Hi Guys. Bit slow in putting this thread up. I've been out in the garden trying to repair a certain boat.

Thanks to Marj for the heads up!

We had a 48 hour window to come up with a theme, plan, shoot and edit this film. The stimulus for the film ended up being our tight time frame. Our cocky attatude to 48 hours...How hard can it be, inspired us to try to show that wildlife film making need not be a gruling afair; lugging heavy and expensive kit over savage terrain in rotten weather only to find your subject missing in action. we wanted to show how EASY wildlife film making can be.

After setting off at the unholy hour of 4am in our ...(thinks of suitable word)...unorthodox filming vessel, almost capsizing on numerous occasions (cameras not in waterproof housings), being blown onto a mud bank with a rapidly dropping tide (repeatedly), being stranded and having to wait 3 hours for the water to return, putting a significant hole in the front of our hull, being laughed at by every other water user and given a thorough looking over by the Harbour authorities who clearly thought we were smuggling we returned beaten, bruised, broken and a little damp from the 12 hour experience.

the photo below shows the inevitable end result of gettig out of a 'boat' which is stranded on a mud bank because you've drunk to much tea and need the toilet. It basicly sums up the trip for me.

How hard can it be?...VERY but so much fun!

This was pure genius and for me, the funniest UWOL entry I have seen to date. And there most definatley was wildlife there too, though mostly IN the boat ;-)

Cheers!

OH MY! That was a hoot! Not only did you get wildlife, you told a great story.

Camera work was very good...Some of the shots in the boat just cracked me up.

Thanks for this....

Bob T.

This movie made my day! Had tears rolling down my cheeks from laughter - I guess it was due to the unexpected angle for this challenge.

10 out of 10 for novelty, creativity and story - oh yes and for the most amazing video craft yet! Boy were you guys taking a chance on the cameras - again!
How long did it take you to put that hide together?

I think we can add a whole bunch of lessons to our "Wildlife videography for Dummies" book with this one!

Well Pete and Nick....

After that episode I'll switch to dry land and a cup of coffee! Ye Haw what a hoot!

Cat

It's like Monty Python meets David Attenborough. I loved it.

That was very funny. Wagner backwards, very interesting.

Oliver Pahlow

That’s hard… what a fun film, just the way you think of when you picture a wildlife film crew capturing some rare animals on film.
Nice done, maybe not the way you though it would be…

First the Ten Tab Mission,now this?..You guys sure have a wacky take on things....cant wait to see what you come up with next..

That looked like a lot of fun Peter. Makes me wish I had someone to shoot with. Fun to watch. Thanks

Wow, that was real fun to watch Peter! You definitive have a good eye for amusing us. Keep up your good work!

You crazy cats !! :-) That mobile hide was just great, shame it met such a gruesome end! I really liked the edit from 2:12, snappy, dramatic and fun.

I like it when someone brings some comedy to UWOL....good stuff fella.

Well done boys,

You've done it again! What can I say, you guys are just fantastic. I loved the shot of the boat coming into the shot at the start, with the music an all. From there, I knew we were in for something special.

I know our staff are gonna have fun watching this in the morning.

Well done - UWOL now has a completely different slant on things, keep it coming.

I have to go to the hospital because I split a gut...

Genius!

Your floating hide reminded me of Johnny Kingdom.

His fell apart as well, and I've not laughed so much since.

Well done.

bloody funny - that was great.

Hmm...I’m not sure which is more entertaining – the video or the post. Great entertainment all the way around, guys!

I hope you guys had as much fun making that one as it seems we are having watching it and chuckling over it.

The way you handled the film shows a lot of creative thinking. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Thanks for all your lovely messages! We most certainly did have fun doing it.
It got rather scary at a few points but even then we spent most of the time in fits of laughter.

When we first set sail I could see literally nothing whilst steering the boat because of the 360 degree camouflage wrap we had rigged up so had to rely on very blinkered directions from Nick peering out of one of the filming portals cut in the fabric. Hence the elaborate steering stick rigged up and visible at 0:32. The steering stick arrangement did have its drawbacks especially with tight turns as you can see at 0:50 which was the first of several near misses. Unfortunately later on we had to lash the steering stick to the boat to act as vital structural support but by that time the damage was so severe that I was wearing most of the fabric as some kind of elaborate poncho so had a reasonable view of where we were headed.

Your right Eric. It is great having someone to film with. Nick and I have been the best of friends for about 18 years now and have always made silly films. Whilst we’re trying to be a bit more serious these days (especially with our commissioned work) the daftness sometimes creeps through.

Role on the next uwol!

Peter,

You just have to be different, don't you? That is quite the luxury yacht you have there, even if it was designed by William Heath Robinson!

Shooting from the boat must be incredibly hard, it's just not practical to think about getting stable shots. So this turned out to be an NYPD Blue-style nature film - and is none the worse for it, it is quite an interesting style.

Your in-flight catering is good too. I had to make do with a Tesco sandwich full of mayonnaise (yuck), what I wouldn't hae given for a nice packet of digestive biscuits as I was out in the hide watching the birds. Mind you, at least I didn't run the risk of getting sea-sick...

I laughed myself silly at the end when your creation fell apart. I think you guys took the biggest personal risks of anyone in this round!

Very different, and very good.

Peter, looked like you had a lot of fun making your captain pugwash film, very entertaining.

Well you sure didn't forget the main rule of UWOL "have fun". Great way to turn this around into a riotously funny film. Nice bird footage in there too.


Good stuff, keep it coming.

Peter,

What a fun vidfeo!! Well conceived or played out, who cares!! it was fun to watch.

I chuckled at the p0wer music to start with but in the end it truly was a pleasure to watch.

Mike- compared with 'the 10 tab mission' which we made for uwol 7 which documents our high speed dash across Hungary this one was mild in terms of risk. Godness only know whats gonna happen on the next one but I'm gonna take out some extra insurance cover first.

Your certainly right about getting stable images though. It was originaly our intention to drift in a quite still and invisable fasion up to the wildlife, film it to within an inch of its life and then drift on. At at 4 am when there wasnt a breath of wind this worked perfectly (or would have done if there had been any wildlife about). Then the wind got up and the rest is sort of history.


Ron- I was going for Captain Jack Sparrow but will settle for Pugwash on this one. That poor boat has been used for the odd pirate adventure in its time too. needs a bit of TLC me thinks.


Roll on Uwol 10 and more anarchy (hopefully a bit more wildlife next time though)

"would you like some more tea, Mr. Joslin"

sounds like something from a james bond thriller...those innocuous innocent questions that precede the insanity that is about to ensue....

this thing cracked me up.

how come, no matter what theme i post, it always turns into ADVENTURE???

"Life. If your not having an adventure then your not doing it properly."

This was really fun, and I loved the playing with sound- very effective having the backwards music to set the mood for disaster. You mixed in some nice wildlife sandwiched between the misadventure. Creative, funny, even educational. I look forward to another (mis)adventure!


Ruth

I can see rule #11 played a big role in your making of the video.
Must have been crazy fun to be out in that boat.

It was really fun and entertaining to watch too. Cool music.
Someone mentioned Monty Pyton, and I have to agree. Reminds me of those films.
Thanks for sharing.