Comments are welcome here.

Background: Shot in Bly Oregon. These animals are skitish, and just wouldn't let you get close.... Lesson: the 1.7 teleconvertor on the FX1 and HV20 aren't enough for this type of nature work. Ceratainly would have benefited from the extra focal length of the A1H or V1u....

These animals never stood still for long, and as soon as I brought the vehicle I was in to a stop... they'd be on the move....

My god....your landscapes start and finish are stunning !! That end one almost looks faked...wow!

Nice subject choice, I like the way they amove togther like a single bigger animal. I used to use a tele con on a handycam with similar results to this, It really kills the sharpness huh especially at full zoom. This sort of telephoto work is difficult even with an interchangable lens camera. I assume it was tripod mounted!?

If you want to get close to Deer you have to get down wind, blend in and sit and wait...and wait...and wait ! Try using a little hide and I bet you would half your working distance straight away.

A great film Chris.
The opening and ending scenes are beautiful and the music was just right.
I miss one thing, some close ups of the antilopes :)
I've been "shooting" some deers, myself, and know it's hard to come close to them. Just as Mat says, you have to get down wind.
Thanks for sharing.

Nice film. You panned well to follow the antelope, and it was neat seeing them move so fluidly as a herd. The ending was spectactular, with the distant car on the road. Just a great feeling to that, wonderful closing.

Ruth

Nice video Chris! Well done.
As others have mentioned, the last clip of the sunset was awesome.
Too bad it is so hard to get close to those animals to get some close up shots.

Great images. I really liked how you cut it together. Close ups would have been a nice addition but as you said they were very difficult to approach. Once again, I liked it very much.

Bruce

Hi Chris:

Very challenging subject so with that said, excellent job. You mastered excellent footage for a subject that is always showing its tail end and making you eat its dust. Now, one comment is the pretty fast scrolling of your text. With that kind of font, it wasn't a quick read and I had to stop the film to read what you were saying. The only other question I had was the greenish hue to your film. Why was this? Other than that, excellent contribution with a job well done!

Cat

Hey Chris,

Nice film man!

I love pronghorn. I was at Devil's Tower one year sitting out in a field and a herd of them ended up grazing all around me.

Their movements kind of reminded me of Mat's flocks of starlings or a school of fish all moving in unison.

Would have been nice to not have had to use so much reach to capture them.

Very cool closing shot.

Tough subject but very well done. Yup, teleconverters are not the sharpest "optical outreach" but for a lot of us that is all we have.

The fluid move of the herd you captured was poetry in motion and was something to watch.

Good work!

Hi Chris:

Very challenging subject so with that said, excellent job. You mastered excellent footage for a subject that is always showing its tail end and making you eat its dust. Now, one comment is the pretty fast scrolling of your text. With that kind of font, it wasn't a quick read and I had to stop the film to read what you were saying. The only other question I had was the greenish hue to your film. Why was this? Other than that, excellent contribution with a job well done!

Cat

I did have two cameras I was trying to match doing some CC, but I am wondering if I ran into some dreaded CA or a problem with render, too. PC users sometimes get punished trying to go to Quicktime files.

using the short reach of an FX-1 to shoot wildlife is soooooooo frustrating! great camera in every way but for shooting wildlife. unless you are very very patient and very very sneaky and have lots of time to spare!

been there, done that!

Nice work considering the subject I likes the film as mentioned a few close ups would have worked in well. Opening and closing were great.

Thanks Brian

First off: Yay for Oregon! haha.

Nice film. These little creatures are hard to get!

I loved the music, and as others' have said, the beginning and ending are fantastic!

It seemed as if there may have been a little fish-eye going on there at one point? I could be wrong, I am just starting to pick up on the "eye of a photographer."

Nice stuff, keep up the good work!
~Gabriel

Chris,
most have been said about your entry, lack of close-up etc.
I really loved the opening and closing shoot, amazing!

I know it has been said but, heck of a job capturing very fast animals while zoomed all the way out and panning. Darn smooth for such a feat. Beautiful animals, images and thank you for the nice little intro to let the viewer know about the setting.


Good work.

Jeff

Thanks all for your comments.

Yes, the prevailing concern in comments was lack of close up, and frankly, that was my initial problem to. I actually tried to rely on cropping the HDV as I took it to SD to get a bit of closer look, and some of scenes show that stress, including emphasis on the aberations of my less than perfect telextender.

Ultimately, I knew I should be closer to the animals, but I just wasn't able get closer to the animals because they were on private lands. I had to shoot from the roadways. Even had one rancher drive up and demand to know what I was doing, after he spied me shooting a soaring redtail hawk over his property.

I did consider combining this footage with other wild life footage I had shot in the area, like local birds, hawks, a bald eagle in flight, and a herd of deer, but settled on a single subject instead. After completing edit, and running short on time, I determined that might have been a better idea.... but then that is how you learn. Next time...

Thanks again to all for viewing and for the constructive criticism....

Chris,

The antelope is a great animal of the plains and high desert. I know how hard it can be to actually get close enough to film like you would like at the best of times.
I appreciate what you tried to accomplish.

what tele externder did you use??? On which hd camera??


thanks for sharing