UWOL #9 "The Heath" by Mat Thompson
 

Hey guys.

Well here we are again. I have to say as filming experience go, this was one of my best to date. The Adder is a rare and beautiful creature and facinating to be around. As long as my movements werent to sharp they didn't mind my presence and apart from once when the female almost moved under my tripod I didn't feel bothered by them. It was all shot at my favorite reserve here in Essex.

The film was a little rushed towards the end of the edit but I think I did up the standard of the VO in both recording quality and delivery. This came out in the last critique somewhat so I was keen to improve on that side of things so I hope I managed to.

Anyway without further a do....rip it up people !!???

http://www.uwolchallenge.com/challen...9_theheath.mov

Mat:

How come whenever you say, "rip it up people", you throw up something untouchable in excellence. This is a Mat Thompson par excellence. Narration, music, stunning filming, seamless transitions, and of course the subject matter.... it's your best! You are up there with Per in your wildlife filming! Very nicely done.

Cat

Matt,

what can I say other than, totally Awesome. Fabulous footage, dead clear, fantastic voice over, and I even like the music!!!!

you got a winner here!!

Mat,
I know how hard it is to even find herps, let alone getting them engaged in interesting behaviors and keeping up with them. They don't take stage direction well. Your skill is showing. Keep it up, buddy.

Mat, a very nicely made and informative film you got here! Your editing is very good, with stunning close-ups of the viper! It's not easy to make interesting scenes for 3 minutes but I think you did well, maybe a bit rushed towards the end as you mention yourself!
And the VO was perfect this time. The music blended very well too!

This is one of your best entries, Mat!

Mat - Great. Perfectly set up, really nice intro from the wider to the ground level, drew me in!
Shots were jaw - dropping throughout, particularly the fight and orgy scene (erm for want of a better word...) and you did a fantastic job with really smooth panning and follow.
VO was well paced, interesting and informative and tied closely to the action - definatley improved on this front.
The tiny, nit picky thing i will say is I didn't like the start. I guess i never like seeing the abrupt stop and start of landscape pans, I would have chosen to fade in one moving.
But hey, thats like a 0.005% crit in a great film. Nice one dude!!!

Hi Mat,

Yes, this certainly is a top class entry - which all your entries have been however, I think you have taken this one to a new level.

Some of the techniques you use work really nicely. I like the way you use the music along with your narration - and the way you move to each. Also loves the out of focus sunlight ending. Little things, but they just seem to give it that professional polish.

As always, very well researched and informative entry. Also, the story was very complete as opposed to having a single shot of a snake, and trying to put a story around it. I especially liked the fact you were able to capture the males fighting and also the attempted orgy - which I guess it was.

Technique was really professional, with smooth tracking of the subjects and also the variety of shots. Were you using a track at one stage, or was it just a short pan? Transitions worked very nice (the overlayed dissolve is my favourite) - although I was also surprised to open your entry to see the heath with no title. It may have worked better to use the same transition starting from black film, leading into the heath shot. This small critisism is really me trying to find something I would change - as I know you want constructive critisism in this forum (nit picking really).

Overall, I personally think this is your best entry to date and can't see how you could have improved on it. It is also one of my favourites in this round so far (with a few more to view).

Well done Mat, I know you put a lot of effort into your filming and I think you should be very pleased with this outcome.

Nice one fella!
In the beginning of this round I hade an idea about the Viper but throw it away. Your film was fantastic Mat, really nice. You voice is perfect for narrating, clear and smooth. Nice shot and a good variation of different angels and wide/close ups. I really liked the shots with one female and X males… maybe just the music, it’s something about it that is a bit disturbing.
Solid story with lots of info.
WELL DONE!

Hello Mat

Exselent work, and supricing to see how clouse you was the viper.
I have seen allot of this, but fare by so clouse as you was.
Must say you make a greit enter here.


VJV.

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Outstanding...just like watching The Discovery Channel.

Not only are you far more talented than I, you're braver.
Being close was the only way to get the shots I saw...Wow.

And, as the others have said, it was technically very, very well done.

I have zero to offer as far as improvements.

Bob

Great learning experience+Great images+Great science+Great narration= top flight nature film

Many thanks guys for all the kind words. I do feel that things are far more polished with this entry.

Thanks also for a kick up the a*se with the VO that a couple of you gave me in the last round. It made me nail it down much better this time. Thats exactly why I like critique, its a great platform on which to improve.

An almost spotless entry Mat.

Massive congratulations. You really showed off British nature with well pitched film. Thanks for that. There were some excellent shots and the narration was very good.

I look forward to seeing what you will treat us with next round.

Pete.

Mat,
The Adder as a subject can be hard enough to find let alone video, I spent time this spring at my local WL reserve failing what you have captured on video, so well done on that.
The short with the VO was well wrapped taking us into the heath with a short bit on the heaths plant/animal biodiversity.
Taking us to some great shots of male and female, and to capture the males fighting for dominance must have been a feel good factor, those mesmerising rust red eyes in the females close up V good shot
Then as the setting sun starts to cast long shadows, you take us for quick glance into last autumns dead leaves for a final view of a male adder setting down for the night love it all well done.


Ps. The Hares were from a Sth Oxfordshire Reserve While filming Barn Swallows and Red Kites.
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Very very nice movie. I learned a lot about this adder and adders in general and really enjoyed the way you put the information across. Good clear images and nice use of music. Definitely a top contender.

(A small observation and question - that bird call seems to be in the background of all your movies - is it because these birds are actually present everywhere you go or do you add the call in afterwards? I think it is the pitch of that particular bird call that that always gets my attention.)

Hi Mat:

I just finished watching your film again (I like going back through the one's that strike me most) and I will show it to my husband after we get all these animals to bed. You see, I watch all of the films and comment (of course!) but I select perhaps the top 3 or 4 (which is getting harder to do these days!) and show them to my husband. Yours is my second pick, only behind Per. I am so personally proud of you on this one. You should have 500 hits on this clip by now, and if not... it's everyone's loss. I thought I could never let go of "The Fisher King", but I guess now, I formally have. This is a stunning film and up in the realm of "Per territory". This IS your best, and it is perfect in just about every aspect... narration content, filming, beauty. I can't say anymore so I'll quite while I'm ahead.

Cato

Mat,

Nice film, fella! (And I thought just people on those police reality shows called each other "fella"!)

This was another video with fantastic colours. You set the scene well, the shots are all of a perfect length and it all flows nicely to the point where you reveal the snakes. And my goodness, you've got some great close-ups there! Your tracking shots were also just about flawless, making me very jealous. The end shot with the mega focus pull was very stylish. Your voiceover and the storyline were just spot on.

The only slight flaw I noticed was the green rabbits at around 00:35. Is there something I don't know about the bunnies of Essex?

Absolutely fan-dabi-dosi.

Fantastic Adder shots Mat. I can only imagine the patients it took to capture those footages. Excellent VO too.

Oliver

What can I say, remarkable work Mat. The story kept me riveted, your cinematography was stellar and the VO was almost flawless. You have really outdone yourself with this one. This piece had that "professional" look to it.

Way to go!

Hi Mat
this is your usual high quality video...I would have been pretty worried getting that close to the snakes.Even though all your productions are good,I rate this as one of your best

Cat - Many thanks, I'm not sure whether I'm happy or sad I've put to bed the Fisher King for you ;-)!

Ron- If you want to see Adders I can almost guarantee it at the moment when the weathers right....I have only not seen them once in the last 6 visits. If you fancy it drop me an email.

Mike.....fella!, what can I say maybe I hankering for another vocation!

Thanks again to everyone for their great comments, I know I always ask for critique, but lots of positive comments are nice too of course :-)

This really has got me very intrigued about snakes in general and particularly the Adder. I have been back a seen this female a couple of times since shooting as I know where she regularly basks. Two days ago I also saw what I'm pretty sure was a 'Black Adder', either that or it was very ready to shed its skin. Unfortunately it moved off quite quickly. The Black adder is the same species but a very rare deviation and would be amazing to take footage of.....needless to say, I will be going back a few more times over the next few weeks.

Hi Mat,

Congratulations on the film and of course winning. Having been watching adders here in the New Forest for a number of years it was a joy to watch. It was very well edited with a good story line. You were very lucky to have filmed this behaviour in June as down here the mating season was well over by the middle of May.

Look forward to seeing your next entry

Regards

Mick

Many thanks Mick, coming from someone of your experience that means a lot. Yeah it was only after doing a lot of reading about the Adder I became aware that it was a lucky moment. From what I've read its an unusual thing to get to see full stop. Have you managed to film much on them?

As I said earlier in this post the last time I went to this Heath I'm pretty sure I actually saw a Black adder. Didn't manage any footage but I'm going to head back this week and I'll certainly be keeping my eyes open! There is pretty much always a female basking but I havent seen the males again since.

Hi Mat,

I have very little adder footage, mainly because when we come acroos them we are doing other things. As you are probably aware they are quite common in the forest, more so than than grass snakes. Our local vet gets many dogs in each year with adder bites, fortunately I believe non fatal in recent years.

I have seen the occasional black, but they do vary greatly in colour from vivid grey and black to brown/red and of course black.

If you want to know more, google Sylvia Sheldon, you will find lots of articles about her and from her on the study of adders.

On another subject I see on another forum you are selling your JVC whats the story behind this and what are you replacing it with, are you going back to canon?

Regards

Mick

I really like the JVC in many ways and I do think the pictures it produces are 'richer' and have a more filmlike quality than the canon. I also like the build, layout and functions more than canon. However the standard lens is a big drawback for wildlife. The canon x20 is such a good stock workhorse and good pretty much end to end. I also think the canon produces more detailed images (more pixels/better processing I guess) which is more important for wildlife than most other types of film making.

If I was shooting a regular narrative piece with actors I'd go for the JVC though!

I finally am having a chance to watch the films in NY- the first stop in my move cross country. Since this film won, figured I'd start with the best :)

Very impressive, I liked the seamless transition between scenes, and the VO was professional and added a lot. My only minor quibble (since you emphasize the value of constructive criticism) is the music didn't particularly match the mood for me. Or at the least, you could have used a few different pieces to meld with the very different emotional content of the scenes. But other than that, I really can find no faults with the film- great job, and a worthy winner.

Ruth

I just realized I missed commenting on this one! Perhaps it happened because I really, really have a tough time enjoying snakes--in any setting. :0

This is near-perfection in filmmaking, and it very much deserved the top prize. Even if it did include a bunch of writhing...oh never mind... :)

Congratulations, Mat, on a well-deserved win!

Hi Mat,

I can see why this video won this round. Congratulations!
Stunning footage, a great story, perfect music match.

Well done!!