UWOL #2: "Corvus Corax" by Per Johan Naesje
 

The theme in this challenge was very wide, so I had in fact several ideas in the beginning.

I decided to show my interest for birds, especially the bird of the Crow family. I hope this film has given you a more shaded view of these birds. Even though they are very shy I managed to get some real good close-up of them thanks to my long lenses.

The largest lens used is the Canon 500mm f4.0 L, which give a focal length of 3600mm with the Canon XLH1. I was also using the Sigma 300mm f2.8 and the original 20x HD L lens.

The distance to the bird from where I was hiding was approx. 30-30 meter on the close shoot and the White Tailed Eagle was sitting approx. 250-300 meter away.

Some of the footage are shoot in snow and windy conditions which is a real challenge to get good qualityfootage. But I found that some of these footage are so beautiful by itself, example: where the Raven are taking care of each other, that I decided to go for it.

I also hope that my narrating was understandable? English is not my native tongue, so I struggled a lot with this subject.

Link to the film: Corvus Corax (40.3 MB)
I have also provided a larger version at my website: Corvus Corax - large (64,8 MB)

Enjoy!

Per,
Incredible footage. You film was the first one I watched.
Beautiful color, beautiful composition. Great job on getting the ravens audio too!

The only negative I have to say about this film was I thought the titles didn't fit the beauty of the footage. I think maybe a more organic or simple look instead of the chrome look would have worked better, at least for me.

Your VO was just fine, it was clear, concise and easily understandable.

The driving snow, the wind all added to the beauty of the film.

Once again, you've set the bar high.

Congrats on a fine film.

You have a wonderful eye for beauty. And a talent for getting that into the video. Well done. Very well done.

That's my favorite bird and I loved the shots -great job!

I just got to have an EF adapter for my camera, Per Johan, and buy me some new lenses. Beautiful video!

Per,
Your entry from UWOL 1 was good...it didn't strike me as much as this one though! The use of different focal lenths really looked professional and just "right" I guess. It draws the eye into the subject and reveals levels of detail as you move closer and closer to it. You certainly have some excellent equipment and a keen eye to utilise it. All the best and congratulations on an excellent video!

Very nice footage, showing the ravens in their habitat and balanced with closeups of their behavior. You have a very powerful lens- even showed some details I didn't really want to dwell on with the feeding sequence! I liked the shots showing the ravens socializing with each other, made them very human.

Ruth

Per Johan,

Simply beautifully done!

Inponerende.
 

Wery fasinating film Per Johann,the sound was wery nice.

Thanks for your feedback Kevin, I was trying lots of different fonts and looks and I can agree that this maybe wasn't the best one! But the problem is that the picture is so tiny in the 428x240 mode, that I have to use some real large fonts and colors which differ from the background to get it readable.

I'm glad I had a black&white viewfinder on this shoot, didn't realise the colorness in the flesh before I was at home :-) By the way they are feeding on a carcass of an elk.

Thanks all for your feedback!

Absolutely agree with the first reply.

The footage was gorgeous and I really like this entry. The title seemed really out of place though. It just doesn't seem to fit.

Other than that... awesome work!

Mike

Per Johan,

Very nice entry. I actually liked it as good as the first.

Regards,

Heres my take. The footage was beautiful. It will impress the judge of this film contest, and is likely, from a technical standpoint, the winner.

The footage of the birds preening each other, and the actual feeling of concern the birds have for each other is spectacular.

My only issue with the film is whether it addresses the theme proposed in the contest.

Wonderfuld film... I have learned a lot from your two films !!!

Chris, I might have misunderstood if the theme is more specific that I was aware of?

Before I started, I had to look it up in a dictonary, just to make sure that I was doing the right thing.
In the dictionary the word recreation means a lot: restoration, amusement, pastime, division, relaxtion, recuperation, rest, hobby, encouragement, incentive etc, etc...

What I have shown in the film is my encouragement, hobby, recreation, rest, what I do every so often in my sparetime to get away from my daily work.

Well Per.....as I would expect visually stunning, great levels of detail and an interesting subject matter, informatively presented....I thought your voice over wasn't bad either. The crow family are some of the most intelligent birds in the world and you can really see that in them. I look foward to seeing your footage and you never seem to fail the impress and deliver.

For me you had a number of stunning sequences with good points to make however you didnt pull it together into a single story strongly enough. A premise or reason was missing I guess.

It was also a tenuously linked subject matter, however if you wanted to shoot wildlife it was a tough one I know

Overall fantastic ingredients but you could have baked a better cake. I think there is a film waiting here for you when you've finished with your musk ox !!