As a few of you may have read, Meryem and I are engaged in a friendly side challenge – she’s shooting a movie for DVC 13 in exchange for me trying my hand at UWOL 9. (You can be happy about one thing, dear Meryem...it was a challenge.) :)

Forgive me if some of the images make any of you feel a bit queasy; I know to avoid using hand held or jerky footage for this type of thing, but with neither the time nor the patience to do it “right,” I’m afraid you’re stuck with what I could snatch here and there. Because it’s not steady/smooth I tried to keep it short and the file size small for faster download.

I’m proud of my state and wish you could see some of the beauty of the central and northern mountains: Clear, wildly rushing and beautiful rivers plus abundant wildlife. Maybe someone else will come along and bring those images to you. Wildlife/Nature video, as I already suspected, is not my gig, unfortunately, so you all will be spared further entries from this ol’ DVCer and I’ll be heading back upstairs when this is through!

Hi Lorinda and welcome to this forum!
I think you did very well for being a "first uwol-timer". You managed to give me a good overall view of wildlife at your place, hence I would like to view some more close-ups of some of the species. But I know not everone has those huge lenses like myself for close-ups!
Good work Lorinda, hope you will continue uwol-ing with us!?

That was very nice Lorinda. It wasn't shakey at all. Great shots. Out of all the states I've been to, I've never been to Idaho.

Oliver

Thank you very much, gentlemen, for your generous feedback.

I've got to turn my attention to DVC 13 for now, but have viewed a couple gorgeous films here and will be watching the rest plus adding comments as soon as I can.

Good first entry Lorinda, I'll have to make my way back to the DVC challenge someday. Been thinking about it now and again. You did a great job with the narration on this one.

Nice mix of different animals… short stories about different subject, but together that make up a neighbourhood, nicely done. I hope you stay with us and continue you wildlife filmmaking.

Hello Lorinda


Wellcom on bord,and great to see your entery.It´s easy to see that you is
not new in the game.Your VO and sekvense is werry nice.I must say for
shore It`s allot to learn from you. And I was realy suprice of the compresion
of the film ,so sharp and that small file size. Can I ask how you compress??



Realy nice film


Best Regards
Vidar Vedaa.



_____________________

Thank you for the nice comments. VO/narration is a good thing to do from time to time; it reminds me how much I need to work on my speaking.

I don’t remember doing anything out of the ordinary on the MPG4 compression, Vidar, but then again, it was done in such haste that I don’t remember much at all. :) The small file size may have come primarily from cutting it off at 2:45 rather than running it to the time limit. This was shot with the Canon XH A1; I would hope that has something to do with the detail, although, I learned that I can't always trust my eyes on critical focus in tougher situations. I had to kick out some cute stuff and even leave a little in that had soft focus.

Hi Lorinda
Ok no doubt you are comfortable with narration.Yes some of the footage is jerky,but the video on a whole was never dull and was very entertaining,rendering any jerkiness null and void,as I was spending more time watching and listening to the story.Very good entertaining entry.Now I am going to have to go upstairs to try the DV challenge

Lorinda:

What a blast! Can we have just one more entry from you, please? I loved your narration to this and the music selection brought out the subtle humor in it all. This was great! All the narration from the UWOL guys have been scientific, informative and a bit serious... which is a good thing. But this had such a great twist to it with commentary that had me chuckling more than once. But it was wise commentary too! You brought up what I have often observed myself (like the hawk being badgered by the smaller bird) but never thought to bring it up.

If you really do decide to call it at this one, thanks for the entry. It was very appreciated!

Cat

Lorinda:

DVChallengers Rock !!! Nice job Lorinda. Okay Meryem, how you doin' on the other side ???

Hi Lorinda,

Welcome to UWOL, although a shame to hear the trip is likely to be a short one.

For me, I just loved your personality coming through in your narration and the way in which you brought the viewer into your film with comments like "have you ever wondered...". Also, commenting on how the little lost duckling might be feeling, etc. For me, it was just so refreshing, humorous and uplifting. The great selection of music in the background also fitted nicely with the approach you were taking.

The actual footage was lovely and sharp and filmed in very nice light. Lovely beginning, middle and a particularly nice ending shot.

Like Vidar, I also was wondering how you managed to create such sharp footage with such a small file size.

I have been thinking of entering some entries in the "other" challenge upstairs, and your comments have reminded me to look into this - which I am going to do now.

Thanks for sharing your lovely filming style with us and who knows, you might give UWOL another go? I hope you do...

A nice first uwol film!

You mention smaller birds mobbing hawks. You'll usually find that smaller birds will only mob species which typically prey on ground dwelling species, Buzzards etc have rounded shorter wings which are good for manoeuvring close to the ground as they chase down prey like rabbits. You'll rarely see any smaller bird try to mob a Falcon such as a peregrine. Is long pointed wings are made for out and out speed and it could easily take a harassing bird out of the air.

I hope you continue to give us the occasional uwol entry. I certainly enjoyed this one.

Pete

Very nice Lorinda...
Good shots...you gave me a good introduction to your piece of the planet.

I must say, as have others, your VO was very....refreshing.
Many of us, myself included, often sound so serious in our videos.
Yours sounded like you were sharing your world with a friend, instead of instructing a high school science class...

Please take a chance on another UWOL...

Bob

Wow...this has to be one of the most encouraging group of folks on Earth. After reading your kind and generous comments I thought, “Hmm, maybe this entry wasn’t so bad after all,” so I went back and watched it again. Nah.....it’s just as I remembered it. ;)

I’ve learned so much about patience, precision and persistence on a different scale. In filming people one has to employ the same things, yet with this type of shooting it’s such a solitary and “per chance” endeavor – and I just don’t enjoy my own company well enough, I suppose, to sit for long periods of time waiting for something to happen. In my trips during this challenge I’d sit for forty-five minutes somewhere and think I was going to lose my mind, only to go back home with nothing. Then I read about some of you folks waiting in blinds for hours? Whoa! That’s dedication, and I don’t belong in the same category.

However, it appears that there is ample room and indulgence here for those of us who may fall into the more attention-deficit category of wildlife filming, so I guess I’m not going to say that I’ll never be back. As Kris Holodak in the DV Challenge forum stated, much of the reward for shooting any of these things is the feedback shared with fellow film makers. I certainly got more reward here than was deserved.

Thank you all for the warm welcome. You’ve got a wonderful community here and it was fun chatting with a few old friends plus making new ones. Finally, I’m REALLY looking forward to seeing guys like John, David and others upstairs at DVC! :)

I really enjoyed watching your entry, Lorinda. It was like going birding on a cool spring morning. You have following moving birds down pat. I see that your killdeers are like our killdeers. They give you just the beginning of the broken wing display, then stop before you can film it. They probably know that we aren't really dangerous. I look forward to your next entry. One thing you might want to do is to fade right into the next scene instead of to black first.

Lorinda,

What a lovely film! I didn't mind the hand held footage at all, I found it added energy to the piece. I found it gave me the impression of you, as a human, watching the critters - rather than perfectly smooth, machine-type movements making the viewer forget there is a human behind the lens.

I wish we had rock chucks round here. I'd swap them for brown rats any day!

I like your comment about killdeers. They remind me very much of plovers that I have witnessed in Australia - and they scare me! Nesting in public parks and near paths, and chasing anyone who has the misfortune to come by. I remember sitting on the balcony in a hotel in Cairns watching a particularly angry pair chasing an unsuspecting jogger. You never have a camera at times like that. Anyway, I digress (again).

Pretty cool shot of the hawk being harassed by the smaller bird. All it would take would be one swipe and he would get peace and quiet, but no! And mallard may be common, but I do love them, and the baby mallards are just too cute. That sequence of the little duckling left behind was so sweet!

I agree with what you say about the unpredictability of wildlife. They won't follow the script, they won't stand where they're supposed to, and they won't take any direction. Isn't it just great? I love it.

Oh.... and I love your accent! Great voiceover, nicely scripted.

Great first entry, very enjoyable.

...I love your accent!
What accent? ;)

Thank you, Mike and Steve. Mike, I know a farmer or two who would love to ship all the rock chucks to Ireland. Oh, but you said swap...never mind...

Hi Lorinda

A nice selection of sequences you have here and done in a more video diary style which is nice. I particularly liked the hawk shot and the 'plover-like' bird, the earthy colours in the background were lovely. A quick not on the sequence though, the cut to the agitated bird had a completely different lighting and location, or certainly looked that way so was abrupt when cut. Some colour/contrast correction would have helped here! While I agree with Mike on the handheld stuff I do think some of it would have benefitted from tripod mounting, particularly stuff like the opening landscape.

Overall I felt the film needed more of a round up or premise, this may have been as simple one-liner at the end to bind the sequences together.

Nice entry, more on those Marmot's please! :-)

Mat

So you found UWOL at last! Or, I suppose, it hunted you down...

You really went after this...this is no one-day wonder, it takes a lot of effort to get diverse shots of interesting wildlife. And all those magic hour shots, someone had to get out of their warm, toasty bed for those! You have very nice lighting throughout....

Why do hawks get harrassed by smaller birds? I see that all the time in these parts but never when I have a camera in my hand...

Anyway, welcome to our Challenge, extra props for getting both Challenges done at the same time.

Lorinda:

I really enjoyed meeting your neighbors. You got some neat stuff on those critters, and like others have said, your VO narration and the warm friendly sound of it added a lot.

Each of these challenge venues has it's own appeal. I love the DVC and it's storytelling...When I can get a crew to work with me.

And the UWOL challenge is just another way to experience the wonder of this world.

But it sure is a 3 ring circus to participate in both when the challenges overlap like they did this time.

Sheesh!

This was a great film. Please become a UWOL regular :)

Your commentary was great and added so much to the footage. I laughed at the comments on the killdeer- very true.

Very nice variety of footage, thanks for sharing your state.


Ruth

Now that DVC 13 is through I can come back to this nice place and sit a spell...

Thanks for the comments, Mat. As for marmots, or rock chucks, filming nothing but them would be a piece of cake since they're all over the place.

Dang it, Meryem, you dared me to join this on purpose didn’t you—knowing that it’s addictive. Pusher! ;) Oh, and I think you know me too well to believe this old girl would get out of bed to shoot, but thanks for the laugh anyway.

To answer your question (or was it rhetorical?) as near as I could find out the smaller birds (oftentimes blackbirds) attack hawks simply because they’re too close to the nests. Makes sense, I suppose. I read that hawks will eat the eggs and baby birds—I don’t know much about birds of prey but have never heard of them eating eggs...

Bruce, I won’t promise that the DVC won’t collide with UWOL ever again, but Dylan and I do keep an eye on such things. :)

Ruth, you’re racing through these entries like wildfire! Don’t know how you’re doing it, but I appreciate your nice comments...very much.

Aha, she's hooked! Now reel her in!

Those smooth-talking UWOL lads and lassies are hard to resist, aren't they?

Glad you had fun joining our international love-fest.

And I will get a DVC entry done this year -- if you put on that creepshow again at Halloween, I would like another crack at that. I'm sure that Marco is already sharpening his knives...

Hi Lorinda, and welcome to the uwol family!

Thank you for teaching me something new about your part of the world.
You have an interesting story and awesome footage.
I like how you mix the natural sound with your narration and the music in the background.
Very well done!

Please stay with us for the future challenges.

Lorinda,

What a pleasurable video!!! Your naration just makes me want to hunker down and enjoy!! It all seems so gentle and nice!! Great job. Hope to see more from you in the next go around!!!


thanks for sharing !!!!!!