparrowhawk was a real surprise for me.

For me the voice over un-necessary in such a short film, music was fine.

Interesting that all of the species shown can be seen locally here in NW England albeit the Yellowhammer and Tree Sparrows are declining and our Red Squirrels under extreme pressure from Greys.

No snow though for the past few winters.


Ron

I'm curious. When doing the voice over with fiverr. Do you send a video with marked timecode to them where they add the voice?

Hi PJ.
I've missed you here in Uwol, and finally you're back.
It's so amazing to see how your movies are put together.
You have your own trademark, where one scene slides into the other, in an excellent way.
The construction of the story and fabulous close-ups of different bird species, many of them difficult to get close to.
The Eurasian jay is not so common where I live, but this winter we have had a couple in the woods behind my house.
Almost impossible to get pictures of it, as one just flies its way. Got up a shed and at twilight (today) I got a picture of it, albeit somewhat out of focus
I am grateful that you share it with us.
Wishing you all well, my friend.

Thank for your replays!

Ron - yes VO is not always necessary, agree with you! You can get some snow from me if you like, passing 1.5 meters soon on flat ground. Never been so much since 1992

Donald - I did not use the fiverr, maybe Bryce Comer could chime in? He used them

Geir - nice to be back. Missed you in this round. Did you start in your new job?

I'm curious. When doing the voice over with fiverr. Do you send a video with marked timecode to them where they add the voice?

Hi Donald,
No i just sent the text. You can go back and forth if needed, but it will cost a little extra. For what i paid though, i thought it was a bargain!

Something i forgot to mention was how much i loved the sounds. Did you have a mic hidden in the stump or somewhere close by? You managed to capture some really great sounds!!

yes, I made a installation made of 2 tubes only 0.5 meter from the feeder on both side. I also made up 2 thin ropes running out of the tubes and to the ground
Then when I was in the hide, I put my mics onto the tubes with the wires running into the hide
This is a great trick, the birds don't notice any new items near by in this way
The crows are quite intelligent and will not come down if they notice any new items near by

Per, great video. The opening shots were so smooth that I could start to feel the cold. I never realized you had so many colorful birds wintering there. Your audio was great. Love your trick with the tubes. The music was very good and fit the mood of the video. The close-ups were nice and clean. Interesting, I almost found myself watching the birds through the eyes of the squirrel. How do you enjoy using the Canon C200 for wildlife? As always, a powerful entry. Bob

here are some pictures of the tubes at the birdfeeder
in the first picture you can view the distance approx from the hide where I sitting
The next ones show more details of the tubes, you can see the wires going out of the tubes to the ground
In the end of the tubes towards the feeder I installed some black netting to hide the view of the mics inside the tubes
Works perfectly for good ambient sound, except when big airplanes passing overhead :(

Hi Per Johan.
Good to see you back. Nice trick to get the audio. It really makes a difference when you have it. Looks like lots of snow. As usual a very well done video. Always enjoy your films and the colourful birds you have in the winter. Thanks for sharing.

Gordon

Great system with the audio Per, I will have to try that one day myself. Audio is something i really want to improve on with my videos. Well that and a bunch of other areas too! :)

Hi Per, good to see you back with a great entry, thanks for the in depth details on its making.

I know how difficult it is to get the footage to produce a 4 min film and therefore at times have to make do with what we have in the can, which leads me on to my only real (hopefully) constructive comment. Where you show the sparrow hawk you build the drama, we hear the the small bird alarm calls and then cut back to birds on the table. In an ideal world it would have been great to have had the Hawk, followed by a short clip of the birds flying off in alarm, back to the hawk flying off or just the space where it was sitting and then a short clip of the birds returning. Hope that makes sense.

But, must say i really enjoyed your entry.

Mick

Thanks for your comments!

Mick, I was thinking of the same after I had submitted the film. Agree fully with you. But this is the way of learning

Per, thanks for the picture of your ingenious invention. I can see how the birds would be fooled. I watched your video again and have one last comment. There were a couple of shots (1:55 and 2:26) of the birds feeding and I was waiting for a rack focus. I just thought that would be a great place for one. Bob

Hei Per Johan,

Welcome back to UWOL!

You always get great audio quality in your films, and this one delivered as well! Very nice idea with hiding the mics in those tubes. Music and VO fits well.

Mick had a great suggestion in post #15 how to build the drama introduced by the hawk, but I know it can be very difficult to get the needed shots.
Loved the close ups of the birds and squirrel, especially the shot at 0:32.
Fading into the white winter, was a nice ending of your film.

All in all, a very strong film.
Well done!

Hi Per Johan,


Opening Sequence with the squrrel is so fantastic sets the tone perfectly for the video
Next i liked was the transition from the tit and out of focus woodpecker to the sparrow hawk, fantastically done,The shots with changing focal length makes it more interesting to the eye
The tussel between the Yellowhammers is also nice .
You ended where you started again at the Squirrel which is a great take
Wonderful video

Many thanks for your comments to my entry
Bob, yes I should have been doing some rack focus, agree on this. But there is not easy as the birds constantly move in the frame all the time. Remember that sequences shown are slowed down by 50% from the original recording. Things happen very fast with such small birds
But I will be thinking about trying this out later on

Great film Per, and nice to have you back on board
I really liked the gentle way you pulled the viewer into the scene - I'm guessing shot on a slider. The squirrel and bird shots were great, I think preparation makes all the difference here. The end fade transition worked really well also. The music just blended in well, and the sounds were great.

I think Mick's suggestion was good. I like to see some specific narrative in the films, and I think this would help build more of a story into the shots themselves. I had wondered about the VO, it sounded a little artificial but I wasn't sure initially if it was. There's some good suggestions for options there already.

Thanks for joining in this round and posting, it was a very enjoyable film.