Well, it was my job Meryem but you did it last time so I figured you were running with it. :)

I'm still just sitting here without any footage.. This one has really turned on me. I thought water would be a fun one, but not in my case. Sounds like I am not the only one also.

Arg. One more year, one more year, one more year... Its not working like it does in the movies! lol.

~Gabriel

I am still sitting here with a plan. I just wonder if I am going to have any time to shoot it.

Gabriel,
I have uploaded my video however, it doesn't cover the material I really wanted to film - which was "Reflections" (I had some technical difficulties). Given your dilema, perhaps a movie which captures the beauty you will find reflected in water. I have been amazed at the shots that are around.

Just a suggestion.

David
That's really interesting as my first plan was "Reflections" also. But I've been so busy this month (nothing to do with a video camera though) and now it is so smokey here that it's onto plan B.

Gordon Hoffman

Hi Gordon,
Sorry to hear about the smokey conditions, as it would have been nice to have seen what you came up with. I hope plan B works out for you.

David
The sad part is the weather earlier this month was favourable to do reflections. Usaully the wind in this country makes the water to rough for nice shots.

Gordon Hoffman

Well I'm now well off the mark....about 75% shot I'd say. Today its all going down on the timeline and we'll see if my story fits together.

Oh and I'm sure uwol is Meryems way of trying to kill me....after uc3 I thought this one would be physically easier at least! - Over the weekend my shoot left me with over 50 insect bites, and on yesterdays shoot I slipped down a mud bank and found myself next to a bee hive who then of course decided to sting me on the hand. (ouch)

All the clips are on the time line, along with a piece of music. So it's now down to the tweaking. Then the miserable task of getting it under 60 Megs.

Mat remind me never to travel on the land with you...man your an accident looking for a place to happen LOL. I have no bee stings but on Saturday the mosquitoes were out of this world. So bad in fact that in one of the shots I'v used you can see them buzzing around.

Gabriel...come on man you can do it. You pulled off the last three, don't drop the ball now. I know this is a tough one, actually I'd say the toughest to date but it's out there just go find it.

Good luck to everyone especially those still chasing down the shots.

Brian

Finally I have my entry for UC4 done.

For the first time I actually started off by making a storyboard. Well, by that I mean I wrote down things I wanted to include and a basic story.
That story only lasted until I started to film. The story changed (mostly due to the fact I couldn't find what I wanted to film, haha)

But in the end, I'm pretty happy with what I got. Even if I just "winged it" and ended up making the story in my head as I was shooting. Got some good help by the weather this last weekend.
A winner? Probably not, but I had a great time making it, and that is more than good enough for me.

Well, i've just called it a wrap!

I really struggled with this, not so much the locations or the filming, but a meaningful thread which is still eluding me. Think it's gonna be a long session on the edit suite tonight!!!!!

Good luck all.

Rob

Rob, plenty of nice water in Berks my videoing has been on the river Loddon and St Patrick’s stream between the rain I will be doing a bit more on them Thursday and then edit on Friday.

Rob, plenty of nice water in Berks my videoing has been on the river Loddon and St Patrick’s stream between the rain I will be doing a bit more on them Thursday and then edit on Friday.

Ahh, the loddon's a beautiful little river - used to fish parts of it as a kid ;-)

One of my first thoughts was "dammit, why can't it stop raining!" but then i thought about the theme, and realised it wasn't such a bad thing after all!!!

I wonder what would happen if two "UWOLer's" came face to face in the field - some kind of spagetti western style shoot-out? Now there's an idea for a film ;-) haha

I am finich whid my first uwol,and it`s not so much to rite aboat,but when I
lock around for underwater photo, I discoverd a new world.
I think her in Norway is only sand and stone underwater.
That was realy!!!! rong, think i have got a new hobby underwater photo.
Realy fasinating.

Thanks guys for the suggestions/help. And thank you Brian for the encouragement. And trust me, I have no means of dropping out! Thats the last thing I want to do! Its just so troubling for me to get anywhere to shoot. I guess there is a creek that runs thru my back yard... But I might end up like Mat if I try that.

Sorry to hear that, Mat! I think you are onto something when you said that you think Meryem is trying to kill you! lol. I hope you get well soon!

Its raining today... How strange is this!? It was in the mid 80's yesterday! Gosh, this weather is just way out there this month...

~Gabriel

Go on, get in there Gabriel.....suffer for your art ;-) !!!

Ok then a teaser frame from my piece http://www.3dvisions.co.uk/temp/falls_rainbow_teaser.jpg

I fold! :-) Damn you Mat! :)

Ok then a teaser frame from my piece
http://www.3dvisions.co.uk/temp/falls_rainbow_teaser.jpg

Nice scenery and colors, Mat!

Go on, get in there Gabriel.....suffer for your art ;-) !!!

Ok then a teaser frame from my piece http://www.3dvisions.co.uk/temp/falls_rainbow_teaser.jpg

Haha, I'll give it a shot!

Wow, that is beautiful!
That reminds me of about three weeks ago when I was standing at a waterfalls base. It was so awesome... If only the challenge started before that!

Good luck everyone!
~Gabriel

Hi all!
Well I write this from a hotel room in Turku, Finland waiting for my ferry back home to Norway via Sweden.
It have been very exiting days, the last couple of weeks. Together with some friends of mine, we have been in the big wilderness of North-East Finland near the Russian border.
This trip was planned well before the uwol-challenge even started so I have not shoot specifically for uwol4 as much as I wanted.

So what have I got so far? Not much for the uwol4 I'm afraid. I have basically filmed wild species like wolves, bears and wolverines (whish this could have been the uwol3-challenge-the wild!)

Friday morning I'm back home, have to go through my footage to view if I can use any of the footage from this trip, if not I will have a real busy weekend to get finish the film!

I'm happy the time limit is 23. world wide, give me some extra hours past monday 23. at my place :-)

I am truly looking forward to all of the entries! It has gotten quite exciting that this contest has grown so fast. Best of luck to ALL!!

Per,
Just keep in mind that wolves, bears and wolverines are 98+% water!! Thanks for the update. I am sure we were all wondering where you had disappeared to! ;-D

Mat,
Looks gorgeous! Cannot wait!

I was so energetic at first. Loved the theme, loved the excuse to get out on the water. Tried a little experiment that didn't ultimately hurt the camera. Then I got home and started cutting it all together and frankly my footage bores me. I'm wondering if music can salvage it. But I've got company flying into town tonight so I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do about it. If I can't make it better I'll probably just make it shorter, but I'm determined not to hit the wall of shame on my first go at this contest.

Smile,
Kris

I'm there with you, Kris. I shot some footage from my famous park. Nothing.. Its all horrible.. Completely boring.. I don't really know what to do anymore... I just feel trapped here... I am afraid that I most likely will not get one in for this one. :(

I wish you all luck! And don't give up Kris! You can make it work! Even if that means pulling in an all night'er or two.

~Gabriel

Good sentiment Kris...I'm sure when you've polished everything and added some music it'll make all the difference!

Oi Gabriel....come on fella. You still have time left to turn something round, it would be a shame to drop out of the line up....you're a regular :-) !....even if its just to stay in the running for your t-shirt !


I've still got holes I'm needing to fill (about 85%). I may nip out in a while but I'll be shooting Saturday too....hey hows that for last minute :)

Arrrgh!

Looks like were gonna get a massive amount of rain tomorrow!! (like 80mm or something in a few hours!)

Can I enter two films? ;-)

hehe

I just returned from shooting my challenge footage. I have not captured it yet, but this time I think I will also post the High Definition version of my entry on my web site. Maybe only 1280X720. Perhaps using Flash.

Both of my other entries were shot with the 320X240 final output in mind. This time I will put out a widescreen version and will just use the HD version scaled down.

I think I got what I went after. "Water in Motion". Nothing natural about any of it. All man made motion. Too many of you live near really cool natural water spots. So I went artificial. I could have headed up to Siver Springs instead, but I chose a different route. You'll see. Assuming it all comes out OK.

gabriel, i'm re-naming this thread "Tales of Wonder and Lame-o Excuses" in your honor...

okay, so this weekend, i'm managing a crew of 16 to shoot a triathlon, i'm editing an infomercial for a fire-fighting product, and i'm raising a 6 year old. oh, and i'm going to post my UWOL footage...it won't be brilliant but it will be wet!

how in the world does a 16-year-old lack time?? ludicrous! time is still your friend! now get out there, shoot something and make it something good.

there is no such thing as boring video, there are only boring editors.

Meryem,
You said to 16 year old Gabriel, "time is still your friend". If you made that up yourself, get it patented. I have never seen it put that way, but, boy, for anyone over age XX it says it all.

Haha, thanks Mat.. I would hate to drop (ha, like water) out. its just so hard to make something happen...

gabriel, i'm re-naming this thread "Tales of Wonder and Lame-o Excuses" in your honor...

okay, so this weekend, i'm managing a crew of 16 to shoot a triathlon, i'm editing an infomercial for a fire-fighting product, and i'm raising a 6 year old. oh, and i'm going to post my UWOL footage...it won't be brilliant but it will be wet!

how in the world does a 16-year-old lack time?? ludicrous! time is still your friend! now get out there, shoot something and make it something good.

there is no such thing as boring video, there are only boring editors.

Haha, thats a good one.

Sounds like you got your hands full.

Hmm.... Thats a good point, thanks for the tip... Maybe I'll try again...

Haha, heres the thing: I got all the free time on my hands. Its summer, I am home-schooled, I don't have much in the way for friends, and I don't have a job (really really want one though). The internet is pretty much life right now. But heres the catch, I can't drive. My parents are both extremely busy, and none of my sibs' drive either. So I am limited to walking. I am not making up excuses, or trying to get attention or anything like that. Its just a really hard time that I am going thru right now. I am stuck..
I can practically see a lake from my house, but its sick. Who knows what goes in it. You can't even see a foot down into it. And in order to get anywhere to the point you can see it good enough, you have to drive. Or bike really hard for a long time. I don't have that kind of endurance anymore...
Its not a good time for me... But I will head back out to my little park a few blocks from here, and try to get some stuff, and just play around with editing until the deadline.. Probably wont have a story, but I might learn a thing or two in the editing process.
Oh great, I just thought of something... I have to make the music myself. The guy who has done my last ones is out of town. Wont be back until Saturday. Bummer.

Like I said, please do not take this as one of those "the kid just wants attention" things. Its by no means like that!
Thank you for understanding.
~Gabriel

there is no such thing as boring video, there are only boring editors.

Oh, now you're really challenging me. Time to make a little magic.

Smile,
Kris

Hey Gabriel…
Just sit back and think about it. Ron won the last challenge and hi shot everything in his backyard. Think about water… were can you fined water that nobody have thought of. It doesn’t need to be a lake or stream… Get up early one morning (before the sun) and se if you can fine some dew… Everything needs water… or is it lack of water? What can you make of that? We are al surrounded of water, everyday, every minute. You just need to fined YOUR view… You got the time… take a hour and relax…

Cheers
Markus Nord

Hey Gabriel…
Just sit back and think about it. Ron won the last challenge and hi shot everything in his backyard. Think about water… were can you fined water that nobody have thought of. It doesn’t need to be a lake or stream… Get up early one morning (before the sun) and se if you can fine some dew… Everything needs water… or is it lack of water? What can you make of that? We are al surrounded of water, everyday, every minute. You just need to fined YOUR view… You got the time… take a hour and relax…

Cheers
Markus Nord

Yeah, i totally second that. At the start of this challenge I got a coffee frother ( a fast spinning thing ) and put it in a glass of water, and filmed all the different types of whirlpools I could create. Unfortunatley I couldn't fit it with the overal thread in the end, which was a shame - but it got me really thinking about water, and how ubiquitous it is in our world........ Good luck Gabe!!!

Gabriel,

You can shoot something in your own back yard. No one said you had to fill three minutes. That's the max it has to be. It can be 30 seconds if you want.

Film an ice cube melting and then speed it way up. Title it "Global Warming".

Fill a pie tin with water if you don't have a birdbath. Move as close as you can to the bath and still be focused. Set the camera down or on a tripod, walk away and let the birds come in. They'll eventually start to squabble etc.
Call it "Water Cooler Conversation".
Spray a water hose in the air with a fine mist and film the rainbow it creates on a sunny day.

Water the grass and catch the drops glistening on the lawn.

Fill up a small aquarium with water and then add drops of food coloring and watch it swirl around and make weird designs before it blends. Heck, you could even use a jar if you wanted to.

Tons of stuff out there that you can do without leaving your property.

You think you got problems. Two days BEFORE the challenge topic was posted I returned home from videoing one of the most spectacular waterfalls on earth, Iguazu falls in Brazil/Argentina. I can't use one second of that video. So here I am in Atlanta, no real rain in weeks. I got about 30 minutes that I shot in NC this past weekend. I may have to get out the garden hose this weekend and "fake it" Bob

Kevin
Where were you at the start of this :)
Those are some neat ideas that Gabriel can work with.

Gordon Hoffman

Oh, now you're really challenging me. Time to make a little magic.

Smile,
Kris

right on. i'll leave the constructive suggestions to the likes of kevin and others. my job is to give young gabe his bi-monthly shakedown. glad to have netted you in the maelstrom as well, kris. good luck!

my e-mails to you are back to getting rejected again! just received one back undelivered that i sent several days ago....rrrrr.

Well, that rain came through, and i spent most of the morning trying to stop it flooding the house! Check out some of the photos from my town, it's made the national news.........

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/6908187.stm

I can practically see a lake from my house, but its sick. Who knows what goes in it. You can't even see a foot down into it.

Gabriel, that's just "dirty water". Still well within the theme.
So grab your bike, get over there, and get some dirty water for us...

Seriously, hope you get something.
Kevin got some good ideas for you too.
Bring it on!! The shark tank is not supposed to have more visitors yet.

Meryem....not again......Sent you an email about your logo 2 days ago....fonts ect?? Did you get it ?


Kevin....what a creative fellow ;-) I'm liking the time lapse ice melt!

Wow. Thanks alot!

Thank you all for what you have done! I think you may have just took Meryem's roll of getting me back up on my feet. ;)

This is why I love this challenge... It can go from one thing, to the complete opposite -- thanks to the help of all the great people on this forum.

Kevin, wow, great ideas! Man, if you came up with those and offered them to me, then I can't wait to see what yours is. :)

Time to get out some cardboard and my pocket knife to start making a rig to protect my camera from all the dumb sprinkling thats been going on. its not raining, but its not dry either. I guess thats what I get for living in the NW, eh?

Thanks again to all of you! You have all really helped me out with this one!

Rob - thats some serious weather you are getting! Try not to get to soaked out there...

Bob - That sounds spectacular. I hope we get to see some of the footage here on DVinfo some time...
About four days before the challenge theme announcement, I just got back from the Olympic NW. I think we saw four or so waterfalls. One we walked out and practically touched. Well we were up there, we also rented a row boat and went out on the most beautiful lake I have ever seen (thats including pictures of them). You could see the bottom a good 50 feet from the rim.

Time to go get some footage! And oh yeah, I have a 50 gallon fish tank right next to my bed... Now why did I not think of that one before?

~Gabriel

Good afternoon,

I must be lame. I got the password and such and I rtemember how to put the file on the page.

I just can't remember the exact url to get to the ftp page!!

I have mine finished, just need to download.

Ironicly I kept a note page but failed to write down the url!!



Dale

OK,

I think I got it myself. ftp://www.uwolchallenge.com

it appears to be downloading as I type this.


It might be good to make a sticky with simple instructions for first timers and the lame ducks like myself.

Dale,
You're not the only lame one out there. I have tried everything I could think of for two days to try to upload my entry. Nothing worked, including downloading a couple of free ftp clients. What finally worked (I think), was not to drag and drop the file, as in the official instructions, but to copy and paste it. If my entry appears in the next list, I was successful.
I agree, a "sticky" would be helpful.

Steve,

I to found that I had to cut and paste and I thought that was becasue I was working via a network of two computers.

Mine also hung up at the 10 second left mark for an hour or so. I was ready to start over when I glanced back at it and it was finished!! Ahhhh.

I now hope it is there!

So being patient was an understatement for myself.

Time to get out some cardboard and my pocket knife to start making a rig to protect my camera from all the dumb sprinkling thats been going on. its not raining, but its not dry either. I guess thats what I get for living in the NW, eh?

Thanks again to all of you! You have all really helped me out with this one!


Time to go get some footage! And oh yeah, I have a 50 gallon fish tank right next to my bed... Now why did I not think of that one before?

~Gabriel

One more idea. A study of water flowing from various faucets and hoses, or follow a certain quantity of water from the faucet and through the process of it being used in cooking something.

Anything to get an entry in.

Haha, yup! Thanks, Bruce!
I got some footage yesterday (or was it Friday)? Either way, I got some.. Last night I made the score for it. A little shorter then I would have liked, but it works.. Now today, I am going to work on editing.. I have some ideas that will look cool if dumb imovie will let me do it.

Now, is the deadline 12:00am Tuesday (the 24)? Or is it 12:00am Monday (the 23)? I have been thinking about this for the last couple of days, and I could not figure it out...
Can anyone shed some light on this for me? Thank you in advance!

Talk about last minute..
~Gabriel

Gabriel,

Glad to hear you got some footage!

Here's a little teaser of some footage I shot just a couple minutes ago.

Wow! Thats beautiful Kevin!
Did you have to use a macro lens for that shot? Its nice and crisp looking on my screen/eyes.

~Gabriel

Nope, no macro. Just regular lens.

Glad you liked it.

Hopefully I can start editing tonight!