UWOL#9 The Park by Ron Chant
 

I live on the very outskirts of West London, we have many Wildlife /Nature Reserves and two old Royal hunting parks within a 15 miles radius of home. This video was shot at one of the Royal hunting parks that is a stones throw from Hampton court Palace, called Bushey Park it’s size is approx 1000 acres.

I shot this video over three late sunny mornings, although it was a bit windy, the video is a series of dissolves cut to condense time or to suggest memories of the day
I have filmed at this park before, but only during the wintertime .
This short video was taken with my XL2 + stock lens and a 300mm f4 Nikon prime.
http://web.mac.com/wildlifeonline/Site_2/The_Park.html

Ron...very peaceful. All the animals seemed very relaxed, (except for the carps jumping).

Liked your shots, some very nice close shots of the deer and rabbits...

The second shot, wide shot of the park, looked like your camera was tilted to the left a bit...but maybe it's just an illusion.

Bob T.

Hello Ron


You make here a wonderful film, and this animal have my special athencen.
And I must say for shore you have done a nice job here.Some of the shot
whit the yong stag in the wather was greit.

Tanks for shering your Art.


Best Regards

VJV.


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Hi Ron, that’s and interesting place you got there, plenty of wildlife. For me it’s a bit to much I don’t get the hang of what’s going on and it a bit “jumpy”. I would have liked some more shots on the deer’s and a bit more story, but you got some nice shot there.

Ron, very relaxed piece as a park should be! The piano score substantiated the relaxed feeling in a good way. Maybe not a story in the piece, but most of the scenes was very nicely done!

Terrific, loved the deer at the end, looking at us looking at him - and the carp jumping, I had to watch that again

Hey Ron.

Well it took me straight to Richmond park I have to say. Some great shots in your piece and as others have said a very relaxing feel to it. Love the shot of the hare and hares although the on the first shot cutting from it and back to exactly the same shot made it feel repeated. I've actually thought about a piece on hares myself, do you see many at this park? Heron shot....wow, what a frame filler and when you went to the close up I thought you'd got it catching a fish....ah well maybe next time :-) !!!

On the whole I like to see a film have a premise/story but the way you weave images together to music is great and allows me to just relax and take in the images.

Nice piece.
Mat

Hi Ron:

Beautiful imagery and a soothing relaxing 3 minutes. This park is a hunting park? Boy I bet that jerks it into life with that kind of disruption! Well done in imagery and composition. Like others said, not a story line, but to me that's not as important as it is to others.

Thanks for taking me away.

Cat

Very nice imagery and composition. So what is effective (35mm equivalence) of that 300 mm lens ?

Yes, I will have to agree with the others, this was a nice relaxing piece to watch. Nice shots and the music added to the mood. I now know more about what Bushey Park is like.

I always enjoy films that help me to relax, thanks for this one!

You got some lovely shots in there Ron, particularly loved the rabbit by the side of the path. Well composed, music was relaxing, I enjoyed the whole film, nice entry.

Russ

Hi Ron,

Very nice footage here - so sharp!

Favorites were the two hares by the long grass and I also like the way you managed the exposure of the deer under the trees. I found the different clip durations a bit disappointing at times as you came across some exciting scene - only to move onto the next scene so quickly, ie the fox scene and the two hares in a beautiful morning light. The deer looking straight at you was a lovely shot and I also like the way you mix up the carp shots. The carp jumping in front of the deer was great!

Like Mat, I was a bit unsure of the use of the hare/rabbit eating shot being used twice?

I really likes the music and the overall relaxed pace.

I was surprised to read about you using an XL2 as I thought the footage was HD.

Ron I have watched your film a few times now and really have enjoyed doing so. This is one of my favorites.

Some really good shots here Ron.

I can never seem so get within sight of dear let alone close enough to film the kind of material you have.

If you weren’t going for story piece then some text or VO to set the scene and anchor the film in terms of location would have been nice for the viewer.

I love the sharp image quality.

Pete

Ron this is beautifully filmed. You have lovely clear images, well framed with good colour. The editing is very good.
One thing I really missed was some clue as to what I was looking at and where it is found, although I have subsequently discovered some answers in your thread here.
I also think you could have left in some of the natural sounds. This video would be perfectly rounded off with a good story and voice-over. Well done - an exceptional contribution to UWOL.
BTW - How did you get such good crisp compression results?

Ron,

That's a very nice video. You have some super shots of deer there, you could certainly teach Johnny Kingdom a thing or two! The shot of the fish (salmon?) leaping out of the water as the deer grazed on the bank in the background was either brilliant planning or a brilliant fluke - fantastic.

Great shots of the fish catching its food, though your editing had me worried that he was going to get a mallard chick next!

It looked like it was hard going with some of those tracking shots, both with the wind and the very tight telephoto shots you were using, but that's only a minor detraction.

All in all, very good, very enjoyable, thank you for that.

You proved that the right music can turn a really good video into quite a treat. That was wonderful.

The closeup at 1:22 really made my day. Well done.

Great shots Ron. The fish jumping out of the water was a nice touch. It all flowed nicely with the music.

Oliver

Hi Ron
Ater watching all the video's my wife said this would be the winning entry if she was the judge....very good entry

I think I recognize the deer. Are these the same as the ones breathing the magical winter air in one of your other UWOL films? I sort of felt it was an elaborate timelapse- I had moved from the deer in winter to summer, and it was great seeing them in a new season. I loved the music and it fit the contemplative, dreamy atmosphere of a summer day perfectly.


Ruth

Hi Ron,

This was entertaining! The music fits your video very well.
As already said by others, I miss a story here, but it was fun to watch anyway.
Keep up your good work!
Thank you for sharing.

Ron,

What a pleasurable wildlife film, all in three minutes too!! It is definitely my kind of video!!
I do not think the title "The Park" does it justice (not that I know what would be better)!! most of the time people think of parks a tame and domesticated wildlife.

This is one of my favorites. So many good films this round!! The competition is getting tuffer and tuffer!!!!