Uwol #9 "Encina Squirrels"

Adrinn Chellton · June 27th, 2008, 01:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Siegel

Adrinn,
Your voice is fine for the voice over. Don't change it. I like the way you maintained a similar setting throughout and treated what is basically a rubble heap as animal habitat. Very effective. In your next presentation you might want to edit out the wind noise.

Steve, you didn't feel that the wind noise/cars belonged there? I actually brought it in on another track to add some "nat sound". I felt it helped add some immersion to the piece and to help illustrate the close proximity of human activity. I know sometimes this doesn't work as well as you might hope, so thanks for letting me know how it seemed to you. Since I'm quite new to producing wildlife films, this area is still very experimental to me.

Bob Thieda · June 28th, 2008, 07:59 AM

I thought it all worked very well.

Your shot selection was excellent and your voice, well....would you do my next video?

The sound was all well done...voice, wind, ocean...and yes, the traffic noise. I thought it was all very natural sounding.

I thought that squirrel that picked up the paper was going to stuff the whole thing in his mouth. :)

Nice work for only a 10x lens...

Bob

Mike Beckett · June 28th, 2008, 10:58 AM

Adrinn,

Squirrels - dontcha love 'em?

I like this theme - unusual locations for wildlife. A bit like my own film, showing a bird reserve in the middle of a city's busy docks, it shows how man's impact on the environment can have unexpected up sides - in your case, a perfect haven for the ground squirrels.

You got some great scenes there. I just loved the shot of the squirrel gathering up the waste paper for her nest. Later on, there were some real cute shots of them "kissing" and playing, really good. I get the impression that some of them were filmed through the security fencing, but they are none the worse for it.

You did well in that wind, it seems quite fierce. If money were no object, maybe a blimp for the microphone ($$$ !), or maybe even just some careful selection of good audio would help. But it was probably permanently windy at that location.

Very interesting, and it pushed all the right cute buttons for me. Well done!

Geir Inge · July 1st, 2008, 09:48 AM

Hi Adrinn.

It was very funny to see so many squirrels that close to the sea, but I love it all the way.
Some windy sound from the location, but with a little bit lowered volume it would have been real nice. No music needed. Nice VO and very informative, I like that in a wildlife story.
Wish you all the best and good luck.

Geir Inge

Marj Atkins · July 5th, 2008, 06:26 AM

Wow Andrinn - your best video yet - really enjoyed this one.

I must say that your framing is beautiful this time round. You used a variety of angles and close ups - especially good with only a 10X lens to work with. Positioning of the subject in the frame was spot on.

Your story is interesting and flows well. I find the behaviour of the squirrel collecting and disposing of nesting material quite fascinating - and really humorous to watch as it stuffs such a lot into its mouth - a highlight for me. You managed to follow it very well when it dashed off like that - good camera work.

Just something very small - following the second squirrel wasn’t as successful as the first because it suddenly stopped halfway along its path - something difficult to anticipate.
In this instance I would have cut the camera movement out from 57-1:00 and 1:03-1:05, when editing, just to tidy it up and make it less busy visually.

I believe you did the right thing by including a VO. Your voice is friendly and very easy to listen to.

Ruth Happel · July 7th, 2008, 10:13 PM

I like the way your VO works to provide a lot of additional depth to the footage. I definitely learned a lot, both from just watching the squirrels, and with the information you provided. It helped to see that sometimes what is thought of as bad can be beneficial for wildlife. Thanks for sharing.

Ruth

Trond Saetre · July 9th, 2008, 03:00 AM

Hi Adrinn,

This was fun to watch!
Nice story, thank you for teaching me something new!
Keep up your good work.

June 28th, 2008, 07:59 AM	#17
Bob Thieda Major Player Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Carol Stream, IL Posts: 541	I thought it all worked very well. Your shot selection was excellent and your voice, well....would you do my next video? The sound was all well done...voice, wind, ocean...and yes, the traffic noise. I thought it was all very natural sounding. I thought that squirrel that picked up the paper was going to stuff the whole thing in his mouth. :) Nice work for only a 10x lens... Bob __________________ Bob T.

June 28th, 2008, 10:58 AM	#18
Mike Beckett Trustee Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Antrim, Northern Ireland Posts: 1,569	Adrinn, Squirrels - dontcha love 'em? I like this theme - unusual locations for wildlife. A bit like my own film, showing a bird reserve in the middle of a city's busy docks, it shows how man's impact on the environment can have unexpected up sides - in your case, a perfect haven for the ground squirrels. You got some great scenes there. I just loved the shot of the squirrel gathering up the waste paper for her nest. Later on, there were some real cute shots of them "kissing" and playing, really good. I get the impression that some of them were filmed through the security fencing, but they are none the worse for it. You did well in that wind, it seems quite fierce. If money were no object, maybe a blimp for the microphone ($$$ !), or maybe even just some careful selection of good audio would help. But it was probably permanently windy at that location. Very interesting, and it pushed all the right cute buttons for me. Well done! __________________ Irish Railway Videos on Youtube

July 1st, 2008, 09:48 AM	#19
Geir Inge Trustee Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Larsnes, Norway Posts: 1,342	Hi Adrinn. It was very funny to see so many squirrels that close to the sea, but I love it all the way. Some windy sound from the location, but with a little bit lowered volume it would have been real nice. No music needed. Nice VO and very informative, I like that in a wildlife story. Wish you all the best and good luck. Geir Inge __________________ Geir Inge B. Brekke Visit me at: https://vimeo.com/gibbfilm

July 7th, 2008, 10:13 PM	#21
Ruth Happel Major Player Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Black Mountain, NC Posts: 488	I like the way your VO works to provide a lot of additional depth to the footage. I definitely learned a lot, both from just watching the squirrels, and with the information you provided. It helped to see that sometimes what is thought of as bad can be beneficial for wildlife. Thanks for sharing. Ruth __________________ http://rockfowl.com/

July 5th, 2008, 06:26 AM	#20
Marj Atkins Major Player Join Date: May 2007 Location: Johannesburg South Africa Posts: 768	Wow Andrinn - your best video yet - really enjoyed this one. I must say that your framing is beautiful this time round. You used a variety of angles and close ups - especially good with only a 10X lens to work with. Positioning of the subject in the frame was spot on. Your story is interesting and flows well. I find the behaviour of the squirrel collecting and disposing of nesting material quite fascinating - and really humorous to watch as it stuffs such a lot into its mouth - a highlight for me. You managed to follow it very well when it dashed off like that - good camera work. Just something very small - following the second squirrel wasn’t as successful as the first because it suddenly stopped halfway along its path - something difficult to anticipate. In this instance I would have cut the camera movement out from 57-1:00 and 1:03-1:05, when editing, just to tidy it up and make it less busy visually. I believe you did the right thing by including a VO. Your voice is friendly and very easy to listen to.

July 9th, 2008, 03:00 AM	#22
Trond Saetre Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Bergen, Norway Posts: 3,375	Hi Adrinn, This was fun to watch! Nice story, thank you for teaching me something new! Keep up your good work.