Well it's been a very good learning experience thus far I must say. Here are just a few of the things I have learned from this UWOL #2 experience.

1. I need a good tripod!! The XH-A1 on a flimsy little camera tripod is enough to bring you to tears. A good deal of the shots I had planned could have gone over much easier with a good strudy tripod and a fluid video head. I have picked the least shaky and suitable footage but so much ended up being unsuable that the lesson is hammered home! A good tripod is essential.

2. Past experience with planning paid off. In general I was able to shot with purpose and come away with a good amount of footage without feeling like I cannot work with it. Making a storyboard and planning the shooting schedule helped to make sure I got what I needed!

3. Don't be the talent AND the camera operator. Several of the ideas I planned would include a bit more action follow and that was impossible without being behind the lens. This also paid it's own rewards however as I am the type to not use many static shots and it taught me a great deal about how to work with well framed and camera movement free shots.

4. Your learning curve accelerates the more that you do things. The ideas were always there but implementing them takes practice and experiencing the logistics of getting that perfect shot. It's by no means second nature to me yet but things are easier than they were.

5. DV info has great resources, informative forums and excellent links to examples of videography techniques. Kudos!

OK,

I'm officially bowing out of this competition... Bummer. I actually shot some stuff last week and today. Anyway, my little girl is sick with strep and apparently she gave it to me too. Ah, the things kids bring home from school. Anyway, that combined with a huge project I need to wrap up by monday just doesn't leave me enough time.

Why couldn't the competition go for another week? Hehe.... I pretty well have all next week to screw around and do what I want from Tuesday on. Guess I'll go build me a new web site.

Woe, woe, and thrice woe
 

See attached photo :(

Ouch! That doesn't look good!

On the positive side, it'll give me more time for editing my footage.

I tried this too. Cut everything away and didn't use it. Found it hard to set correct exposure.
But the UWOL2 has been really fun anyway. Nice to try new things, even though some of them didn't work out as planned.



Grant:
Hope you get your lense fixed soon.

Grant, how did you manage to do that, it must have been a real knock?
Did you finished your recording before this happend?

Well, my film is almost finished, just some small adjustments to do. Almost hit the time limit of 3:00.
For the first time I've tried to do some narrating, this gonna be real fun for you to listen to....to me it has been a real challenge....!

yes, tell us what happened to your poor misbegotten lens...must be a tale in there.

i know we're doing a good job if we're managing to challenge you, per!

Than I've finished my UWOL#2 and it feels good.
This time I've tried to be a little peotical, but again, at the end of my filming the rain set in, and I had no time left to use on this project. Thats life.

Wish everyone all the best in their work.

To you Per Johan:
Don't worry about your Norwegian accent, I think it's beautiful, but than again, I might be incompetent in this matter :)

To you Grant:
I'm really sorry about your lince, hope you'll work it out, some how.

Grant, There, but for the grace of God (and a good shoulder strap) go I. If it were mine I would still be crying. How did that ever happen? Did you drop it? Bob

I am looking forward to your findings & output with Manfrotto, Grant.

So I just ran into another problem... I have yet to shoot my film (I have no idea what it is going to be), and I am out of hard-drive space!!! My main computer that I am on now has about one gigabyte, and my PC has about 10, my brothers computer has about three or two. My PC does not have a firewire in, so I am out of luck!! Aahhggg!!!!!! So even if I do shoot it, I can not edit it, let alone upload!!! OMG.................

Bad times....
~Gabriel

Gabriel,

On your main computer, you could free up some space pretty quick by doing the following:
* empty the trashcan/recycle bin
* clear out all of the "temp" directories and clear out all the browser temp files
* grab any video you are done using and burn it to a data DVD (that will free up about 4GB per DVD)
* burn data DVDs of photos, to get them off your drive

Just a few ideas. I've been in similar situations myself. Once I cleared my web browser cache and it cleared up over a GB of space. :-)

Thanks Lisa. Those are good suggestions. I only have about eight minutes of raw dv on this computer so it is not taking up to much space, however, there is over two thousand picture! lol.
Thanks for the help.

I found out that there is six gigabytes on my brothers computer, so I will just use it and not do any fancy stuff. Just Transitions with music. nothing big, nothing fancy, just flat out simple.
Hey, maybe that way I can get some more recreation in! :-P

~Gabriel

I'm just confused as to why .MOV is preferred even though we are striving for cross platform... I have to download/purchase QT Pro in order to do this as I am on a PC. Trying to get 3 minutes on an MPG1 file and have it look good is NOT easy.