Hi everyone:

This one was a blast and I can't wait to see what everyone else has come up with. Please forgive me in advance for not being able to resist just a snippet of my farm crew and the new birds we have.... but only a snippet I promise!

The lost opportunity to film the coyote was unfortunate, but I really don't mind because the other wonderful surprises I was able to capture made up for it.

If you simply want to be surprised at what wildlife made it into this clip DON'T read on from here. Just watch and enjoy!

The link to my movie is:

http://www.uwolchallenge.com/challenge9/41_UC9_onthewildside.mov

p.s. Hope to be filming in high def next round.


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For those of you curious about my experiences capturing these different critters read on.

The squirrel, pigeons, rabbit, swallow and hummingbirds are all wildlife co-existing with us at our home and so it was a safe bet to get some footage of these guys, although the squirrel turned out to be a fun surprise as to what he was doing.

Nothing short of a miracle and wonderful good fortune was the rattlesnake, zebra-swallow, frogs, lizard and honey bees. We had rain for two days and just by chance while walking the goats I stumbled onto the thunderous croaking of the frogs in a temporary rain-pond. I went back the next day to film it.... my hat is off to ANYONE who can capture these guys on film... I settled for the noise. A few days later, the pond was dried up and the frogs were gone. The rattlesnake was also a dream come true. My husband and I were on headed out on a wonderful goat hike and I had camera in hand. The rattlers were out but probability near zero to run up on one while holding a camera. I was just stating this to my husband about how incredible it would be to get a rattler for my UWOL 9 entry and wrote it off as dreaming when less than 10 minutes later I practically stepped on this guy! Ed steered the goats away and moved on and I was able to film happily to my heart's content. It's too bad the grass was in the way of getting a good look and it's eye (like Mat was so adept to capture beautifully), but I wasn't about to stick my hand out to rearrange it... they are deadly. This same walk brought us the wonderful surprise of the honey bees (I've never seen one in the wild before!) and the zebra-swallow butterfly and the lizard. So as you can see, it was nothing but good luck to stumble across all of these and I feel very, very blessed.

Thanks UWOL, for getting us out there to capture these fabulous glimpses of nature in it's everyday happening.

Sincerely,

Cat

Hi Cat,

I've got to express my initial thoughts after watching your entry was just how enjoyable and entertaining your film was to watch. I sort of got into the beat and just sat back and enjoyed three minutes watching wildlife I have never seen before - which I always enjoy.

Music selection suited the overall use of your effects really well, especially the text beating to the music and the whole concept of using the letters of the Wildlife theme. You really are a master of using effects and I think you used them perfectly here.

In term of the animals, I really enjoyed the variety of shots you captured, particularly the squirrel and the hummingbirds hovering there at the feeder. I think youv'e got some baby goats just round the corner after seeing mother goat struggling up the hill.

You may want to consider using a polarizing filter in some spots as there was a fair bit of glare at times (being extremely critical here).

Well done on an excellent entry Cat

Nice job Cat,
I always enjoy the use of text and graphics in your work. This time you've raised the bar. Keep it up.

Hi Catherine, this was another cool film from you.
I tried hard, but it was impossible to know which animals would come next until I saw it. Perfect!
As David also commented, you are the master of the effects. I have something to learn from you there. :)

One tiny detail: The shots of the birds "interacting" in the middle of the film was a little shaky. Maybe you could have zoomed a little more in on the hummingbirds?

Very well made!
Thank you for sharing.

Hi Cat, very cooool!. You surprise me every time with your fantasy and poetic imagination! The beat substantiated the scenes very well. Keep up your good work Cat!

Hi Cato,

I injoyed your film very much. I liked the interaction between the graphics, music, and images. You had quite the variety of animals. I learned something from you. Thanks.

Oliver

Hey Cat, great take on the theme once more!! It really adds to my feeling that you should be working towards kids programming - the innocence, colour and vibrancy of your work is the kind of stuff that will really inspire kids to get more excited about nature. Great fun, once again, thanks for bringing it to us.

Nice one! Cool idea… some nice shot you got there, I liked the shot on the hummingbird, some close ups on that one would have been nice.

Cat...wonderful of all the entries I've watched so far yours show's the use of Rule #11 the most. Great fun and excellent images.

Brian

Hello Cat

You must have allot of artist in your blod, allways some greait suprice
And you do it again.Facinating film Cat, loock forword to see your art-Work


VJV.


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Thanks everyone for the watch and comments. I so appreciate it!

Markus: Several people have commented on having the hummingbirds as more of a close up shot. In After Effects, you can take the same film footage and put it in 3D space. This allows you to "bring it closer" to the "camera" so that it becomes a much larger image without distorting it. It's a great capability! It makes me want to quickly redo the movie and do this, then upload the film again so that everyone will then comment on the Great closeup shots of the hummingbirds I have.... but that wouldn't be quite fair would it! ;-).

Rob: When I did this film, somehow I knew you would make this comment! I was thinking, *sigh* I'm attempting to do something creative and it's coming across childish... again! Oh well, the internet is universal... if you can get me a job doing nature clips for children that pays REALLY well, I'll consider it! ;-).

Thanks for the comments everyone!

Cat

Hey Cat, I'm glad I'm being consistent ;-) Seriously though, your stuff is continually unique, inventive, colourful and touching - the last thing I would call it is childish. Keep it up!

Wow, thank Rob. Coming from you with all of your talent is a real compliment (deserving or not!).

Oh, and David: I had to chuckle to myself about your comment about the baby goats up front and the mother goat struggling to get up the hill....

Well, to be honest, the struggling mother goat is Bob. Yes he's famous for his beer gut but we love him to death! There is not a person that meets him for the first time that doesn't think he's about to drop 3 or 4 babies. He's a boer breed which are meat goats. They are built like line backers and they have metabolisms to make them big. They normally don't live as long as he does, so he's stretched out... so it's not all flab. Everyone falls in love with him after they get to know him, and don't be deceived, he's stronger than a bull and has better stamina than the rest. I know, it's a shock. I was wondering when someone in UWOL would pick up on that!

Cato

Ah fun, fun, fun....this is one I've watched more than once. Showed it to a couple of people who also enjoyed it.

No technical feedback from me. Plenty of others, with more knowledge than I, to do that.

Again...fun, fun, fun...

Bob

Catherine.. not what I expected at all. This film has an original lively feel to it and is fun to watch. The viewer keeps watching, trying to anticipate your next description, and keeping the viewers attention is half the battle with these films, as I see it. Nice job.

Hi Cat
Your video's are always fun and upbeat. everyone in my family always ask to see your videos first,and I am always in trouble because I download them in order from the web site and it takes a day or three to get to yours.I still love your creativity and your style of getting the story across.Good work

What an upbeat entry.

I wish I had hummingbirds in my garden. They're probably my favourite bird family and seeing them buzzing around your feeder was lovely.

Keep up the good work.

Really super video Cat!

Your catchy tune and word art kept me riveted. I was waiting with baited breath to see what creative word you would come up with next and I was never disappointed.

Really enjoyable and entertaining - as we have come to expect from “The Screamin’ Baby Ranch”.

Although only a personal opinion - I think the family and friend hiatus in the middle should be taken out - your movie kind of loses the plot for one confusing moment.

Well done Cat.

Thanks for the comments everyone, I so appreciate them... complementary or critical, both types are needed.

John Dennis...thank you friend, I so look forward to your kind words and gentle spirit, not to mention the African world you bring me every other month!

Marj, Thank you for your comments! I'm thrilled the clip kept your interest up throughout... that's part of the battle. I'll remember your comments about the "family interlude" section next time I attempt a little humor. It was my modest attempt at a little joke, not getting wildlife to work well with the letter "F" with all these domestic animals... but unless you can pull it off really well so nobody is confused, it's best left out.

Thanks again everyone for the watch and the words.

Cat

Hi Cat,

Okay, fess up. Did you play that funky music for those pigeons before you started rolling tape? ;) They were groovin' pretty well there.

We're practically neighbors so it's not like I wasn't used to the animals I was viewing, but you found some unique shots that I really appreciated. The squirrel out on the end of the branch was my favorite. And I can't remember the last time I saw a hive like the one you found--I was probably a little kid.

Because they played throughout it would be wrong not to talk about your titles. I don't know how you do it! I had to watch the video several times, because I kept thinking, "Man, I couldn't do all that. How's she doing that???" You really have a command of your titling program that I envy.

One more thing, I liked the montage (or whatever that would be called) at the end. It fit well with your overall look and feel.

Thanks for the entertaining video, and for your always-encouraging comments, Cat!

Watched it first this this morning Cat. Nice way to start the day. Up-beat, and F U N. Probably a terrific piece for children too. Not sure if anyone brought this up or not, but I could see a room full of four year olds completely fascinated by this. Me? Well I AM a four year old so I was already captivated..

Cat,

Well, new as I am to UWOL, I know to expect something different from you.

I don't mean to be rude, but that would be a great piece for kids' TV - it was kind of funky. That's funky in the jazzy, disco, cool sense, not funky as in smelly! (Gotta be careful on international forums like this, words have multiple meanings in different countries!). Like Rob, I don't think this is a bad thing - the presentation style is fantastic, and kids are a very hard to please audience for this sort of thing.

The critters were great, and nicely shot - but the graphics were something special by UWOL standards, and fitted the whole theme really well.

Good critter shots throughout. And you've got your own hummingbirds on the farm - you lucky ducky! I would love to have seen them a bit closer up though.

And you have a husband who takes you out on a goat hike? If I was a woman, that's the sort of man I would marry!

Really cool video. Well done!

Hi guys:

Lorinda! I never saw the pigeons in that way before, but after you mentioned them grooving to the beat, I watched it again and... they were! That's hysterical! I didn't notice! And it's my own film :). Guess that answers your question about the music selection being for the pigeons or not.

And Mike and Eric, thanks for the comments. Many people are saying this stuff should be for kids, I'm getting that comment more and more frequently! I guess if you ever run across someone who's looking for these kind of films and has lots of funding, send them my way ;-).

Oh, and Mike... your comment about my husband taking me on a goat hike cracked me up! We walk our goats daily and since I work from the house I field them every week day and then my husband joins in with me on the weekends. But your right... husbands that put up with goat hiking are fun husbands to have!

Thanks for the watch, and the words.

Cat

What a wonderfully whimsical film you made here Cat. I loved the dancing text it, was catchy but not overdone which is so easy to have problems with. I agree with Rob, in that this played to the "child" within me, don't take that in a bad way the time flew by when I was watching it. I wanted to see more!

Great short film you have here.

Cat the creative strikes again!

Nice format Cat and an interesting choice of life. That rattler shot was great. I got to a couple of feet away from my Adders but I have to say I wouldn't have done that with a Rattlesnake....great stuff! I am so jealous of having hummingbirds in your back garden....that would be the coolest thing ever to while a away the hours.

I don't think you needed the ....'and what does it spell' bit, that for me really focussed it on a film for kids, which I do think this would great for. Maybe you should send the local primary school a quick email and they can introduce it to there classes !

Anyway, great work and as always you bring a fresh direction to our uwol world :-)

Mat

Cat, your short would be a great education slot to show young children although the rattler may make their eyes closed, nice creative graphics and music to match.

Congratulations being one of the finalist.

Well, in addition to the pigeons grooving, I also saw the squirrel tail moving in rhythm to the beat, and the rattlesnake rattling fit in with the tempo, so the animals had a lot going on! The way you had the music and graphics pulsing together was effective- and amazing. A really fun film.

I think it could be used for kids- and they are a tough audience, so you should view that as a compliment. But it's good for all ages. The whimsy isn't just for kids- at least it shouldn't be.

As you note, and I find too, the UWOL gets us out and really searching, and sometimes we find things we otherwise wouldn't see. I get out to shoot video most days, but during the UWOL challenge I really push myself, going to places I don't usually go, and looking just a bit harder. That extra effort seems to pay off for all of us, and in this film your comments on seeing things you rarely or never saw before highlights this as a big UWOL plus!

I am always entertained by your films, and this one was great. I have a major focus on audio, so the way you played the sound off the graphics appealed to me. Wonderful fun!


Ruth

Cat,

I have been on holidays, hence the slow response.

What a fantastic entry!! The editing was fantastic. I particularly liked the titles pulsating with the music!! How did you do that!!! all the shots were perfectly timed. the audio was appropriate to the pace!!!
the shots them selves were all first rate!!

I now realize I must not have an oucne of creativeness!! you put out such fun videos!!!!! Moved into my favorite 4!!!

Hi Ron, Ruth and Dale!

Nothing like putting UWOL down thinking it's over until the next go around and coming back to your comments and participation! Thank you! You guys are great, still making it a point to view and comment on this.

Dale, hope your vacationing was a great one. And what do you mean no creativity? You? I love what you bring to the table! We all have something unique to contribute, no? That's why it's such a great group!

See you in UWOL X!

Cato