This might look cheesey compaired to the other post but it was my very first video. Filmed the Purple Martins that migrate up from South America each year to live in our bird houses, added some slow motion and a hard driving song and voila! Filmed with a Canon XL1.


Purple Martins - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbNdX3M0oks&feature=youtu.be)

Hi Jeff, welcome to film-making. I have a few comments - you have a potentially nice subject with the purple martins and a good location to film them. However, I didn't think your film said very much to the viewer - I don't know much about these birds and would have wanted to see a variety of shots - other than a creeping zoom in, the shots were all very similar and from the one vantage point.

When shooting wildlife video I have learned to acquire three sets of shots at each site - wide shots, medium and close zoomed shots, and to try and get these from several angles. This makes editing the footage into a more interesting sequence possible. I thought the colours showed poorly and the shots all looked rather flat and not punchy - it would be better to shoot in morning or evening sunlight if possible.

Most of all your film has to tell a story, even if the film is only a minute long. Maybe say something about their migration and your thrill to see their arrival while showing the shots :)

Neil