UWOL#8 Preserving The Legacy by Bruce Foreman

[Bruce Foreman]

I got a late start on this one. The best idea I had required an actor and horse so I tried to bring back Mike and Cinco but Mike couldn’t make it this time. Finally a few days ago when a new camcorder came in I decided to do something to “stay dry”.

Preserving The Legacy is a blend of two concepts. A reminder that some of our land should not undergo man made transformation, and also one that the legacy of some of our history can vanish if the transformation process of going back into the earth is not reversed.

One of my previous entries showed an annual “celebration” of Ft. Chadbourne, one of the Texas forts manned to protect settlers in West Texas.

When the Government abandoned Ft. Chadbourne and its mission moved to Fort Concho, the facility was used by the Butterfield stage line for a few years. The property then came into private ownership and became the Chadbourne Ranch. 9 years ago the current owner, Garland Richardson, opened the fort ruins to the public and began extensive restoration with private funding.

Garland considers himself a “steward” of the history that the fort on his property represents. I hope my appreciation and respect for what he is doing is communicated in the second half of my entry.

This was shot with a new Canon Vixia HF100 which records to flash memory media in AVCHD format. The .mts files were copied directly from a 4GB SDHC card and edited in Pinnacle Studio 11.1.2 plus.

I think I’m sold on flash memory as a recording medium.

Links: Hi Def http://www.vimeo.com/926994
UWOL listing http://www.uwolchallenge.com/challen...gthelegacy.mp4

[Dale Guthormsen]

Bruce,

I too have an interest on old buildings and the legacies they leave behind, so for myself I enjoyed the mini-documentray. I know time and theme would have ruled it out, but I would love to have heard more about the fort!!!

This one was up to the standard I learned to expect fropm your video!!

Very much enjoyed!!!

A fine Job!!

[Trond Saetre]

Hi Bruce,

I always expect a great story from you, and you keep delivering!
Image quality was top notch as well! Nice close ups of that cactus too.

Very interesting to hear about that fort/ranch.
Might be very hard to find one, but a picture or some kind of drawings to give the audience an idea of how the fort originally was, would have been nice.
(An idea if you sometime deside to build upon this story to extend your video in the future)

Thank you very much for sharing!

[Bryce Comer]

As usual Bruce, a great story, & well done with the VO. Although i understand what you were trying to do with the first 3 shots, i thought the audio levels & wind noise were a bit distracting, but then the music kicked in, & wow, that suited perfectly! I loved your stand up in the middle, & then the way you brought the music back in was great. All in all, another quality film from you.

Bryce

[Mike Beckett]

Bruce,

A great story, well told!

I was going to remark that the audio jumped when you cut from the city street to the bush and back again, but then I realised that was deliberate and worked well.

The pan was a bit jumpy, and the zoom at one point - was the image stabilizer on? I lost a few great shots due to that, and it took some tricky editing to rescue some of them.

Great landscape and great detail shots, and the music was fan-tastic.

Maybe the shot of you walking up to the old ranch was a bit long, I'm not sure. I get really paranoid about the lengths of shots when I'm editing, and consantly worry about whether it's too long or too short and end up never being entirely happy!

I loved this. I want there to be more of this than just three minutes!

[Catherine Russell]

Excellent piece of work Bruce. The music selection couldn't have been better or more fitting. We too, in the Colorado rockies work to restore our heritage in high mountain cabins and mining towns. Well narrated. Nice job!

Cat

[Meryem Ersoz]

OK Bruce, I have to get on your case about not compressing to the standard contest file size of 428 -- you've been in a few too many of these to excuse it!

I am a sucker for ruins, though, and these look very intriguing. I liked how you put yourself in it, too, as narrator, that's a good cut from you approaching the ruin from the rear, through the "fifth wall," to entering the frame from the side. Nice composition and continuity there and takes us closer into the ruins while keeping the pacing moving along. Very clever.

A little excess wind noise distracts from your otherwise well-done narration.

[Bruce Foreman]

(Hanging head in shame...) Meryem, it was not deliberate. With the change from SD and HDV to AVCHD, the software I had been using suddenly did not offer the options I was used to. QT7 Pro was what I had been using to compress, but now Sorensen 3 is not a choice, nothing I was used to using was there.

Pinnacle Studio renders to MP4 but I didn't find access to custom settings until after the deadline. I was hoping the preset I used wouldn't be too far out of spec but the file size did stay smaller than usual.

Really sorry 'bout that.

And thanks for the kind comments. Oh..."LITTLE excess wind noise"? The roar in the background was the wind (sounds like highway traffic but it's wind). The ruins sheltered me and the mic from the worst of it but even with the Deadcat over the Rode some hit the mic. I guess I'm going to have to get or rig a blimp, the wind never lies down here until the summer "bake" sets in.

[Meryem Ersoz]

well, I have devised a hideous punishment for you and Dale...

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showpost....9&postcount=11

...and I won't forget the manacles!

but I'm glad to hear it is a burp in the technology and not a way of life...Dale, on the other hand...

[Bruce Foreman]

Originally Posted by Mike Beckett

Bruce,

A great story, well told!

I was going to remark that the audio jumped when you cut from the city street to the bush and back again, but then I realised that was deliberate and worked well.

I tried that two ways. Going from the city to dead quiet - no audio at all, then back to the city noise. Sounded too dead and artificial. So I brought back a bit of audio, the wind was awful. At the fort I actually caught a dust devil and if it had been bigger and more prominent I would have used that.

Originally Posted by Mike Beckett

The pan was a bit jumpy, and the zoom at one point - was the image stabilizer on? I lost a few great shots due to that, and it took some tricky editing to rescue some of them.

If that was the Vimeo version, their compression caused some very noticeable jerking and jumping. No the OIS was off, the smaller version on the UWOL site shows one slight change in pan speed and one slight but noticeable jerk in the zoom. The tripod is not what I should have. It was worse before I took the head apart and re-greased the "fluid" parts.

Originally Posted by Mike Beckett

I loved this. I want there to be more of this than just three minutes!

I think there will be. May 2nd and 3rd the re-enactors will be there for the annual event, and this time I plan to concentrate on getting a lot more of the "traders", "buffalo hunters", in addition to getting more of the cavalry. Check out last years event depicted in Challenge #3 "Ft Chadbourne". I'd reuse some of that but I'm working in hi def now.

Watch for "The Lost Fort" on whichever cable channel has sense enough to pick it up. I've seen the first version that the History channel turned down because they didn't like the narration. So Garland asked Barry Corbin if he would narrate, Barry said, "Sure!" and the producer shot additional material. Garland showed me a few minutes of it, just this last Friday as I was finishing up my current entry. It's an hour long and depicts Ft Chadbourne in a very detailed way.

[Chris Barcellos]

Bruce:

Thank for another tour of a Texas point of interest. I have never been to Texas, so your films have always held great interest for me. The back country shots are especially interesting.

[Ruth Happel]

I feel I'm really beginning to know your part of the country, though I haven't visited it much. You really set up a great transition from the city to the quiet of the fort, and your audio worked well with it. My favorite part was when you walked into the frame and sat down to talk- there was something very compelling about how you just brought us right in, as if we were standing there with you. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Great job!


Ruth

[Markus Nord]

Hi Bruce

Nice film… I liked the feel of the film… the flow. I would have liked some more facts about the fortress and also may some interview with the contractors about the rebuilding.

Well done!

[Rob Evans]

Hi Bruce,
My wife works for a charity that restore buildings of historical importance, so this is a subject that is quite close to me. I preferred the second half of the film that focused on the fort, in fact I think you could have done the challenge on this alone ;-) but throughout I thought the framing and editing were top notch, the visual continuity strong, vo good and music well and subtley used. A great entry! Thanks!

[John Dennis Robertson]

As always a Quality piece from you.If my Dad were still around and was the judge you would win every round.He was a "cowboy" born on the wrong continent in the wrong era.From his collection of colt peacemakers (all with different barrell lengths,and he could tell me why they were like this and who would have carried them) I am learning so much about your part of the world,your culture and history.All this is presented to me in a well filmed well thought out script,From horses to native Indians,to Forts and Texas landscape. Keep em comming.