TRANSFORMATION, bah! i should have just stuck the camera in the window and been done with it.

we've had transformation all right. the past 4 days here: 1) snow, 2) sunshine and 50+ degrees, 3) rain, and 4) snow today. every day is a transformation. i can't get any consistent footage, in order to transform anything.

TRANSFORMATION, bah! i should have just stuck the camera in the window and been done with it.

we've had transformation all right. the past 4 days here: 1) snow, 2) sunshine and 50+ degrees, 3) rain, and 4) snow today. every day is a transformation. i can't get any consistent footage, in order to transform anything.

Well, there you go!
It's not easy these challenges of yours :)
Don't worry though, I think we do share the same type of weather.

I have been out 3 times trying to get something on tape.
Hiking the mountains for several hours 3 days in a row, but I'm not sure about the clips. Well, one of them I like very much though it was more like out of pure luck.
You can't predict nor direct mother nature, so when it comes out ( even by luck) with something you're satisfied with, it feels just great.
I also have my new camera (hv30) not as challenging as your Red, Meryem, but still... Also got myself a set of wireless mic which I'm testing out.

Something I want to mention is when you are out doors 3 days in a row, and you do not wear the same clothes each day, it some how comes out wrong in the film.
I have to remember that next time :) Also walking in and out of frame must be right. Don't know how many times I've done the same mistake on this one, hehe.

I will do my last shooting this weekend and then do my editing.

Plan? What plan...? I don't know about these things, I'm just shooting and do wish it will transform into something nice and watchable wildlife.

Hope every one is doing fine and are making some nice uwol films.

Geir Inge

when you are out doors 3 days in a row, and you do not wear the same clothes each day, it some how comes out wrong in the film.


that's funny...wonder if there is a way to work the magically changing clothes into the theme.

that's funny...wonder if there is a way to work the magically changing clothes into the theme.

I kind of like that idea! Giers Magic Transforming Wardrobe Movie! I'm not so sure the title has such a great ring to it, but I'd bet that Gier could work some magic on that as well. :)

It sounds like you guys are getting things done...me I'm still in Winnipeg headed home tomorrow weather permitting. While here in the city I picked up a
HV 30...needed something to grab and run rather than have to pack the XL2 on every occasion. I may follow your lead Geir and shoot this challenge with it but I'll see when I get home how the weather is also picked up a copy of Premier Elements 4 again something to do down and dirty work with rather than always using Premier Pro.

Looking forward to getting home and getting things done....

Brian

Something I want to mention is when you are out doors 3 days in a row, and you do not wear the same clothes each day, it some how comes out wrong in the film.
I have to remember that next time :) Also walking in and out of frame must be right.

Geir Inge

Geir, you're going about it all wrong.

You wear the same clothes all 3 days, then on the 4th day they can walk in and out of the frame by themselves.

Bruce (ever the smart a.. um aleck)

hehe, that would have been something Bruce.
But I don't think the 3 Ladies in the house will approve, just imagine the smell :/

Geir Inge

ok, i'm shutting down this boys' locker room! new topic!

Do I have to surrender my shirt if I don't make it this time ??????

Well cold weather, rain and possible snow returned this weekend...
Hopefully a can make something with the little I shot last weekend...

Deadlines....I hate 'em ;)

Snow and rain here. Coupled with brown muddy landscapes doesn't make for a very photogenic setting. :)

well, I'm done

footage, narration, music all in the bag

that gives me a week to ...
reshoot the crap footage
redo the crap voiceover
and pull a rabbit out of the hat to make it into something reasonable

Have begun to edit my video today. Done the rough cut so far.
Seems like I have at least something useful, but I have already found some things I should have done different to make it much better.
Hopefully I can finish edit this weekend.

GOOD LUCK everyone!

It's today or nothing for me. Woke up to a bright sunny but cool morning the snow machines are ready, batteries are charged so we'll head out shortly. I have the shots mapped in my head now if I can just get them on tape into the computer and out the other end looking anything like I have things pictured I'll be a happy camper.

The reason I say today or nothing is the forecast shows snow and rain...yep rain right through until next week. This time of year rain means freezing rain layer after layer of it.

Wish me luck......I'll let you all know later today if I'm in the game or in the tank.

Brian

PS: Geir I've decided to go with the HV 30...like I need the added pressure.
B.

Wish me luck......I'll let you all know later today if I'm in the game or in the tank.
Good luck, Brian! Hope you get the shots you want.

PS: Geir I've decided to go with the HV 30...like I need the added pressure.
B.

Well, I baught my HV30 because I needed a smaller camera (not so heavy) on my mountain tours. The HV30 is OK, I've used it for 4 days now.
In my uwol8 film I will use film taken with both H1 and HV30. Still I have some more scenes to shoot before I can say I'm finished.
Wish you good luck Brian and hope the weather is on your side.

Geir Inge

Like many of you, the weather is not doing my project any favors either. All of my critical shots are depenant on nice weather and my ability to get on location. The odds of that happening are not looking good at this point in the game.

I have thought about changing my topic, yet again (I'm on plan D now). This weekend would've been my opportunity to get my critical shots, if I can't get them then it looks like I may be out of this round. Bummer....

Well mine is in the can, I decided to keep it rather simple. Most of my ideas had to be scrapped due to the 3 week time span of the project.

Transformation takes too long!

(four Letter word) followed by (four letter word) followed by (four letter word) if anyone needs macro footage of a single piece of fur stuck to a damn lens just drop me a line and I'll send you the (four letter word) footage.

We packed up and headed out to the same area we used for the water theme...great drive not to cold, bright sun absolutely wonderful. Minor problem the LCD screen on the HV 30 is useless in bright sun but hey we have the eye piece that will work. I shot a ton of footage..enough good stuff I thought to get three minutes worth....NOT. A damn hair on the lens....my parks has fur around the hood which is great for keeping my face from freezing but not worth a damn when a piece ends up on the camera lens.

Time for plan B or it's in the tank for little old Brian.

"For sale Green Parka complete with Fur Hood Trim" See attached photo for details.

No Reasonable Offer Refused.....Okay take the darn thing you can have it.

We packed up and headed out to the same area we used for the water theme.


boy that looks cold - it must have taken you hours to find those rocks and stack them up like that :-)

Time for plan B or it's in the tank for little old Brian.
It's so sad when you have had a great day out in the wild, shooting all the footage you need, and then it's all ruined by one single fur.
Hope you can come up with a plan B, Brian. Don't give up yet.

Good weather two days in a row, unheard of this time of year but it did happen. It was much colder but still nice and bright. I took the XL2 a heavy tripod a snack and we headed out to an area where I have never filmed before actually it's an area that we normally just pass through never taking the time to look around. I got some good footage so I THINK I'm safe from the tank....said with fingers crossed.

Anyway the parka is no longer for sale but I did come across a northern three bedroom condo that's going cheap. If your interested drop me a line within the next two months after that well lets say I will have a wet spot to sell.

Brian

Transformation. Thought about it enough by now that if I'd just aimed the camera at myself from the introduction of this idea, my video would be done already. Theme seems easy enough. Go shoot a caterpillar or something. Not a UWOLer though, we've got to think outside the box. Pains in the a$$es. Headed out early this morning in typical UWOL fasion - always turning left where I'd normally turn right. Eventually I came upon a state park situated around a sunken ship made of concrete - once again, less than an hour from home - never even knew it was there. "Alright I'm game" I thought. Did some research, built a story, worked it all out in my pea brain, then headed out to find the ship.

It was over 100 years ago that some Norwegian guy had a bug up his kazoo to build a ship out of cement. Interesting idea. Mind you, I said "interesting" not "good." When steel went scarce his odd idea found a place, kind of. By 1920 over a dozen concrete ships were under construction. One, named the Palo Alto, was finished over in Oakland - where it sat for nearly 20 years. It cost 1.5 million dollars to build the Palo Alto (do the math on THAT one - 1910?). Finally some carnival company purchased it for probably seventeen dollars and towed it out to sea on what would not only be it's maiden voyage, but also it's final voyage. They sank it just off shore a few miles south of SantaCruz, then turned it into a restaurant/night club complete with a ballroom. That idea went bust as well, after only two moderately successful seasons. A few years later the ocean blue had it's filthy way with the Palo Alto's hull, and cracked it in two.

Today the Palo Alto exists in just about all the glory it's ever known. It's still by the shore, it's still aimed out to a sea it will never know, and it's still being pounded by the ocean blue. Only now it's not as much a ship as it is a wonderland for sea life.

And that was my story of transformation - concrete turned into a ship, then a ship turned into an aquarium - with lots of fish and bird poop worked in between. Only one problem, they built a chain link fence across the stern some years ago and now you can't get up on it. Not even to film...

Five days left, no plan B yet.

I dove a wreck/ship like yours. This was in the Baltic Sea (where else?), and the ship hade a similar story too. It was built but never sailed, it sat in the harbour for years until someone came up with this Idea (I think it was a restaurant idea too) and started to tau the ship around Sweden from the east to west. A few days in to the slowly trip they got hit by a storm and they hade to cut the line to the concrete hull (‘cause it was not a ship…) and it sunk to the bottom in a second. Now it’s a popular dive site and a nice wreck to dive…
Thank for the story Eric, I hope you get a plan B (or se if you can continue on plan A).

Cheers from Sweden

I almost have all the shots I need and I also started editing. I got some good shots on Saturday the 5th when the weather was great. This past weekend was no good (rain mixed with some snow), but today and tomorrow is supposed to be fantastic.

Oliver

This reminds me of the first time I had to do a presentation in front of a room full of people. I started off thinking I'd never fill three minutes, and now I'm at the editing stage I'm wondering how I'm going to squeeze it down to the regulation length!

Great fun... I don't know how my finished film will go down with the masses, but I sure had fun making it. I've got to practice my best narration voice now, there's only so long I can put that off!

Almost finished my uwol8 video.
I'm not sure how to end it though.
Tomorrow or coming weekend I will try to make one last trip, maybe I'll manage to capture some nice scenes. The weather forecast look promising.
Never struggled so much with an uwol topic before and it's strange how "luck" can be a big part of ones production, when it comes to wildlife videoing. Also trying to get my new wireless mic to work, but I think it's making too much noice when I'm walking aorund, talking/narrating. Any suggestion?

Geir Inge

Boy did I blow a great opportunity. At the start of the competition all the snow had melted. Then we had storm come through that dropped 14" inches on us. After 3 days it's gone again. Would have been perfect for transformation. I definitely dropped the ball on this one.

Egads!!! The upload instructions arrived.....

I better get to editing my meager supply of clips I shot....

I just bought a new tripod, hope it will be better than the last one.
Now I can start shooting.
When did you say is the deadline?
Oh boy, tomorrow morning I have the kids and my parents are coming this Saturday for 2 weeks.
Guess I have to shoot everything tomorrow afternoon.

Doing some final changes to the editing, and then I'm done with mine.
But if I know myself correct, I'm sure I'll find more (minor) changes to make as the deadline approaches.

Jeremy, too bad you missed that snowfall. It would have been a great video.
Hope you had a plan B too.

Good evening,

Great to see everyone wrapping their videos up, particularly Brian!!

We are to have up to 12 inches of snow hit from saturday to tuesday, UGGggggg!!

Here is a shot of me getting the closing shot for my video. the second shot may not make it in, running out of time!!! 3 minutes isn't long!!

Struggling getting one shot on my shot list, most years could get it in the field beside my house, this year its been to cool and windy for the to emerge!!!
Hope to have a wrap on this tomarrow!!

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE THE REMAINING DAYS!!!

Dale,

At least you have a camera big enough to show up in a picture with you, seems mine have been shrinking and shrinking. My new Canon is so small I'm almost ashamed to put it on a tripod.

(Ever had your tripod snicker at you?)

Well, folks. I almost wound up in the tank this time. 2 short notice defensive handgun classes to teach, a class I had to attend, and family stuff all at once. And every idea I came up with called for at least one actor and I couldn't get anyone interested so...Until yesterday, NOTHING!

Then the other day the Canon HF100 I ordered came in and yesterday I decided to go out and shoot something, ANYTHING (as long as it didn't go bang!) and over two days I got footage that kind of works.

I still have to smooth it a bit and add titles so I should be uploading sometime tomorrow.

The HF100 is TINY! I went from a Sony Digital8 that was about as big as a small brick, to a Panasonic PV GS500 that felt smallish and then the HV20 which I though was really small. And now this.

You don't put accessories on it, you put IT on a hood, or filter, or whatever. But the footage looks really good. It works.

I hope you get your shots Dale - what you have there looks really intriguing - can't wait to see your video.

My video was finished and ready to upload on Wednesday but yesterday there was a sudden rush of activity - all sorts of surprising things happened - things that I had been hoping for, but that just hadn't materialised. My day was completely re-arranged - once again.

Today I will be adding a couple of clips to round off my story. What an amazing experience this has been.

Well marj I have to say I'm looking forward to your secretive goings on. I can't wait to see what your up to.....!

Me....well its looking like I'm shark food for the second time :-(

Sad to hear about the tank, Mat.
I'm always looking forward to your films.
And to you Bruce and your HF100.
Remember; It's not the size that matters :)
Baught myself a Canon HV30 and I love it. Much because of the size as I'm hiking a lot and it's easy to carry along.

Hope to get my last shot this weekend, if not, I'll just upload what I've got, but I'm struggling a bit with this one. I've been walking a lot to make this uwol film, so yesterday I had to buy myself a new pair of hiking shoes.

Cant wait to see everyones film.

Geir Inge

Me....well its looking like I'm shark food for the second time :-(
You still have a couple of days left, Mat!
Hope you can find anything to get on tape. The sharks got too much company last round... :)

Good luck to everyone!

I'm hoping to beat the deadline. I don't fancy a dip with the sharks on my first attempt! Editing to be complete today, including narration, then I have all day Sunday to fiddle with it. The day job hasn't been kind to me lately, and finding spare time to work on the project has been difficult.

At least I have a mouse that works now. It wasn't much fun trying to drive Premiere Elements using the keyboard!

Lessons learnt so far? Well, apart from trying to climb into the wardrobe to do narration, it was the death knell for my Libec 950DV tripod. I thought I was being clever because it was lightweight, but it almost collapsed a few times, and some shots were wobblier than I'd have liked. The Pro-6 (aka 503HDV) was more useful, and I mounted it on a set of Libec LS37 legs with a mid spreader for off-road shooting. But the bits didn't arrive in time for my first weekend, and I had to bin a lot of potentially good telephoto work. Ah well.

I hope everyone's had fun this time round. I don't think I have even an outside chance of winning, but this has certainly given me the excuse to get out and about and do something!

...this has certainly given me the excuse to get out and about and do something!
And that is what this challenge is all about. To get out, have some great moments, learn new things, and especially to have the magic word FUN! (rule #11)

Well, I have about three seconds of footage so far. Today is do or die day.
I have about three hours to go to as many different towns to get some shots for an idea I came up with last night.
The weather is crummy so everything is going to look flat.

So, do I run around like an idiot for three hours and put up a crummy entry or do I do my usual and take a swim since I know I'm not going to get my cotton candy film like I like?

So, do I run around like an idiot for three hours and put up a crummy entry or do I do my usual and take a swim since I know I'm not going to get my cotton candy film like I like?
No more swimming, Kevin! We need your entries too.
Hurry out and see what you can get. I'm sure there must be something you can find.

Woohoooo I’m finished…

I shot the last pictures this morning and finished the editing 30 minutes ago, and now it’s uploaded. This round has been really fun. I have definitely gone outside the box and entered a new area for me, yes that’s right folk… a non UW film, even with out any water in.
I can’t wait until the deadline and we can watch all the films… weiiiii like a kid :)

Cheers from Sweden

Well i've just got back from a days shooting. It was the first chance i've had to get out since this challenge started, so i must say i was happy to finally start something. It's now almost 2am & i've finished digitizing the footage from today & done a rough edit, but it looks like i will be heading out again tomorrow to get the rest of the shots i will need to finish my entry. Looks like it's going to be a long day tomorrow!
Hope everyone else is going well with their entries.

Bryce

Well, I just got back from shooting caterpillars and butterflies at Epcot. I have no idea if my focusing was sufficient to the task, but it is an absolutely beautiful day. Abundant sunshine with the current temperature at 75 degrees on the way up to 84 degrees or so.

I know the topic is probably a bit trite considering the theme, but you know someone had to do it.

Oh well, time to capture and see how it all came out. Or maybe I'll head to the pool and edit tomorrow. No, first I check the footage to see if I need to go back tomorrow to try again. Then I head to the pool.

Repeat after me...
"Don't pan with OIS turned on. Don't pan with the OIS turned on. Don't pan with the OIS turned on."

Arrrrgggghhhhh!

Repeat after me...
"Don't pan with OIS turned on. Don't pan with the OIS turned on. Don't pan with the OIS turned on."

Yup, did that too! Something else for the virtual cutting room floor... argh.

Worst of all is my voiceover recording, I've just completed that. Never mind the cringeworthy aspect of having to hear your own voice - I'm pretty sure the great voiceover talent of Hollywood doesn't get cramps squatting on the floor of a small wardrobe reading their script by torchlight!

And I thought my hastily rigged VO "tent" collapsing on me a couple of times last UWOL challenge was the limit. Your description is just so funny :)

Hope you didnt get strangled by all those clothes - resulting in muffled sound in place of echoes!

It gets better. I need to re-record a couple of paragraphs and my torch battery is flat.

I wonder if I could start a small fire in there...?

I bought a Rode Podcaster and it only picks up my voice, not the background. No more closets for me.