Tales of wonders and woes - UWOL33

[Mike Sims]

I just want to add a comment (and I hope it won’t turn out to be controversial- I’m not trawling here) about some things which were said earlier concerning what I would call “nature music videos”. In general, I don’t care much for them. I find myself trying to watch quite a few of them (both on dvinfo and elsewhere) and, even if they are quite short, it seems that I rarely make it all the way to the end. When I do it is often because I have turned the audio off and am just trying to analyze composition and exposure etc. Many people seem to feel that this type of video requires no sort of story whatsoever. I disagree. It is entirely possible to tell a story- and a very good one- with no words at all! There is a good deal written about nonverbal storytelling. Some people are quite good at it. I am not; I strongly feel, however, that this type of video not only needs to have a story it needs to have an exceptionally strong one to keep my interest.

I am not saying that if you enjoy making this type of video- without any type of story- that you should stop making them. Not at all. It is quite obvious that many- many people do enjoy watching them. [One of my friends and his wife get up an hour-and-a-half early each day to sit and drink coffee while watching a certain program on their cable- I forget its name. The hour-long show consists of a single locked down shot, each day in a different picturesque location, with nothing but music and occasional canned birdsong. They love it. I get bored to tears in about a minute and start looking out the window.] The point I am hoping to make here is that I suspect that I am not alone in my opinion and that, if you are planning to make this type of video for the Challenge, perhaps you might want to take this into consideration.

I tried hard not to make this into a rant. I’m sure someone will kindly point out if I completely muffed that!

[Vishal Jadhav]

Mike,

I too feel that a good story is needed and yes i am still struggling to form one which will make the viewers follow the story that is intended and yes to draw a reaction.
Being so new to this film making i enjoyed making my first video i submitted here however in this round i wanted to make a story and have attempted it. Just finished putting it together some hours back its now with my friend to compose music as i feel for a story specific musical treatment is necessary, let us hope he would be able to compose the music for it.
With all this new world , music is my weakest quadrant .
Now trying to prepare for Plan B of my music, in case my friend is not able to do it in time.

i am struggling currently with decent export settings. as i am not convinced with the quality i am able to output.
Some days in hand still, now travelling again not to shoot for this one but just to find a project .

vishal

[Trond Saetre]

I can't remember any winning uwol film without a story. Maybe except for the very first challenges.
(Yes, I'm "guilty" of submitting music video style films myself in the past.)

[Mick Jenner]

I think what Mike is trying to say and is something I alluded to a while back that is making a captivating video/film relying on music alone is a very skilled art that is difficult to perfect.The pictures must reflect the mood of the music and be acuratly cut to the beat. You are in effect telling a story without words. Very skillful!

[Mike Sims]

Well, Mick got it in one. I’m trying to warn against falling into the trap of thinking that it is easy. I find it anything but so. I’m also trying to Challenge those thinking about doing this to try and take it to the next level.

Vishal- I think export settings are something we all struggle with every time. It can be very frustrating to see your precious footage at native resolution (and see it over and over again in editing) and then view it “degraded” by the compression. You know it should look better. One trick I have figured out is to follow the Vimeo compression guidelines for a 720p project but substitute the bandwidth recommendations for a 1080p project. Instead of 5Mb/s use 10Mb/s (they now even allow 20Mb/s). The resulting file will be much larger and take much longer to upload but it gives the Vimeo compression routine much more to work with. I think it looks better than just following the recommendations as stated for either a 720p project or a 1080p project. I urge those of you with your own Vimeo accounts to replicate my experiments and report back here whether you have similar results or not.

Trond- We are all guilty of that! :)

[Geir Inge]

Hope everyone is doing fine?
I (almost) always try to keep in mind our 4 min limit.
And it helps me to think in small terms, like there are 8 sequences each 0,5 min.
Tomorrow I wish for blue sky to get a glimpse og the solar eclipse. The weather forecast is not too promissing.
Bye for now.

[Trond Saetre]

I got the beginning and the end of my film. Now I just need everything in between, and a new idea for a good story.
The hard part: It will all have to be different locations and seasons.

Geir Inge, seems like we are hoping for the same. Trying to convince the weather gods that the forecasted rain and cloudy weather should be delayed.
Sun is supposed to be 93% blocked on mainland Norway.

[Marj Atkins]

Originally Posted by Mike Sims

Well, Mick got it in one. I’m trying to warn against falling into the trap of thinking that it [music video] is easy. I find it anything but so. I’m also trying to Challenge those thinking about doing this to try and take it to the next level.

Aw gee Mike - that's not nice - and to think I have a music video in the bag already. I have no tolerance for music videos either but I do have such pretty images . . . . and I always talk too much . . . so just for once . . . maybe . . .

Actually I would far rather see a music video here than no video at all!! I know it can be equally hard to do a narration especially for new-comers, besides we have had some beautiful music videos here.

Mmmm . . . I smell a challenge here.

[Mike Sims]

My apologies, Marj. I am trying to be nice about this. Perhaps I should make this explicit statement. This is entirely my own opinion and I fully recognize and support the fact that everyone is entitled to have and express their own opinions to the contrary. I also would rather see a music based video posted rather than no video. I do recognize that some music videos are exceptionally good. I think my own problem with them (with regards to the UWOL Challenge specifically) stems directly from the great amount of pride I have felt in what I perceived to be a fact- that the quality of the UC videos has been steadily improving over time. A sudden flurry of interest in music videos (which were much more common here in the past) in some ways feels to me like moving backwards. Obviously, I need to stop worrying about a “problem” that hasn’t actually presented itself yet and may never do so.

A challenge, hmmm? Perhaps I should challenge myself to make a music video…

[Marj Atkins]

HaHa - Now that is what I like to hear! You're on Mike (and Kevin!) and anyone else considering dropping out - a music video is your challenge! :)

[Marj Atkins]

Oops - nearly forgot Mike - better get yourself out of the shark tank fast before those sharks make a meal of you!

[Geir Inge]

Woke up to cloudy sky and it means I'm not able to shoot the solar eclipse.
It's taking place right now and will be about 94% at my place and 100% on Svalbard, around 11 am.
The weather forecast say it will be shiny weather from 3 pm, but that's a little bit too late :(
Parts of Europe are being treated with two another celestial events this Friday: a supermoon and the spring equinox, when night and day are of equal duration.
Maybe I'm lucky to shoot the super moon tonight?

I have a question to you folks and Trond:
As for now, I'm taking pictures from national TV (NRK) which has direct transfer from Svalbard and the eclipse. Is it possible for me to use a picture that I take of this TV event?

[Marj Atkins]

Unfortunately not Geir. You will have to get permission from the owner of that footage.

Going back to the music video discussion - one of the problems noted by Mick is that the shots need to be lined up very accurately with the beat of the music.

Now even if you are not doing a music video per se, here is one way to do it: Drop your music into your timeline; add a marker to the first beat of each bar of the music as it plays by tapping on the asterisk key. (Your 'marker' shortcut key may be different for your NLE but just do a search for it. I work in Premiere Pro.)

This is a simple and accurate method (if you can keep time) albeit a bit tedious to tap to the beat of the music for three or four minutes.

Now adjust your shots so the beginning of each is on one of the markers.

[Geir Inge]

Originally Posted by Marj Atkins

Unfortunately not Geir. You will have to get permission from the owner of that footage.....

Perhaps I should have clarified the issue a bit.
I am aware of how copyright works and if I use another person's property, it is my duty to ensure lawful use.
My concern does not apply to copyright, but rather the rules of Uwol.
I mean to use a photo, or clip from TV, to convey something in a larger context.
This will also be an indoor photo.

Ok then, this time I have had to change my plans and script several times.
Hope you all have your hands full and doing fine with your respective Uwol33 projects?

[Vishal Jadhav]

Export Settings

This is interesting , i really went up and down the forum and searched answers to HD export settings from around 2009 onwards and it seems the question is right, what are best export settings from Premiere Pro/ CC/ FCP. However the answers to this are as ambiguous as anything i have ever seen. Guess this is part they teach at film school and tell the students , if you share this we will cancel your degree.

Not sure why this is so, i do understand this. It may just be that everyone would be finding their own best settings and then keeping it to their heart.

Believe me this is same all over on the Net too not restricted to this site.

i find it very interesting.

vishal