Companions
 

The idea for this little documentary came the night before the films were due. Up to that point the weather had been gray and cold, but I’ll be darned if Sunday didn’t turn out almost spring-like. Sure made it easier to get out and shoot.

Why did I use a Sony Cybershot instead of my XH A1? Two reasons: Two of my friends are pretty camera shy, plus the new temporary boarder is so hyper and unpredictable I didn’t feel like trying to wrangle him and the bigger camera. I tweaked and tweaked trying to get the images a little richer looking only to have the upload somewhat wash it out again.

The music is a bit over-the-top, particularly in the middle, but I decided it was kind of funny for this project. I bought the song for a promo piece I did for a client last year and thought I might as well get more mileage out of it. So you may hear it again someday.

Go ahead and say it...my life has gone to the dogs.

Hi Lorinda,
This was fun to watch! Dogs are the best friends we have. Gotta love them. :)
Thank you for sharing.

Hehe,

This is how I saw the Movie,
I thought that was a great soft intro "Look at all the lovely pets...".
Then it was like "Who we've been training to KILL Santa!"
Then some random ball chasing scenes which were very nice.

Excellent Video, you have many lovely pets.

linda,

Well, being an animal kind of person myself (5 dogs, 1 cat, 3 falcons, 40 homing pigeons and 40 rolling pigeons) I really enjoyed this!! I chuckled at the compitions between the dogs.
we have two that incite each other to play tug of war all the time, a small westy and a largish english pointer, they really are best buds. Of course our cat keeps both of them in line and while she is like 10 years old still plays, CAT SLAP the dogs and tag.

Thanks for sharing this it was a pleasure!!!

Lorinda,

Very moving piece, got me tearing up with the "gift of love goes both ways" stuff. A dog or cat that ends up at your house has received the luckiest gift of all. You could give Michael Vick an lesson or two on how to treat animals. Your love for the animals is evident.

What did you do to get the color effect you have? I liked it, particularly in the backyard with the yellow-orangest shed. Liked the music too, and the transition as the dogs killed santa. Train dogs to attack santa, then get ALL the toys... good idea.

Thanks for a neat little film, and the insight into what makes Lorinda Norton tick. Its a great gift to have taken in so many rescue critters. And thanks too for the sacrifice David is making in the service of his country. The father of three of my grandchildren (Michael Ferguson) just returned from one year in Afghanistan, as a medievac chopper EMT, and I am in awe of what these men do.

Thank you for the nice comments, fellas. This was not only a desperation piece to get something submitted but a chance to get all the critters documented. Someday I'll be glad I did. I knew when I took them in that the time would come when they would need more care, but I didn't expect it to be so consuming. I'm planning to hire someone to take care of them and get away for a few days in April. (NAB, anyone?) :)

Chris, those medivac chopper EMTs are (and this is a word I try not to use much) AWESOME. I watched a great video of the Pedros in action. Wow. Give Michael my thanks, as well.

About the color, Dick, on the clip you specified I had help from the late afternoon sun, plus I bumped the saturation just a tiny bit. But with this camera I played more with levels and color curves than ever before. Also had to rely heavily on color corrector tools because indoor shots were really yellow. By the way, I felt a little funny subjecting you to this because of all you have to see of me and these guys on FB. You are so kind. :)

Say, Dale, will you someday try to get some footage of the rolling pigeons and post it? Several years ago I talked with a guy from Branson, Missouri who told me about a competition they have there. It sounded kind of cool. Up to that point I'd never heard of them!

You're a wonderful person, thanks for caring for those lucky souls! :)
Very nice that you documented them.

My kids would love to live in that house. We go to the Humane Society all the time to pet the animals and wish we could take them all home with us, and have managed to take a couple home over the years. My favorite shot was the showoff jumping in front of the camera.

Ha ha! That was my favorite shot, too.

Good for you, taking your kids to the shelter! Maybe they'll be helping others understand the responsibility of pet care later. I was a shelter volunteer for several years and helped found a group dedicated to companion animal welfare. That contributed to my dog population at home.

By the way, you guys...no one seems to have noticed, but I want to be in the sub-challenge. While not the biggest, there are plenty of rocks in this one! :)

I saw some gun camera footage of my son-in-law going down a cable to pull a French soldier off the side of a steep hill, I would be faint just flying around those hills let alone going down a cable at high speed.

Lassie and Old Yeller have nothing on your dogs Linda!

What a sweet display of the love between animals and their humans. The part with you and the dogs outdoors was about as evident as that love gets - both ways.

I liked the cats too,and have had cats as my companions for a number of years, been a while since I had a dog. Your film kind of nestled around in that void and warmed my spirit.

Thank you for a wonderfully uplifting few minutes. Nicely done.

Chris

Well, thank you, Chris, for taking the time to watch and comment on this and all the other films! It's much appreciated. :)

Lorinda, this is truly great work you're doing here. It's really neat to see how all of the animals seem to get along. I liked the use of the low angle doggie-cam shots. And that cybershot puts out some pretty good images. The music worked in there nicely as well.

Thanks for this, and for organizing the Challenge.