A Big Huzzah to Long Form Finishers - The Giant Feedback Thread

Steve Siegel · November 25th, 2009, 09:45 PM

No, Cat

It's simply that global warming has fried my brain. I finished the films and topped it off with an hour of Spongebob Squarepants.

Enjoy your turkey.

Steve

Marj Atkins · November 26th, 2009, 01:11 AM

Good morning. I think I have finally woken up at last. . . ‘yawn’ . . maybe.

First let me congratulate the finishers – this has been no easy task - and thanks to all of you who have been part of this long form challenge even those who did not manage to finish. I have really come to appreciate you all as such good friends. Even though I have not contributed to all the conversations here I have so enjoyed your stories and travelling the different journeys with each of you and I really appreciate the input I have received from all of you.

My long form experience ended with an exceptionally difficult couple of weeks. It felt like I was fighting five-headed monster - with not only two stable computers crashing for different reasons but the internet being taken out three times – once by the local tower and twice by lightning!! Without Tom’s amazing technical help and time this difficult baby would certainly not have been delivered. My film did not get to the point I had intended and there are lots of silly odd things in it that either crept back after my very sick computer shut down on me or that I just didn’t get to sort out. The most frustrating result is I have run out of bandwidth and can’t upload to vimeo or download any films till Tuesday next week so I aplogise for not commenting on your films.

Steve and Cat – thank you for your compliments they mean a lot to me. I so appreciate your understanding and appreciation of what I was working with - the absolutely amazing, mysterious presence and wonder of mathematical design underpinning the natural world around us – created by design.

To answer your question Steve - this is no mean animation and was made by applying mathematics - of all things! :)

It was created using iterations (the repetition of a sequence of instructions a specified number of times). Greg and I worked very closely together on this – he was doing the math stuff I was giving the instructions. I could literally see his brain smoking at times trying to get those little bump thingies to emerge on a saucer shape in a pattern but he soon figured it out and within about three hours we had that top section completed. Being so complex it had to render overnight. It must have taken us a week of evenings after work to complete the whole animation.

What no one here realizes is that this particular sequence is A FIRST! – It has never been seen on film before. In fact most forums will tell you that the seeds come out from the centre – like the primordia on the growing tip. This particular sequence has been verified by Dr Palmer whose absolutely amazing, detailed and painstaking research I discovered by digging really deep. He has given me some really good ideas that I will be adding to my film next year.

I will answer your other questions about my film on my own thread and not hog this one.

Marj

Rob Evans · November 26th, 2009, 04:42 PM

Marj, wow!
It came together so well, a real voyage of discovery. I found myself sat there nodding, and going " I never knew that!Wow!" to myself throughout. Thoroughly engrossing, entertaining, well researched and backed up with great anims.

Be proud!

Cheers,

Rob

Finn-Erik Faale · November 27th, 2009, 08:42 AM

Congratulations to each who managed to post a final long form film.
In the beginning I did not understand how much work it should be to reach the final result. When I look at the other participating films, I must realize, my film is a rather short one.

I have had a first look at all videos. It is interesting to see how many different ideas, forms and personal interests, being reflected.
Marj's perfected educational video, Bob and his lovely traveling to Galapagos (a sailors dream), Mike and his turkey's sight on the flight over the mountains, Cat and her book from her fascinating neighborhood, Steve's historical and bird view, Dale's interesting coaching of hunting falcons, and Rob´history and wildlife at his wonderful Cliveden.
I need more time to do a thorough look for making comments on all these films.
Finally I wonder how many hours have been spent on all our projects through the last year?

Geir Inge · November 28th, 2009, 04:37 AM

Hi.
Just want to give my congratulations to you all finishers of ULF 2009.
What a great bunch og people you are. My youngest daughter, Elisabeth, have downloaded your films for me. Hopefully I will get some time to watch your videos after finishing next weeks tests at school. Though my time is full booked, I will use a minute now and then to keep up with you folks through this forum.

Bless you all and good luck with the final ULF 2009 competition.
Geir Inge

Catherine Russell · November 28th, 2009, 12:46 PM

Hi all:

I only have a few films left to see and am running into trouble downloading the films. Could it be that the UWOL site is seeing a lot of traffic? Anyone else having issues?

Cat

Catherine Russell · November 28th, 2009, 04:00 PM

O.K. Maybe not success on the UWOL site, but Vimeo is better for downloading!

Finn Erik, your film is both charming and beautiful. Well done friend! I am so impressed with this production, not to mention the English narration for our benefit and that you both play the music for this masterful piece! You both are so very talented! I LOVED the stills at the end with the sound of the camera clicks to accent the photographer at work. This didn't need to be 1 second longer than it was, and gives a solid tribute to this beautiful island, past and present. Straholmen is an enchanting place and you have captured it in a gentle and magical way.

Having goats myself, I thought the Viking Sheep were awesome and glad to hear they are making a come back on the island. Great work!

Cat

Catherine Russell · November 28th, 2009, 09:48 PM

Bravo Rob!

Another masterpiece from you. From the mating butterflies, badgers, brilliant species of moths, Crayfish Bob, bats and hidden snails... you seriously uncover it all. The castle itself, although not the center of topic is captivating, breathtaking in its grandeur and makes me want to look it up and find out more about it. Nicely done!

Best wishes to your dad and for your continued recovery and good health as well.

Cat

Trond Saetre · November 29th, 2009, 03:19 AM

Finn-Erik

Very nice film you made. Interesting story about Stråholmen, and a pleasure to watch!
Well done.

Bob Safay · November 29th, 2009, 04:55 AM

Steve, I just finished watching your magnificent video on birds. I think the best parts were showing the paintings of the birds then the actual bird. As I live in Atlanta you can bet I am heading out to Carolina NWR to do a bit of bird watching. Also, including the story of you as a 10 year old was a great idea. it really made the story flow. The way you followed the birds through the seasons made me once again realize the beauty of nature. The audio also added a lot to the video. The natural sounds of the birds coupled with soothing music blended with the visuals. If there are so many birds now, imagine what those flocks must have been like before man started having such an effect on their numbers. A great job. I really enjoyed every minute of it, and I think you should consider getting it onto Public TV. It really is that good. Bob

Mick Jenner · November 29th, 2009, 06:13 AM

Hi all,
I have just finished viewing all your entries. Congratulations to all the finishers, I enjoyed watching them all. As a person who for various reasons has not been able to enter either the long or short competitions, I therefore do not wish to pass judgement on any of the entries. But, what I will say is well done to all of you, the variety of content has made for a very pleasant morning's viewing. If I were judgeing I would not know where to start, with so many different styles, content and effects.

Again well done to you all

Mick

Meryem Ersoz · November 29th, 2009, 09:18 AM

Cat, I had no issues downloading your film, so don't worry, there won't be any DQ for file size.

Bob Safay · November 29th, 2009, 03:58 PM

Finn-Erik, we just watched your video entry. Beautiful. Seems like team Norway always comes up with a new video to encorage me to visit your fantastic country. What you have shown us is like the difference of watching a travel show created by a traveler, and a travel show created by someone that actually lives there and loves the country. How terrible it must have been to witness that devistating oil spill. It must have torn you up to see your beautiful landscape violated like that. I am so sorry. However, you showed us all how you Norwegians fought back and reclaimed the land. You created a truely wonderful video. Thank you. Bob

Catherine Russell · November 29th, 2009, 04:53 PM

Meryem, thank you for the post. I'm relieved.

Welcome Mick... If you have persevered and watched all of these films, it sounds to me you will soon be running with the pack with your own film contributions next year!

Dale, your video is fascinating. Sadly I'm having trouble with the downloads, even your embedded Vimeo versions and have not been able to see the entire film yet. I'll keep at it though, your work is amazing to me.

Cat

Mike Sims · November 29th, 2009, 05:17 PM

Catherine- Are you sure this isn’t finished? I know there are some minor adjustments you can make (we all can), but this looks really good. You held out some of your best shots to the end though- naughty, naughty! I especially liked the tight editing to the music in Chapter Three. So far, I’ve only been able to watch the UWOL version a couple of times. I plan to sit down with the Vimeo version as soon as I can. Have you discussed distributing this on DVD with the park’s concessionaire? You should. I’m so glad you didn’t drop out! Can't wait to see what you add next year.

November 28th, 2009, 04:37 AM	#20
Geir Inge Trustee Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Larsnes, Norway Posts: 1,342	Hi. Just want to give my congratulations to you all finishers of ULF 2009. What a great bunch og people you are. My youngest daughter, Elisabeth, have downloaded your films for me. Hopefully I will get some time to watch your videos after finishing next weeks tests at school. Though my time is full booked, I will use a minute now and then to keep up with you folks through this forum. Bless you all and good luck with the final ULF 2009 competition. Geir Inge __________________ Geir Inge B. Brekke Visit me at: https://vimeo.com/gibbfilm

November 29th, 2009, 04:55 AM	#25
Bob Safay Trustee Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 1,557	Steve, I just finished watching your magnificent video on birds. I think the best parts were showing the paintings of the birds then the actual bird. As I live in Atlanta you can bet I am heading out to Carolina NWR to do a bit of bird watching. Also, including the story of you as a 10 year old was a great idea. it really made the story flow. The way you followed the birds through the seasons made me once again realize the beauty of nature. The audio also added a lot to the video. The natural sounds of the birds coupled with soothing music blended with the visuals. If there are so many birds now, imagine what those flocks must have been like before man started having such an effect on their numbers. A great job. I really enjoyed every minute of it, and I think you should consider getting it onto Public TV. It really is that good. Bob Last edited by Bob Safay; November 29th, 2009 at 08:13 AM.

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November 25th, 2009, 09:45 PM	#16
Steve Siegel Major Player Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA Posts: 839	No, Cat It's simply that global warming has fried my brain. I finished the films and topped it off with an hour of Spongebob Squarepants. Enjoy your turkey. Steve

November 26th, 2009, 01:11 AM	#17
Marj Atkins Major Player Join Date: May 2007 Location: Johannesburg South Africa Posts: 768	Good morning. I think I have finally woken up at last. . . ‘yawn’ . . maybe. First let me congratulate the finishers – this has been no easy task - and thanks to all of you who have been part of this long form challenge even those who did not manage to finish. I have really come to appreciate you all as such good friends. Even though I have not contributed to all the conversations here I have so enjoyed your stories and travelling the different journeys with each of you and I really appreciate the input I have received from all of you. My long form experience ended with an exceptionally difficult couple of weeks. It felt like I was fighting five-headed monster - with not only two stable computers crashing for different reasons but the internet being taken out three times – once by the local tower and twice by lightning!! Without Tom’s amazing technical help and time this difficult baby would certainly not have been delivered. My film did not get to the point I had intended and there are lots of silly odd things in it that either crept back after my very sick computer shut down on me or that I just didn’t get to sort out. The most frustrating result is I have run out of bandwidth and can’t upload to vimeo or download any films till Tuesday next week so I aplogise for not commenting on your films. Steve and Cat – thank you for your compliments they mean a lot to me. I so appreciate your understanding and appreciation of what I was working with - the absolutely amazing, mysterious presence and wonder of mathematical design underpinning the natural world around us – created by design. To answer your question Steve - this is no mean animation and was made by applying mathematics - of all things! :) It was created using iterations (the repetition of a sequence of instructions a specified number of times). Greg and I worked very closely together on this – he was doing the math stuff I was giving the instructions. I could literally see his brain smoking at times trying to get those little bump thingies to emerge on a saucer shape in a pattern but he soon figured it out and within about three hours we had that top section completed. Being so complex it had to render overnight. It must have taken us a week of evenings after work to complete the whole animation. What no one here realizes is that this particular sequence is A FIRST! – It has never been seen on film before. In fact most forums will tell you that the seeds come out from the centre – like the primordia on the growing tip. This particular sequence has been verified by Dr Palmer whose absolutely amazing, detailed and painstaking research I discovered by digging really deep. He has given me some really good ideas that I will be adding to my film next year. I will answer your other questions about my film on my own thread and not hog this one. Marj

November 26th, 2009, 04:42 PM	#18
Rob Evans Major Player Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Berkshire, UK Posts: 390	Marj, wow! It came together so well, a real voyage of discovery. I found myself sat there nodding, and going " I never knew that!Wow!" to myself throughout. Thoroughly engrossing, entertaining, well researched and backed up with great anims. Be proud! Cheers, Rob

November 27th, 2009, 08:42 AM	#19
Finn-Erik Faale Major Player Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Porsgrunn Norway Posts: 280	Congratulations to each who managed to post a final long form film. In the beginning I did not understand how much work it should be to reach the final result. When I look at the other participating films, I must realize, my film is a rather short one. I have had a first look at all videos. It is interesting to see how many different ideas, forms and personal interests, being reflected. Marj's perfected educational video, Bob and his lovely traveling to Galapagos (a sailors dream), Mike and his turkey's sight on the flight over the mountains, Cat and her book from her fascinating neighborhood, Steve's historical and bird view, Dale's interesting coaching of hunting falcons, and Rob´history and wildlife at his wonderful Cliveden. I need more time to do a thorough look for making comments on all these films. Finally I wonder how many hours have been spent on all our projects through the last year?

November 28th, 2009, 12:46 PM	#21
Catherine Russell Trustee Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Lyons, Colorado Posts: 1,224	Hi all: I only have a few films left to see and am running into trouble downloading the films. Could it be that the UWOL site is seeing a lot of traffic? Anyone else having issues? Cat

November 28th, 2009, 04:00 PM	#22
Catherine Russell Trustee Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Lyons, Colorado Posts: 1,224	O.K. Maybe not success on the UWOL site, but Vimeo is better for downloading! Finn Erik, your film is both charming and beautiful. Well done friend! I am so impressed with this production, not to mention the English narration for our benefit and that you both play the music for this masterful piece! You both are so very talented! I LOVED the stills at the end with the sound of the camera clicks to accent the photographer at work. This didn't need to be 1 second longer than it was, and gives a solid tribute to this beautiful island, past and present. Straholmen is an enchanting place and you have captured it in a gentle and magical way. Having goats myself, I thought the Viking Sheep were awesome and glad to hear they are making a come back on the island. Great work! Cat

November 28th, 2009, 09:48 PM	#23
Catherine Russell Trustee Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Lyons, Colorado Posts: 1,224	Bravo Rob! Another masterpiece from you. From the mating butterflies, badgers, brilliant species of moths, Crayfish Bob, bats and hidden snails... you seriously uncover it all. The castle itself, although not the center of topic is captivating, breathtaking in its grandeur and makes me want to look it up and find out more about it. Nicely done! Best wishes to your dad and for your continued recovery and good health as well. Cat

November 29th, 2009, 03:19 AM	#24
Trond Saetre Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Bergen, Norway Posts: 3,375	Finn-Erik Very nice film you made. Interesting story about Stråholmen, and a pleasure to watch! Well done.

November 29th, 2009, 06:13 AM	#26
Mick Jenner Major Player Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: West Sussex England Posts: 843	Hi all, I have just finished viewing all your entries. Congratulations to all the finishers, I enjoyed watching them all. As a person who for various reasons has not been able to enter either the long or short competitions, I therefore do not wish to pass judgement on any of the entries. But, what I will say is well done to all of you, the variety of content has made for a very pleasant morning's viewing. If I were judgeing I would not know where to start, with so many different styles, content and effects. Again well done to you all Mick

November 29th, 2009, 09:18 AM	#27
Meryem Ersoz Wrangler Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Boulder, CO Posts: 3,015	Cat, I had no issues downloading your film, so don't worry, there won't be any DQ for file size.

November 29th, 2009, 03:58 PM	#28
Bob Safay Trustee Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 1,557	Finn-Erik, we just watched your video entry. Beautiful. Seems like team Norway always comes up with a new video to encorage me to visit your fantastic country. What you have shown us is like the difference of watching a travel show created by a traveler, and a travel show created by someone that actually lives there and loves the country. How terrible it must have been to witness that devistating oil spill. It must have torn you up to see your beautiful landscape violated like that. I am so sorry. However, you showed us all how you Norwegians fought back and reclaimed the land. You created a truely wonderful video. Thank you. Bob

November 29th, 2009, 04:53 PM	#29
Catherine Russell Trustee Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Lyons, Colorado Posts: 1,224	Meryem, thank you for the post. I'm relieved. Welcome Mick... If you have persevered and watched all of these films, it sounds to me you will soon be running with the pack with your own film contributions next year! Dale, your video is fascinating. Sadly I'm having trouble with the downloads, even your embedded Vimeo versions and have not been able to see the entire film yet. I'll keep at it though, your work is amazing to me. Cat

November 29th, 2009, 05:17 PM	#30
Mike Sims Major Player Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 880	Catherine- Are you sure this isn’t finished? I know there are some minor adjustments you can make (we all can), but this looks really good. You held out some of your best shots to the end though- naughty, naughty! I especially liked the tight editing to the music in Chapter Three. So far, I’ve only been able to watch the UWOL version a couple of times. I plan to sit down with the Vimeo version as soon as I can. Have you discussed distributing this on DVD with the park’s concessionaire? You should. I’m so glad you didn’t drop out! Can't wait to see what you add next year.