Uwol #25 - Pioneers - Marj Atkins
 

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to accompany Tom on one of his business trips to Cape Town in March and looked forward to the change of scenery for this challenge. Knowing Cape Town though, I wasn’t sure if we would get decent weather so I had to have a back-up plan in case. I filmed quite a lot in around my home turf before my trip.

Happily the weather was beautiful – only one misty, rainy morning – so I could make the most of my visit. (During the past week Cape Town experienced gale force winds, so timing worked out well!!)

This story was of necessity shaped by the theme but I am not too happy with the information overload (again). I tried cutting down as much as I could but I was beginning to think that it would not really make sense or flow properly if I cut it down more.

I enjoyed every minute watching and filming these engaging little critters!

Re: Uwol #25 - Pioneers - Marj Atkins
 

Very nice images and a great story too. Nice job Marj.

Re: Uwol #25 - Pioneers - Marj Atkins
 

I love this story… how that haft to move and how humans then try to do what they can to help them out.
the first 4 shot are kind of the same, maybe you could have ether got closer with some shots, or a bit more away… just 1-2 shot with a bit wide framing… maybe.
but after that it is smooth as ice-cream. I would have like some shot in eye level…. But maybe you were not allowed down at ground level.
Good job Marj

Re: Uwol #25 - Pioneers - Marj Atkins
 

Penguins, the only living creatures permanently dressed for a party. :)

I like how you always come up with good stories, and I always learn something new from your films.
Well done!

Re: Uwol #25 - Pioneers - Marj Atkins
 

Marj, you've certainly expanded my horizens with this video! Very well done...I was interested and learned something I didn't know.

The editing was very good and your V.O. was excellent.

Re: Uwol #25 - Pioneers - Marj Atkins
 

Hi Marj,

This brings back many memories. I was in Simonstown years back to see the penguins; my girlfriend at the time loved penguins and so I promised her I'd take her to see them. I think she figured I'd be arranging a cruise to Antarctica on an icebreaker or something madly romantic like that. But instead I got a couple of 3rd class tickets and we hopped on a train in Tzaneen (near where we were working) and went down to the Cape - its surprising how few people realize that there are penguins in Africa. It all worked out in the end though (she my wife now) - so even a highly budgeted to trip to see the penguins counts....

Anyway, your video captures the little critters well. Who'd have thought they make so much noise (I guess thats why they call them Jackass penguins)?

As others have mentioned your video has a lot of interesting information, and well presented too.

Your info regarding them being 'indicator species' is interesting, and so could hold the key to the oceans well being...over the horizon, so to speak.

Re: Uwol #25 - Pioneers - Marj Atkins
 

Hi Marj.

Finally, you brought penguins to Uwol.
An excellent movie with a good story, where the birds expand their horizons.
I am an avid supporter of Discovery, National Geograpfic and Animal Planet (TV channels), where Animal Planet has shown a program about just these penguins.
Magnificent execution of the theme, editing is good as usual and your comments are exceptional and well implemented.
You build up your movie in a way I like a good wildlife film should be.
With a nice intro, the story itself and an appropriate rounding to finish.
Why pick at something that is almost perfect?
Well, maybe the music is somewhat high in relation to the comments some places,
but that's a minor issue. I think I'm already starting to get old, do not hear so good, haha.
Perhaps I should buy a hearing aid instead of a quadro copter?
A little self-irony at the end here ;o)

I thank you and bows for fine delivery in line with the theme and the spirit of Uwol.

Re: Uwol #25 - Pioneers - Marj Atkins
 

Howdy, Marj! I’m glad you got in this round. As Geir Inge mentioned, about a year ago I watched an hour long program about Black-footed Penguins which specifically covered this colony. I honestly think you did a much better job of it in three minutes than they did in ten times that. I know you worry about information overload but you hit upon the perfect mix this time. Penguins seem to be everywhere lately and almost everyone falls into the trap of treating them as little Charlie Chaplins dressed for dinner. I’m not a big fan of anthropomorphism. It is so refreshing to see a fact based treatment. My hat’s off to you, ma’am.

Re: Uwol #25 - Pioneers - Marj Atkins
 

Hi Marj,

Thanks for this great insight - both into the penguins ¨on location ¨, and to the history of them being there, to the threats they face, and the efforts now being made to help them re establish a colony.

I feel for your comments about trying to cut down information - one of the hardest things I find is trying to tell your story, get the right images, and fit everything into the time allowed!

I guess that is one of the biggest challenges all film makers face - especially those of us who fulfil all of the roles of a crew!

I very much enjoyed it!

Re: Uwol #25 - Pioneers - Marj Atkins
 

As always, just a great little video!!!! You never dissappoint!!

I loved the shot at the end of the pinguin running into the water and wave, looked like he was having fun!!!!

What a pleasure to watch!!! Great story told well@@@


dale

Re: Uwol #25 - Pioneers - Marj Atkins
 

Thank you all, for your encouraging comments on my film - I will respond shortly. While I managed to watch a couple of films during the week I only got to watch the majority of them last night. What an enjoyable bundle of films we have this round! I am now working on my feedback comments and will get them up soon.

Re: Uwol #25 - Pioneers - Marj Atkins
 

Marj,
Very informative, and nice images to go along with the graceful narration.
I had a tough time with one part and had to listen a few times. Is it 'Guano scraping and egg collection'?
I learned about an 'indicator species', when I had only known about a 'keystone species' before.

Re: Uwol #25 - Pioneers - Marj Atkins
 

Marj,

That was very interesting. You tell a good story both with your camera and your narrative. It looks warm out by you. Great penguin shots. Thanks.

Re: Uwol #25 - Pioneers - Marj Atkins
 

Marj,
I agree with all the positive comments from others.
You deliver as usual a fair clean film without external effects.
I do understand that knowledge and planning lies behind.

Re: Uwol #25 - Pioneers - Marj Atkins
 

Sounds madly romantic to me anyway but, who knows, maybe a trip to Antarctica will be on the cards sometime in the future - if you keep on making such good films (and if the penguins haven’t disappeared completely before then of course!)

[QUOTE=Simon Wood;1788599]
...Anyway, your video captures the little critters well. Who'd have thought they make so much noise (I guess thats why they call them Jackass penguins)?
QUOTE]

Yes – African Penguins were formerly known as Jackass Penguins or Black-footed Penguins. But in the global renaming of bird species a few years back they got their new name. There is a penguin in South America (Magellanic Penguin) that has a similar donkey-like bray and this was a way of differentiating between them.

Re: Uwol #25 - Pioneers - Marj Atkins
 

[quote=Geir Inge;1788837]
Finally, you brought penguins to Uwol.
An excellent movie with a good story, where the birds expand their horizons.
I am an avid supporter of Discovery, National Geograpfic and Animal Planet (TV channels), where Animal Planet has shown a program about just these penguins.
QUOTE]

Thanks for your very comprehensive feedback, Geir, I really appreciate it.

I was not aware of that film on the African Penguin Geir – I will look out for it. Will be interesting to watch after having done this one!

I am a little puzzled by this comment Geir. I have gone over my video and cannot find any place where the music is too loud in relation to my voice. I am aware of the glitsch in the sound when I start speaking after my titles. I know the reason for that but picked it up too late to fix. Just wondering how you would have picked that up.

Re: Uwol #25 - Pioneers - Marj Atkins
 

Thanks for the compliment, Mike. I have not seen the film you are referring to but as I said to Geir I will look out for it. I do agree with you about anthropomorphism used in animal movies.

Re: Uwol #25 - Pioneers - Marj Atkins
 

Thanks for your feedback Bill.

Yes. I tried to enunciate that as clearly as I could because I realized the term would be unfamiliar to most viewers.

I had to cut out the extraordinary story about ‘Guano-scraping’ and ‘egg collecting’ which originally formed part of my film. Guano, an important ingredient for fertilizer at the time, was the ‘white gold’ of the 1840’s and every island around the world that had any form of breeding bird colony on it suddenly became prime property. Governments appropriated them and ship-loads of fortune hunters particularly from Britain, Europe and USA descend on them. One island off the Namibian coast called Ichaboe (pronounced Icha-boo) was covered with penguin guano (bird droppings) roughly 25 meters deep (a veritable mountain!) In the 1840’s apparently 450 ships were anchored around the tiny island while miners fought each other for a patch of real estate. They leveled the island in two years! Utter destruction of the entire bird and penguin habitat! Similar scenes from the islands off Peru have been illustrated.
Egg collecting was just as destructive because collectors would take all the eggs they could find at the start of the penguin breeding season and destroy them (because the eggs weren't fresh!) and wait for the second batch to be laid. They would remove all the fresh eggs and sell them and the birds would then be forced to rear a third clutch, which was often laid too late in the season for survival.

Now I have just learned the term ‘keystone species’. They are different of course.
Incidentally frogs are also indicator species - they are exceptionally sensitive to air and water pollution. (They have permeable skins and can breathe through their skins.) The disappearance of so many frog species should be sounding alarm bells because ultimately pollution will affect our health too if we don’t do something to stop it.


Thank you all for your positive feedback on my film. Much appreciated.

Re: Uwol #25 - Pioneers - Marj Atkins
 

Hi Marj.
Sorry if I have said anything wrong, it was not my intention.
As I said, this is a film I think is almost perfect ;)
"Almost", because I am of the opinion that everyone can have something to strive for, even in the perfect sense.
That said, I must say and I certainly have mentioned many times before, that my English is far from perfect and for me a major handicap, especially in Uwol context where we have English subtitles or voice.
It is 40 years since I learned of the tiny english I can, at school and since then I have mostly practiced minimal.
Hope you do not laugh at me, but I use the google translator and I know that at times can come out wrong. In addition, I have my oldest daughter who sometimes helps me, she's much better in the English language than her father ;) But I'm not blaming her, this time I was completely on my own, haha.
In addition to having some hearing loss, sound is some of what I have in mind in our Uwol films.
The music you have chosen for your penguin movie is a fast pace and can, to me, be a bit distracting compared to commentators, especially in the beginning as you mention.
On the other hand, the music is very fitting to the penguin's movement. I'm probably a little contradictory on this point.
But like I said, this is minimal and the only thing I could find to strive for.
On small films like Uwol contributions are, music can sometimes get in the way of commentary.
Our feedback is also personal, so I think others may have a completely different opinion than me :)
I think that's a good thing about Uwol.
I rarely say this in my feedback threads, you are one of my favorites this round.

All the best.
Geir Inge

Re: Uwol #25 - Pioneers - Marj Atkins
 

Hi Geir
Ah -Thanks for your explanation - now I uderstand your meaning - 'loud' - not as in volume but in suitability - and there I do agree with everything you have said as it bugged me too. I wanted something light but after hours and hours of listening to music this was the only one that came anywhere near to what I wanted.
The whole purpose of UWOL is to give considered feedback and I appreciate every minute of time people spend on doing that especially when someone points out something I did not think of or notice. Your detailed feedback certainly helped me to know where I was on the right track and where I got it wrong. Thanks Geir!- absolutely had no issue at all - was just a bit puzzled when I could not find a volume issue!

Re: Uwol #25 - Pioneers - Marj Atkins
 

Hi Marj, I actually made a video of a Keystone Species for UWOL # 21 and it's my favorite one that I have made to date for UWOL (although I was muscled out of the winners circle by the talent of Inge, Sims and Wood for that round...)

Re: Uwol #25 - Pioneers - Marj Atkins
 

Hey Bill

Thanks for posting this - I forgot that you made this gem of a film on a keystone species a while back so it is a good to see this compared with the indicator species.

Re: Uwol #25 - Pioneers - Marj Atkins
 

Marj, I loved this film! You hooked us with the first shot; who doesn't perk up when penguins appear? And the long intro worked very, very well.

Did you write the narration before filming, or did you gather so much footage that you were able to sift through and find the perfect images to match? Time after time you gave my eyes exactly what they hoped to see, which helped make this piece so satisfying. Thanks for touching on the problem of oil-soaked feathers without actually showing it, by the way. I don't have to see it to know how awful it is, and I found the close-up of the feathers, sans oil, quite interesting.

You provided us with an excellent example of how a contracting horizon necessitates expanding it. Well done!

Re: Uwol #25 - Pioneers - Marj Atkins
 

Thanks Lorinda – I found your feedback very helpful! (I tried to give the viewer as much additional info as I could in my shots so I did not have to describe a lot of it in words. That long intro was intended to show in a relaxed way the clumsiness (and cuteness!) of the penguins on land and their incredible speed, agility and grace in the water.)

To answer your question regarding my narrative – I had a rough idea of what I wanted to do (weather permitting) before I left for Cape Town so I knew approximately what shots would be needed to put together a story on penguins to fit the theme. Because I only had four short days in Cape Town, and because I did not want to find myself in a position back home again where I had a story that I could not support with footage I had to make a shot list that would cover all eventualities. Funnily enough I got almost all my shots and ended up with relatively little footage to have to sift through - I edited this in record time. (Lesson learned). The Kelp Gull stealing the egg was an unplanned bonus shot, but it is a regular occurrence as I saw two thieves in as many days.

Once again thank you for your time in giving us feedback Lorinda - it's really appreciated.