uwol 36 "A Blustery Day and More"
 

It has been 11 challenges sence I last participated, Boy am I out of practice!!!

I had fun making it even though my original theme did not come to pass.

Shot with a sony fx 1000 and my xlh1 with the 100 to 400 mm zoom, shot mostly on the far end.

I shot hours of useless footage with the big lens, the wind was just to much.
Even the foggy morning was windy.

Music: the arteritis in my hads was so bad I could not put a piece together that was good enough to use, so I went to the canned music.

It truly was the biggest challenge sense the mildly sadistic meryem posted the night theme.

It was a BLAST.

Re: uwol 36 "A Blustery Day and More"
 

Hi Dale:

Welcome back! It's been a long time for me too and I'm thrilled you have submitted this time. And LOL, that darn night theme sunk just about everyone ;-).

Great video! That was a really clever and creative way to begin and it vividly contrasted the cozy indoor elements to what was going on outside. The wind footage almost made me laugh it looked so terrible to be in. How did you film in that and keep the camera as still as you did?

The wildlife footage were also gems. I've never seen water fowl (did you call them Shovelers?) keeping their heads low against the gail and the flocks in the mist was first rate filming.

I also agree with you the blessing of it all is to actually capture snowy owls in the wild.

What an enjoyable video that was most certainly on theme. Kudos to you for getting out and filming in the elements you had to contend with. I apologize in advance for seeing the humor in that :).

For me, it would have helped if your voice over was just a bit louder than the music and ambient audio, to bring out your story without having to work at hearing what you are saying.

Cheers Dale! It's so nice to connect up again. Are you still Falcon-ing these days?

Re: uwol 36 "A Blustery Day and More"
 

Great to see you're back Dale!!

I really liked this film.

So many people are blue sky filmmakers and wouldn't even bother to go out on far less blustery days.
A Nat Geo editor told a friend of mine once that the sun doesn't always shine in nature.

Did you color grade this film? It has a sort of rustic look to it which I think works perfectly. If you did grade it, hats off to you. If not, hats off to nature. :)

I'm not sure if a lot of people know how difficult it is to shoot in winds like that. Even the protection of a vehicle doesn't work as the wind causes the vehicle to rock back and forth. That was certainly some intense wind!!

Loved the snowies! You are so lucky to have the opportunity to film them!

Yeah the audio in your intro was a bit soft but I still could hear what you were saying.

There's a guy on YouTube that starts every one of his videos by taking a drink from a wine glass. Different wines every video.
I think maybe we should see more of coffee drinking Dale or whatever was in your cup that morning. :)

Welcome back, and thanks for giving me something to prompt be to get out and film when I think it may be too windy! :)

Re: uwol 36 "A Blustery Day and More"
 

Wow Dale,
That doesn't look like you're out of practice at all. How on earth you managed to get any useable footage in that weather is beyond me!! Not only did you manage to capture footage of some extremely strong winds, but you did it very well indeed. I loved the sounds of the wind you had throughout the film. They were very well done, & added to the piece immensely.
The snowy owls are absolutely stunning, i would love to see them one day. I think they are far less common out west here though, so i may be waiting a while.
Like Kevin, i thought your intro scene was really great, & when you looked out the window, i have to say, i was wondering if you were really going to go outside at all. That was some very nasty looking weather indeed! A calm blue sky day can be very beautiful, but nature can be nasty sometimes, & when the weather is like it was in your film, i think most of us just stay indoors. It's nice to see this though in the comfort of our homes, so thank you Dale for braving that weather for us!
I'm sorry to hear your arthritis was so bad you weren't able to put some music together for this one. With the quality of the sounds of the storm you had, i think you may have even been able to do without the music & that may have really brought the feeling home of how harsh the conditions were out there!
Regards,
Bryce

Re: uwol 36 "A Blustery Day and More"
 

Hi Dale,
Welcome back, my friend! You have been missed.

Tough weather you had there. I felt right at home.
In Premiere Pro there is a "warp stabilizer" effect that helps with shaky/ windy footage. Not sure which software you use for editing, but the others most likely have something similar.

Maybe increase the audio volume a little bit? It was a bit low, but still very clear, so it was easy to understand what you said.



(By the way, my middle name is crazy, so Meryem's mildly sadistic night theme might show up again someday, hahaha.)

Re: uwol 36 "A Blustery Day and More"
 

It looks like you got all the bad weather we are not having. What a trial! The footage reflected the adverse conditions under which you filmed, with all that wind. I liked the cautiously optimistic opening piece to camera, that was immediately quashed by the reality of the weather outside. A great effort under tough conditions.

Re: uwol 36 "A Blustery Day and More"
 

Dale likewise good to see you back. I'm glad I'm not the only one with wind! The snowy owls where the best. Don't get to see them around here a lot and never this early in the fall. I know how challenging it can be to shoot in that kind of weather so I think you can be proud of what you put together. I think your VO could be a little louder, for me anyway.
Thanks for a look at your neck of the woods. Take care.

Gordon

Re: uwol 36 "A Blustery Day and More"
 

Dale,

I like the way you started the video inside, the ducks Shovelers are also once we see here in winters they have already arrived.
i love the shot of the deer and the background being the wild water .

Interesting video all over

Re: uwol 36 "A Blustery Day and More"
 

Good Morning,

thank you everyone for the kind comments

I always admire fine footage even if it is on a lovely day which is about 95% of what one sees.

I have always understood that it is not disneyland out there and that one actually does a bit of a disservice to recording nature by always making it look kind and gentle. For the most part nature is rough, harsh and a tad cruel on everything. Even a mountain can't survive nor a river run straight.

In quite a few of my videos I always try to portray that (foraging animals, a little help for my friends, etc.)

O f course it is always easier to shoot the nice stuff and I am constantly telling myself to concentrate more on that. But, alas being out in the harsh stuff calls to me.

Sometimes I block the wind with the truck, set up the tripod very low behind a wheel, but a blimp around my shotgun mic and lock in my vinten 6 tripod head as hard as possible with the least telephoto I can get away with. I usually shoot twice, once with image stabiliztion on and once with it off. I always prefer having it off if I can.

Re: uwol 36 "A Blustery Day and More"
 

Dale, I though it was very well done - I would have done a bit better lighting on your intro, but I loved the homely way it introduced us to your film. My only other comment was on the sound balance - with the music.
The foggy shots of the owls were brilliant - a nice story, well told!

Re: uwol 36 "A Blustery Day and More"
 

Hey Dale and welcome back, good to see you.

I have to say at once: This is not fair - you got Snowy Owls.
I think it is first time we see them in Uwol. Am I right on this one?
Your film sure make me feel the cold wind blow and for a minute it looked just like home.
The difference is that you have fresh water and I have salt water.
I'm not sure I can add much more then allready said.
I wish you all well and hope to see you next round too.
Thank you for sharing.

Re: uwol 36 "A Blustery Day and More"
 

Dale, its been a long time for me also. Loved the intro of you sitting there having coffee (?). Then going from that peaceful cabin in the woods setting to the madly blowing winds. Great shots of the snow owls. I would love to be able to video them. Those were great shots of the deer. I concur with kicking the volume on the VO up just a bit. I would hate to have to try to "Harness that Wind". Isn't it fun to be back? Bob

Re: uwol 36 "A Blustery Day and More"
 

Great to have you back Dale

I think we can all relate to this video. Nature can be fierce, and there are days we'd rather not be outside capturing it. I admit I wasn't too inspired on the foggy days to venture out and get footage.

Great to get the owls, and animals responding to the harsh conditions really helped tell the story. While many images didn't have lots of contrast (you don't have to worry about dynamic range at least) they were dynamic with respect to motion to say the least. Looked like a challenge to keep the camera steady.

Thanks for sharing the 'less glamorous' side of making these films. Those days have their own character, and might just tell a different story.