UWOL25 | Exploring | by Markus Nord
 

Hello filmmakers!

"Exploring the inner space of the world" by Markus Nord

I had a script for a film I was supposed to shoot during the last expedition. But because the way the expedition developed, I didn’t get any time for that…

This film is plan “I-need-to-put-something-together”. I came up with the idea of putting in the first clip of my son during the editing. The clip represent my childhood a lot too, I used to go to that same beach every year with my parents for years, and now I do the same with my son.

I didn’t want to put in too much fact and just let the viewer follow us into the cave. It was hard to get it down to 4 min, I could have taken the first clip of my son away, but I think that that clip is really important to set the mood. I may have cheated a bit, with extended the end through credit, but I needed to let the view know that we got out safely.

I hope you enjoy…

Re: UWOL25 | Exploring | by Markus Nord
 

Wow Marcus! You certainly nailed the theme with this one! Very well done.

Re: UWOL25 | Exploring | by Markus Nord
 

Okay Marcus.... you're afraid of heights ???? You could not get me to into that cave with all that gear for all the gold in the world... Just watching the divers squeeze into the passages gave me the "heebie jeebies".

Great story of a new world found....

Re: UWOL25 | Exploring | by Markus Nord
 

You gave me really a claustrophobic feeling. I had to take an extra breath in the narrow cave.
The underwater shots are really impressing.
Your story from a small child with dreams to the cave explorer is good.
The four and a half minute went fast. Thank you for showing us this.
Are you really capable of diving in ice-cold water for three hours?

Re: UWOL25 | Exploring | by Markus Nord
 

I'm with Chris on this one Markus; thats very cramped looking in there.

I'm going to start with the positives first. This is a great movie, and its certainly in the running for the top place. The opening sequence is pretty cool; nice restrained use of the vintage 8mm camera look and sound. That really helps ground the movie, and I'm glad you did not cut it out in the edit.

The shots of the snowmobiles with the trailers heading down the track is sweet. That shot really lets us know you guys are on an adventure here, and helps set that intrepid theme of this movie. The music (the bass synths) sounds a little bit like a John Carpenter score (like the movie 'The Thing') - which sets an immediate tone to the piece (not sure if that was intentional)? Audio is nice and clear (not that it matters to me as I don't speak Norwegian!), but luckily the subtitles are also nice and clear too!

The actual dive sequence is really amazing. Great footage there, and the creepy music adds to the images we are seeing. I would not like to be in your shoes...I mean I would not like to be in your flippers!

As for the negatives: probably I would have liked a bit of info about the dry caves, and it would have been cool to have more footage of you guys inside the dry section doing a bit of exploring, rather than the photos.

And where does the air come from? Is the air fresh? Is there a passageway that leads to the surface, or is it sealed from the world? Was that sunlight in one of the photos, the vertical one that pans up to the roof of the cave?

It looks like you ran a bit over time. Probably you could try doing some smash edits (or jump cuts) whereby you compress the journey in or out of the caves with shorter edits (like 2 second cuts) - this actually can drive a story forward and make the journey seem longer, even though you use less time. Jump cuts are an interesting editing technique to try out when you need to speed things up, though it can become addictive!

Great movie Markus; and lots of kudos to you for being a genuine explorer!

Re: UWOL25 | Exploring | by Markus Nord
 

Thanks for your comments everyone…

Marj – Yes, I was really happy when I read the Theme…

Chris – Chris, I really hate standing on the ladder in spring to clean the gutter on the house.
but this is OK.. I feel really comfi in the cave, I got full control.

Finn-Erik – We did over 2 h in water, it’s all depends on how resistant you are too cold. Most divers use electronic heated west, but I don´t. I did use this hand-heaters, I put them on the inside of my suit… During this exploration we spend about 40 minutes in water before and after, and almost 2 h in the dry area.

Simon – thanks for your critic. I did use this music because I think it worked well with that I wanted the view to feel. I’m glad the subtitle worked, it’s hard to know if you put it in long enough. You are always welcome to stick your foot in my fins… I’ll take you out for a diving/snorkeling trip.
Actually, I don’t got any more video from the dry part, a few more second in the half filled tunnel. We didn’t have that much time in the dry part, and we had a lot to do… survey the cave and also take photos (we sell more photos then video). So what you see is what I got.
it’s not sunlight, it’s the light in the divers hand. We felt a breeze of air in the camber, so some kind of small connections to the surface exist.
Well, the credit starts at 4:00 so technical, I did not run over time… just that I had the credit a bit long maybe… but sure, I could have shaved of a few sec here and there…

Thanks everyone for viewing and comment
Cheers
Markus

Re: UWOL25 | Exploring | by Markus Nord
 

Hei Markus,

You got some good feedback already. I totally agree.

Yet another underwater film from you. I like! :)
Must be facinating to dive into those caves, explore new places.
Looks like there is no living creatures in that cave. Is it often like that?

Well done!

Re: UWOL25 | Exploring | by Markus Nord
 

Hi Markus.

Great movie and a nice twist on the theme.
Swedish language with English subtitles, runs fine with me.
I do understand Swedish very well, I have a sister in law from Stockholm :)
Swedish and Norwegian are closely related, linguistically.

I love to snorkel, but have respect for tight spaces, as we speak about a touch of claustrophobia.
Nice that we can take the tour by watching your film.
Editing, voiceover and music is good - as always.
Also like your beginning, neat :)

Some froggy questions ;)
Was it a frog I saw at 3.03? If so, how far inside the cave was it? Is it a blind frog?

Use of still photos, without offending maybe they could have been replaced with film?
Or you could have shorten the video a bit? But I'm grateful for the picture of the frog.
This is obviously a matter of taste.

Once again I must say you have a nice angle on the topic and thanks for sharing.

Re: UWOL25 | Exploring | by Markus Nord
 

Very nice! Both audio and video were very well done. Location, as always was stunning.

I didn't mind the stills, I found them intersting. The only one I would question is the vertical format one that you panned up.

What you really did though is bring my two greatest fears together in one film...
My fear of drowning and my fear of being trapped underground.
I found it made me very nervous while I watched...

Re: UWOL25 | Exploring | by Markus Nord
 

I'm pretty sure my blood pressure went up while watching the underwater scenes, subconsciously catching my breath. Almost getting stuck at one narrow point in the cave. Good shots. Is there a purpose to this expedition besides just exploring the unknown cave system. I'm all for exploration, It just wasn't clear in the film why you were doing what you were doing, or maybe I'll have to watch it again to find the reason.

Re: UWOL25 | Exploring | by Markus Nord
 

It seems that I made a few of you a bit nerves watching my film… sorry about that.
Thanks for your comments.

Trond – Hei, we got a lot of fish in the cave, trout and also a lot of insect larvae. I didn’t bring them in to the story…

Geir Inge – It was a common frog, and it was located in the dry area, 440 meters into the cave. It either got there with the flood, or by jumping in through some cracks, it was not blind.
I can’t exchange the stills with video, We had so short of time in the dry area, only 2 hours, and during that time we explored, maped, to photos, video, communicated with the surface and hade a bit of a rest (drunk some hot coco).

Bob – I really wanted to show how hi the last room was… and that picture was what I got from that room.

Bill – We run this expedition, to map this cave area. We have worked with different scientist over the years, all from fish specialist to me, running an inventory for a special alga. We are speleologist and run the expedition in our national organization. The caves are closed and we need to apply for entering the caves every year.

thanks for watching and keep breathing!

Re: UWOL25 | Exploring | by Markus Nord
 

Hi Mark, and thanks for the additional information.

For my comment on the images in the film, it's just my personal opinion regarding wildlife films.
I have great respect and admire you as a nature photographer and I know it is hard work that lies behind what you do.
One can spin further on and wonder around the "journey" to the frog and what has made it ended right there? Exciting to have such meetings in the most odd places, right?
And yes, me too was a bit intimidated by the narrow rooms in the caves ;)

Thanks again.

Re: UWOL25 | Exploring | by Markus Nord
 

Wow Marcus!!!

But you said 4 hours and it seemed to me it was only a few minutes, eh???? LOL

Pretty wild dtuff to me. I have no problem with heights, but I am not so sure crawling into such confined areas!!! Nah, I wouldn't do it!! so thanks for taking us on such a cool journey!!!

I was so captured by it I nerver even realized it had stills in it!!!

Wonder how the frog finds food in the dark!!????

Curiously, have you ever tried serious color grading to enhance the images??? I love the underwater stuff but I always think that is the weakest aspect of it.

Truly, thank you for taking the time and sharing your endevors underwater, it is something I will never do and really enjoy!!!

Terrific job!!

Re: UWOL25 | Exploring | by Markus Nord
 

Hi Markus. I think it is amazing that with the short time period and the effort of getting in and out of the cave while doing all the work required for the expedition that you were able to make a film for UWOL at all, much less one this good. Way to go! I also was intrigued by the frog and would have liked to see the fish and insect larva (but I know that’s not why you were there). I really liked the part about young Markus and the way you treated the footage of your son was excellent. Congratulations.

Re: UWOL25 | Exploring | by Markus Nord
 

Hi Markus,

I think this film surpassed your last one - although I have to say, I also felt that feeling in the pit of my stomach watching the crawling through the hole shots.

I have to say the pacing was excellent - I did like as well the ¨Super 8 ¨footage to set the scene - it worked very well.

From a technical point of view, the only thing I would have added was some movement in the still shots - a bit of the old panning and zooming may have worked, just to break up that fact they were stills.

My wife commented - ¨Oh, I've seen this on TV¨ - I think that is a compliment!

Thanks!