As always, interaction between the players is encouraged.
What goes great, what did not go as planned, and everything in between, about the making of your
UWOL 53 films.

Hope all of you have found an idea for your entries. Your imagination is the limit of how you interpret the theme.

Don't be afraid to ask if you have any questions.
Have fun, and bring it!

Hi all.
Have a question about planning and implementation.
How do you go about completing a contribution?
In what order do the different parts come?
Object / species, location, facts and knowledge of the species, recordings, etc.
I myself have had different approaches to my Uwol contributions.
Sometimes I just take the camera out and shoot from the hip, so to speak.
Other times I have studied theory of the species I have chosen.
Although I think my best contributions have been those with good planning.
In this round I have picked out "my family" and now I am studying the facts about it, as well as trying to find good locations for recording.
Furthermore, I have (possibly) found myself an ally who can contribute with his knowledge on the subject.
Then I'll see how it all ends.
Hope you all are up and running and making exciting contributions?

For me it varies a little. Sometimes I have made detailed plans in advance. The challenge with this, often is to find the subjects/ animals in my plans.
Sometimes I have a general idea, or just go out to film what I find in that moment.

It has all been a mix of success and failures throughout the years.

This round is "easy" as the boss (the young one) has a pretty good idea for her/our entry.

For me it varies a little. Sometimes I have made detailed plans in advance. The challenge with this, often is to find the subjects/ animals in my plans.
Sometimes I have a general idea, or just go out to film what I find in that moment.

It has all been a mix of success and failures throughout the years.

This round is "easy" as the boss (the young one) has a pretty good idea for her/our entry.

Hi Trond
Thanks for the response, it will be exciting to see what you (you) have in mind.

What I think is a major challenge in wildlife filmmaking, is that one cannot control animals. One must have plenty of time, set aside other important tasks. It is not easy when you have Uwol as a hobby next to another full time job. This round we have 2 months, twice as much as a regular round. Nevertheless, much will be left to the fate and the luck one may have.
My plan in this round is the following:
1) picking out a "family" :)
2) the location of this family.
3) Find current family information.
4) any external informant, interview object.
5) Sew together a story / script as basic story.
6) Conduct recording.
7) systematize recordings.
8) Edit and possibly adapt the story to the recordings one has available.
9) Add sound effects / foley / music.

Now I hope luck will stand by me.

I usually just start shooting and see what happens. Sometimes I have a bit of an idea of what I would like to do but that doesn't always work out. I admire people who can plan out their video and then go and shoot it. Like you know weather and wildlife does what it wants so even the best laid plans can come up short.

Gordon

Usually the plans only last until I am ready to go out the front door.

I usually just start shooting and see what happens. Sometimes I have a bit of an idea of what I would like to do but that doesn't always work out…..

Gordon

Well, I Guess thats part of my nr 8, "Edit and possibly adapt the story to the recordings one has available" :)

Number 8 is well known to me too. Actually made one of my best UWOL videos that way.

Yes #8 is how I do most of mine to.

Gordon

I normally start looking , shooting or not comes later.

If i do find a subject and there is a potential to film a story then the researh starts and may be even filming . Pretty odd but works for me

i am currently not sure which family i will pick as we now are in middle of some odd rainy season

I normally start looking , shooting or not comes later.

If i do find a subject and there is a potential to film a story then the researh starts and may be even filming . Pretty odd but works for me

i am currently not sure which family i will pick as we now are in middle of some odd rainy season

Hope the weather can be on your side, Vishal.Here in Norway it is now autumn and winter is approaching.I have found my family, but maybe I need to rethink my choices. Thought that 2 months might be plenty of time, but suddenly the deadline is over and we have to deliver. I also plan to use the drone, and then it should be nice weather

Hope you guys are doing well out there?

I missed sign up, can i submit one for fun?

Dale, yes you can submit a "non official entry."
It will of course not be part of the judging process, since you didn't sign up. But your entry will be part of the feedback process, just as my own submissions.

We are half way through the 53rd challenge. Hope it has been a productive month and that you all have come up with an idea.
Remember to have fun! Rule 11 is very important :)

Well Trond I haven't got much done yet on it. I did get some footage one day, that I might be able to make a really short video out of. My idea is rather fluid yet.

Gordon

Fluid ideas can dry up and turn into something great, Gordon.

For once I'm just a sidekick. My stepdaughter is in charge, and she has a good idea. Hopefully she/we can film it over the next couple weekends. Didn't find the main characters while we were out last weekend.

Right, think I am on course?

Started of off in one direction but a chance conversation sent me off in another. Although wildlife based I'm heading off into some uncharted waters, filmmaking and main subject wise that is.

Hopefully I can put enough spin on the theme title to pull it altogether.

Uncharted waters sounds interesting and a good chance to push your own limits.
Go for it! Looking forward to see what you come up with, Mick.

My young one has caught some bug, so filming plans for the next few days, are more or less delayed. Very typical when we for once have days off work/ school and sunshine forecasted at the same time.
Still plenty time until deadline, so she will probably make it anyway.

My plan to film about how changes in the rainforest are effecting "families" kind of fell through when I spent a week along the Amazon River mostly sick!

I did do some drone work over some rainforest that had been burned and cut, but had to leave a little early as someone was shooting! I'm not sure if they were aiming at me, but I didn't want to find out. I think it might be too much as I was planning to do some filming among illegal gold mines in the southern Peruvian rainforest.

If everything works out, I'm flying to Lima to buy a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera this weekend and will do some filming in the mountains above Cusco when I get back. There are several resident families who live relatively isolated in the high Andes up there so I've got some ideas. It's the rainy season so rain and snow in the high mountains makes things a little more difficult.

I tried to get one subject and managed to film some drone shots of it but later got back to the work at hand and have not been on track to film for the challenge for some time , the rains and cyclone showers in between didnt help as none of the roads were accessable , the rains have stopped and i will again give it a try lets see.

Drone filming can give many opportunities to get closer to your subjects.
The downside is that many birds attack the drone because they either hate the sound of the drone, or see it as an intruder into their territory. Can be fatal for both parties. Had some close calls myself, so I try to be careful if I see birds in the area.

Fluid ideas can dry up

Trond that's the problem with a lot of my ideas. I'm hoping more for it to solidify.

Gordon

OK, so I did the planning.
I also did some recording, on schedule.
Then I got sick.
I had to change my plan.
Then my mother-in-law got sick (she is 91 and the best mother-in-law ever).
Had to change my plan again.
Everyone got healthy, so why worry?
Then I did some more recording.
Now I'm working on editing.
If nothing serious happens last day, the video will be uploaded.
Now that I read what I have written, I'm not sure.
As always, we keep it within the family.
Well, she says… I'll keep an eye on you :)

This round, my theme maker was planning to make her very own and first UWOL film. During October her plan/idea developed, and filming was planned for November, due to location.
Boom... she got sick, then I got sick and unable to shoot any footage.
We are swimming with the sharks, and hoping for better luck next year.

Woo Hoo I managed to get my video uploaded. Hopefully it all works this time.

Gordon

The submitted films will be published in the evening today, European time.