What goes well, what goes not so well...
Here is the place to share it all.

Good luck everyone, and remember to strictly follow rule #11, have FUN!

Ok! It's on...
I got a story for some time now, but have not hade the time or opertunity to shot it, but now may be the time. The theme is not spot on, but I hope it's close enough.
But I would need some help for this one. Is it anyone the got a teen dother tha could read the voice over for me. It needs to be a teen girl and also English speaking.
This short will be a pilot in a big production webserie I'm planing ( and UWOL is the perfect place to test new ideas).
If anyone can help, please send a mail to markus (at) nordproduktion (dot) se

Thanks!

Have you found anyone to do the voiceover yet, Markus? If not, I'm sure I could round up someone and record it for you!

How old does your teenager need to be, Markus? I might know a couple, too, depending on the age you're looking for...

Thanks girls... no one yet.
My film will be a children program about some UW critters and the character the voice is for, is a female "toon-cyanobacteria" that will host the program. The age is not so important, more about a fun and "prankish".

If you got anyone around you that may fit the description I would highly appreciate your help.

this is a drawing of the character.

Heat index is 110 F all week. Need I say more.

Absolute misery for the shooter, but the snakes and lizards should be loving it, I would think. ;)

Cute drawing, Markus. Fun, prankish, cyanobacteria girl, hmm? Meryem, do you have someone in mind or should I start making phone calls?

It was 108 here yesterday. It’s supposed to cool off to 107 today (I don’t even dare look at the heat index!). I’ve spent the last few days trying something different and have managed to get only one shot before my subjects absolutely refused to cooperate. (Can’t blame them- too hot.) I don’t know if it will work until I see how it cuts against straight footage. I’m playing with an experimental Frazier-like lens train. So far it’s only held together with tape, spit, string and a few well placed prayers and curses. If it works, I’ll build something more field worthy. Here’s a still of the set up. The second tripod is a stage for the macro subject.

Mike that looks capable of putting a 3 inch grouping at 1000 yards :-)

I'll be taking us on an underwater adventure for this round. I shot all my footage on the day the theme was announced. Now I have to piece the story together. Here's a screenshot.

Markus,

I have been playing with some voice altering software called MorphVox Pro (from a company called Screaming Bee). It allows you to change your voice, even to a woman's. Even to a teenager.
I altered my self to a teenage boy with good results. Granted it was just a couple of short phrases, not a whole narrative, but if you can't find a real girl, it might work. Price is less than $100 US.

And now that it's the subject of discussion, I had mentioned in a post a year ago the idea of UWOLers setting up a bank of voice-over volunteers for each other to use (or for a nominal fee) in our productions. Markus needs a girl. I could use a Frenchman, A Scotsman, a Boston Brahmin and a New Yorker. I thought it was a pretty good idea, but no one seemed interested at the time.

Steve, if you recall I did the VO for Kevin Railsback's video "The River". It worked great. He sent me the video and script. I make a few changes, did the VO and sent it back to him. If you do start a list, I will be th first to volunteer. Bob

Hollidays are over and I'm back home from Crete.
Lovely days with temp around 40+C, hot, hot, hot - but I like it :)
BIRDS, FISH, REPTILES, AND AMPHIBIANS, well I just have to figure out something for this round.
You are clever Meryem to put up such exciting themes.
I have an idea and now I have to twist my mind, how to put it into max 3 min.

I volunteer for that list if any one would need my weird Scandinavian voice. I would be honored if any one thought that my voice would fit...

I'm almost finished writing the VO, just some small ajustments left. Then a quick planing of what images I need. I don't like to plan it to much, then I feel to bound and can't "go with the flow" when I get into the water.

I was just going to offer my daughter Lucy, Lorinda - but if you know someone....

that's a very cute picture, Markus.

I'm looking forward to seeing your films...sounds like some good stuff happening.

Markus, I've got a delightful young lady lined up for your voiceover talent, so if you'd like to email the script my way I'll get it to her. We are scheduled to record on Wednesday. I told her I'd try to get her the script a few days in advance; if that doesn't give you enough time just let me know and I'll reschedule her.

Steve, if you want to start the list we can add to it, and I'll ask about making it "sticky" so it doesn't get lost. For non-DV Info members (such as this young lady) who would be willing to be on the list, the member's name would be associated as the contact, unless the talent wants their contact info available for the whole world to see. Sound okay?

Whoa! I was posting at the same time you were, Meryem! This gal is pretty excited about doing the work, but if Lucy wants to do it I'll call it off with Madison.

no, no - your person sounds like she's thrilled to do it - I was just trying to help out -

I would be happy to start the list, and be the third one to volunteer, if anyone wants an American sort of voice. Lorinda, I haven't a clue how to do this in a UWOL format. Any advice?

Nope. I'm not even sure what you mean by a UWOL format. The only thing I was picturing is a thread that had an explanation and then names with short audio samples attached to each one. Which means, if you started the list you'd either have to gather other names/clips first or be number one. :) Brighter minds than mine will have to chime in.

Wow! Sounds good Lorinda. My plan is to send it on Monday, You should have it on Monday morning (your time). It's a few things I need to rewrite and think throu.
If some part sound weird, feel free to change, English is my second language... Some part may sound good in my head, but weird when it read. Also, my spelling may be wrong or another word is written. But I think you'll understand. I send a description And put some notes in the script.

Cheers and good luck everyone...

About the list... What if we start a thread there everyone that feel they can help write a short description about him/her and a link to a film or sound clip, then some contact info. that would be grate for other (out side UWOL) productions as well, but then it would be an agreement between them if any money would be exchange. For UWOL I think volunteering would be good ( but I'm in a position that I can only say "thank you" if volunteering would be our agreement, Lorinda).

That sounds simple enough, Markus! As for the young gal helping with your project, I made sure she knew she was volunteering. The only thing I promised her was a link to the finished video. She's quite pleased with that idea!

That's cool Lorinda... I put up a DVD file on a ftp that you could burn to her and ofcourse I upload a HD on vimeo.

OK, I'm getting a story together here. I've never really done wildlife films before, but I have done a few documentaries.

The thing is I've never done a documentary with a voice over before; I always let the subjects do the talking and then I find the most interesting part is to try and assemble a coherent story from mixing and mashing the various interviews in post. That's going to be difficult with a purely animal based documentary, so I figure I will revolve the story around human & animal interaction.

I'll be filming next week at a few locations and I will see what I can come up with (I only just realized how tight the deadline was today; need to get in gear now)!

I've tried compressing some test footage with Sorenson 3 compressor (using Premiere cs3) as I figure the real problem I am going to have in this whole project will be in postproduction. I've been having a lot of problems with my editing computer (anything else other than dvd output is usually an uphill battle).
Can anyone offer any advice?

I'm shooting on HDV pal 25 fps. Editing on CS3 Premiere.

The footage looks good. So I export to Adobe Media Encoder.

Select Quicktime as the format, custom preset.
Video Codec is Sorenson Video 3 Compressor.
Quality 100
Frame Width 428 / Height 240
FPS: 25
Field Order: None (progressive)
Pixel aspect : Square (1.0)
Bit rate: 21.36

The resultant video looked like washed out mush.

Simon,

I was in exactly the same boat as you with CS3, and CS4 too. CS5 is a bit better at scaling, but still not brilliant. (I now use TMPGEnc for my HD work).

See this thread: http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/uwol-challenge-our-newest-contest/466804-compression-issues.html

Basically, you export at 428x240, uncompressed AVI, then create a new project, import the AVI and simply export it as a compressed file. CS3 doesn't seem to want to rescale and compress at the same time without making s dog's dinner of it.

Hi Simon. The UWOL deadline is a real bear. It’s the one thing I most wished would change. A voice-over is not required; there are many fine videos in the UWOL film vault without VO. It can really add a lot to the production and if you’ve never done one, I say go for it! The Challenge is a great place to try out new things. Especially since you can get feedback and people here really try to help you improve your technique. We are changing the upload requirements this round so it is hard to give advice about compression at this time. We have discussed it several times so you might want to take a look at those older threads. Once we get the new requirements, I’m sure we’ll talk about it again. *I see Mike’s already given you good advise.* You’ve already figured out the main thing- if you get stuck ask for help. Everyone here wants to see you finish a video. Good-luck!

Thanks guys, that should help!

BTW - is anyone here using FCPX?

Did I hear someone say something about the deadline being a bear? :) Then you may like this:
Big news, players! Talking it over with Meryem we decided that, in order to give us more time to implement the transition of the UWOL Challenge we're extending the deadline for UWOL 21.

That's right--you now have the entire month to complete your entry!

Deadline for submissions will be August 31, 2011, midnight anywhere in the world.

So, if you are almost finished you can either relax or spend that extra time you always wish you had to make it perfect. If you haven't started yet, no excuses--get out there and shoot something! :)

Did I say bear? I must have meant Teddy Bear hamster. Yes, I like it.

Ha! Learned something new in this challenge already...the Teddy Bear hamster. ;) Cute!

Hi all,
Thought I would post here as it is a woe. Sorry I have not been able to enter this round, we will be away on our travels again. I have been keeping up to date on all the new's so thank you Lorinda for taking on running the challenge.

The main woe is that I have been filming a lot of birds and dragon flies this year for a project we have and will be filming a lot more this month so would have had some good material to post if we were going to home in time, but unfortunately we will be away.

Anyway here is a link to a very small part of the project to encourage those of you who have entered this round.
Although filmed during May I have only just edited this section, wsihing you all the best

Mick

Dippers on Vimeo

I'm shooting on HDV pal 25 fps. Editing on CS3 Premiere.

The footage looks good. So I export to Adobe Media Encoder.

Select Quicktime as the format, custom preset.
Video Codec is Sorenson Video 3 Compressor.
Quality 100
Frame Width 428 / Height 240
FPS: 25
Field Order: None (progressive)
Pixel aspect : Square (1.0)
Bit rate: 21.36

The resultant video looked like washed out mush.

Simon, I'm using CS3.
Can you re-check the bitrate you mention. 21,36 is this accurate?
I'll see if I can find some time within the next few days to do a test with your settings.
I'm using Sorenson Squeeze to compress my videos, as I was never really happy with the CS3 Media Encoder.

Mick,
Sorry to hear you are out already. You are aware of the extended deadline?


I was out shooting a bit yesterday. Oh I wish I knew the magic trick to have the birds cooperate instead of flying away as soon as they spot me and the camera. (They were not afraid when I was fishing from my boat earlier in the day).
Maybe the extended deadline will come in handy this time...

Mick,
I was out shooting a bit yesterday. Oh I wish I knew the magic trick to have the birds cooperate instead of flying away as soon as they spot me and the camera. (They were not afraid when I was fishing from my boat earlier in the day).
Maybe the extended deadline will come in handy this time...

Hi Trond.
All wild creatures have a radius of fear.
Like they are saying; "don't come any closer".
It also varies from season to season, and many birds do get very angry and aggressive when breeding.
Also this radius of fear do varies from species to species.
The grey heron for instance, I rarely get closer then 300 m, if I don't sneak upon them :)
When walking through bird colonies, like the one we have at Runde island, you can get much closer.
It also depends on how used the birds are to people.
I think birds are difficult to shoot, especially in flight
Lately I have tried to use a rubber band when doing pans and tilts,
it then goes a bit smoother then using just hands.
Just fasten the rubber band to the stick and drag it sideways holding just the rubber band.
I have to practise a bit more though :)
Best of luck Trond.

Hi Trond,

Thanks. Yes I realised the deadline had been extended, but we are away for the rest of this month plus most on next.

Best of luck to you all with your entries.

Mick

Simon, I'm using CS3.
Can you re-check the bitrate you mention. 21,36 is this accurate?
I'll see if I can find some time within the next few days to do a test with your settings.
I'm using Sorenson Squeeze to compress my videos, as I was never really happy with the CS3 Media Encoder.

Hi Trond,

Thanks,
For sure I was surprised with the bitrate, but that was the default setting and I did not change it, though it could be increased easily (does anyone have any idea what would be standard).

In truth I have had lots of issues with CS3 and exporting videos; it seems to be very hit-and-miss for me. Essentially any videos I export as mov or mp4 or avi or wmv work fine on my editing computer, but they are not watchable on other computers (unknown file types and weird errors). I have tried to work out solutions, but its always an uphill battle, and I never could find a definite solution. DVD's were always fine though.

At any rate, due to a new gig that I will start doing soon I need to upgrade and buy a laptop that I can edit with in the field. I decided to get an apple MBP (with FCPX) which I should receive in a few weeks. Although FCPX has got some bad press I hope it should be usable for the type of work I will be doing (strictly prosumer work, delivered online and on dvd, with a very fast turn-around). So perhaps this project will be the last time I work with CS3....

Simon,

I'm surprised you have trouble exporting avi-files. Which file type do you choose under the export settings?
I have always used Microsoft DV AVI when exporting to AVI. (SD source footage)
For HD video I always use Cineform.

Regarding the bitrate, I'd say use as high as you can.

I exported a short clip using your settings, and the low bitrate caused a very washed out picture.
Then I used the same settings, but increased the bitrate to about 1500 and got a big difference.

Hi Trond.
All wild creatures have a radius of fear.
Like they are saying; "don't come any closer".
It also varies from season to season, and many birds do get very angry and aggressive when breeding.
Also this radius of fear do varies from species to species.
The grey heron for instance, I rarely get closer then 300 m, if I don't sneak upon them :)
When walking through bird colonies, like the one we have at Runde island, you can get much closer.
It also depends on how used the birds are to people.
I think birds are difficult to shoot, especially in flight
Lately I have tried to use a rubber band when doing pans and tilts,
it then goes a bit smoother then using just hands.
Just fasten the rubber band to the stick and drag it sideways holding just the rubber band.
I have to practise a bit more though :)
Best of luck Trond.
Thanks, Geir!
I was filming sea gulls. And I guess the problem was no place where I could hide. Some birds would let me get as close as 20m, some departed at 60m range. But the funny thing is, they never departed until I mounted my camera on the tripod. When I had the camera in my hand, I could move in pretty close, to within a few meters. Maybe the gulls just didn't want to be filmed.
Better luck next time.

Hmm, only 3 minutes, well that is a challenge for me, this round.
Wish I had 5 minutes, but I wont give up my original plan yet.
Shot my last scenes yesterday and previous day, down by my fathers boathouse and at Runde island.
My problem is how to cut together clips from Crete and Norway,
into one sensible piece within 3 minutes?
Also I'm not that used to Vegas yet, may I come over Dale so you can teach me a trick or two :)
Hope everyone is doing fine out there?

I know that feeling, Geir Inge. Sometimes I can tell the story I want in three minutes, but only by rushing to get it all in and ruining the timing. I often wish for another minute or two so I can work on the pace. I think Marj has said this as well. I hope it works out for you. I’d like to see your footage from Crete!

Trond- Perhaps try feeding the gulls some fish. The gulls I see will overcome their fear of many things if they think something to eat is possible.

I watched deleted scenes on a feature film with the director's commentary. There was one scene he cut that I thought it would have helped me understand part of the movie better if it had been left in; however, it certainly wasn't crucial to the story. Try to keep that in mind when you are paring down your entry.

A few times I've wished I had finished a 4-5 minute film to my liking and rendered that before slicing the extra minutes off. You might consider doing that, then after the contest giving us the full version to compare. Oftentimes, our leaner version is actually better, but not always.

Just thought of another thing to consider: If you've cut as much as you can bear and it still laps over the time limit, ask someone whose judgment you trust to watch it and suggest further cuts. I did that for a friend once who said he just couldn't cut more without ruining his film. It tightened up the piece and he ended up liking it better. He didn't win that time, but judging by the feedback it wasn't because of the edit. ;)

Trond- Perhaps try feeding the gulls some fish. The gulls I see will overcome their fear of many things if they think something to eat is possible.
Good tip, I'll try that out next time.

I know that feeling, Geir Inge. Sometimes I can tell the story I want in three minutes, but only by rushing to get it all in and ruining the timing. I often wish for another minute or two so I can work on the pace. I think Marj has said this as well. I hope it works out for you. I’d like to see your footage from Crete! .

Thank you for supporting comments :)
First I must "tailor" my manuscript, then I must consider what scenes I want from Crete.
Right now I think I will use some underwater clips and some more "spacious" clips.
Not so much to see from the island itself, or creatures - some fish maybe.
The challenge lies in linking the clips from Crete, to the clips from Norway, without extending the limit of 3 minutes and to make a sensible story out of it.
But I'm working on it :)

Hi Simon. The UWOL deadline is a real bear. It’s the one thing I most wished would change.

I do agree with you - three weeks is a horrible rush especially for working folk. Trying to put something together that is hopefully worthwhile watching takes time. I really hope a month to complete our films will become the norm rather than the exception . . . now if only I had known this at sign-up time . . :)

I know that feeling, Geir Inge. Sometimes I can tell the story I want in three minutes, but only by rushing to get it all in and ruining the timing. I often wish for another minute or two so I can work on the pace. I think Marj has said this as well. . . .


Funnily enough, while I had a major headache squeezing my latest entry, I don't believe the films should be longer than three minutes - most folk here find it difficult enough to fill three minutes, never mind five.

I always spend a good deal of time cutting out stuff, so five minutes won't help the likes of me. Sometimes it needs a radical re-arrangement of clips to shorten what is being said while at other times I just have to simplify my thoughts to make it more concise. Sometimes it requires a mangle - like changing three-syllable words to single syllable words (e.g "difficult" to "hard" ) to get it to fit!! All part of the learning curve I guess.




I was out shooting a bit yesterday. Oh I wish I knew the magic trick to have the birds cooperate instead of flying away as soon as they spot me and the camera. (They were not afraid when I was fishing from my boat earlier in the day).
Maybe the extended deadline will come in handy this time...


Trond - Ideally you need some sort of hide, then you can move about without causing any disturbance. Even a hide needs to be set up slowly and carefully and eased into place.Preferably it should be set up outside of the area and moved in. It takes a while for the birds to get used to it. Your tripod should also be set up and the camera attached to it out of sight and long before you get anywhere near them particularly if you don't use a hide. Birds seem to be sensitive to noise as well as movement.

Yesterday I went to Kvamsoy island for some more shooting.
I thought I had enough, but was in need for some new "ottershots".
And I was lucky to get some close ups, never been so close to a otter before, that is with my camera rolling.
Who did say the otter is not a fish? At least they have some delicious fish and crab for lunch ;)
But relax the otter is not the main issue in my video this time.
How's everyone doing?
I'm waiting in anticipation to see what you all will bring to "surface" this round.
I have also ordered a new extender to my XlH1, anyone out tried it?
Canon 1,6 Extender TIL XL-1 / XL-H1.

Wow. This is tough - I'm glad there was an extension!

Is anyone here gunning for a full-house (all four classes)? I'm going to try and do it, but I've only managed to shoot one class so far. I'm really going to have to get in gear this week; I have a couple of interviews lined up, along with some field shoots close by. One of them is going to be really problematic though....

It's going to be tight!

Geir,

I used the Canon 1.6 extender. It really is a good piece of equipment. It gave a sharper image than any other extender I tried on the system.