UWOL #7 My Adventure - Espen Skjold
 

I decided to jump rather than crawl into it, when I decided to take part in this "adventure" after owning a camera for appr. 3 weeks. All parts of this challenge has been more than I could imagine before it started. It´s been more difficult to come up with a brilliant idea. It´s been more difficult to decide which of the bad ideas are good enough. It´s been more difficult to learn all the settings on the camera. It´s been more difficult to find the time to shoot, having a job, kids, a wife and a dog :o) It´s been more difficult to edit in a brand new program (Final Cut Express). It´s been much more fun, and the feeling was so insanly good when I was finished and uploaded the movie :o)

My main obsticle has been to participate. Nothing more. But next time.... ;o)

My film is about a typical average guy (me?), who never finds the time to do all the things he wants to do or find the time for adventures. And as he often does; Falls asleep on the sofa after a day at work, where he starts dreaming. His adventure is nothing extraordinary or adrenalin-kicking, it´s just getting out there. Getting some fresh air, and finding peace-in-mind in the silence of the woods.

All shots are taken in a "wilderness-area" where I live, an area about to become a nature-reservate (?). And an area with almost 90 red-listed species. I am doing my own personl documentation project on this area, and it has become a favorite of mine. Hopefully you´ll enjoy my film, even though it´s not top-notch yet!

Looking forward to the next challenge!

Espen

everyone starts somewhere, espen, and this is actually a great place to get going. you'll learn a ton. just getting something online for the first time is always a great feeling.

you have some nice shots here, not many folks who venture into NIGHT territory in their first 3 weeks of shooting, that's very ambitious and will teach you a lot about getting light in the camera.

your shooting seems to be on the right track, editing as well, but it seems like you have a widescreen video which is compressed to a 4:3 box here, so your images are squeezed. the wrong compression scheme can kill the effect of your composition! you'll probably want to figure out how to customize your settings for compression--that alone will bring your images out in their intended glory.

hope to see more of your work in the coming rounds...

Hei Espen,
we have to meet some day, it's not far from where I live (Stovner) to your place!
To be a first timer, your film was very interesting to watch. It's not easy to set up the camcorder and record yourself. It seems that you did a awesome job there and you must have been using lots of tape (if your cam is tape-based), you was far away, walking through the woods.
Interesting to hear about your area and particulary about the red list species.
I also liked the end, the fireplace very much. This is also how I like to spent the evening and nights in nature!

Espen,
You did a great job. The fact that you've had a camera for only three weeks doesn't show in your film.
The scenery was beautiful. I have a special affinity for filming water and you showed us some beautiful shots.

Your choice of music fit well with your film.

The only thing I really think needs a little polishing is your title work.

A simple fade in and fade out is a very popular style.

I think if you had a little more setup before you fell asleep on the couch your main titles would have been gone by the time you got to the close-up of your face.

A quick shot of your thumb hitting the buttons on the remote, a sigh that there was nothing good on TV and then settling down for a nap.

I think your work was strong enough that you didn't need the extra text in the rest of the film.

It was easy to make the connection that you were dreaming about this adventure. You're taking us on a journey, there's no need to take away from it with the text.

The sunset footage was beautiful!

Very solid film, you should be very happy with it. I hope we see a lot more adventures from you in future challenges!
Congrats!!

Thanks a lot!
 

I am glad you liked it! Very constructive feed-back, that will help me develop my filming in the future.

Thanks again...!

Espen

Nice job Espen, I second what Kevin wrote about the titles…
I liked the shots on the creek, maybe you could have used some natural sound with the music, especially with the creek and the fire.

Markus

Espen,

A very nice job, I agree with the other comments.

My favorite part, besides just nice visuals, was the fire blending into sunset and then to the night fire. Awesome job there!!!

You have a good touch with your camera and you tell your story well.

Keep up the good work, look forward to further efforts!!

Hei Espen,

You made a really good film. I especially like the closing sequence when you sit by the fire. Reminds me of good times.
I agree with the comments already given.

Stay with us for the future challenges. I'm looking forward to see more of your films.
And welcome to Team Norway of the uwol gang.

Yupp!
 

I will try again next time. I ran out of time, and forgot the important details. Thanks for the feed-back.

Espen

Hi Espen,

I really enjoyed reading your opening comments in your feedback thread. We can all relate to the situation, with so many other commitments, family, work, etc and I personally think the premise you ran with is one of the best I have seen so far.

I did get some unusual effects on the screen as I watched your footage - which I assume is in line with what Meryem was discussing. But apart from that, I thought you did extremely well for someone who has had a camera for 3 weeks.

I personally would have closed your film by coming back to yourself on the couch. Maybe looking at an adventure type magazine as you turned the light off to go to bed?

Great first effort Espen and I get a feeling you are gonna come up with some very nice entries in the future. Maybe take Per up on his offer to get together - might as well learn from the master himself!

Thanks David!
 

Your suggestion for an alternative closing were strange enough exactly the same as I was thinking when editing, but I ran out of time :o(

I\'ll update my web-page with a video-section, and publish a correctly compressed version there.

I am extremely glad to see that the feedback in this fora is constructive in a positive way. There is allways room for improvements, and much more motivating to do so with these kind of feedback.

Thanks again!

Espen

Hi Espen, great to see you her!

You made a realy nice and harmonic film her.
Look forword to see more entery of you.

Stå på ,naturfilm er livet!!

VJV.

___________

Great first effort Espen
I started off like you.The first thing I ever filmed was for UWOL # 4
You will find that you learn so much and so fast...i enjoyed watching this

Hi Espen.

Welcome to uwol and congrats on your first film.
Not so bad at all.
I liked your plot and you show us some really nice clips from the dreaming tour in the forrest, with us. Nice pick of music and editing is fine too. Nice colors and shot of the bonfire.

Wish you all the best and thank you for sharing
Geir Inge

Hi Espen:

Great first piece! I did not look like you were the owner of a new camera for only 3 weeks. I share this adventure with you, I have just now received my first HD camera and I am about to embark on the same "everything new" kind of adventure that you just completed.... congratulations!

I rarely ever differ from Kevin Railsback in his critique, but this time I find that I do differ! I really liked the scrolling text. I thought is was very well done. It kept everything moving. I also liked the switch at the very end in the credits where it changed from scrolling right to left to down to up. So there you go... uwol is all about getting lots of great feedback but in the end, you got to go with your own heart and tastes.

Meryem also had very important information. I never would have known that you had an HD film squeezed into a 4:3 format. But she would know! That is definitely something to avoid the next time! You\'ve got to flaunt what you have and do your work justice by the 16:9 format you are capable of having.

Music was an excellent choice. Welcome to uwol!

Cat