Autumn Colours
 

My entry this round was somewhat rushed as I had only to the 11th to upload. Luckily everything is 3 weeks earlier here this year in including autumn, so i did manage to coble something together. The Arun valley where I did all the recording is typical of English water meadows that are designed to flood during winter months and therefore a mecca for wildlife. The colours I concentrated on were the fruits of the hedgerow and their uses. Hope you enjoy. Mick

PS Before somebody asks the train journey time to London is 1hr 30 mins!

Re: Autumn Colours
 

What a beautiful collection of september fruits Mick.
I'd love to taste some of your recipes.

Re: Autumn Colours
 

Mick,

Wow, wonderful film!

The water vole footage was crazy awesome!
Very soothing VoiceOver.

My only nitpick is that there were a couple clips that had the natural sound while all the others didn't and listening with headphones on my iPad it was a tad distracting.

Beautiful country!!!

Re: Autumn Colours
 

Mick, it's a beauty. I watch these films and try to comment immediately to keep the flow in my memory. What a Castle rising from the mist! The English style of film making seems so refined, from the pace of voice over to the unhurried visuals, it's unmatched.
2:06 - you make your own sloe gin from the berries, okay that's cool.
2:09 - giant green hops, no mention of making beer... I'm leaning forward in my chair waiting for it... waiting for it...
2:53 Apple and Blackberry Crumble. That sounds really good. Alright that's it, I'm looking up a recipe and getting to work on that tomorrow.
You mention 'hedgerow' a few times, but no mention of a bustle in a hedgerow, which I always equate with a hedgerow after listening to that Zep song a thousand times in the 70's. I even have a friend in the landscaping business who pointed out to me what a bustle in a hedgerow is, a different plant growing within the hedge. And now after watching again I think you are saying that the hedges are made up of many plants intertwined and hundreds of years old.
Alright, this is my favorite, but I have a couple left to view, and many thanks for sharing your part of the world.

Re: Autumn Colours
 

Mick,

Once again, a lovely story and film!
The leisurely pacing and the commentary made me feel as though I was with you, walking down the lanes and looking into the hedgerows.

Certainly brings back some memories of blackberrying (not to mention the crumble!). The weather here didn't help our blackberries at all this year, a very sorry crop was to be had along our normal river walk.

Many Thanks!

Re: Autumn Colours
 

Mick
Darn I'm hungry. Nice solid, interesting easy going piece. Well done on the water vole also.

Gordon

Re: Autumn Colours
 

Hi Mick,

My favorites were the water shots and the amazing castle coming out of the mist.
As Kevin said, a little more of the natural ambient sound might improve your already great film a little bit.

Well done!

Re: Autumn Colours
 

Hi Mick.

You provide a nice story and video.
You have a great VO, which lets the viewer be allowed to participate in the trip.
Often it can be in our immediate surroundings we find the greatest treasures.
I've never been to England, but both my wife and I want to go there sometime in the future. Still, I can boast of having been on the Shetland Islands, haha.
Many thanks for sharing.

Re: Autumn Colours
 

Hi all, thanks for watching and of course your comments which are much appreciated.

Bill, with regards to the wild hops, not sure they make good beer, but now you have given me the idea I will do some practical research and if I am sober enough afterwards I will post my findings lol. With regards to "Bustle" that links to spring and cleaning out the hedges, there is a lot of mythology and witchcraft associated with that term.

Gordon and Kevin. A few years ago the watervole population was decimated by escaped mink from fur farms and water pollution. After a lot of hard work by the various conservationists and NGO's this August they have now been recorded in every county in England.

Kevin and Trond. With regard to the ambient sound you are quite right, I should have placed a wild track. A lot of the original was not suitable due to car noise, people talking and aircraft noise.

Gier. One of my filming friends has a Norwegian wife. I gather Norwegian Air have good offers at the moment flying to Gatwick (50 km from me) but I believe its cheaper to book from the UK site, so if you ever come over look let us up, of course that applies to any of you if you ever visit the UK. I have never been to Shetland, its probably closer to to Norway than where we live!

Mick

Re: Autumn Colours
 

Hi Mick

Apologies for this late comment. I tried to finish all my feedback comments by Friday, knowing that I had a full weekend ahead but didn’t quite make it.

I enjoyed watching your entry. It is nice to have flora as a subject on the UWOL Challenge for a change.

I like the way you took us along with you as you made your way past Arundel Castle, the Water Voles and down the lanes to the hedgerows. I enjoyed learning about the types of berries you introduced to us. I found it quite amazing to discover that some of those plants are as old as the castle – and I particularly like the way you used this fact to tie your introduction to the conclusion.

You have a good take on the theme – rather unique - and as usual your shots are of superb quality.

Your voice over was placid/relaxed and interesting to listen to but I did find the tone changed very little throughout the video. It sounds like you were reading your script while seated. It may help to stand or even just sit up straight while reading to vary the intonation.

Well done Mick - especially as you had so little time in which to do this.

Re: Autumn Colours
 

Hi Marj, thank you for you for your well considered comments and critique, I very much appreciate them. You are quite right I was sitting down when recording the narration, I will stand and deliver next time lol! It's tips like these that I value and an important part of these challenges.Scripting and narration is definitely an area of improvement for me. Mick