Im New... Be gentle with me... Just kidding
 

Hi All, came across the UWOL Challenge from the wildeye newsletter, and unfortunately missed out on UWOL #2 by a day... Bummer.

Looking forward to #3 and just wanted to introduce myself. Have had a look at some of the projects from challenge 1 & 2 and i must say theres some fantastic efforts and looks like im gonna have my work cut out to meet your standards....

Im located in Melb Australia where we have just come out of a very hot dry summer. Looking forward to any help and tips from you seasoned pros and the next Challenge.

Dave.

Welcome, you'll find yourself pretty involved on your first UWOL. What sort of gear are you sporting mate?

Gday Marco. got a Sony pd170 & Sony Trv16 for underwater shots.

Very nice. Sony VX2100 and Sony A1U over this side of the globe. Most of the last competitors in UWOL#2 had comparable gear to ours, some MUCH higher end like Per Johan. We are all at different levels as well. UWOL#2 was my first ever competition. I didn't do so well, but that's part of the fun and excitement -you get to try again next time, only do better. Let any of us know if you have questions, we're glad to help out.

Hey Dave. I've been doing these challenges about a year, and do them more for the kick and the experience, than anything else. I shoot VX2000 on some of them, and the FX1 on others. You'll do fine.

Welcome Dave to both UWOL and dvinfo,

They both been a great resource for me. As far as the challenge goes, It's just about enjoying the process.

Look forward to hearing and seeing more from you.

Welcome fella.....hey could we see our first 'under water' sequence for UC3 :)

Dave, welcome to dvinfo. You are in for a lot of fun and a lot of learning. This is a great site with members all over the globe. Looking forward to seeing your stuff from downunder. Bob

Dave, welcome to dvinfo and UWOL.
Looking forward to see you in #3. The UWOL2 was the first time for me, and it was really fun. A great learning experience.

The best part: You get in touch with several others with the same interests.

Thanks all for the welcome. Yes im looking forward to UWOL #3 and hopefully will have some underwater footage for you Mat.

Now from what i can understand all footage must be shot during the challenge period.... would i be able to use some of my library footage?.. especially the underwater stuff as some subjects are very unique and hard to find at certain times of the year (like weedy sea dragons) and they are such magnificent creatures would be a shame to omit them if the challege would call for them.

Thanks
Dave.

From the UWOL Challenge rules:
http://www.uwolchallenge.com/contestrules.htm
"3. All material must be original and shot for the purpose of being judged in this contest."

This means you can not use any footage you have used before.

Welcome Dave! You won't be let down by the fun, experience and these co-challengers who know what they are doing and have fun and wonderful feedback.

QUESTION TO ALL WHO READ THIS! UWOL 2 was my first challenge with "Extreme What?" I was one of the few who shot film with an old SD cam corder (Sony DCR-TRV140 NTSC), and am interested in upgrading to HD. Does anyone have a suggestion for a "serious" beginner who's looking for a good all-around HD camera in the $1000.00 or less price range? Your suggestions are much appreciated. One can get lost in the tech talk and specs.

As far as UWOL 3, I'm all for underwater. Thousands of miles from any ocean, the imagination starts to kick in a bit.

Cat Russell
Spike Productions

Cat,

Careful with HD(V). We sometimes say HD is an acronym for high debt. The cam cost is really just the beginning. You will almost certainly need to upgrade your NLE system to edit HDV. Then you will start thinking about how it would be great to have an HD field monitor. And so on...

Currently all of what I do is downconverted to SD at some point. By the time we can affordably deliver an HD product from our HD cams, there will likely be a new batch of cams available. I'd look for a good used 3-chip SD version for now.

Personally, I think some people over-rate the cameras and under-rate the other significant production values; good audio, smooth steady pans/tilts, dolly/jib work, good rack focussing, lighting, etc.

An example of this was a show one of our members shot recently in Africa that was picked up by Animal Planet. The show was shot with a Canon XL1s, but the other production values (most notably-excellent post production and VFX), sold the show.

However, all that being said, I have heard good things about the Canon HV10 and better things about the Canon HV20.

Welcome Dave.
Uwol is a pretty good challenge to be a part of.
It's educating, and making us move our skill's a little bit further.
AND, we're making friends around the world :)
Looking forward to see your videos in this challenge.

Thank you Ken:

I am in no hurry here to jump into expensive endeavors beyond my scope of experience to understand what I am getting into. This is very good advice. Perhaps a savvy approach would be to use the UWOL challenges to shoot in SD and with a rented HD camera to learn the differences between the two of them in both on-site shooting and in post processing. If I'm really fortunate, I might be able to rent a Canon HV20 to get the feel for it. I look forward to more of your insights when you have the time for them. And thanks for the warning. How terrible it would be to find out that after the expensive investment of an HD(V) camera, I don't have the hardware capability to process this level of information!

Sincerely,

Cat Russell
Spike Productins