Diminishing Habitat

The world should be educated to preserve nature,
excellent pod

Beautiful images.

This is so informative. The photography is excellent.

Duncan, thanks for raising the question about what to do about the growing demand for water and need to protect natural resources. Clearly, environmentalists and city and state planners will be at odds over this, as you carefully demonstrated in your interviews.

Let me ask you this. Were any of your interviewees in a position of professional authority on the issue of water conservation? One of the interview subjects had what looked like a state emblem behind him. Was he a state employee? Please identify these speakers if they are.

And since you raise the question about what to do about water conservation, what can be done? You make a passing reference to desalinization, but you don't develop the idea. Is there a limit to how much growth this finite region can handle?

I also have to say the photography, the editing and the script of the narration are nicely done. You resist the shots of how ugly development can be. I admire your restraint.

Excellent... I am so proud of you my friend! I know of your efforts and I can say the pod really reflects that. WAY TO GO!

Hey everyone, they had some problems with this pod when I tried to upload my new version on the 13th. Ever since then it hasn't been playing, so please come back and check it out once they fix it, which should be soon.

Unforunately, this is a situation that we Floridians have to face more and more each day. The state seems determined to continually attract new residents. Sadly -- as your video mentions -- this population explosion comes at a cost. While it's nice that you informed viewers about such a serious issue, it might have been nicer if you pushed them more to act in some way. Otherwise, I thought it was good. The video did have some really beautiful shots.

hi duncan,
thanks for the invitation to view your videos. and i love this image above and just all the great water shots. i think this is clearly the kind of thing that current is looking for in terms of your journalistic approach and that it's a fascinating contrast to your other more comedic/clever submissions which i'd viewed and enjoyed a while back.

I'm glad that somebody is finally letting the rest of the U.S. (& the world for that matter) see how dire the situation is here in my native state. Everyday it saddens me as I look around my town of Greenacres, to think that 10 years ago I could go to the parks in my area & play on rope swings, ride bikes with friends until dark, & have a (for the most part) care-free childhood. I've watched as my fun little town has become too populated to enjoy even the simple florida fun of going to the beach with my kids. The water even at Lake Worth beach is disgusting. I am at the point where I am actually WISHING to leave MY state, the state I was born & raised in to get myself & my children away from the pure stupidity of how our state is being demolished. I want my children to be able to walk through the park & see all different types of birds, & other wildlife. It saddens me to say I don't see that happenig in Florida ever again!!!

This is a really beautifully made piece. I especially love the shots of the cypress trees from the water. I'm not sure how the state of Florida expects to deal with this problem without damaging the environment.

Hey Burman. I am glad you liked the pod and I appreciate your suggestions. Yes several of my interviewees were of professional authority. I had a water management employee and a county commissioner. Sorry, my lower thirds were not very well done and they were difficult to read.

This is a story of my journey to one of the last remaining pristine habitats in the state. I wanted my pod to focus on how the people of this area in Florida felt about issues of population growth and diminishing natural resources, and I also wanted to display the beauty of the area. And remember, this is a mini-doc. I didn't want to go in depth with the whole desalinization issue, because I always hate having long pods. I wanted to keep it as focused as possible.

I am actually making a longer version, which will probably elaborate on the desalination issue. But it will not be for Current. This pod was my attempt at winning an HD camera. But that Joe Wilson is just too damn talented.

Some EXCELLENT shots in this, I was very impressed. Looks absolutely professional. Congratulations.

Picky Details::
I don't like your text (titles, names). It looks amateur. You should work on using more professional looking fonts / colors.

I could hear where you made cuts in your narration, because there was an audible difference between the 2 files, and your prose didn't match.

Again, thats being really picky.

I loved this film tho, nice job.

There is a very peaceful quality about this pod. It might be because there was no music. However, a lack of music might make this pod drag a bit. Very professional all the way around. A lot of your talent shows through, including the narration, which I'm assuming was you. GL

Nicely done. You definitely have a future in the business. GL

Very nice!

what beautiful footage! as a floridian, i am very worried. i can only hope that other floridians will be more outspoken about this and demand conservation of these few and far between beautiful places. growing up in central florida, i've seen the town i grew up in be developed to the point of being unrecognizable. the development problem is growing. the population problem is growing. sadly, money is what decides almost everything in government, so if there is a beautiful landscape which is producing no profit for the economy, and a company can build on it and produce new profits, the decision is already made.

there are steps being taken (albeit slowly).

florida has recently enacted new laws to manage growth. may 17-19 in orlando the florida department of community affairs-divison of community planning is holding florida's 16th annual growth management summit. [the department of community affairs (link) is responsible for growth management]

rick baker, mayor of st. petersburg, chairs the century commission for a sustainable florida (link).

also check out florida's department of environmental protection (link) for additional info.

it would really be interesting to see what some of these people, if interviewed, would say about the future of florida....

Great shots. I know how subtitles can get tough. Your camera has great quality.

Beautiful, beautiful work.

Nice shooting. Quick pace. New perspective to an age old problem.

Good narration.

Great interviews.

Great variety of interviews and shots.

I would consider getting rid of the last woman's quote. I know she is in essence, closing the piece for you, but the sound on that sucks because of the background noise, we've seen enough of her, and what she's saying is a bit repetitive and isn't thaaaaaat great.

Good work! GL!

Good job J! i love it

dig it.

Nice work, very imformative, and considering that my Mom moved down to Florida, very interesting also. This is well made. My only criticism is the font and the fade on the titles bothered me a bit.

Also thanks for your comments on my pod. I actually had an external boom mic on the camera. There were alot of sound challenges and that is definitly my weak point. Working on it.

Also I loved the "Pissed Off Skateboarder" That was hilarious! Interested in knowing if you shot that with that theme in mind, or if it is something you noticed after you had the footage?

TRevS

Also I forgot to add, very good visuals, especially the shots in the water.

Beautiful shooting and well put-together piece. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I would consider Kristy Wong's comment about the last quote and think the piece would look much better with different cgs put in. The current ones just don't seem to fit with the look of the piece in my opinion, especially the bright blue text. Great job, though!

The loss of natural habitat in Florida is such an important issue that more people need to be aware and concerned about. Your video is unbiased, informative and enjoyable. Working on this project with you was wonderful. I love you.

As a native Floridian , I do not think this video does enough to really tackle the problems at hand . To me , it 's just more " oh woe is us " and mucho mucho cute birds and lots of hand wringing !! There was not ONE suggestion to CHANGE the damages being done ..no call to action ...no ideas for alternative options ... PLUS the really big problem is privitazation of water resources ..i.e. German firms , and the likes of Perrier , have been buying up the bubbling springs that guy refers to !! Foreign investing also drives the absentee real estate owners syndrome , known to ruin schools and neighborhoods, pack in more than enough traffic , etc etc . Try again , it's a GREAT start . Very scenic . PJS

If you enjoy Florida, maybe you would be interested in a lovely discounted home I have in the 9th ward...!

I'll give this clip a nod for effort and especially for content. It's enough to make me really respect our fine water resources here in Arkansas.

Wow, great shooting...! I have to say that PJSPJS has a point, but this piece can't be all things to all people. It is enough to bring up the problem...

Focus, focus, focus. Is it about Blue Cypress Lake or diminishing resources in Florida? Travel piece or environmental piece? Passive or proactive? Think about it… I’m very critical, but don’t get discouraged I’m just trying to help you make it better.

Please get rid of those grotesque blue lower-thirds. Blue is one of those colors that should be avoided for fonts over-video.

Remember, you can post an updated version if you re-edit. GL

Hey DD,

Something that I have heard more than once from those with Current is that they really like a micro story that elucidates a macro issue. If you were to re-edit this you might point out the larger issue through the worries of the Blue Cypress Lake ... Which is pretty much what you've done ... I liked it a lot and it makes me want to go there.

~GL

excellent, excellent, excellent. It would be helpful, since the future IS in our hands, to list some of the activist groups that people can turn to for more information and assistance lobbying. This is a huge and far-reaching problem that starts with overpopulation and seeps down through pollution and wasteful habits...Everglades Coalition, Florida PIRG, World Wildlife Fund,..there are many. We can not risk complacency or misplacing our priorities any longer.

Duncan - great work. Strong as usual. Love the message - timely issue. You got my gl.

Check out our latest.

link

Would love your comments/insight.

SL, GO Pictures

it's like a carl hiassen novel sans the drama and cheesy writing (although i gobble that stuff up). i think that your voiceover and the intimacy of the subject matter -- ie. you live there and are concerned-- sort of mitigates the need to attend to different points of view. it's your perspective and it's well expressed. nice job.

you got some good footage here. I lived in florida for while so i acn relate to this story, very good concept. The voice over is very nice. keep it up!

Green Light all the way! Very nice job on this one.

I grew up in Florida... I lived there all my life. But when all the New Yorkers showed up and started pushing the cost of living up and the quality of life down, I knew it was time to get out. I only hope that people will realize that the natural habitat in Florida need to survive to and that if the growth of Florida is driving people out, it may just drive the natural habitat out, too.

You've got some really nice shots in this peice. Some music might spice it up a bit. but overall, I think you got your issue across very well. - you got my greenlight

Wonderful storytelling. We all need to be aware of this. Great work.

GL for making it personal within more objective form
(could be even more!)
i agree that music would help a lot - i need a breath or two;
great 'tracking' shot of trees!

simply perfect. Good job.

Very interesting, one of the best documentaries, I've seen in ages.

I think that things like this happen nationwide. The environment is so often ignored. The way you showed the things that Florida will be losing if this trend continues is very effective. Good job.

Dude I really hope that Current picks this up. Sucks you were number one when archived. Good Luck!

Oh that's harsh, you made it to number one and got "archived" as opposed to "prepared for tv".