What is it? by Cat Russell - UWOL 36

[Catherine Russell]

We finally arrive! Rip away all, I'm looking forward to your critical feedback and seeing what you each have come up with!

Cheers, Cat

What is it? by Cat Russell - UWOL 36 on Vimeo

[Dale Guthormsen]

OK Cat


WOW is all I can say!!!!!!! this is by far the best work I have seen of yours!!!

Prior I stated there are always the ones that make me say , "Why do I even bother!"

this is one!! I reminds me of "by design" in one of the distant past videos that was unbelievable!!

Thank you ever so much for such a treat!!!!

I will be sharing this with my wife this evening.

[Bryce Comer]

Cat,
You've done it again!!! Dale summed it up... Wow!!!
What suspense, what timing, how educational in it's rhyming!! :)
I could simply watch this film over & over! This is one of those films from UWOL that i think is a classic. There are a couple of shots that i am sure you would have replaced if you had been able to get the shot that fit the narration, like for instance a shot of ice crystals where it is mentioned. However, these criticisms are but minor & really i'm starting to sound like a whiner! (see what you've done!! :) )
Honestly Cat, while i always thought you made great videos, you're now making very highly polished, very informative, & most of all fun videos to watch!
Thank you so much for sharing this one with us.
Regards,
Bryce

[Bob Safay]

Cat, that was wonderful. You out did yourself on this one. Not only were your pictures, videos, graphic and music perfect, but your narration had the same sense of urgency as your production. The pace was incredible. This is one of your best. My only comment is that there may have been a few places were you needed more visuals to match the narration. This needs to go up as a Public Service Announcement for climate control. Bob

[Catherine Russell]

Hi guys:

Thanks so much for the kind words!

Dale -- You ask, "why do I bother??" Because your contributions are awesome, that's why! And LOL, if the "by design" video you mentioned was mine, I don't even remember that one! Ha!

Bryce --LOL! Swoon! You are a poet too? ;-)

Bob and Bryce, I am eager for your critical comments and I want to go through it again with what you have said about visuals. With your input, it can always improve!

Thanks so much for the watch!

[Kevin Railsback]

YAY! Cat's Back!!!!

So nice to see you back Cat! It's like a family reunion this round wit so many faces from earlier years submitting films again!!

There's really nothing to rip away on with your film.
The only thing that distracted me was the ghosting of the birds at :09. Is that a rendering issue or did it record that way? It happened to me once when I filmed a duck taking off from a creek and I can't remember what it was that cause it for my situation.

You've stepped into Marj's shoes and gave us an entertaining but very educational piece.

I'm a sucker for clouds and you had some great shots of them in this.

Oh, I guess there is one more thing I can rip on your film and that was it was lacking a koi pond!!! :)

Seriously Cat, you should be really pleased with this one. You wove a message into it while entertaining us along the way.

Your narration and pacing were spot on.

Feel good to be back?

[Catherine Russell]

Hi Kevin:

It feels wonderful to be back with everyone and I feel extra fortunate because Dale returned after a long stint as well! How wonderful is that!

I've missed you too, Kevin. And LOL, I somehow didn't work in a koi pond in this one! What was I thinking?

Well, concerning your keen eye and the ghosting... you nailed my achilles heel and I hang my head in shame. It's my camera. It's the only camera I have to work with and it's, well let's just say... lacking. It works great if nothing moves though! ;-).

I've been reading what all of you guys in UWOL land film with, so I know what I would like to save up for and aspire to, but that will be aways down the road. So until then, I just do the best I can with what I've got!

Thanks for the watch Kevin! And most of all, the laughs! I'm on your entry first thing tomorrow. Cheers!

[Kevin Railsback]

Cat,

You have no reason to hang your head in shame. The birds is the one shot where it's really noticeable. Everything else is fine.

You wanted critical feedback so I dug extra deep looking for things. It doesn't detract from the story or the message. Just looks like there are twice as many birds as there really was. :)

I really need to get out to your neck of the woods and film one of these days.
If I manage to get it on the books, I'll bring an extra camera for your to play around with!

[Gordon Hoffman]

Hi Cat
This is another interesting piece from you and you made it all ryhme. As I've said before it amazes me how you come up with these ideas. Well done and I hope to see you in the next challenge to.

Gordon

[Trond Saetre]

Catherine, you did it again!
You definitely raised the bar with this one, so I expect to see more quality work from you in the February challenge.
I like your creativity and how you work that into a great story combined with awesome footage.
Noticed the bird shot Kevin mentioned. Was that a camera issue?

Thanks for sharing! Well done! It's good to have you back in the uwol world.

[Catherine Russell]

Hi All!

Kevin and Bob
-- I would love for you to make it over here sometime. Bob, you too, Rocky Mountain National Park is here for the taking and I know it was your old stomping ground Bob. What a blast that would be, just like the UWOL get together next year. Awesome!

Kevin
--No offense taken, Kevin! I'm so glad you dig deep, keep it coming friend. Critical feedback from you is a dream come true.

So summing up feedback so far, this little clip is fun to watch, could use a few more appropriate visuals to go with the narrative and there are a few spots that show the real weakness of my camera. Address these things and the clip will definitely improve to a new level. I'd say that's spot on and all true. I'd say as far as ripping goes I've gotten off fairly gracefully from all of you :)

Trond and Gordon
-- Thanks for the watch, guys. Trond, yup, it's a camera issue. I've been chatting with Kevin about that. It will take a new camera to fix that, which might be awhile before I can replace it... so you guys might have to bear with me for awhile! ;-/

[Gordon Hoffman]

Cat I use to get that a lot shooting interlace footage of flying birds. Not sure what a person can do about it.

Gordon

[Catherine Russell]

Hi Gordon

Strange enough, this is all progressive shooting and processing. Interesting to hear you've seen it in interlace as well.

[Tim Lewis]

Hi Cat

That was well done. The timing of cuts to the VO was spot on and the range of shots you managed to incorporate was truly impressive. You managed to get the whole story in in just four minutes! (It might also have suited the DVC "Mystery" theme we had a while back.)

[Trond Saetre]

Originally Posted by Catherine Russell

Trond, yup, it's a camera issue.

You are sure it's the camera and not something that happend during post process?
But if you already talk to Kevin about it, you are in good hands.

I'll tell Santa you have been a good girl and deserve a new camera!