Hi all,
Sorry to learn that I am the only one to enter this round. Thanks Trond for again organising and overseeing the challenge.Thanks Chris for hosting us. Hopefully, next round being a two month challenge we will have more uploaded entries, feeling a little lonely on my own!

I put this entry together quickly before I started my travels and uploaded a couple of weeks ago. Although not polished and in places lacking in content at least you have any entry to comment on

The irony is that since I have been away I have filmed at another pond where the toads are predated by otters, they are only interested in eating their rear legs as the rest of the body is unpalatable them.

Looking forward to reading your comments

Mick

UWOL 46 The Mating Game lottery on Vimeo

What a great film Mick!
I loved the talking head, well done!! Very interesting story. Well done putting this together, seems like this round was a real challenge for everyone!!
Bryce

Hi Mick.
I think you have made a great movie about toads.
I have made a similar film earlier, and was fascinated by the creatures.
You mention that someone is being driven by cars.
Not far from where I live, they have made tunnels under the main road and the toad actually uses the tunnels. It has cost the state some money, but I think that sometimes we must do what is right.
It was nice to see you at the start of the video and both the story and the flow in the film are professionally conducted.
Thank you for sharing it with us.

Mick, what a great video on the toads. In one of your opening scenes you showed the pond full of toads. the night sounds must be incredible. You got some really nice close-ups. watching that one toad dieing was hard but it is part of nature and as you said, Nobody is guaranteed another sunrise. I also liked your introduction. It is always fun to see what a fellow UWOLer looks like. Bob

Thanks all for your comments very much appreciated. As you say Bob its good to put a face to us UWOLers. I did once appear in front of camera 20 odd challenges ago. Its not something I enjoy but the experience here did help last year when I appeared in an episode of Hughs Wild West BBC2 talking about my otter filming exploits, they used a lot of my otter footage for that as well as my Sika deer footage in another sequence featuring deer in a nature reserve.

Mick
Had a chance to view your video. Nicely done. Interesting about them getting run over on the road. There's a national park south of where I live that had a similar problem but with salamanders. I believe it was when they built a new sidewalk along the edge of the road that they found out the salamanders were coming across the road at night in the spring to get to a little lake below the road to reproduce. The height of the sidewalk became a barrier for them and they where getting run over by vehicles. They had to make some modifications to things to help get them safely to the lake.

Gordon

Nice and interesting film you made, Mick! Nice to see you in front of the camera too. That was a good opening sequence.
Life can be brutal, that's for sure.
You have a good mix of wide, close, and even underwater shots, all backed up by a strong story. I like that very much.
Well done!

This is one interesting film Mick, i liked the flow and content .

Thanks Vishal, Trond and Gordon for watching and commentating, very much appreciated.

Mick

Great work Mick. I like the concept and story that you produced. A good variety of shots, living up to the under water, over land theme.

If I was putting this together (take with a grain of salt) I'd play with building up the spooky aspects as the initial premise/intro - stylize the Madonna and Moon shots, add some spooky sounds / music to augment it, and put on a gruff voice to really sell that. Then the transition into the main story and the plight and exploits of these toads. Although maybe that's why I didn't put anything together this round - my ideas are usually easier said than done ;-)

An entertaining watch, and the only one to stay out of the shark tank - well done.

Thanks for watching and commenting Andrew and definitely taken with a pinch of salt, just kidding!.
Its great to hear how others would have approached the subject, that's what UWOL is all about. Your ideas would certainly have added another dimension and really set the scene for something rather eerie to follow. Like it.