UWOL #7 The Ten Tab Mission

[Peter Damerell]

Adventure.

What a great theme for the first UWOL of a new year and for many of us our first challenge.

I decided early on that this would have to be a human rather than animal orientated adventure. Adventure is after all a human concept and whilst wild animals may exhibit what we define as adventurous behaviour they are in reality exerting the minimum effort and taking minimum risks in order to survive.

With slightly less concern for our own survival and a blatant disregard to my employed status I announced on the spur of the moment that I would be taking 5 days off work and Nick and I flew to Hungary to try to film some of the diverse habitats and wildlife of this beautiful country.

The travel for this trip consisted of
2 planes
9 trains
6 buses
2 lifts
1 highly successful hitchhiking session.
And a ridiculous amount of walking/running

Hopefully we have captured the non stop action packed nature of our adventure and also some of the peace and tranquillity that the Hungarian countryside can offer.

Luckily we made it back with three hours to spare before my next shift at work and I managed to keep my job!

I hope you enjoy our film; a better quality version will be posted on our website as soon as it’s up and running.

[Meryem Ersoz]

what a frenetic adventure! great fun to watch...i'm not sure that i understand what the title means, the "ten tab mission," but it sounds intriguing.

...and our first UWOL film set in Hungary, that's very cool...i'm adding it to our ever-expanding list.

you packed a ton in 3 minutes, cave imagery, nice birdie shots, travel, mystery (what the heck is going on??). even crossword puzzles, which seem emblematic of the entire journey (what the heck is going on?).

shots i really liked: the running exit from the cave, the canted angle with the stick in the foreground and your friend running in the background.

somehow the effect of it all hangs together, minus the fact that i have no idea what is going on!

it reminds me of a "tristram shandy" or some sort of swiftian adventure, where you go go go with the expectation that you'll get somewhere or solve some sort of meaningful puzzle....but don't.

anyway, would be interested in hearing more about the successful hitchhiking. sounds like you had a fun adventure, through it all....

[Kevin Railsback]

Whoa, I'm wore out from watching this one!

Hang on let me get a glass of water and I'll be right back! :) ...

Ok, whew, talk about a frenzied pace! :)

I think you did a great job of all the intercuts in the beginning of the film. They worked great with the music.

The pacing was perfect with the music.
Sure was some beautiful countryside you filmed.
The cave footage was fantastic!
Very nice!

[Bob Thieda]

Here is what I thought about whilst watching your video....

"This is how most of the UWOL contestants look like as the deadline approaches."

Seriously though, I thought it was very entertaining....great shots as mentioned ubove...I also loved the tilted/stick shot. And the one in the train with the window open....

Now the whole time I felt/knew there was a story here....I just didn't know what it was....
Almost seemed like a nature scavenger hunt....first team with all the shots wins...

Bob

[Per Johan Naesje]

Peter,
second much of what have already been said on this one!
The cave shoots was the part I liked best, was that original light up or did you use any lights of your own?
You got a well documented trip to Hungary, very well done!

[John Dennis Robertson]

Nice video.Hungary in a hurry.I liked the concept.video was clear with no shakes...enjoyed watching

[Markus Nord]

Nice… cool…
But hi is carrying a camera and you “planted” the camera in the beginning of the film AND ended the film with the camera, but yet a single snap? I think that you could have hade a few shots that we could se him taking photos.
Over all a nice film, good job

Markus

[Rob Evans]

That was nuts. I thought it felt a little random at first, but the tempo was well established and kept up nicely - camerawork was all nicely done and the dutch angle on the ground was superb - plus the music worked nicely with it... felt a bit like "Why don't you?" and Benny Hill's half-insane lovechild - which is no bad thing ;-)

[Dale Guthormsen]

Peter,

A unique and intriguing short.

what a huge job getting it all together!!!

I thought the editing was pretty awesome!!

thanks for sharing!!!!!

[Trond Saetre]

Hi Peter,

What an adventure you were on. Looks like you had a great time visiting Hungary.
One detail:
Like Markus said, since you have a few shots of a camera, it would have been nice to see someone actually using it, or maybe even see a still photo or two.

Cool editing.
Stay with us for the future challenges. I'm looking forward to see more of your films.

[Catherine Russell]

Originally Posted by Meryem Ersoz

somehow the effect of it all hangs together, minus the fact that i have no idea what is going on!

Ditto that! But what a fabulous film! I personally found this to be very funny indeed. All of this frantic activity to repose and peacefully enjoy for a few minutes a little slice of your adventure. The wide angle shot of you running through the field finally got my chuckles into a full out laugh! Obviously, the music did much to hold all this together. Very intriguing film. Thanks Peter!

P.S. I also found your thread comment to be quite amusing as well! That WAS quite an adventure and I'm glad you kept your job!

Cat

[Mat Thompson]

Hi Peter

I really liked the 'running man' style to your piece. It was funny but in a way that added to adventure and travel in your piece. I found the intro, like the stuff on the train not really neccesary, I'd have also liked to have known where you were off too before the closing credits...or have I missed something somewhere? Some of the shooting felt a bit run and gun but then run and gun was what it was all about so no real problem there.

Again well done, nice and unique style and fun to watch...good job.

[Peter Damerell]

Hi guys. Thanks for all of your comments.

I imagined there would probably be a few questions arising from the film so I'll have a shot at answering a few of them now.

Just to set the record strait on one matter first. The person running in all of these shots is myself. The man responsible for the footage and editing is my good friend and soon to be business partner Nick. We work together closely throughout the pre-production, filming and post-production stages and all decisions are made together but at the end of the day he's the guy with the moving image degree and I'm the guy with the zoology degree so credit for the stick shot etc goes to him and I'll pass on your comments.

Questions.

1) What on earth is going on?

I was keen to capture the spirit of adventure and so decided the best way to authentically do this was to go on one of my own and like many adventures this one turned out to be totally manic and conducted almost entirely at full speed. In many ways this video tells the story of its own creation.
I literally did finish work, grab my stuff and camera and run out the door.
We literally did charge all over Hungary and I literally did arrive home and put my work uniform strait back on again (the film doesn’t show the fact that I had a shower first or the fact that I grabbed 3 hours sleep - fully clothed - before I went back to work).

So i suppose the answer to what’s going on is... an adventure.

2) Why have a camera and no still shots?

It was initially our plan to include several still shots in the piece and a scene of me taking a photo or two especially in the caves section, unfortunately there simply wasn’t time in the piece and the video camera worked better than expected in the caves anyway. Why leave the camera in the piece then? Because I never go on an adventure without it and as such my camera represents adventure as much as my work badge represents tedium, monotony and everything else which is anti-adventure.

3) Did we light the caves ourselves?
No we didn’t. We couldn’t carry any lighting equipment with us because we had to travel so light (no pun intended) but luckily the caves had been lit in a way which emphasised most of the truly spectacular structures for us.

4) How successful was our hitch hiking?
Extremely. Without the generous lift we got we would not have made it to the caves, simple as that.
Our third train of the day dropped us at Josvaffo-Agtellek, which we believed was a thriving town with banks, shops, food, water and transport links, all of which we were in desperate need of. Instead Josvaffo-Agtellek turned out to be a patch of gravel outside an abandoned sawdust factory. The only human in sight was armed.
Luckily we were shortly picked up by a great couple who despite not speaking a word of English (we had not one word of Hungarian between us) delivered us to the nearest place to withdraw money, found us some cheep yet comfy accommodation drove us to the caves and came round with us as we filmed and then drove us back to town to our accommodation. If the only restaurant in town hadn't been closed I'm sue they would have bought us dinner. Without them we'd still be outside that sawdust factory right now.

and lastly
5) Why 'The Ten Tab Mission'?

The Ten Tab Mission became our working name for the whole trip because at 3 am the day before departure we had 10 internet tabs open and were manically flicking through them trying to find accommodation for at least one night of our trip. The accommodation mission was a success (we slept on the floor of a Hungarian guy we met over the internet for two nights) and so the name was adopted for the whole trip and subsequently the film.

Thanks again for all of your questions and comments, please keep them comming. Sorry if my responses are a little slow at getting to the point.

Peter

[Catherine Russell]

Peter! The story behind your film and the inspiration of the name is really the adventure par excellance! What adventuring spirits you two are! Ah! To be young and spontaneous!

Cat

[Bob Safay]

Hey, you shot my original idea. Getting there is half the fun. I loved the way you used transportation as an adventure. The shots inside the cave were great, and the music. Hungarian Russian to emphasize....RUSHING to location. A really good job and a fun video to watch. Bob