Not so long ago many of us spent a great deal of time working on UWOL Long Form projects. Some of us were able to “finish”, others were sadly not. Many of us, like myself, became emotionally invested in other people’s projects. I propose we use some of the down time between rounds to bring each other up to date on where these projects have gone. Some may still be actively working on their project- Catherine and Marj for example. There was some talk about Mat’s coming out on DVD (I would love to own a copy; that UWIR shot of the breeding newts is still one of my all time favorites!). Some of us may be working on new projects which are direct outgrowths of our UWOL LF work. I would love to hear what each of you is working on and I suspect that I am not alone in this!

As for me, when we began the LF I didn’t own a HD camera. Most of my project was shot in SD. The HD footage shot at the end of the year was downrezzed. I’m trying now to only work in HD so I have marked the project as educational experience and archived it. I will be returning to the desert later this year to try and shoot an idea I had while working on my LF. I have built a contraption that I hope will let me record IR close-ups of Long-nosed Bats nectar feeding at Century Plant blossoms. I’ll let you know if it works…

I've been showing my Long Form as the entertainment at Audubon Society meetings. I was amazed at how nicely it blows up to the size of a slide-show type viewing screen. At least one of the shots I made for the Long Form, but didn't use may appear in the movie "The Big Year" when it premieres in October.

Hi all,
Well i haven't had too much to say on this forum lately. I'm still a bit embaressed that i can't seem to finish a regular challenge of late! Anyway, i am still working on my Mountain caribou project. The last year has been very busy for me, & i haven't done nearly as much as i would have liked on my project, but lately i have started to get some more done on it. I do have lots more footage to get still, but i have to say, i am certainly getting somewhere with it. My lovely partner has been very supportive, & she doesn't mind if i'm away filming on weekends, & has even hinted that she might like to come & help out a bit!!
Anyway, if i can get the footage that i need, i hope to be finished by the end of this year, if not then it will have to be next year, or, if i still don't get the footage, it may well be the year after!! Since there is no longer a deadline on this, i figure it will simply take as long as it takes to make a great piece out of it.
When i have some stuff worth putting up, i will post some short snippets as teasers.
Great to hear others too are still putting time into their long form projects.
Regards,
Bryce

Bryce,

Good to hear you are still at it. there is really no time frame. What ever ittakes to get it done is just fine. I have a couple projects I am on year 3 on!! Need a couple wild flowers in bloom and have not been able to get them as I want them, snow and wind problems, maybe this spring.
I am probably going to rebuild my long form with a pile of new footage shot this year and get the shots I never did the fall I was doing it. I had a huge double hard drive crash and will have to rebuild it anyway so may as well improve the whole package. i am not setting a timeline for myself on this one.

Hi
My project is (was) about seabirds. I've been trying for over 3 years now to make a video for TV on this subject. Well, it's much harder than I thought in the beginning ;)
I did a lot of shooting working on my ULF project (didn't finished though).
As my studying takes almost all of my time, I have decided to try and finished the project in 2012.
I have my last exam in May 2012, oh am I longing for that day :)
I don't think I will be able to part in uwol this year, no speartime left.
Still, I will try to get some time and shoot specific scenes at Runde island and around the islets of Kvamsoy (you've seen these places in my earlier videos). These are good places for seabird locations.
I need mating scenes, feeding scenes, fighting scenes and a lot more close ups.
The big challenge making a longer video is, as I see it, the editing prosess.
If I can get it done by 2012 I will try to sell it to a TV station and also get it on a film festival.
I intend to make a version with norwegian VO, and one with english VO.
Hope you all are doing fine :)

great thread - a lot of fun to hear these updates and to know that some of these projects are still alive and reincarnating themselves into different forms and uses, out there in the world.

that's what it's all about...

Well, it's been a long time since this thread was added to, & i can only hope that like me, others who didn't get to finish their long form project for the competition are still working on their project. The last time i posted about my film on the mountain caribou was over 12 months ago. Back then, i had hoped to be finished by the end of last year. Well, i am now hoping to be finished some time early next year! Yes is seems like a long way off, but i am still plugging away at it, & slowly but surely making some progress. I have had some success filming the caribou, as well as getting some footage of wolves & a cougar. Still hoping to get some footage of grizzly bears as they are a big part of the einvironement up there.
I have been using trail cameras a lot to find where certain animals go at certain times of the year & have had some good results with them. Of course it's one thing to leave a camera like this set up for weeks on end & capture footage. Of course, as soon as i set up a hide & spend countless hours in the freezing cold hoping to capture with my good camera what the trail camera managed to capture, the animals seem to be rather shy & don't seem to want to show at all. Still, i can't complain, i am out in a beautiful part of the world & can honestly say i enjoy every moment of it.
I am still working on the script for the narration & i'm happy with how that is coming along. I may even do the narration myself as the last time i recorded it, i thought it sounded better than i had managed any time before.
I will try to post some footage to Vimeo in the coming weeks to show you how it's coming along & hopefully get some critical feedback from you all.
Regards,

Bryce

Glad to hear that you're doing allright, Bryce.
I have put my ULF on ice as I'm studying, but will proceed afterwords.
During my work with ULF I shot a lot of otter video.
Our National TV station bought some of it to use in a TV magazine about the otter, mostly mine where used ;-) AND I did get paid - so I'm happy how it turned out.

Hey Geir,
Great to hear from you. How are your studies going? That's great to hear you managed to get a bunch of your footage shown on national TV. You must have been extremely pleased about that!

Regards,

Bryce

I never completed any long form uwol, but I have been planning to make a documentary about my own city for some years now.
Got kick-started by the December 2011 uwol, when I made a short teaser/trailer.
Hopefully I can film everything this year, or at least complete by next year.

Geir:
Well done selling yours!

Sounds great Trond. Will you keep us updated with how it is going?

Bryce

Bryce, yes I'll keep you updated.

It is good to see a few are still using or working on their long form.

Mine I placed on vimeo in two parts when it was not really finished. I had computer and hard drive issues so I let it drop.

I did have a couple parts of it I submitted to a tv station and they ran them in march. So I rekon that is a bit of a success in a small way.

I also had pbs take a section of one of my videos off my vimeo page and use it, without asking I might add.

I may actually make a new effort of improving it and completing it this year

Actually it would be nice to undergo another long form challenge!!!

That's great to hear Dale. Well maybe not about PBS ripping off your footage, but that you managed to get it finished for the most part, & that it aired on public tv. Well done!
I had a bit of success just yesterday with my search for grizzly bear footage for my film. Something i was a bit nervous about actually. Well i happened upon this young grizzly yesterday & managed to get some very nice footage of him.
There is still lots more footage i need in order for me to put this whole film together, but with each little triumph like yesterdays, i get that little bit closer to putting it all together.

Bryce

Bryce, Sounds like you've had some good luck. "Just happening upon a young grizzly" is not something many people get away with.

Dale, I'm surprised at two things. One that PBS would use downloaded Vimeo-quality footage, and two, that they didn't offer you compensation for it. Does this mean that we all should be on the lookout for PBS piracy?

It's the grizzlies that you DON'T see that you need to worry about Bryce! :)

Ha, ha, yes for sure!! Same as the cougars! On that subject, I do have some night time trail camera footage of a cougar, but the quality, (while 1080p), is pretty average, & quite compressed. Still at the end of the day, if i have to use it i will, but in the meantime, if i am lucky enough to get some cougar footage with a decent camera, all the better.

Steve, i did happen to be in a car when i came across the grizzly. While i am constantly in bear country when i'm in search of or filming the caribou, i have taken every precaution, including enlisting the help of a bear expert for training me in how to look for signs, etc, etc, etc. Actually, it all great when he's with me, as between us we have 4 cans of bear spray, & he carries a 12 guage shot gun with 18 rounds of solids. When he's not around though, which is 99 % of the time. i only have my wits, what i have been taught & read & a couple of cans of bear spray to keep me out of trouble.

I am still tinkering with the narrative script, & seem to change little bits & pieces almost every time i read through it. I am constantly re-recording it, & think (hope) it is getting better with each new variance.

Regards,
Bryce

P.S. I was looking at your website again the other day Kevin. You have some very impressive Grizzly footage there!!

Let me know if you need any footage Bryce.
Kind of funny, I still have bear bells in my camera bag. Bear spray is certainly a must. So is making a lot of noise. Most attacks come from surprising the bear.

Bear 399 down in the Tetons is a great bear to film. She's usually pretty visible.

I have footage of a grizzly climbing a tree so that bunk about a grizzly can't climb is just that. :)

As cool as grizzlies are, wolves are my magical animal. Sad that so many people are out to eliminate bears, wolves, coyotes, mountain lions, bobcat, you name it and they want them all dead.

Grizzlies are usually not a threat, however they can also be deadly.


The way to tell grizzly skat from black bear skat is grizzly skat has bells in it!!!



have fun, be smart!!!

there is nothing much more adrenalizing than hunting dangerous game from foot!!! having just the camera takes it up another level!!!

an alternate idea to carrying weapons is simply bringing along a someone that runs slower than you, eh??? LOL

Dale

PS
I now generally do not alow downloading of my videos on vimeo anymore if it is anything I plan to use.

Yeah i've heard it smells like pepper spray too Dale!!

Ok, well at long, long, long last, i have finally finished my long form project on the mountian caribou. I'd hate to admit it, but not only did i not get it done on time, but i also went over the time limit, well & truly disqualifying me!! :)
I am just uploading it now to Vimeo so you can all watch it here. I have submitted it to a number of film festivals & hope to even see it screened at some. You have all been such a wealth of knowledge & very helpful pool of resource, & i certainly couldn't have done this without your help & support. I will only have it up for a week as i am going to try to keep it from being ripped off by PBS! :)
As soon as it is uploaded, i will add a link.
Regards,
Bryce

Private video on Vimeo

Password: TLMC

Ok, i just made a couple of changes that i think make things flow a little better.

Private video on Vimeo

Password is: TLMC

Bryce, I have just enjoyed a most magical and informative 45mins, you must be so proud, well done. There is so much I like about the film. All I can say is to those reading this post please take time to watch, this may have been a labour of love for Bryce but, the viewer is well rewarded when watching. I will be watching this again tomorrow and probably several more times before you take it down. Mick

Wow Mick,
What a lovely response, thank you! It's funny, last night i watched my initial short for the long form round, & i have to say, i was quite surprised at just how much i had obviously researched back then. I was also surprised at how close the final film was to what i described. The whole idea of me being in the film presenting it was never originally intended, but 3 or 4 years ago, after my brother in-law watched it & suggested more of a story to keep the viewer interested, i decided my struggle to capture the caribou on film could be a part of the story. Having watched it in all its different forms over all these years, i have to say, he was absolutely right about having a story. It just makes it that much better to watch.
The other great advice i got from a friend was to use more talking head shots. At that time i only had a couple, but after trying a couple more, i came to realize that as much as i found being in front of the camera awkward, it definitely made it more personal. Interestingly enough, i even found i was starting to relax in front of the camera, & didn't mind doing it as much as i had in the beginning.
Like i mentioned in a previous post, i have so many people here to thank for not just the help they have given me, but also the motivation i have got from all the people here. Andrew Hood, if you read this, & if you watch the film, i am sure you will be shaking your head with my narration after all the help you have given, but i have to say, i think it would have been a lot worse had you not helped me out.

Bryce, that was magnificent. This really needs to be on Public TV. You told a very educational story about the caribou and their habitat. I learned a lot about these beautiful animals. The narration was clear with no distortion, I would attribute that to your excellent sound mixing. Great color and composition of your shots. I noticed you used several different camcorders, I saw Canon's and Sony's. I imagine you had to use different formats at this was probably started about 5 years ago. Was most of it shot in UHD? Can you give us some information on your equipment and formats. I will be visiting the Canadian Rockies this fall, I sure hope I get to see some caribou. Again, this really looked like BBC did it. Please let us know if it gets broadcasted. Bob.

Hi Bob , I watched this late last night an was gobsmacked! I wrote a quick piece and intended to write a more in depth message today saying exactly what you have just posted and asking the same questions re the production. So Bryce please excuse me jumping in and seconding Bob's post

Bryce, its a shame you are too late to enter it in Jackson Hole, but you should seriously consider entering it in next years UK's Wildscreen (its basically run by the BBC behind the scenes

Mick

Hi Bob,
Thank you very much for those very kind words. I'm very happy to hear you like the narration. Yours is a voice that i could listen to all day. I love the narrations you do, so while i think i am a long way from that level, its great to hear you thought it was good.
As far as the cameras, well spotted. I started out with my Canon XH A1, then to a Sony EX 3, then the Panasonic GH4. At the same time i had other cams i used as backups & b-cams. I used a Canon HV20 when i was using the XH A1 & got a Canon XA 20 when i had the EX 3. I am now using a Panasonic GX85 with the GH4. On top of all those cams, were all the cams i used for the remote cams. Mainly Canon HF S20, due to the lanc. connection. I also used a small Sony handycam as well, but have to admit i found the colours on that one very odd, & the sharpening was over the top & couldn't be dialed down. I also had a Canon T3i also for a video remote camera. So yes, lots of different cams, & formats to deal with. I use Edius to do all my editing, & the beauty of this NLE is that i can edit pretty much anything i throw at it. Nothing none of the footage i threw at it needed to be transcoded, it all just edited the same. Since i got the GH4, all the stuff i have shot has been in 4k, & i have to say, i won't ever shoot in 1080 again unless it is for a slomo shot or something. The footage is just that much better than anything i have shot in 1080 on all my other cams. Re-framing in post is also a big reason for me shooting in 4k when delivering in 1080. Having done this all single handed, the shots of me where there is a bit of movement, is mainly all just pan & scan in post from the 4k frame. More often than not, it only takes the slightest big of movement to make it really come to life. Some shots i did do with a motorized slider, & those shots really worked well.
Bob & Mick, at the length it is, it will certainly fit in a 1 hour slot, and that was certainly a consideration. I would dearly love to see it broadcast here in BC Canada & ideally in Washington state & Idaho in the US so people know the situation the caribou are in. I am sure, the vast majority aren't even aware they exist in this area. I have it entered into a few film festivals at this time, & yes it's a shame i didn't get it into Jackson Hole. I missed Banff mountain film festival by (would you believe) 2 days!! I will try Wildscreen when submissions open up.
Thank you very much for the comments guys, it's really good to know i'm on the right track!

Hi Bryce, have just watched again and listened this time with head phones. hope you don't mind me pointing this out but where you have clips with background audio track butting against those without you are getting quite an abrupt sound change. You may wish to cross fade the audio in those places. hope don't mind me pointing this out. Mick

That's great thanks Mick,
That's exactly the sort of feedback i'm after. I need to sit down and listen to it all carefully with earphones & sort that out. I thought i heard it too when i watched it with a friend last night.
I am able to replace the film on the site where it can be viewed by the festivals, so should get this done & replace it asap.
Thanks,
Bryce

I really enjoyed watching this Bryce. Great work following through and putting everything together, that's a huge amount of work. I think including yourself, and the trials and tribulations you went through was a good choice. It made for an interesting and relatable story.

For the voiceover I think you took the advice onboard - this felt more connected and direct than the previous short form entry you had about the caribou. And it told a more engaging story through the vocal narrative. I found myself focused on the story, not thinking about the specifics of the VO. A lot of it comes down to practice - the more you do it, the easier it gets. Just like being in front of the camera, which I don't tend to do.

It's great to see how this has evolved into the larger piece. Good luck with the festival submissions.

Thank you Andrew,
Coming from you, that is a very nice compliment. Yes i think you are right, practice makes perfect, i just need to practice lots more! :). Writing the narration too was something i struggled with, & you wouldn't believe the number of times i changed things in an effort to make them sound better, or flow better. I learnt to how while one word written reads well, it can be difficult to pronounce clearly after the previous word in the sentence. I found myself looking at a thesaurus many times in order to find the words i could pronounce clearly.
As for being in front of the camera, you are right, practice makes perfect. Something i learnt doing the "Rut" was that being up close to the camera & looking at the LCD screen, looks really bad. While it is only a few inches away from the lens, it looks really bad when the person onscreen is talking, but not looking directly at you. You have to be looking straight down the lens.
Really glad you liked enjoyed it.
I have just made a little trailer for it. It's a little down & dirty, but i hope it will convey what the film is about. I've never done a trailer before, so any feedback on that would be appreciated too! :)
Regards,
Bryce

Ok, so i've just made a little trailer for the film too. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
The Last Mountain Caribou Trailer on Vimeo

Bryce, I watched the trailer several times and really wanted to see more of the video. I only have a few suggestions. At 0:40 you transcend from snow covered mountains to walking on bare ground. I would take the shot of the flower with melting snow at 0:46 and move it forward to show the transition of seasons. Also, as a viewer I would want to know where all this beautiful scenery was filmed. Identify your location so the viewer will get a better feeling of where you are taking them.

On another note, I will be spending 10 days (Sept 26 - Oct. 6th) going through your Canadian Rockies via train and hope to see/video some of these caribou. I will be taking my Canon XF300 with me. Take care and keep shooting. Bob

Hi Bob,
Those are fantastic suggestions thank you. I will make the changes and get it uploaded tonight.
Your trip through the Rockies sounds like it will be great! Being on the train may actually give you an advantage for seeing some wildlife?? The problem with the parks in the Canadian Rockies is that they have been getting busier & busier every year, & this year with the 150th birthday celebrations, there are no park fees, & from what i have heard, it's a bit of a gong show! Naturally, with it being so busy, the animals will be in hiding, unless you are up early, or out late!
Can't wait to hear how your trip goes!!
Regards,
Bryce

Hi Bryce

It has been almost a year since we returned from Canada and I must say we certainly notice the lack of wildlife. We lived on the edge of town in Ontario, but were still able to see chipmunks, squirrels, shrews, raccoons and groundhogs from our dining room window. Just little further afield we saw beavers, martins, musk rats and osprey.

We certainly had nowhere near the rugged terrain available to you, but we came to appreciate how much wildlife there is in Canada. That you are taking the time to document a small part of it is very laudable. I have just invested forty-five minutes of my life in watching your film and was in no way disappointed. Keep up the excellent work.

Thank you Tim for the encouragement. I have learnt a lot from making this film, like what I would do differently next time! :)
How is it for you settling back into life in WA? I can't imagine any two places more different than WA and Ontario. Where are you in WA? My brother lives in Albany and there is quite a bit of wildlife where he lives.
Hope to see you back with us again having fun with another UWOL challenge soon!

Hi Bryce

Western Australia is very different from Canada. Even though we had a coldish winter, it was probably 'shorts weather' in Ontario. We have moved back to our house in Perth. I love Albany, it is probably my favourite WA town. It has lots of granite and waves, makes for a lovely coastline. We went through Albany on the cruise ship on the way home and really enjoyed it.

Hi Tim,
Yes i heard they have been having a cold (for WA) winter this year.
Well i hope once you settle back in there, we will see you making some more films for the UWOL.
Regards,
Bryce

It is with a very heavy heart that i write this today.

The most recent census numbers are in for the South Selkirk herd of Southern Mountain Caribou, & it's not good with just 3 cows counted.

Norm Merz, a biologist with the Kootenai tribe in Idaho reported an area from Myrtle Creek just north of Bonners Ferry, Idaho, all the way north to Nelson, BC was covered in the census. This pretty much covers all of this herd's range. There is still a slither of hope some were missed, but it doesn't look good. The 3 cows have been captured and radio collared, & blood samples taken for pregnancy testing. So far the results aren't in, but we will keep our fingers crossed.

Last summer i was helping David Moskowitz David Moskowitz | Photography and Wildlife Tracking (http://davidmoskowitz.net/) set some camera traps for photos for his upcoming book. We struggled to get many shots of the caribou even in areas that had produced a lot of footage for me over the years. In late summer we managed to get a great shot of a bull, & as i write this, i wonder if that bull was still around in the fall, the caribou's breeding season.

Just where things will go now for this herd is still undecided, but as it stands right now, the herd is functionally extirpated. A maternal pen had been built & was ready to go this March, but with snow depths at 140% above normal in the area, the top of the 15' fence was only a foot above the snow at the time the caribou were to be captured. It was decided then to abandon the project for this year, & make the fence even higher. Obviously the project is now on hold until things are clear on what direction will be taken with this herd.

If this herd (the last remaining caribou south of the US/Canada border) disappears from the landscape, what then? Well you can bet your bottom dollar the logging companies will be lining up to get in and log any remaining old growth forest in the area. This logging is the main reason for the demise of this herd in the first place, & the reason so many other southern mountain caribou herds are facing the same fate.

I am hoping to have my film broadcast on David Suzuki's "The Nature of Things" on the CBC here in Canada, but am waiting to hear back from them. With this devastating news though, i have decided to make the film available to watch online for the next week or so. I really hope my film will help raise awareness about this species, & hopefully help in the protection of other herds, almost all of which are in decline for all the same reasons this one is now extirpated.

Having watched it a number of times since i first finished it, I found a bunch of things i wanted to change, & went ahead in did so. I am now happy with how things flow, & hope you enjoy it.

Please feel free to share it around, as i am hoping to raise awareness about this issue.

Regards,
Bryce
The Last Mountain Caribou on Vimeo

That's sad to to hear Bryce. Hopefully you can get your film out there asap. I have shared on my twitter page for you. Mick

That was sad news, Bryce!
Hope your film can be used as a wakening call.

Thanks Mick & Trond,
Yes this is why i decided i would allow anyone to view the film, at least for a little while. I'm still hoping it will be shown on national tv here, but that may be a stretch!!