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-   -   UWOL #6 "Insomnia" by Meryem Ersoz (https://www.dvinfo.net/forum/uwol-challenge/108408-uwol-6-insomnia-meryem-ersoz.html)

Meryem Ersoz November 20th, 2007 12:14 PM

UWOL #6 "Insomnia" by Meryem Ersoz
 
oh, right, my feedback thread...

Things I learned:

1) an XH A1 with a Sony HVL-LBP mounted in the shoe is very, very hard to handle on a 560B monopod....I am soooo lazy! I really need to suck it up and carry my tripod on these UWOL outings! I say that every round.....

2) the throw on my camera light is very limited in an uncontained area--indoors the light bounces and reflects from the walls, so it throws more light, but outdoors it is very limited to just a few feet in front of me, so i had to figure out ways to produce shots which lit the foreground and had a little existing background light, when I found those, they were pretty cool...

3) shooting macro at night was a lot of fun and produces a whole different way of looking at common outdoor objects, like leaves. It would have been really fun to do this in the summer, when some bugs are out.

4) ducks will stay in the water for a remarkably long time. I've never sat watching ducks that long and was curious to see when they would leave. Suddenly, they start squawking and then they just take off for wherever their nesting/sleeping grounds are...I was lucky enough to catch one launching. It's not great footage, but it was fun to see.

Shooting at night was very challenging, but I had a lot of fun doing it and enjoyed seeing familiar objects and animals in a whole new way.

Catherine Russell November 20th, 2007 01:26 PM

Hi Meryem:

Nice clip! A perfect title for it as well. Seamless transitions from one shot to another with so much variation and detail! Wow, lots packed into a few minutes without it making it seem unnatural or contrived. Just lulls you into a kind of reverie! I think the ducks on the water and the use of the natural "light" was very well done. Some of these scenes made it seem like you could be out somewhere very late and could be in danger of getting mugged!! But then anymore, it could all be shot before heading home to dinner! Very well done.

Cat

Ruth Happel November 20th, 2007 04:07 PM

Meryem,

This piece was very evocative for me since I enjoy going on night hikes. You really captured the feel of how the details of a forest are magnified at night. When you focused on the macro in particular, that is what walking in the dark is like, since everything focused in a flashlight beam takes on added significance.

I was hugely impressed by the smoothness of your video as you walked. I have tried to do this and haven't had near your success (meaning, I need dramamine to watch my footage).

The ducks were magical, and I really liked the lighting there- mysterious just as they must have been.

Great job, and I thought the audio worked really well with the video, too.


Ruth

Chris Barcellos November 20th, 2007 06:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meryem Ersoz (Post 778686)
oh, right, my feedback thread...

Things I learned:

1) an XH A1 with a Sony HVL-LBP mounted in the shoe is very, very hard to handle on a 560B monopod....I am soooo lazy! I really need to suck it up and carry my tripod on these UWOL outings! I say that every round.....


Hey Meryem:

I think you asked about the HV20 in my thread. That first search light shot in mine was done on a monopod, with the HV20-- would not attempt that with the FX1, so Kudos for getting that done..

Film was very nice and music fit well with that haunting wandering through the night with insomnia feel.

Brian McKay November 20th, 2007 08:54 PM

Meryem more than once I've laid awake with Insomnia....so can say you have nailed the mood and feeling. The music was a perfect fit to the overall feel and mood. Too bad this one is not in the competition....it would definitely deserve a second look.

One question: did you use a steady cam or some such make of stabilization???

Brian

Meryem Ersoz November 20th, 2007 09:47 PM

hey you all (UWOL), thanks fer the comments.

i'm a periodic insomnia sufferer, too, which works out well when i am sweating on a tough editing job (this qualified! i spent one of my two nights of editing this in high insomnia mode...). i wanted to do something moody to match the quality of the footage that i felt that i was acquiring, and this music was pretty consistent with the moodiness that came through when i was reviewing footage. it also has that "monkey mind" quality that keeps a lot of us awake at night....

for stabilization, FCP has its wonderful Smoothcam filter (ha, i could not walk up a set of stone stairs that smoothly, trust me! especially with that unwieldy rig...). it does a fantastic job. it adds a little noise to the footage, but for NIGHT, that's pretty standard stuff. i had fun playing with filters in this round. the closing shot is courtesy of Graeme Nattress and his Big Box O' Tricks filters--a filter called "Light Rays."

Per Johan Naesje November 21st, 2007 03:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meryem Ersoz (Post 779092)
for stabilization, FCP has its wonderful Smoothcam filter (ha, i could not walk up a set of stone stairs that smoothly, trust me! especially with that unwieldy rig...). it does a fantastic job. it adds a little noise to the footage, but for NIGHT, that's pretty standard stuff.

Ha, ha Meryem, you fooled me on this one! I was thinking that you did this smooth walking for real!
Anyway this was really nice to watch. The music substantiate the footage well and I was dreaming away in an insomnia state!

Vidar Vedaa November 21st, 2007 04:01 AM

Hello Meryem

As a semipro I am a litle afraid to coment you proffs,but the allover
impression fasinating me allot.Ther is allot to work with and learn
from you. Realy nice film!!!!!



VV.

______________

David Gemmell November 21st, 2007 07:55 AM

Hi Meryem,

First off - the quality of your footage is very visible. I understand you took advantage of the 60mb, and it certainly shows!

That night scene at the 2 second mark with the moon high in the sky is a great look. Have you created that blue hue - or is it natural?

Looks like that FCP stabilizer thing worked wonders in the car also - as that camera did not flinch. Loved the use of the focus (in and out) and also the mood you created - which the music complimented well. The town lights out of focus was classic for the insomnia theme as well as the shot of the leaves as you spun around.

Nice to see how the pro's do things and read about some of the tricks of the trade. You certainly work that camera well (did you use any night time presets?).

Congrats to you also for joining in the pain with the rest of us.

Meryem Ersoz November 21st, 2007 08:53 AM

to be clear, the *only* clip that i used the stabilizing filter on was the walk up the stairs. if you look at the 2nd walking clip, you'll see it is much less smooth (and much more like me struggling to control an unbalanced camera on a monopod!). i kept it in its natural, unfiltered state because i wanted that disorienting feel. and the thing that turned out so great with the Smoothcam filter is that it is too smooth, unnaturally so, which really made it work in this piece. it's unnatural smoothness is actually kind of creepy. and that shot is the centerpiece shot, because it is the turning point when the piece shifts from an external state (nature) to a more internal reflection of an inner state (the restless human).

for the car shots, i used my little HV10 (i love that little camera!) mounted on a car mount called a stickypod (cost about $60) and mounted it to the hood of my camper/pick-up--to get it that smooth-looking, you under-inflate the tires a little bit and drive only 5 mph...a little motion goes a long way, 5 mph looks like 50, when shot from the front of the car. that keeps the image crisp. there's one or two shots that are deliberately blurred, like when i take the corner and the light falls on the rocks, because it fits the music.

i was really hoping for a deer or fox or somebody to cross my path that night, but no one cooperated.

as for color, that's all Mother Nature, there! just a little color correction to add some blue to the HV10 footage, that was a little too yellow.

thanks for all the feedback, everyone, it was fun to finally have some real time to put into one of these...it only took me a year!

and vidar, you should never be afraid to comment--we are all learning together, that's what is so fun about this...so many different perspectives on things. i have learned a ton from organizing this and watching all 144 entries and listening to everybody.

Dale Guthormsen November 21st, 2007 05:35 PM

Meryem,

I enjoyed the video. One of my favorite shots is your crossing the bridge. How did you get that so darn smooth?? I also liked the low perspectives!! shooting the different angles and particularly the rotation were brilliant. The trail scene was a tad on the shakey side compaired to the rest. of course, ducks, one of my favorites of wildlife was rather cool. you have inspired me to do some night waterfowl shooting next spring and fall!@! the graphics at the end were awesome, did you make them??


very nice effort, a pleasure to watch.

Geir Inge November 22nd, 2007 07:26 AM

Hi Meryem.
First I have to comment your soundtrack - it was awsome.
I want to know the title and artist and I do wish I had that song in my car driving at work each night (please).
The mix between sound of car and music was just great.
For me it was insomnia allright and your editing skills are great.
Very moody and well put together - great colours too.
I'm sure you had a great time out there in the bush.

All the best.
Geir Inge

John Dennis Robertson November 22nd, 2007 07:54 AM

Ah ha Now we can see why you earn a living playing with cameras.
You said it was nice to put some time into one of these. well it shows top quality production.Having said that you never had much of a choice after choosing "night" as a challenge,sort of had to lead from the front.

Benjamin Durin November 22nd, 2007 10:03 AM

Well Meryem, you sure master those cameras. Next time, you really come to Taipei, my offer to help you with the tape is still good!

I think I liked everything in that movie except the shots of the road. It was a brutal return to civilization for me. Finally, it is good for the future winner that you are not in the competition...

Meryem Ersoz November 22nd, 2007 10:23 AM

Hi Geir: Here is a link to the song "Black and White"--now you can think of me when you're driving back and forth to work! I will haunt your waking hours, ha!

http://www.freeplaymusic.com/search/....php?t=v&i=948

And JDR (do you go by John? or John Dennis, I never know....)--you are soooooo on to me! You're right, I knew after all the bellyaching that I would have to prove to you people that NIGHT was a great theme!

Even better--you folks showed me that it is a good theme! Some really wonderful entries have come of it.

The good news--while it is our lowest turn-out, we still had 20 entries, only 1 less than we had for MAMMALS (21). And the quality--as usual--has been amazing, for those that did turn in an entry.

And Benjamin--I would love to come to Taiwan some day and carry your camera gear (I'm sure that by the time I get there, you'll have developed such amazing skills, that I will be the tape manager, not you...)...We'll have to add Taiwan to our UWOL World Tour, can we get amazing bargains on gear??? That would be a plus....


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