UWOL #7 "ZZZ... Venture" Adrinn Chellton
 

I wanted to keep it as simple as I could, as I didn't have much time to work with. I decided to tell a story without words, of a cat who never gets to go outside as a dream of her doing exactly that. I think she has "escaped" maybe 2 times in the last year or two, other than that I know this is the only time she has EVER been let outside voluntarily. I only had one chance to shoot it and stay in congruence with my idea for it. The POV shots were done on a different day.

It wasn't easy to talk her owner(my grandmother) into letting me do this, but I think it was worth it if not for the film, just for the cat.

I had a little trouble getting the feel of her going to sleep and the adventure itself being a dream, I hope the transition and the placement of music was enough. Anyways I had fun making it and learned something so "mission accomplished".

Hope you enjoy it.

I don't have a server to use for uploads right now so this link is to the UWOL version http://www.uwolchallenge.com/challen...zzzventure.mp4

Many thanks to Meryem, Mat and Kevin for work on organizing this challenge to get us all off of our butts and shooting!!

ah...been waiting on your thread...i love the kitties, so i loved this, with the cat-cam. what did you use to create your low angle shots. you did a nice job of maintaining the right camera height, to make these believable.

we have so many dog videos, but the felines are under-represented!

my cat, Sadie B., starred in a friend's prom video once but has never made it to UWOL, unlike my dog, Violet, who gets the marquee billing...

Wow, this forum moves fast, almost like instant messenger!

I used a small HD camera(HG10) both on a merlin and handheld for the very low shots. I had to do them over and over to get it close to the right feel so my back was aching bad by the end of the day. I was a tiny bit too high in my opinion and ended up scraping the ground quite often destroying otherwise good takes.

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it.

Adrinn,

I think it was pretty clear that the cat was sleeping. I think the white flash transition helped sell it as well.

It was easy to see that even an patio can be an adventure for a cat.

Loved you POV shots. They matched up perfectly with what the cat was exploring.

The shot at the end you could totally feel the cat wanting to go back outside for another adventure. :)

Nice job!!

Nice job Adrinn…
Nice job in the editing between the high shots and the “cat eyes”. I would have liked if you tried to film from the cats back and over the head.


Markus

Yes, I need to invent a cat-cam that I can put on the back of camera shy subjects! I agree it would have been nice to be able to do that. Trying to get a close-up like I did towards the end provoked some pretty aggressive behavior from her(trying to swat the camera), I just don't think it was in the cards this time.

I thought this was quite a diverse take on the them - "snap" ;-) But it worked for me, and reminded me of my old cat, who I would sit and "talk" to in the same way - that was sweet. Interesting povs and a little bit of trapcode shine in there for the dreamlike effect? Nice lil' film!
Cheers!

Hi Adrinn:

There was no question as to the message getting across in your film. Nice job depicting the dreaming of your grandmother's cat in its own jungle adventure on the back patio! The opening shots of her crashed out on her back gave me a chuckle.... amazing how relaxed cats can be!

Way to go, getting your grandmother to let her out for a stint! Perhaps you could film her again in an outdoor setting just so she can get some air!

Thanks for this Adrinn!

Cat (the other Cat)

Anne,

I felt that the cat was dreaming, so you got that done. I really loved the low cat perspective. I thought a couple shots seemed to high, but I may not got what you were trying to put across.

good job putting it together, proof we do not have to go far to see an adventure.

thanks for sharing you vision.

This was a fun film. I liked the cuts between the cat and the cat's point of view. The music was also a great choice- a feeling of exotic adventure, so it made a clear point about how exciting the patio was for the cat. Your low shots seemed really steady- and I know about bad backs- I used an improvised steadicam on my camera last year on a walk and after half an hour had to stop my back was hurting so bad- but be assured your bad back was worth it :)


Ruth

Hi Adrinn,

Most has been said already. It was a good film.
One thing I would have liked to see, is to have the camera down to the cat's level more of the time, instead of filming so much from above.
I believe this would have improved your film a bit.

Thanks for sharing the cat's adventure.

Adrinn, I love cats, in fact I owned one for many years ago, we was like brother until it past away 15 years of age.
Your video reminded me of him. They are lovely animals and I think you showed us in a very good way how a cat-life can be!

The low angle and pov shots was lovely, nicely done!

Well Hats off to you,not seen too many cat video,s here.I am pretty sure that in real life thats exactly what the cat dreams of.nice little video

Hi Adrinn,

After reading your opening comments and thinking about what you were trying to achieve, I think you did reasonably well however, I do agree with other that the "cat cam" type approach would have added a lot more impact, ie showing the story from the cat's perspective.

Maybe some shots of the cat looking out through the glass sliding door - longing to get outside? This might have added some greater impact to your opening scenes?

Nice approach Adrinn - although one that would be difficult to capture well. Nonetheless, you did do a good job. Well done.

Hi Adrinn.
My two girls have two favorites among uwol7 entries. It's Johns film "The long way home" and yours. They love cats and dogs, we have a cat at home. I just can imaging how difficult it can be to follow a cat on it's way. You put together a nice story with this one and I love how you make the camera be the cats eyes and how you talk to cat in the end :)

Wish you all the best and good luck
Geir Inge