Congratulations to the mighty Long-Form Challenge finishers!

A grand achievement - a feature length documentary. Some of you finished. Some of you completed. But all of you survived the hardest UWOL Challenge to date. You should be proud of what you have accomplished in the past year.

An unbelievable eight finishers completed the contest, out of thirty who originally signed up. Those eight have endured all manner of injuries, crashed computers, frustrations, and challenges in the past year. But they clawed their way to the finish and should be commended for their achievement.

A toast to our finishers (in alphabetical order)
Marj Atkins
Rob Evans
Finn-Erik Faale
Dale Guthormsen
Cat Russell
Bob Safay
Steve Siegel
Mike Sims

You can download the films here.

The UWOL Challenge - Wildlife & Outdoor based film competition (http://www.uwolchallenge.com/uwol_longform.htm)

I thought it would be nice to consolidate our conversation about the films into a single thread. This may be a good idea. It may be another one of my misguided ideas formed in the heat of trying to develop this thing a year ago. I leave it to the players to decide.

But take a moment and give yourselves and each other a huge pat on the back. You have done great things, large and small. I look forward to you continued development as artists, shooters, and technicians.

Congratulations to all of you! Well done!
I look forward to watch all of the videos.

Hey Bob:

You have really outdone yourself here! What a spectacular trip! The subject matter is captivating. You narrate beautifully and I am impressed at how you can keep it so interesting without music or any other "props". Just you, the camera and the most amazing wildlife. What a treat for us who may never have the opportunity to go to these islands. I liked it when you just let the sounds of the wildlife rip. This was put together nicely. Some shots were a little shaky, but mostly I was impressed at how stable the shooting was while on boats and pontoons.

Thanks for all the hard work for us to enjoy.

Cat

Wow Mike:

I am so very impressed. This is rather an epic film. So much information. So much diverse wildlife. The work shows. Your flair for creativity and your technical skill round this out to a complete package with something for everyone. I love how you organized your film by elevation and weave a story of the turkey vulture throughout. This is nature filming at its best. Excellent job.

Cat

Is it OK to post a Vimeo version now? These downloads take forever.

yes, access the films however you like...

Marj,
You did it! Stupendous! Magnificent! I wondered how you were going to explain the numbers, but the way you did just blew me away. The description of the leaves around the stem was a welcome revelation. This is one of the most informative pieces of nature videography I have ever seen. It begins with wonder, stays with it and intensifies it right to the end. Your videography is perfect, too. I would like to know how you managed some of the special effects, such as peeling away the outer shell of the Nautilus, and the one near the end where you start with a circumference of 89 growth points aoound the circumference of the embryonic flower and add more until the spirals are evident. Did you do that by hand?
I tried to show my wife the Fibonacci sequence on a pine cone the other day, but kept losing the rows, and she just thought I was a lunatic. Have to try it again. Thanks for this piece. Every junior high science student should see it.

Congradulations to each of you. This was definately a CHALLENGE. Cat, thanks for the kind words. I shot over 5 hours of video at the Galapagos and a little over 2 hour at Machu Picchu, lugging the Canon XL-2 all the time. I really wish I could have had a tripod with me. I haven't even started editing Machu Picchu yet. I will enjoy watching each of your videos. However, I am heading out to spend the holiday with my brother. So with that HAPPY THANKSGIVING to each of you. Bob ps. I seem to recall Meryem promising each of us a new UWOL T-shirt.

Good Morning,


Well, congrats to each of you all for crossing the finish line. In several ways i am amazed this entire challenge was pulled off!!! so many things happened to so many people!! what a volitile place we live, anything can happen, but prevail you did!!

I intend to watch one film a day or so, once for fun and then serious and objective afterwards. I thought I would post an immediate comment from the fun ride here, and then perhaps the critique on your long form page.

I would perfer to watch a higher res version on vimeo if you post them.

I want to stretch this out and enjoy all your huge efforts as much as possible.



I very much enjoyed Fin-Erics fillm. It kept my interest the entire time (being fundementally attention deficit thats no small feat) and numerous shots were terrific.

O.K. Steve... where IS Ungava anyway? ;-).

What is now very apparent after starting to view the final entries, is that the works in progress snippets were not even hinting at the real glory of these finished films.

Steve, this is a masterpiece. Everything is top notch, from the story line, witty and informative narrative, choice and placement of music to the impeccable camera work and stunning cinematography. It is a scientific achievement and a work of art. I don't know of anyone that can smoothly follow in close up, birds in flight like you have been able to do. Exceptional. Also, the $5 shirt with the bullet hole, albeit a small one, was priceless! :).

Cat

Hi Cat,

I'm glad you enjoyed the film. I just finished watching yours, and I can't get your images and music out of my head. I've been to Rocky Mountain National Park a couple of times, and was amazed by the big spaces there. I didn't notice the poetry of the place, though, until you pointed it out. Your love of it continues to be obvious. How on earth do you get so close to Bighorn Sheep? I can only see them through a spotting scope.
For the record, Ungava is the pointy north section of Quebec. It has a sister piece of anti-land in the Aleutians called Unalaska.

Thanks Steve for the watch. I looked for the Bighorn the entire year and never saw them until that one time. For some reason, these guys were so lazy and content I think I could have curled up with them as they were sunbathing in the sun! Go figure.

May I ask which movie you watched? The Vimeo version or the UWOL version? My UWOL version was supposed to be a streaming video, which it isn't doing. I didn't think anyone would wait out the long download to view it.

Marj

Your film borders on the stupendous. You perfectly interlaced natural life with animation to describe and explain difficult concepts to visualize. It is breathtaking. This could be a piece for NOVA. The animations are captivating. You also have such a variety of film subjects! I think this could be overlooked somewhat when one is so captivated by the concepts being discussed. Outstanding work.

Cat

For the record, Ungava is the pointy north section of Quebec. It has a sister piece of anti-land in the Aleutians called Unalaska.

Duh! I should have remembered that one ;-) Hmm... "a sister piece of anti-land in the Aleutians called Unalaska". I think I may have been there once when I was small. :).

Cat

Hey Cat,

I did watch the UWOL version. It took a while to download, but I took a break while it was happening. It ran beautifully.

I'm sure you have some snow up there, so have a Happy Thanksgiving. We will have our usual one here...indoors, windows shut, with the air conditioning blowing full blast so all of our menopausal relatives don't complain how hot it is. I got to spend a few hours in some snowy mountains two weeks ago. I thought I had died and gone to Currier and Ives heaven.

Steve

Thanks Steve for the reply. I'm thrilled you stuck it out and watched the UWOL version. The Vimeo version is the same movie that Vimeo blew up to a larger size so the resolution is much poorer as a result.

We have had snow, but tomorrow's weather for Thanksgiving will be in the 60's, not much different from you! Your sense of humor in your posts and movie makes me laugh! Have you always been so much fun or is it because you've completed the long form and finals are over?

Cat

P.S. You tell your uncle that he shouldn't take your ribbing to heart and that I think he's handsome.

Now, back to these amazing movies...

No, Cat

It's simply that global warming has fried my brain. I finished the films and topped it off with an hour of Spongebob Squarepants.

Enjoy your turkey.

Steve

Good morning. I think I have finally woken up at last. . . ‘yawn’ . . maybe.

First let me congratulate the finishers – this has been no easy task - and thanks to all of you who have been part of this long form challenge even those who did not manage to finish. I have really come to appreciate you all as such good friends. Even though I have not contributed to all the conversations here I have so enjoyed your stories and travelling the different journeys with each of you and I really appreciate the input I have received from all of you.

My long form experience ended with an exceptionally difficult couple of weeks. It felt like I was fighting five-headed monster - with not only two stable computers crashing for different reasons but the internet being taken out three times – once by the local tower and twice by lightning!! Without Tom’s amazing technical help and time this difficult baby would certainly not have been delivered. My film did not get to the point I had intended and there are lots of silly odd things in it that either crept back after my very sick computer shut down on me or that I just didn’t get to sort out. The most frustrating result is I have run out of bandwidth and can’t upload to vimeo or download any films till Tuesday next week so I aplogise for not commenting on your films.

Steve and Cat – thank you for your compliments they mean a lot to me. I so appreciate your understanding and appreciation of what I was working with - the absolutely amazing, mysterious presence and wonder of mathematical design underpinning the natural world around us – created by design.

To answer your question Steve - this is no mean animation and was made by applying mathematics - of all things! :)

It was created using iterations (the repetition of a sequence of instructions a specified number of times). Greg and I worked very closely together on this – he was doing the math stuff I was giving the instructions. I could literally see his brain smoking at times trying to get those little bump thingies to emerge on a saucer shape in a pattern but he soon figured it out and within about three hours we had that top section completed. Being so complex it had to render overnight. It must have taken us a week of evenings after work to complete the whole animation.

What no one here realizes is that this particular sequence is A FIRST! – It has never been seen on film before. In fact most forums will tell you that the seeds come out from the centre – like the primordia on the growing tip. This particular sequence has been verified by Dr Palmer whose absolutely amazing, detailed and painstaking research I discovered by digging really deep. He has given me some really good ideas that I will be adding to my film next year.

I will answer your other questions about my film on my own thread and not hog this one.

Marj

Marj, wow!
It came together so well, a real voyage of discovery. I found myself sat there nodding, and going " I never knew that!Wow!" to myself throughout. Thoroughly engrossing, entertaining, well researched and backed up with great anims.

Be proud!

Cheers,

Rob

Congratulations to each who managed to post a final long form film.
In the beginning I did not understand how much work it should be to reach the final result. When I look at the other participating films, I must realize, my film is a rather short one.

I have had a first look at all videos. It is interesting to see how many different ideas, forms and personal interests, being reflected.
Marj's perfected educational video, Bob and his lovely traveling to Galapagos (a sailors dream), Mike and his turkey's sight on the flight over the mountains, Cat and her book from her fascinating neighborhood, Steve's historical and bird view, Dale's interesting coaching of hunting falcons, and Rob´history and wildlife at his wonderful Cliveden.
I need more time to do a thorough look for making comments on all these films.
Finally I wonder how many hours have been spent on all our projects through the last year?

Hi.
Just want to give my congratulations to you all finishers of ULF 2009.
What a great bunch og people you are. My youngest daughter, Elisabeth, have downloaded your films for me. Hopefully I will get some time to watch your videos after finishing next weeks tests at school. Though my time is full booked, I will use a minute now and then to keep up with you folks through this forum.

Bless you all and good luck with the final ULF 2009 competition.
Geir Inge

Hi all:

I only have a few films left to see and am running into trouble downloading the films. Could it be that the UWOL site is seeing a lot of traffic? Anyone else having issues?

Cat

O.K. Maybe not success on the UWOL site, but Vimeo is better for downloading!

Finn Erik, your film is both charming and beautiful. Well done friend! I am so impressed with this production, not to mention the English narration for our benefit and that you both play the music for this masterful piece! You both are so very talented! I LOVED the stills at the end with the sound of the camera clicks to accent the photographer at work. This didn't need to be 1 second longer than it was, and gives a solid tribute to this beautiful island, past and present. Straholmen is an enchanting place and you have captured it in a gentle and magical way.

Having goats myself, I thought the Viking Sheep were awesome and glad to hear they are making a come back on the island. Great work!

Cat

Bravo Rob!

Another masterpiece from you. From the mating butterflies, badgers, brilliant species of moths, Crayfish Bob, bats and hidden snails... you seriously uncover it all. The castle itself, although not the center of topic is captivating, breathtaking in its grandeur and makes me want to look it up and find out more about it. Nicely done!

Best wishes to your dad and for your continued recovery and good health as well.

Cat

Finn-Erik

Very nice film you made. Interesting story about Stråholmen, and a pleasure to watch!
Well done.

Steve, I just finished watching your magnificent video on birds. I think the best parts were showing the paintings of the birds then the actual bird. As I live in Atlanta you can bet I am heading out to Carolina NWR to do a bit of bird watching. Also, including the story of you as a 10 year old was a great idea. it really made the story flow. The way you followed the birds through the seasons made me once again realize the beauty of nature. The audio also added a lot to the video. The natural sounds of the birds coupled with soothing music blended with the visuals. If there are so many birds now, imagine what those flocks must have been like before man started having such an effect on their numbers. A great job. I really enjoyed every minute of it, and I think you should consider getting it onto Public TV. It really is that good. Bob

Hi all,
I have just finished viewing all your entries. Congratulations to all the finishers, I enjoyed watching them all. As a person who for various reasons has not been able to enter either the long or short competitions, I therefore do not wish to pass judgement on any of the entries. But, what I will say is well done to all of you, the variety of content has made for a very pleasant morning's viewing. If I were judgeing I would not know where to start, with so many different styles, content and effects.

Again well done to you all

Mick

Cat, I had no issues downloading your film, so don't worry, there won't be any DQ for file size.

Finn-Erik, we just watched your video entry. Beautiful. Seems like team Norway always comes up with a new video to encorage me to visit your fantastic country. What you have shown us is like the difference of watching a travel show created by a traveler, and a travel show created by someone that actually lives there and loves the country. How terrible it must have been to witness that devistating oil spill. It must have torn you up to see your beautiful landscape violated like that. I am so sorry. However, you showed us all how you Norwegians fought back and reclaimed the land. You created a truely wonderful video. Thank you. Bob

Meryem, thank you for the post. I'm relieved.

Welcome Mick... If you have persevered and watched all of these films, it sounds to me you will soon be running with the pack with your own film contributions next year!

Dale, your video is fascinating. Sadly I'm having trouble with the downloads, even your embedded Vimeo versions and have not been able to see the entire film yet. I'll keep at it though, your work is amazing to me.

Cat

Catherine- Are you sure this isn’t finished? I know there are some minor adjustments you can make (we all can), but this looks really good. You held out some of your best shots to the end though- naughty, naughty! I especially liked the tight editing to the music in Chapter Three. So far, I’ve only been able to watch the UWOL version a couple of times. I plan to sit down with the Vimeo version as soon as I can. Have you discussed distributing this on DVD with the park’s concessionaire? You should. I’m so glad you didn’t drop out! Can't wait to see what you add next year.

Bob- Wow! I’m amazed and encouraged that you could put together something this good with such a narrow shooting window and only seven tapes. I shot dozens and didn’t come up with nearly as many “keepers”. I do think the video could have benefited from having twice the budget, though- so you could have hired me to follow you around and carry the tripod (Ha!). I’m looking forward to seeing what you do with the Machu Pichu footage and to where else your travels may take you. I think there are many interesting places on this planet that would well benefit from a Bob Safay video!

Rob- I’m sorry about your health and family problems at the end. I’m sure they contributed to a couple of rough spots (like a dropped frame, which I’m sure you’ve probably already mended). I didn’t notice them at all on first viewing because the story is so interesting and the camerawork and editing so very good. I’m sure the Trust as well as Cliveden’s visitors will be quite pleased. I’m glad your father was able to watch and enjoy this; it’s really very good.

Dale- I know with everything happening things didn’t turn out exactly as you originally planned, but I think you have produced a video any falconry lover will love. I hope you will be able to add a little more to make it easier for a general audience to follow. Much of the jargon and many of the activities portrayed won’t be clear to someone that knows nothing about falconry. I’d like to see a short “what is falconry and what do falconers do” type Introduction, as well as an explanation of the terms later used in the clips. Best wishes with the broadcast deal. Let us know how it works out!

Finn-Erik - I thought your Round 4 video was very good. I’m amazed at how many small improvements you have since made and the huge cumulative effect. Thank-you for the English voice over (I enjoyed listening to the Norse). I think you have all of us outclassed in one important area. This video has very wide appeal. I think anyone that watches will enjoy it. Good luck on your (and Tone’s) next big project. I hope I get a chance to see it!

Marj- I enjoyed watching your video. I believe you intend to do more work on it and don’t consider it completed so I’d like to offer some suggestions in that vein. I’d like to hear a few words in the Introduction about the wider field of Biomathematics to give context to the geometry that follows; for example the predominance of math in such diverse fields as physiology, animal behaviour, and population dynamics. You did a good job of showing a diverse mix of organisms in the Introduction. By the time we get to the Conclusions, however, all we see are plants. I think it would be good to mix in a few animal clips again at that point. There are a couple of places where you lose focus, notably the general introduction to honeybees. The information is good (and very well done) but isn’t really germane to the subject. I think you can trim a bit here and gain time for the other topics. The voice over turned out very nice and I loved the Nautilus animation. All in all, a very pleasing general introduction to a fascinating subject.

I would seriously consider changing the title to avoid theological implications…

Steve- And you were worried early on about weaving your disparate segments into a cohesive whole! Well done. I especially enjoyed the nostalgic bit. Was that Audubon Guide really your first field guide? I’ve always loved Pope’s paintings. My first was Zim’s. I still treasure it although it is unusable, having fallen into the swamp with me. (I saved the binos by tossing them into the boat as I fell, but years later I wish I’d saved the book instead.) I remember the first time I saw Ungava listed in a range description and had to dig out the atlas. What a hoot! Where do I sign up for the official “Where the hell is Ungava?” tee-shirt?

Vidar, Per Johan, Chris, Bryce, Jennie, Mihali, Mat, Annie, Kevin, Markus, Jeff, Geir Inge, Andrew and Mike-

I miss you all terribly here at the end. You all have such compelling projects. I sincerely hope each of you is able to complete them outside of the restrictions of the Challenge. Please don’t forget to share with your friends at UWOL. My best wishes and good luck to all of you.

Hi Dale:

My downloading finally cooperated and I was able to complete viewing your film. Wow. I am so amazed. You did a beautiful job. I think what gets me the most is the bond between you and your bird. What hard work, both in falconry and in making of this film. You are one strong person to come against everything you did this year, and complete this film. Thank you for this amazing and beautiful effort. Your guitar skills are the best!

Cat

Vidar, Per Johan, Chris, Bryce, Jennie, Mihali, Mat, Annie, Kevin, Markus, Jeff, Geir Inge, Andrew and Mike-

I miss you all terribly here at the end. You all have such compelling projects. I sincerely hope each of you is able to complete them outside of the restrictions of the Challenge. Please don’t forget to share with your friends at UWOL. My best wishes and good luck to all of you.

Hear, Hear! And Cheers!

And a toast to the completed films this round.... somehow, when I wasn't looking, you all became top notch and professional film makers!

Cat

Mike,
Watching your film is being guided through a unique set of biomes by someone who knows them well. Expertise is in every sentence, and your voice over is pleasing and easy to listen to. How were you able to find so many hummingbird nests, and obscure invertebrates? Although the scenes with the vulture head in flight are a little cheesy, I think you knew that when you did them, and since they are presented in good fun, they don't detract at all. My favorite part, by far is your overlay of bird song. These were perfectly done with little evidence they were edited in. They made it feel like being there, and it was fun trying to identify them.

Rob,
I'm always fascinated by the natural history of Britain, and how much is contained in small spaces. You did an admirable job of explaining what was there to be seen, and getting it to fit into the estate's history. If Gilbert White had done a video, your's would be it.

Hi Mike - thanks so much for your feedback on my film. I will respond to it on my own thread so as not to clutter this one.

Marj

Marge,

All I can say is, "WORLD CLASS". What an inspiration!! Per Johan inspired me to work harder at my compositions and images. Your work has inspired me to work harder with my after effects, which to be honest I have hardly ever used.

this should be manditory for science classes and math classes!!

there is a Market out there!!



What a huge effort!!!! It is awesome.

Steve, you are a master storyteller. everything about this film hit the spot for me - great clean footage, massive amounts of wonderful bird species and behaviours, amazing history (that I knew nothing about!) backed up with great illustrations and images. This is indeed the result of a lifetime's passion, and you convey it with humour and honest enthusiasm. I love the way you managed to keep the flow and interest going throughout the time - 50 mins is an amazing feat. The v/o was warm and personal too, like sitting and listening to a friend.

I salute you, sir!!!

Bob,
What an amazing experience your trip to the Galapagos Islands must have been.
Your film made me feel as if I was there with you. Thank you!
Very well narrated, and so facinating to watch all those different animals.

Have you thought about selling this to tv? You should!

Dale,
you have a very interesting project. I did not know anything about coaching falcons before watching this.
I think your first part is the best.
I specially appreciate the sequence showing traveling and fetching the small bird in the mountain.
You are good to talk in front of the camera. The guitar, falcon, cat scene is fantastic.
Maybe you should lower the music level a bit on voice over.
The second part could profit on economizing on the hunting scenes. You have some very good flying shots which could be amazing, shortened down and clipped together.

Finn-Erik,

thanks for taking the time to view it and the constructive criticism.

I am going to rework the Hunting scenes totally. I will be pulling in footage shot outside of the challenge. I knew the flight sequences were to long. I built them last January-spring. What I learned is when you nest a project all the audio goes onto a single time line, it does not bring the audio in project format. that was news to me. Hence If I cut any sequences it interupted the audio. What I now have to do is go back and rebuild them without any background audio, place them in the current project then put in the background score. I also will reduce actual flying time, but I do not want to give the impression it only takes seconds for the whole thing to happen.
Bottom line, I have work to do!!



Mike,

I agree there is a fair amount of vernacular unique to the subject, I was aware of that and did try to explain as much as time alowed, but I proabably should have done more explaining. I tried to make it so general public could follow it but not dumb it down so much aspiring or experienced falconers would be put off. Probably should go one way or the other in hind sight.

Dale,

A very nice film you made! You really show how much hard work it takes to train those birds, and quite a bit of hiking too.

You do well both in front of the camera and behind it, and the story you tell is really interesting. Nice, calm VO. Well done.

A few times, you had some sequences with different aspect ratio. I believe it would have been better if everything was the same instead of mixing it.
As you comment yourself in the post before mine here, a few bird clips were a little long.
Like the clip at around 2 minutes in part 2. (The bird flying with only the blue sky as background)

Rob,
I am sorry about your father's health and your own health problems before the finishing date.
Your film is a pleasure to watch. You show the Cliveden area with so many interesting aspects. Your video has high technical quality and it is a pleasure to view throughout the whole film.
You also have a narrating talent in front of the camera.
I wish you all the best for the film's future.

Cat,
I am so glad you were able to deliver your video to the last round.
It is always interesting to observe your creative way of making exciting film. What a nature you can show up with, followed by these great masterpieces of music. Your animations are very good, and your voice over is always crystal clear.
If you need to shorten the video a bit, I will suggest to do some in the beginning and some in the end section with the information and credits.