UWOL #7 "Adventshore"
 

I thought to look the word "Adventure" up in the dictionary after struggling for a story. Ultimately I did not. We're all artists here so our stories come from our hearts, not a dictionary. Adventure means Disneyland to me. It means mystery, discovery, happiness, and fun. It means going into something with your eyes wide open, and never closing them. It means entering UWOL, and getting to know all you. It means going places you have never been, and welcoming the unexpected. And If you're really lucky adventure means life - and on this film, I found life.

Every moment of footage was filmed on, in, over, or a stone's trow away from northern California's glorious Pacific shoreline. Two locations, Point Reyes, and Point Lobos. Reyes is an hour's drive north of SanFrancisco, Lobos is three hours south.

Filming these moments was completely captivating to me. Each scene I witnessed for the first time through my camera, and on those days. I am a carpenter, not a videographer - so simply filming something like this is an adventure for me. But the most adventurous part of this all was not in what I witnessed. It was instead, in what witnessed me...

Come along if you like, you'll see - ADVENTSHORE

great critter footage! some of the best in show. great editing, nice bit of synching images to music. i see you stole my "lakme" music, prepare to listen to it again when you look at my film....

and an A+ for some of the best backstory writing we've seen in "wonder and woe," i stayed amused and riveted throughout...just need to find a way to incorporate some of this hilarity into the actual film. and spin as good a yarn in film as you can textually...

we all enjoy critter-watching a ton here at UWOL and your footage is varied and marvelous, but story is what puts the icing on the cake and pulls the whole thing together.

glad you seemed to have such a good first experience here in UWOL-land and hope that the sore muscles and blisters have already healed ...

Thanks for making my life a living hell Eric!!!!

I just finished watching your film. My wife happened to come into the office while I was watching it. What's wrong with that you say? Well, she's a Monterey girl and she's stuck in Iowa with 55 inches of snow and ice.
Thanks a lot there pal!! :)

Really nice film. I think you matched up the footage very well with the music.

A fine piece of editing work too I might add.

The elk in the fog were very cool and ethereal but I really dug the bird footage. Loved that first shot of the gull coming in. Just the way you matched their twisting turning flight, the searching for food etc with the music was a lot of fun to watch together.

Got a little seasick watching the otters though. :) But again the music suited them.

My only real note is toward the end with the waves crashing. The dissolves to the same shot to catch another big wave were kind of distracting. I would have liked to seen another wave crashing from a different spot instead. I think it would have been a little more powerful than doing a cross fade.

The ending was KILLER! Hope you were a ways away with a big lens! :)

I hope you enjoyed the process and continue to enter these challenges!!!

Yeah, same problem coming out as I had going in - no story. I followed your default advice and made filming be the adventure, which it completely was. Thanks for that by the way, Meryem. Without it I might never have gone..

I also agree kevin, those wave shots beg for close-ups, or different angles. This way I could have avoided the fades. It just never occurred to me while shooting. And the otter mom? I called the rangers to write her up for swimming while intoxicated... Long zoom, hanging off a cliff, waves coming at her in every direction as they bounced around in that cove. What a disaster to try to follow. You should see it real-time. Need a seatbelt. Couldn't leave her out though. I'd never seen an otter in the wild before. Don't get out much I guess.

I need to develop a strategy for/while shooting. I barely even know what an establishing shot is. Completely playing by ear here. Self teaching has huge limitations. Surely this UWOL stuff will help, I hope.

Everyone's so good here. I'm a mouse dodging elephant dung in a wild heard in Africa..

Boy, the Pacific sure beats anything we have around here. I really enjoyed watching what you did with the elk emerging from just antlers, and the partial fade of the three pelicans into the bigger flock. Very effective. I feel that I can comment on your music, because, as was pointed out to me, I made the same mistake. The Hall of the Mountain King is a powerful piece, and although you made it fit the video just perfectly, I think it calls too much attention to itself, at the expense of the majesty of the scene. Some ambient sounds would have been a real plus. Just my thoughts.

A symphony of image visuals and music. I enjoyed every second of it.

I enjoyed it very much, I live on the pacific coast and actually recognized every species, but maybe the sand piper looking bird, unless that's what it is, haha!


Nice visuals good stuff.

Eric, this was a stunning piece to watch. I liked it very much. This is a scenery I like to be in, it's so dramatic but also beautiful in the same time!

And your use of music, particular the last piece - "dovregubbens hall" (norw.) of our great composer Edvard Grieg, supplemented those huge waves in the end in a way that gives me "goosebumps".

Thanks for a visual stunning piece, keep up your good work!

Very fine images and a quick moving piece that does not lose your attention. Superior job Eric!

Thank you very much for taking the time to spike my spirit friends. I know what it's like to end up on the ground in a broken pile of mess - even after you tried your absolute best at something. Everything hurts, your crew is upset with you, the bike is destroyed, and you scored zero points. While I did try my best with this film, and did fall short of the goal, it's encouraging to know the effort was not a total loss. I'm actually learning a lot from all of your films. Every one of them. Thank you again for the encouragement.

Eric

As I have learned a thing or two from yours, Eric.
Very nice....nothing to add beyond what has been said already...

Eric,

I really liked the increasing pace of your short!! I thought you did a great job editing it !!!!

I loved the fog shots!

did the Bull bugle when he was on the top of the hill?? that would have been great audio if so!!

This is one of my favorites, in top 4 so far!!!

Eric, that was stunning!!
Of all the films I have seen so far, you did the best job synching the music to the images. Very well done! Great choice of music.
The only thing I maybe would have changed a little, is the pace of the film as the music paced up at the end. A few clips were a little too long/slow compared with the very fast paced music. But this is just a detail.

I am really looking forward to see more of your artwork.
Keep up the good work, and stay with us for the future challenges!

Thanks Dale.

No he didn't bugle, he actually seemed to be reaching for a far off scent. There were other bulls up ahead who had just gone by while I was falling over myself trying to get the cam setup. Kind of a comedy actually. Trust me he didn't stop to look at me because he thought I was Marlin Perkins.

On the other hand, if he had bugled he might have sounded like a snow cone maker because me and sound, we just don't get along yet. But I'm doing the work to get there. Trust me.

Trond, I completely agree. Even while editing it I agreed, but somehow I never conquered that challenge. There were more than a few moments in there where I really painted myself into a corner.. Like the opera leading into Peter and the Wolf in less than three seconds. Or one piano leading into another as the fog scene ended. I nailed none of them, but I definitely improved them over the first few runs.

The Long-Billed Curlew eating the fiddler crab? I really wanted to include all three segments of him - searching, eating, escaping. I struggled to find a home for those three clips. I only love the last one, with him running away.

Thanks for the advice guys

I liked the way you edited the film to the music. As a few have already mentioned, some different angels on the last waves would have been better. Maybe you could hade zoomed out a bit on the Otters, and then they would have stayed in the frame, even in the waves.
Good job…

Markus

Hi eric
Great setting to film in...I can sit and watch Gulls for hours...the way they just glide onto the beach,and you captured them so well...Your editing is top class..I enjoyed this

Some of your shots were truly stunning, the gull coming into land particularly got me! The otters too, really made me smile. Good choice in music and the crescendo came together nicely - not an easy feat to acheive. Overall really nice quality and had a solid feel to it. Nice one!

Wow Eric! You had a killer ending, I live for shots like that along with the perfect edit to the music. Strong, entertaining footage throughout. What a gift. Thanks for lifting us out of the fog (which was awesome in itself) to a great adventure along the shore!

Cat

Thanks you guys are really generous to take the time to make comments and suggestions. I understand now and agree with all the pointers. I hope to apply the new knowledge next round. Looking forward to it actually.

Great video of wildlife and the pounding surf. Very good timing with the music. It really keep my interest. Bob

Hi Eric.
Gulbransen sound a little bit Norwegian?

I loved your film and how you build it up with perfectly match between images and music. Patriotic as I am I liked the last part most :) King of Mountain Hall by Edvard Grieg. Your clips of the sea otter was really nice, but maybe I loved the clips of the deer as much, walking there in the fog and then suddenly it all revealed.

Great entry and I wish you all the best.
Geir Inge

More than a little bit Norwegian Geir. That's the father's side - his father was an artist. I'm kind of a mutt though, got some Swiss and Irish in there too. Traces of Mom's Swiss heritage are etched in stone just below the Lion of Lucerne. Dad even drove a tank straight through Dachau in WWII.

Between this history, and the short films you guys put out, I need this camera to spread some wings as soon as I can figure how to tell a better story with it..

Thanks for the inspiration,

Eric

Awsome.
Great animal shots and some epic music.
I would love to see a sea otter in the wild one day. A great little keystone species and a fantastic subject for filming.
This film was a really nice piece and one of my favourites so far.

Pete

Hi Eric,

Well this was a lovely piece of work!

I really like so many on the things happening down by the beach that day. I also enjoyed your music selection which gave the whole piece such grace and motion - with the fast walking curlew dancing to the piano and the waves crashing as the build up took place. Beautifully edited.

The Grey Heron shot colouring didn't look quite right - was it shot in the same area on the same day? This shot was also very soft on my screen? I am nit picking a bit here though.

The last wave scene was so powerful and caught me quite by surprise - which added to the whole impact. Fantastic!

All in all, I think you filmed a beautiful entry. Looking forward to seeing more in the future. Well done.

Thanks David. The Heron was in a tiny stream/brook just one corner away from opening up to the ocean. He was the first shot of the day at Point Lobos, where the Otter and other madness took place. Early morning, protected by trees, probably why the light was different. I love those majestic birds, which is probably why I stubbornly kept him in. I captured a beautiful Egret that morning too, who did not make it in. You are right, the Heron I did not nail. This marks the second time that I have shot a Great Blue Heron at a comfortable distance, with no real peripheral challenges, and MISSED. I used the focus assist function on the camera to get him - perhaps this function doesn't work so well when the subject is not very high contrast, and against a dark background? I don't know, but either way those birds have me beat so far.

I guess I now know what I'm doing this upcoming weekend.. ;- )

This was such a lovely movie to watch Eric. You have managed to capture some really good clips during your adventure and I really like the style of your title and credits.
The use of four very different pieces of music to separate the different sequences is different and interesting. I enjoyed the way you synchronised the clips of the animals and birds and breaking waves with the music from the Peer Gynt suite - Hall of the Mountain king by Grieg. I especially liked the Curlew running along the beach. The highlight was the end with that wave crashing in. Wow - really good stuff there Eric!

This was really fun to watch- such movement, literal and figurative. And your cutting to the music was really great. The only thing I missed was natural sound- I think hearing the crashing waves would have added even more to the effect you already had toward the end, with the waves synchronised to the music. The ending was amazing- hope you and your camera stayed dry :)


Ruth

I think exactly the same, I really loved it! great and keep it up.

really nice film, loved the bird stuff- looks so sharp what lens did you use for that big feeding close up of the curlew/whimbrel/whatever?? at the end?

Thanks. That was my favorite lens for this HD200, the Nikon AF-I Nikkor 300mm f/2.8D ED-IF. Helluva reach, great contrast, renders color better than the stock 16x lens that came with this camera, and it's surprisingly manageable. Have a 400 here too, just haven't figured how to get it on the camera yet..

Beautifull! Great shoots. I liked the way you put them together. Well done.

Hi Eric,
Wow, lucky for the winners of this round you didn't quite get an adventure story to go along with this one. Had you had one to go with these beautiful shots, i think they would have had a real tough fight on their hands!
Beautiful imagery!

Bryce