Tales of Wonder and Woe: UWOL-Long-Form 2009 at DVinfo.net

Per Johan Naesje · January 15th, 2009, 02:32 PM

Ok, so this starts our wonder and woes for the long-form challenge. Hopefully this gonna be a very long thread with lots of ideas, thoughts, fails, those magic moments, the shoot I was missing (oh'boy) etc, etc...

I had a flying start, joined the dvc/uwol charity challenge. Got some great footage. I'm still developing my idea, having some plans to do a docu about the surrounding area of the Capital of Norway, Oslo.
A couple of persons will be involved "as actors" and of course the wildlife you'll find in the forest and parks in this area.

Mike Sims · January 15th, 2009, 03:13 PM

The story I’m working on involves a lone Turkey Vulture that leaves her normal territory and flies to the other side of the mountain to forage. Along the way she passes over several different habitats as the altitude changes. The vulture is a means to “look down” into the lives of various other animals in each habitat as she passes over. I think this is called the “chocolate box” approach. I won’t know what other animals are involved until I see what I can find. It makes it difficult to write. I hadn’t thought about actors. I could probably incorporate an encounter with campers… Hmmm. I can’t wait to hear what everyone else is planning.

Geir Inge · January 15th, 2009, 03:56 PM

So far I've seen through all my uwol videos, to get an idea.
I think the first phase has to be: planning the case.
What am I to choose?
Habitat, birds and animals in a habitat?
One bird, one animal, make a wildlife fiction?

Well, I have decided the working title of my uwol Long Form video, and that is:
"Wild on the shore", based on my uwol#3, 4 and 9 video's.
I will try to focus on the great skua, there are only 50 couples in Norway, and I think it is a fasinating bird. I know where to find an White Taled Eagle's nest, so maybe I'll try to put'em in. I have to visit Runde island, I have to make some trip's to the sea, and I have to take many hikes in the mountains to get the right cutaways etc,etc

Don't know, but if some of you need a free prg for planning/storyboarding, here's one for free downloading, link: celtx - Integrated Media Pre-Production

Good luck - or should I say: "Break a leg"

Geir Inge

Kevin Railsback · January 15th, 2009, 04:42 PM

I'm still searching for the angle for mine.
I'd like to expand on my river film since shooting water has become kinda my thang. :)

Bob Safay · January 15th, 2009, 06:06 PM

As for me, I'm heading out of here. Got places to go, video to shoot and a challenge to enter. My next international wildlife destination is........... Take care, Bob

Bob Safay · January 15th, 2009, 06:12 PM

Hey Per, don't you have a birthday coming up in March? If I recall this is a BIG one. Best to you in advance. Bob

Dale Guthormsen · January 15th, 2009, 06:59 PM

Good evening,

Ahhh. "the plans of Mice and Men".

Good news, I received my xlh1 two days ago and will be shooting with the hd version of my xl2, lots to learn along the way. Per Johan, any outdoor preset you fancy??

Today I spent 7 hours driving my number one son to the S>E> corn of the province to undertake a new Oil oriented Job, Laborious.

However I spent a fair amount of time on my handy digital recorder hashing over plans for the Video.

1.) the video will be broken into three 26 minute sections.

part 1) In pursiut of a falcon
part 2) The nurturing of a hunter (may be Falcon or Gamehawk)
part 3) The Hunter and the Hunted
Part 4) The meeting (may not to be included) Alberta & Saskatchewan falconers field meets, possibily included in part 3 if time permits

Part 1

This will be broken into to two juxtaposed posibilities:
a) combing the countryside looking for wild nesting falcons
this should give images of a few different environs that falcons use.
Making the climb and legally taking a falcon from the wild
b) the domestic propagation of falcons in captivity
this will show some courting and food transfers and such.
c) documentation of two individuals and why they chose to follow their
rationale for taking a wild or domestic raptor

D) will show the taking of the young falcon and bringing it to its new home.

Part 2 The Nurturing of a Hunter.
a) raising the falcon in the home
b) allowing the young falcon to develop in a natural fashion
c) social Development and needs
d) discussion and documentation of the imprinting process
e) First elements

Part 3 The Hunter and the Hunted

the game
The falcons
Hunting dynamics
The dogs the game and the falcon relationships.

the falcons will be shown in the beginning learning on waterfowl
Fall Upland hunting
Winter hunting.

the Bond between man and wildlife, to be demonstrated through all three parts, summarized here.

closing shot of outragous sunset sillouetting a falcon falconer and dog!!

Well, that is it in a nut shell!! A rather big undertaking, but it is my mission for 2009!!!

I headed out tomarrow for a six day shoot for much of the winter part of the film.

Mat Thompson · January 16th, 2009, 04:23 AM

Mike - This sounds like a great piece. Exactly the sort of intimate wildlife programs I love. I am intrigued by one thing however. Do you plan to takcle the vultures POV...because your story seems to be based on just that and would not work to well without it. Is there a microlight/glider session planned ? come on tell us what youre up to ? :-)

Dale - OMG - Not happy with one episode, your going for 3x26. Reaching for the skies in more way than one huh ! Fair play to you, I'm still scard by the prospect of doing one 26 minute piece!

Mike Sims · January 16th, 2009, 01:04 PM

Mat- Spot on! I think the vulture’s POV is essential. I’m approaching that problem in four ways:
1) Microlights are discouraged in the area I’ll be working. There’s a lot of smuggling there using them. When they are detected the Air Force flies F-16s within 100 feet and tries to knock them down with the jet wash. I’ve seen it happen- not pretty. The next mountain range to the north has similar habitats and topography and there’s a private airfield nearby. I’ll try to work a deal for a ride up there.
2) NASA’s WorldWind program (public domain) is easy to animate. I was thinking of using a WorldWind animation in the background and using Lightwave 3D to animate a vulture in the foreground to illustrate how thermals work. Perhaps animation could pick up some of the Vulture POV heavy lifting as well. Perhaps not.
3) I just got a cheap Chinese-made no-name-brand AVCHD camera. It uses cell phone batteries and records to flash memory. It only weighs a few ounces. I’m busy now mounting it to a model glider. If it works, more on that later.
4) In the past, to simulate a “bird’s eye view” I have mounted a camera to a 20 foot pole projecting out the passenger’s side window of a vehicle. With the camera angled slightly away you slowly drive down a mountain road with a shear drop off into a valley. If you set up the shot carefully it can be very convincing- especially on an inside curve.

Dale- Congratulations on the new camera. I hope she gets a good work out on your trip!

Jeff Hendricks · January 16th, 2009, 01:36 PM

Still working on the story...pre writing phase. Notes like crazy, index cards....stuff everywhere but no footage yet.

Trond Saetre · January 16th, 2009, 05:27 PM

You guys are lucky... I don´t even have a story yet.
Well, I have one rough/basic idea, but that would be impossible to shoot now during winter time. So I guess I will have to come up with something else instead.

Vidar Vedaa · January 18th, 2009, 06:50 AM

I have made a pilot fore my project ,whit old cut from the area I will
make my film.The old cut is handheld but the retake will be nicer.
Do we send in the first view at 8-11 feb or 16-18 feb a bit confused?
My retake will start in mid April and end in 25 okt.

All Best
VJV.

_______________

Marj Atkins · January 19th, 2009, 05:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vidar Vedaa

Do we send in the first view at 8-11 feb or 16-18 feb a bit confused?

Yes - Long-form rules #5 and 7 have diffferent dates for Feb - presumably rule #5 is correct as all other dates for submission throughout the year are given there.

Meryem Ersoz · January 19th, 2009, 10:01 AM

Rule #7 date is fixed, y'all - changed to Feb. 16-18...the old dates applied to when we were brainstorming the rules. Feb. 16-18 is the actual. Sorry for the mix-up.

Chris Swanberg · January 21st, 2009, 01:11 AM

My plan is an "outdoor" documentary about the 100th anniversary of a place very special to me, Glacier National Park in the US state of Montana (and Waterton Park where it enters Canada). I literally grew up near there and spent a lot of time there in my childhood and it holds a special place in my heart. It has a rare and unique beauty of a pristine glaciated overthrust fault mountain range, something occurring to my knowledge only in Montana and Canada (think Banff - all part of the same Lewis Overthrust fault so it all looks the same) and also in China. I stand to be corrected if there are more. I will show you billion year old seabeds sitting in broken blocks at 7000 feet elevation, and also the first life on earth - fossilized stromatalites (algae colonies - the only fossils in the park due to the age of the rocks). Also share some beautiful glacial erratics and striated blocks that were dragged along by the glaciers in their retreat, I will take you onto disappearing glaciers that will vanish, at present rates, in another 30 years.

The early part will of necessity be a "Ken Burns like" treatment of historical photographs, selected in concert with the Park's archivist and historians, and I am trying to set up those connections early. The Park itself opens on Memorial Day and the pass through the Park later than that usually assuming a good winter. Backcountry hiking trails often do not open until mid July due to snows.

This is true wilderness and home to one of only a few remaining (and apparently sustaining) Grizzly bear populations in the lower 48 - my definition of "wild". (Grizzlies are the "Canaries in the Mine" for our wild places.)

I will do my field shooting in the summer and fall.

I am still not sure what I will be able to post in February. That is troubling me.

Chris Swanberg

January 15th, 2009, 02:32 PM	#1
Per Johan Naesje Trustee Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Akershus, Norway Posts: 1,413	Tales of Wonder and Woe: UWOL-Long-Form 2009 Ok, so this starts our wonder and woes for the long-form challenge. Hopefully this gonna be a very long thread with lots of ideas, thoughts, fails, those magic moments, the shoot I was missing (oh'boy) etc, etc... I had a flying start, joined the dvc/uwol charity challenge. Got some great footage. I'm still developing my idea, having some plans to do a docu about the surrounding area of the Capital of Norway, Oslo. A couple of persons will be involved "as actors" and of course the wildlife you'll find in the forest and parks in this area. __________________ - Per Johan Last edited by Per Johan Naesje; January 15th, 2009 at 06:10 PM. Reason: Spelling trouble

January 15th, 2009, 04:42 PM	#4
Kevin Railsback Trustee Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Cedar Rapids, Iowa Posts: 1,544	I'm still searching for the angle for mine. I'd like to expand on my river film since shooting water has become kinda my thang. :) __________________ --==Kevin==-- http:naturephotostudios.com.com

January 16th, 2009, 01:36 PM	#10
Jeff Hendricks Major Player Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: The Carson Valley, Nevada Posts: 248	Still working on the story...pre writing phase. Notes like crazy, index cards....stuff everywhere but no footage yet. __________________ www.tahoestarr.com

January 21st, 2009, 01:11 AM	#15
Chris Swanberg Major Player Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Sacramento, CA Posts: 904	Glacier National Park Turns 100 My plan is an "outdoor" documentary about the 100th anniversary of a place very special to me, Glacier National Park in the US state of Montana (and Waterton Park where it enters Canada). I literally grew up near there and spent a lot of time there in my childhood and it holds a special place in my heart. It has a rare and unique beauty of a pristine glaciated overthrust fault mountain range, something occurring to my knowledge only in Montana and Canada (think Banff - all part of the same Lewis Overthrust fault so it all looks the same) and also in China. I stand to be corrected if there are more. I will show you billion year old seabeds sitting in broken blocks at 7000 feet elevation, and also the first life on earth - fossilized stromatalites (algae colonies - the only fossils in the park due to the age of the rocks). Also share some beautiful glacial erratics and striated blocks that were dragged along by the glaciers in their retreat, I will take you onto disappearing glaciers that will vanish, at present rates, in another 30 years. The early part will of necessity be a "Ken Burns like" treatment of historical photographs, selected in concert with the Park's archivist and historians, and I am trying to set up those connections early. The Park itself opens on Memorial Day and the pass through the Park later than that usually assuming a good winter. Backcountry hiking trails often do not open until mid July due to snows. This is true wilderness and home to one of only a few remaining (and apparently sustaining) Grizzly bear populations in the lower 48 - my definition of "wild". (Grizzlies are the "Canaries in the Mine" for our wild places.) I will do my field shooting in the summer and fall. I am still not sure what I will be able to post in February. That is troubling me. Chris Swanberg Last edited by Chris Swanberg; January 21st, 2009 at 06:22 PM.

January 15th, 2009, 03:13 PM	#2
Mike Sims Major Player Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 880	The story I’m working on involves a lone Turkey Vulture that leaves her normal territory and flies to the other side of the mountain to forage. Along the way she passes over several different habitats as the altitude changes. The vulture is a means to “look down” into the lives of various other animals in each habitat as she passes over. I think this is called the “chocolate box” approach. I won’t know what other animals are involved until I see what I can find. It makes it difficult to write. I hadn’t thought about actors. I could probably incorporate an encounter with campers… Hmmm. I can’t wait to hear what everyone else is planning.

January 15th, 2009, 03:56 PM	#3
Geir Inge Trustee Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Larsnes, Norway Posts: 1,342	So far I've seen through all my uwol videos, to get an idea. I think the first phase has to be: planning the case. What am I to choose? Habitat, birds and animals in a habitat? One bird, one animal, make a wildlife fiction? Well, I have decided the working title of my uwol Long Form video, and that is: "Wild on the shore", based on my uwol#3, 4 and 9 video's. I will try to focus on the great skua, there are only 50 couples in Norway, and I think it is a fasinating bird. I know where to find an White Taled Eagle's nest, so maybe I'll try to put'em in. I have to visit Runde island, I have to make some trip's to the sea, and I have to take many hikes in the mountains to get the right cutaways etc,etc Don't know, but if some of you need a free prg for planning/storyboarding, here's one for free downloading, link: celtx - Integrated Media Pre-Production Good luck - or should I say: "Break a leg" Geir Inge __________________ Geir Inge B. Brekke Visit me at: https://vimeo.com/gibbfilm

January 15th, 2009, 06:06 PM	#5
Bob Safay Trustee Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 1,557	As for me, I'm heading out of here. Got places to go, video to shoot and a challenge to enter. My next international wildlife destination is........... Take care, Bob

January 15th, 2009, 06:12 PM	#6
Bob Safay Trustee Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 1,557	Hey Per, don't you have a birthday coming up in March? If I recall this is a BIG one. Best to you in advance. Bob

January 15th, 2009, 06:59 PM	#7
Dale Guthormsen Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Saskatchewan Posts: 3,048	Good evening, Ahhh. "the plans of Mice and Men". Good news, I received my xlh1 two days ago and will be shooting with the hd version of my xl2, lots to learn along the way. Per Johan, any outdoor preset you fancy?? Today I spent 7 hours driving my number one son to the S>E> corn of the province to undertake a new Oil oriented Job, Laborious. However I spent a fair amount of time on my handy digital recorder hashing over plans for the Video. 1.) the video will be broken into three 26 minute sections. part 1) In pursiut of a falcon part 2) The nurturing of a hunter (may be Falcon or Gamehawk) part 3) The Hunter and the Hunted Part 4) The meeting (may not to be included) Alberta & Saskatchewan falconers field meets, possibily included in part 3 if time permits Part 1 This will be broken into to two juxtaposed posibilities: a) combing the countryside looking for wild nesting falcons this should give images of a few different environs that falcons use. Making the climb and legally taking a falcon from the wild b) the domestic propagation of falcons in captivity this will show some courting and food transfers and such. c) documentation of two individuals and why they chose to follow their rationale for taking a wild or domestic raptor D) will show the taking of the young falcon and bringing it to its new home. Part 2 The Nurturing of a Hunter. a) raising the falcon in the home b) allowing the young falcon to develop in a natural fashion c) social Development and needs d) discussion and documentation of the imprinting process e) First elements Part 3 The Hunter and the Hunted the game The falcons Hunting dynamics The dogs the game and the falcon relationships. the falcons will be shown in the beginning learning on waterfowl Fall Upland hunting Winter hunting. the Bond between man and wildlife, to be demonstrated through all three parts, summarized here. closing shot of outragous sunset sillouetting a falcon falconer and dog!! Well, that is it in a nut shell!! A rather big undertaking, but it is my mission for 2009!!! I headed out tomarrow for a six day shoot for much of the winter part of the film. __________________ DATS ALL FOLKS Dale W. Guthormsen

January 16th, 2009, 04:23 AM	#8
Mat Thompson Trustee Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Kent UK Posts: 1,397	Mike - This sounds like a great piece. Exactly the sort of intimate wildlife programs I love. I am intrigued by one thing however. Do you plan to takcle the vultures POV...because your story seems to be based on just that and would not work to well without it. Is there a microlight/glider session planned ? come on tell us what youre up to ? :-) Dale - OMG - Not happy with one episode, your going for 3x26. Reaching for the skies in more way than one huh ! Fair play to you, I'm still scard by the prospect of doing one 26 minute piece!

January 16th, 2009, 01:04 PM	#9
Mike Sims Major Player Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 880	Mat- Spot on! I think the vulture’s POV is essential. I’m approaching that problem in four ways: 1) Microlights are discouraged in the area I’ll be working. There’s a lot of smuggling there using them. When they are detected the Air Force flies F-16s within 100 feet and tries to knock them down with the jet wash. I’ve seen it happen- not pretty. The next mountain range to the north has similar habitats and topography and there’s a private airfield nearby. I’ll try to work a deal for a ride up there. 2) NASA’s WorldWind program (public domain) is easy to animate. I was thinking of using a WorldWind animation in the background and using Lightwave 3D to animate a vulture in the foreground to illustrate how thermals work. Perhaps animation could pick up some of the Vulture POV heavy lifting as well. Perhaps not. 3) I just got a cheap Chinese-made no-name-brand AVCHD camera. It uses cell phone batteries and records to flash memory. It only weighs a few ounces. I’m busy now mounting it to a model glider. If it works, more on that later. 4) In the past, to simulate a “bird’s eye view” I have mounted a camera to a 20 foot pole projecting out the passenger’s side window of a vehicle. With the camera angled slightly away you slowly drive down a mountain road with a shear drop off into a valley. If you set up the shot carefully it can be very convincing- especially on an inside curve. Dale- Congratulations on the new camera. I hope she gets a good work out on your trip!

January 16th, 2009, 05:27 PM	#11
Trond Saetre Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Bergen, Norway Posts: 3,375	You guys are lucky... I don´t even have a story yet. Well, I have one rough/basic idea, but that would be impossible to shoot now during winter time. So I guess I will have to come up with something else instead.

January 18th, 2009, 06:50 AM	#12
Vidar Vedaa Major Player Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: bergen norway Posts: 235	I have made a pilot fore my project ,whit old cut from the area I will make my film.The old cut is handheld but the retake will be nicer. Do we send in the first view at 8-11 feb or 16-18 feb a bit confused? My retake will start in mid April and end in 25 okt. All Best VJV. _______________

January 19th, 2009, 10:01 AM	#14
Meryem Ersoz Wrangler Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Boulder, CO Posts: 3,015	Rule #7 date is fixed, y'all - changed to Feb. 16-18...the old dates applied to when we were brainstorming the rules. Feb. 16-18 is the actual. Sorry for the mix-up.