Hi everyone, this is where we tell about the good things, the not so good things, and most of all... how FUN we have making our uwol 11 video.

GOOD LUCK to all of us!
Always remember our most important rule, the rule #11: HAVE FUN!

Hello family…

Today I first sat down in my workshop to figure out my electronically problem with my UW lights, I got the problem and will fix the lights next week.
After that a friend dropped by and we packed up the dive bags and headed of to a nice dive spot. It's a slop that drops down to max 60 meters (200 ft) but we only dived down to 30 meter... the viz drops down to just a meter when we past 20 meter. It was a nice dive and I hade some time to think of what I wanted to produce for UC11.
Tomorrow I head out in the woods to one of my favorite place and will check if my idea will work out.


Cheers for now…
Markus

Well, two really great things happened to me yesterday and today.

The first, was I was out testing my new camera where else but the Sac & Fox trail.
It was getting close to sunset. I heard this sound that was like a cross between a sneeze and a huff. It was really, really loud and it startled me.

After a couple times, I realized it was a huge whitetail buck.
I was across the stream in some thick cover and he couldn't quite make out what I was. So, we sat there for about 15 minutes. Him huffing and me watching him.
To thick to get a shot though.
Finally, since he couldn't be sure what I was, he headed back into the woods.

As I was driving down the road, I saw him on the other side of the woods in a corn field. What a majestic animal. I hope he survives the hunting season so I can meet up with him again next year.

The second thing that happened was whenever a theme comes out, an idea pops in my head and gets locked into my brain. Down the road if I find for whatever reason, that idea isn't going to pan out, my brain refuses to come up with a new idea.

So of course, as soon as Meryem announced the theme, my brain jumps to an idea and all receptors are now in lockdown.

Well, as I sat thinking about the theme, I realized it wasn't going to work and I wouldn't have the time to do what I wanted.

So, I thought I was out of luck because my tired brain won;t allow me to come up with a new idea once the first one pops up.

But low and behold, a new idea popped into my head today and I think it's a better idea than my first one.

So now I'm all pumped up again because for the first time I have a fresh idea after my original didn't pan out and this might turn out to be something you guys will like.

Certainly different than what I'm used to.

Ok, I'm off to go try and capture some footage for my new idea!

Good afternoon,

Kevin, they do not get big unless they are smart. White Tails are amazing animals.


Ahhh, my nemisis is back, Unrelenting wind up to 50 kilometers today. I got some real nice footage yesterday in moderate winds. Today we were out at dawn and got a few bits and bobs that should work into my theme.
Rain due on Monday!! I need to be finished shooting by thursday afternoon. will return on the 18th and will final edit the 19th and post. Going to be a close timeframe this time.

Trying not to swim.

Here is a screen grab

Dale,
This guy was certainly big.

Went out again last night and ran into him across the creek again. Wish I would have been set up sooner. He was coming down to the creek to drink and I spooked him. Never saw or heard him the rest of the time I was on the Sac & Fox.

The UWOL gods must have been smiling on me yesterday.
Changed my idea for my take on the theme and one of the shots I thought of I figured wouldn't happen. Came around a corner and there was my shot. It's not a holy smokes that is awesome shot, but it furthers my story along. It was something I didn't expect I'd get.

Heading out this morning to see if I can build on it.

Hi all

My weekend was great… I took two short trips out to the area where I wanted to shot in. My first idea didn’t work out, but I came up with another one. I also encountered a new species for me, or more correct, the first time I met one alive.

I would like to ask Meryem and also every one here… for the idea I got I would like to make a 5 sec intro by using old clips from previous UWOL challenges. It’s just 5 sec and will not affect the film… just an intro. If anyone think that that would be cheating I won’t use it.

Cheers for now
Markus

I'm cool with it - please let's not get hung up on the 'competition' and 'rules'. we're here to learn, not to win.

Hi Markus
I’m not sure what you have in mind here, but I am assuming that you would like to show visuals of the same place in another season or to illustrate an event that takes place in another season around the habitat of choice.

If so, this was something I thought long and hard about before submitting this particular theme - the difficulty of only having a three-week window in which to work when significant things also happen in other seasons. I did think about asking Meryem if we could allow people to include a snap shot of a scene from a previous season to illustrate a point more graphically but I know she is very strict about including only what is filmed in the three weeks given for the challenge - for obvious reasons. At least this way everyone has to work around the same limitations, otherwise some of the new folk may be put at a disadvantage. I guess this is where a clever story or a VO description will probably have to suffice unless of course, Meryem has other ideas on the matter.

As Paul says if you do not want to be eligible for judging then break as many rules as you like . . . as long as you are in fact learning! I am of the opinion that you will learn more when you work within the limitations because you are forced to find other solutions which you may otherwise not have tried.

Marj

Hi Paul and Marj

I’m thinking about making a new episode of UWOL WebTV , but I wanted to make it more of a TV show so my Idea was to make a 5 sec intro from previous show.

But if I can’t compete, I will not use any old shot for this intro… probably I won’t make an intro at al then…

Okay - in that case it's Meryem's call.
Marj

Markus,

I believe the intro and credits are outside of the 3 minutes parameters of the movie so it should not matter. Kind of like using a lower third matte or such. Personally I think it is is within the parameters of what we are doing.

Guys........as co-ordinator and general uwol guru this is up to Meryem and her alone.

While we are a community challenge, there has to be a strict rules to this thing or it will become a real pain to run!

My tale of woe... jet lag. Big time! I can barely stay awake at the moment after flying back from Down Under. Official advice is that you need to allow one day recovery per time zone crossed. I make that about three weeks then!

I am formulating a plan that will probably involve my river again, so hopefully I will get something put together.

....zzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzz.....

Soooo, sooo tired!

Jet lag! I have a great jet lag story. When I was in Bhutan, I passed out from jet lag in an old farmhouse, and the trip sponsor woke me up to tell me that he had something that I needed to shoot. It turns out to be one of the three main spiritual leaders for the country has popped into the farmhouse for a visit.

So completely groggy, I set up my camera, ready to record Bhutan's message to America, and he is getting really into it, when the sound disappears -- turns out I hit a button in my total haze. So I have to ask him to stop, while I fix the durn thing, which I am too messed up to figure out, so I yanked out the XLRs and let the camera mic record it. How lame is that? The sound turned out reasonably well, but I can't say that it was one of my more professional moments.

Wish I had that one to do over.

Markus, to answer your question -- based on what you are saying, that the clip is a segue from your ongoing UWOL TV series (a "when last we met" type of thing? is that where you are going with this?), then I think it will be okay, because of the way that your particular format is evolving. If you still feel unclear about it, then you can always send me the segment (I can give you an FTP site to upload it) before the deadline, and I can give you an unambiguous answer about whether it qualifies for the judging or not. In general, my answer would be "no" to replicating footage from old challenges, but what you are doing is somewhat unique, and I can see where you might be using that clip to follow a TV series genre, not trying to cheat the system by recycling old footage. I allowed old footage once in the past, but it was to make a composited image with something that was shot for the Challenge. But there are definitely limits to what is acceptable.

Thanks Meryem for you answer… I think that your upload idea is good, I will make two videos and you may say yes or no. What I want to do is a short intro, like then I screen the UWOL logo in the beginning, but with 4-5 shot from previous UWOL webTV.

An idea I actually could use, took shape in my head today, so I went out to film a bit.
Got some decent footage I think. Too bad I didn´t have access to a tripod, so this round will most likely be all handheld for me. But hey, it is supposed to be a challenge, right... :)
It is great to finally make something again after missing the 2 previous rounds.

Well, I feel like I've already won UWOL #11.

I had an opportunity to go out and film this morning.
Usually I'm only able to get out in the late afternoons.

So, I drove to one of my favorite haunts in the pre-dawn hours to get things set up before the sun rose.

Had everything set up and shot the sunrise without any major issues.

But as I was filming, I happened to look behind me to see what all the tress in their Fall color looked like in the first light of the day.

At that moment, hundreds of turkey vultures all took to the sky and began to catch the morning thermals. It was amazing to watch this tight grouping of birds rise up in the silence and then start to disperse in every direction.

Didn't get a frame of footage but it's been etched into my brain as one of the most awesome sites I've witnessed since I started doing these film challenges.

For me, that's what this is all about. No matter who takes home the prize this round, I've already received my prize.

well, you've already won the Most Adorable Wilderness Boy trophy, just for posting your turkey vulture story...does that count?

Boy eh? :)

I guess that's why I'm young at heart.

Reminds me of the old farmers in town saying "You're Monte's boy aren't you?"
I'd say "No, Monte's my Father."

Ever want to see a farmer in OshKosh bibs short circuit, try pulling that one on them.

The other good one is my youngest sister is Korean. We adopted her when she was five.

So, people always ask if she's adopted.

I say "No, my other sister and I were adopted. My Mother and Father are both Korean."

BOOM!!!! <----- That was their mind exploding trying to figure that one out. :)

But neither one of those tops seeing a huge concentrated mass of turkey vultures rise up as a single unit and then disperse.

I agree with Meryem, you may not have gotten any footage but your discription is fabulous all by itself. I can tell in those few words it must have been pretty gob-smacking! I've been getting up to try and catch the morning mists on the river Stour. Many of you will have seen the particular stretch of river in Constables painting 'The Hay Wain'. It is very pretty, but the morning mists keep eluding me!

Mat.

Kind of funny but that's why I've been getting out early too is to try and catch some mists on the river.

Been to windy I guess as I've been striking out as well.

Off again this morning to see what I can get.

Hi Kevin, sounds like you have had an amazing experience!
Hope you get a chance to get something on tape next time.

Good luck with your uwol video!
I will begin editing mine this weekend, but I think I need some more footage.

Glad to hear you're starting to lay down some tracks Trond.

I started laying some down last night. I have to say so far, I think this is the best UWOL film I've done. Not sure where it's going to go from here but the first 52 seconds are pretty darn nice. :)

So, since I like it, that means everyone else will probably hate it. :)

Was out again early this morning watching nature come alive as the sun rose and burned off the low lying fog.

How is everyone else coming along?

We've been getting some amazing fog burn offs here too, then days of blazing sunshine, no
wind and 20+ temperatures - pretty unheard of really!!! Time has been the enemy on this round, have lots of baby related preparations underway, but I did manage a walk at the weekend that without any really planning turned into the perfect UWOL shoot. Hopefully I can tie it all together with the VO, heck I guess it's not really the right way round to do things, but I'm allergic to sharks ;-)

Rob. I can appreciate the great conditions we've had in Blighty the last week. I have been in Richmond Park trying to capitalize on this. I have got a rough edit, but really need to few more specific shots to make it work. Trouble is... are we going to have the same lovely weather before time is up. Continuity....ain't it a bore!

Not used to doing a VO either.... a factor I need to spend more time on.

Hope everyone else is having fun. Looking forward to seeing your films.

Mihali

I'm done!
Finished editing my video today, and still days away from the deadline.
My best video so far? Not even close, but time is running out due to traveling later this week. At least I'm back after swimming with the sharks all summer. Swimming is not fun!

Looks like I am in the shark tank this round.just been one of those months

Same here... Lost Week 1 due to travel and jetlag, lost week 2 due to a really bad cold, and week 3 is a write-off because of work.

Unless I can find something interesting in the back garden on Sunday evening in the dark, I think I'm going to have to miss this one. Which is a pity for you all, I'm sure you'd love to hear what an Irishman with a sore throat sounds like doing voiceover!

Unless I can find something interesting in the back garden on Sunday evening in the dark

Chap, that's exactly how I shot my first UWOL film!!!

Chap, that's exactly how I shot my first UWOL film!!!

You don't have a Sony V1, with its legendary low light capabilities!!

You don't have a Sony V1, with its legendary low light capabilities!!

No, but I did have a couple of 20 watt bedside halogen lamps ;-)

I wonder why i always have time to shoot for uwol everytime the competition is over and have not started up again. Other work always shows up between the 1. and the 20. every month.

Hopefully i will get time to shoot something tomorrow morning, or im back in the shark tank.
Im travelling to Finland on monday, so it doesnt look good. Hehe.

Good luck to everybody!

Well the good news is I sold my A1U. The bad news is I can't replace it until November, so I'm out of the challenge.

Now I'm just waiting to see what kind of discount B&H gives on the FX7 & FX1000. It's going to be a tough choice for me.

Hello Uwol :)
I'm just in to wish you all good luck and to tell you I'm a little bit sad not participating this round. Such a great theme. Maybe Meryem have told you all, but I'm back on the school bench, what the h..., I'm just 50 :) I will be working 60% of full time job and at the same time studying Bachelor's Degree Programme in Social Education at Molde University College (3 years study in 4 years). It's a completely change of arena for me, when it comes to work.
I have not forgotten my friends at uwol though and if time will let me, I hope to join you in the future :)

All the best to you all
Geir Inge

Hello to all of you!

This is my first try in UWOL challenge so it is a few things I wonder about.

The first question is about the music. My partner and I are musicians and want to record our own playing for the film.
The composer has been dead for more than 70 years so the composition is free to be played.
No licenses has to be payed for the composition and no licenses has to be payed to the musicians. As you may hear, we are just hobby players.

The contest rules say: All music must be fully licensed.

My question is: will my home-rcorded music be accepted?


The second question is:
When will I be able to upload the video? I am concerned about this because I have not received the password to do that.

Finn-Erik

The contest rules say: All music must be fully licensed.

My question is: will my home-rcorded music be accepted?


The second question is:
When will I be able to upload the video? I am concerned about this because I have not received the password to do that.

Finn-Erik
1.
Fully licensed means that you cannot use any copyrighted music without having a valid license.

2.
Uploading is available already.
When you signed up for the challenge, did you remember to send a mail to uwol@comcast.net as specified in the guide for the first time players:
A note on signing up for the first time...

Signing up for your first UWOL Challenge requires you to do two things:

1) Send an e-mail to uwol@comcast.net

2) State your commitment to participate on the designated sign-up thread

If you don't send a working e-mail address to uwol@comcast.net, you won't be entered into our e-mail database, and you won't be able to receive the uploading password to post your file.

check your e-mail, Finn-Erik....

what has happened to Team Norway?? Glad Trond made it...

Where is our spiritual leader, Per Johan? Any info? Last seen lugging a heavy Panasonic camera into the wilderness....

what has happened to Team Norway?? Glad Trond made it...

Yeah, seems like some of us is having a busy life these days, but we will be back strong later! :)
And for me, it feels GOOD to be back after swimming with the sharks for a few months.

Geir Inge:
Good luck with the studying. Make sure to come back to make more uwol films when time permits!

From a time Norway!!!

We have little of wolf in Norway to take ceere of the red-deer.So I have been on
wildlif-ceare the last five week.In some aeria in Norway it`s to many red-deer, we loss
to many in the Winter time, starwing to deat.So wee must do some thing whit the population.Time to make film have been less.Send some photo from the Wildlife-Habitat



Best Regards
VJV.

Send some photo from the Wildlife-Habitat

Best Regards
VJV.
Nice pictures, Vidar!
That is Norway during fall... All kind of colors.

If I have whit me the camcorder it shud bee lovly to show you the wildlife, I have
seen this week.Allot of king eagel,wood grous,mointan grous,oter,niser and allot of deer
ruting.But it`s inportant ti take ceare of the wildlife.

Best Regards,
VJV.

Almost done!!!
Laid the official voice over track down just a few minutes ago and it's starting to come together.

Just a bit more tweaking then I'll leave it alone for a day and try to look at it with a set of fresh eyes.

My wife will be happy once I wrap this film. I put in a lot more time than I normally do on this one and shot a ton more footage than I normally do. So, she's been pretty much a UWOL widow for the past couple weeks. :)

I actually like how this one is turning out which means you guys probably won't. :)

Vidar, that looks like really beautiful country. Bob

Good afternoon,

I am a lucky guy, my wife says blessed, either way the extension to today saved my tail!!!

I have been off in a tent for the last ten days (had a foot of snow and freezing temperatures) got back and had yesterday to get to final shots and put a wrap on it.

I built three times only to have the file corrupted each time!!

On the last effort computer said I did not have the right to create the movie!!!!

Hours later I realized I had my audio in a folder on the other computer (three computers in the network) and I forgot when I added sharing to it to put a check in the box to allow working access!! Uggggggg!





I had built some original music I have composed and played but just plain did not have time to polish it and use it!! perhaps another time. This is the second time I have tried this and failed to get the job finished.

All I can say is thank you smart sound!!!

Also, my last shots werre all shot in 40+ km/hr winds. In fact I did not have a still day to film this session!!!

December will be interesting here!! Hope to finish the last one of our second year!!

Almost swam in the tank this time!! close call!!!

Oh yea,

Vidar,

some great shots!! you guys have such beautiful countryside. Kinda rough hunting up and down those mountains though!!
Then when I finally compressed it one of the wide screen frames was a smaller size than the rest when overlapped!!! Darned if I could figure that one out at all!! all shot off the same camera too!!

Nice job Dale. Glad to see you avoided the tank, splendid!

Also, welcome aboard Finn Erik! You will like it at UWOL! I'm thrilled to hear your music-playing this round.

Geir, we miss you! Get back with us soon!

All the best everyone,

Cat

Hey Everyone.

I found out about uwol a few months ago while I was working in Costa Rica, but since I didn't have a camera there at the time and I was living about 5 hours from an internet spot, I had to wait it out.
When I found out I would be coming back to the states in time to edit something to submit, I convinced my girlfriend to bring me her camera when she visited because the wildlife I was seeing everyday was to good to pass up. To my surprise, my girlfriend gave me a canon hv20 camcorder as an early birthday gift, so that I could shoot some stuff. It is actually the first video camera I have ever owned, believe it or not. Its not the best camera out there, but it worked great for bringing out into the field with all of my work gear. I was studying monkeys there, which should be apparent in my video.
Anyways, this is a first for me and I hope there are many more to come. Thanks to whomever organizes all of this. I had a great time doing it.

Keith

Welcome Keith!

Thanks goes to Meryem for heading up this contest.
But, it also goes to people like you and everyone else that participates. Kind of hard to have a film challenge if no on enters. :)

Look forward to watching your film!

Hey Keith - welcome to UWOL, I think you are our first contestant from Rhode Island. I've never been there, though I've been around NE a bit. Looking forward to seeing your part of the world....never mind, looking forward to seeing Costa Rica!

WHO HOOooooo....

5 minutes left, c'mon... lets launch

somebody hold markus down, it's 6:30 am here....