Open to all

I opened up this blog to the world - though it isn't set to be found in blogger search results yet.

Why? Just 'cause I can't keep a secret...

More footage, Scotty

What we're thinking (my brother Tim & I) is that there needs to be more transition between arrival at the beach and the point where Young Eric is convinced he's being watched.

And besides, we really want to work in a campfire.

So, we're going to experiment with Tim (Young Eric) building a fire and roasting hotdogs. Since we can't have fires on Turn Island, we'll do all the close-up campfire stuff at the San Juan County Park (where fire-rings exist) and duplicate the angles on the beach at Turn. Maybe play with a little chroma-key just 'cause it'll be fun to.

This new footage will fit between where Young Eric comes ashore and when he puts up the tent.

Shooting suspended...

...due to weather. And other things on the schedule.

Really that means that we've come up with a little more footage required to 'finesse' the story in a couple of places.

The needs have been worked out, but now we're past the point where the weather will cooperate and we'll have to re-visit it in the spring time.

Two'nd Cut

We gots more footage!

Can be scene seen (with the password bogey) here

Missed it...

Life is more important than this silly little project. So, we'll make plans to try again on another weekend this summer. Plan for full sun and maybe, just maybe, we'll have overcast skies similar to the first weekends' shooting conditions.

More Footage, Scotty!

There're some missing pieces (at least in this director's cut) that Tim & I are going to shoot this weekend.

1. Need some more shots of his rising fears (are you ready for your close-up, Tim?)
2. Gotta get him moving in among other anchored boats, dropping anchor, and settling in for a night sleeping in the boat.
3. And, I really want to get the scene of him passing the first cove that's full of boats, being disappointed and moving on.

My First Cut

I've put up a first attempt, by me, to assemble what we shot into the whole. Would love to have your input on what it needs (besides attention to color and overall sound).

For example:

• What sound effects can we use to indicate rising fear?
• It needs more time on Tim coming ashore at the beginning.
• It needs less time running through the woods.

You'll need the password bogey to view the video. It can be found here on Vimeo

Don't share it with the world yet - wait until we've got a final cut together.

Please add your thoughts & ideas by commenting on this post...

Script, sort of

"The Script", such as it is. You see, I've never written one before. I worked on it a while ago, and then again tonight for a little while. But now I'm deliriously tired, so this'll have to be "it".

Possible titles:

"Imaginary"

"Figment" (This could be singular in the beginning fade-in/out where the letters need a little "oomph" to show. At the ending credits it could return and be "Figment" that fades into the plural "Figments" with the s finally appearing)

Find a thesaurus and look for alternatives to "Made Up"

Opening credits:

Cartoon drawing of the opening scene - translate a frame grabbed from video into charcoal drawing or watercolor painted look in muted tones. Only movement is:

1. Titles that need to fade-in & fade-out in a dreamy sort of way. To convey the idea of imaginary scene or that we're in some state between dream & reality.

2. Not fully defined shapes in the woods & trees, and along the shoreline. Perhaps simply distortions of the region they occupy. Kept subtle, they should never be overtly obvious. Should provide a sense of "something there, no, I must have imagined it".

3. Maybe flashlight beam "circle" trained on the movement areas - revealing there's nothing there.

Scene 1:

Evening light (balance boat interior lights with exterior so beach is visible - maybe even see campfire and campsite)

Scene fades in from opening credits drawing into exactly the same view, but now it's live video and the colors and movement come to life.

From the water, oblique look at the starboard side of Favorite, water trickling out from doing the dishes and we hear a mix of waves lapping at the chine & clink of dishes being washed. Maybe even the weather radio forecast voice? Scene background is the campsite just above the beach. Fire going, two guys moving about the site.

Camera moves from outside through open window into the interior as Eric is finishing up the last few dinner dishes.

He packs some fresh beer bottles & an unopened bag of chips into a small bag (backpack?) and heads out of the cabin. We're left with a fleeting view that includes the dishes drying and see they are only the settings for one person.

Scene 2:

Exterior of Favorite as Eric jumps into the dingy and heads to shore. Only one kayak on the top deck.

Scene 3:

We move with him and see the campsite over his shoulder with his two camping buddies - Tim & David

Scene 4:

Eric comes ashore and clambers up the beach. Multiple angles, coming ashore, grabbing the bag 'O goodies, pulling the boat above the tideline. Needs a wide shot showing no footprints until Eric leaves a set as he heads into camp. We hear Tim & David's voices, but can't make out the conversation details.

Scene 5:

Campsite with a coleman stove on a picnic table to one side and a single folding camp chair on the other. Tent nearby with a lantern to light the area. Dolly the camera, following Eric's arrival, over the tent so we can see interior - only one sleeping bag laid out.

We pick up in the middle of David & Tim having a conversation about spooky woods experiences.

Camera moves over the table as Eric arrives and sets the chips and two beers out for Tim & David. Linger over the scene to register where the items are placed on the picnic table as Eric passes and sits in the lone camp chair. We're looking over the picnic table now and between & over the shoulders of Tim & David to see Eric face on.

Eric jumps into the conversation - he knows what they were talking about, as though he'd heard this one before.

Dialog: 

Eric: (As he approaches camp) "Hey guys, the dishes are done and the boat is good for the night"

Tim & David: "Cool, thanks" "He'll do the breakfast dishes" (each volunteering the other)

Eric: "I brought you bums some beer & chips for dessert - you owe me."

(after sitting down) "So, which spook story were you guys on about this time?"

Tim:  "Things that go bump in the night."

David: "Or just how the woods can become spooky when night falls"

(We hear Tim & David's voices in the appropriate left/right channel predominately)

Tim: "You know, when this wide open space around your campsite closes in and anything just out of reach of the fire light becomes menacing"

Eric: "Ah, I hear ya. I've been chased off an island by those fears before"

David: "Tell us about it, we have time"

Eric: "Well, let's see. it was a bunch of years ago, but it's still pretty clear in my head…

Scene 6:

Fade into the past to Friday Harbor marina where Young Eric is pulling away from the dock. We see he's got some gear bags stowed between the seats as he heads toward San Juan Channel.

Scene 7:

View looking back into Friday Harbor from San Juan Channel as Young Eric makes a wide turn toward the north. Young Eric pulls closer (during the turn) and passes close to camera as he heads north. Camera follows him passing and we see him pull away from us up the channel. Long enough that we see the size of the area he's crossing - wind in his face, waves, action.

Voice-over:

Eric: I was running a skiff from Friday harbor to Bellingham. I'd left late in the afternoon and planned on spending the night along the way on one of the island parks along the route. You know, Jones or Sucia or Matia are all great places to spend the night. Besides It's a long way to go in a small boat, and I didn't want to do it all in one day. Whatever the reason, I like those islands and I thought it'd be nice to see sunset & sunrise out there again."

"Being the anti-social type that I was.. "

Tim or David (or both?) " huh ..still are"

Scene 9: Flash forward to present day as the three argue about Eric's personality faults. Good natured ribbing ensues (needs dialog?)

Dialog:

David: "Remember how we had to invite ourselves along on this trip?"

Tim: "You've been a hermit as long as I can remember."

Eric: "Shut up you guys, you want me to tell the freaking story, or what?"

David: "Sure - where was this again?" 

Eric: "Hand me that placemat (chart), and I'll show you." (More ribbing between David & Tim at Eric's expense)

Eric: (Exasperated) "Never mind, I got it" (Eric reaches for the chart - since neither Tim or David can actually hand it to him - figments, remember?)

Eric: (pointing to chart) "Start hear, go past Jones"

Scene 8: 

Flash-back to Young Eric heading past Jones Island - seeing boats in the harbor. (Maybe overlay of navigation chart showing progress - possibles are the GPS on favorite with its active direction pointer, or the GPS-NavX on Dad's laptop - both make good visuals of direction and charting)

Voice-over:

Eric: "Where was I - oh, being the anti-social type I WAS I wanted to find a place to that I'd have all to MYSELF. Jones was out, as there were too many boats in the harbor. So I kept going to Sucia. And anyway, Jones is a short hop from Friday Harbor and Sucia is closer to half way home."

Eric: "As I got closer to Sucia I could see that, damn!, it too was pretty popular that weekend, and I really wanted it all to myself."

Scene 10:

Flash back to the story and Young Eric now passing Sucia with more boats seen anchored.

Dialog:

Eric: "As I was SAYING, I was really hoping to have whatever campsite I found all to myself. There's just something nice about not sharing a pristine place with anyone else sometimes."

David: "Anti-social…"

Tim: "...Hermit"

Scene 11:

View from Young Eric's skiff as heads along the south shore of Matia. We're close in on him now to see his expression - expectation of what he might find when coming around the point and seeing if "his" spot is already taken, or is available to him. Maybe even shot from in the skiff with him.

As the little cove is revealed and Young Eric sees it's un-occupied we watch him light up with a fist pump and exclamation.

Dialog: "Yes! it's all mine" (We're seeing Young Eric say this, but it's Old Eric's voice we here in the voice over)

Scene 12:

Young Eric slows the skiff and starts the turn into the cove at Matia.

Scene 13:

Pull away for a long shot of Young Eric making this same turn with Lummi, Clark & Barnes islands, and perhaps Mt Baker in the background - depending on appropriate angles.

Scene 14:

Now at Turn Island (Matia being off limits to people now) shot from high in the trees looking down at the shoreline as Young Eric comes ashore to scout for a campsite.

(Not sure if it's worth the effort to do the clothesline thing off the anchor - may take too much time? Maybe authentic is the right thing to do anyway?)

(Tim's idea of seeing the anchor drop from a watery vantage point is a good one though - figure out the timing of things here and how much effort is involved in the actual implementation of dropping anchor and still getting to shore smoothly)

Scene 15:

From behind Young Eric as he comes ashore and hops out of the skiff. Doing some stretching & limbering up after the long trip.

Scene 16:

Grabbing gear and heading up the bluff to find a campsite.

Time to talk about sound. (Probably should have earlier, but it came to me now)

Dialog:

From here, until return to present day, there's no voice over - we're fully into the original story here - Old Eric's voice would distract from that.

Scene 17:

Young Eric setting up the tent, rolling out sleeping bag, rummaging around his day pack for something to eat. Light getting fainter outside as night falls.

Scene 18:

Inside the tent now, and Young Eric starts feeling uneasy. Pause in his munching to pay attention to outside the tent. Not hearing anything, he returns to his snacks. Uneasy feeling again, this time enough that he grabs his flashlight and peeks out the tent flap to look around. Longer quiet spell this time while he fully takes in his surroundings.

Not satisfied, he steps out of the tent, shines the flashlight around and listens intently.

Scene 19:

Shrugging off the feeling, he wanders down to the beach to check on the boat for the night. We see him scan the shoreline, watching for movement, and listening for anything out of place.

Not seeing anything, he heads back to the tent and, from outside the tent, pulls out his unfinished snacks.

Scene 20:

Startled now he whirls around to find, nothing. Scanning the area, a bit alarmed this time, he again doesn't see anything. He asks, half-heartedly, "who's there?". No one answers.

He heads up the trail into the woods a short way. Not finding anything close to camp, he gets bolder and follows the trail deeper into the woods. Stopping to listen carefully and scan the area.

Not being successful at flushing the culprit, he calls out more boldly: "who's there?!" "Hello?!" Not getting a response, he shrugs off the feeling as he scans the area again - flashlight penetrating the darkness.

Mustering some courage, he turns his back on the woods and starts the walk back to camp.Something brings the fear back full-force and he's off on a run back to his tent. Running stokes his fear, and it takes over now. Racing into camp, he tears down the tent, not bothering to remove the contents first. Frantically packing and scanning the area around camp, he bundles it all up and races down to the boat. Throwing the heap in, he whirls to face the woods again and casts his light about. Calming slightly at not seeing anything, he turns and pushes off the beach and into the boat. His heartbeat slows as he settled into the boat and gets anchor up and motor started.

Being fully dark now, he has to rely on his flashlight to help him out of the cove and around to the populated end of the island.

Scene 21:

Young Eric pulls between other boats anchored for the night and drops his own anchor. With the motor off he tidies up the mess of tent, sleeping bag, and backpack of clothes and snacks. Laying out the mat pad and sleeping bag in the bottom of the skiff, he settles in for a night of sleeping in the boat.

Scene 22:

Back to present day with Old Eric, Tim & David.

Tim & David are quiet for a minute - as if waiting for the other shoe to drop. They look at each other and then stumble over each other with indignant questions:

Tim: So, that's it?

David: There was nothing there?

Tim: You imagined the whole thing?

Old Eric: Yep - I never saw or heard anything. My fears took me over and kicked me off the island. It was an imaginary bogeyman, or something.

David: Imaginary bogeyman. You imagined the whole thing?

Old Eric: Getting cranky at his story's reception: "Hey, at least my friends are real".

Camera pulls back and we see David & Tim are missing from the scene. Old Eric continues to talk to his "friends" as if they're still there. "Don't tell me you've never had an experience you couldn't explain? Something that, at the very least, caused a tickle to run up your spine? Common, you guys believe in paranormal, don't you? Or at least, abnormal?

Camera continues to pull back as Old Eric talks to the empty campsite - clearly believing he's not alone.

Saw this on fstoppers

Not sure how many of you go to the BTS website fstoppers.com but it's rather interesting. Some posts are amazing.

This one here might give eric some ideas as to how we will do the flashlight shot?
https://vimeo.com/42396379

dock pier shots?

Eric,

you have shared with me your script. And it sounds like you are having all your shots on Turn Island. Have you given any thought to your opening scene location. I was thinking shoving off the dock at friday harbor might make a good intro? other boats, people, fishermen, etc...before leaving civilization? Main character reminiscing or going through some thoughts in his head etc...

Helmet cam?

http://nofilmschool.com/2012/05/build-helmet-cam-max-payne-3-machinima/

anyone want to round up a pink helmet?

Yet to be located

This is for those items we haven't got our hands on yet.

1. Electric trolling motor & battery. Anybody know anyone we could borrow one of these from? We can do it with oars, but it'd be a great way to drive the aluminum skiff as shooting platform when filming "old Eric" coming ashore in the beginning, and "young Eric" when he's looking for his anchorage after being chased off the island.

Travel

This is just a suggestion (they're more like guidelines, really)

David is off Britton rd, could come into town and collect John between Meridian & Northwest, just north of Illinois. Email him with your address and he'll pick you up, say 7:15 ish: dcweed@comcast.net

Eric is near Whatcom Falls Park, could pick up Steve and Tyler.

I'd like to have my truck in the ferry line by 8:30 - for the 9:30 sailing. That means leaving Bellinham around 7:30. We could meet at Starbucks in Anacortes to transfer any remaining gear so we don't have to pack it across from the walk-on parking to the fenced in drive-on parking. I'm thinking Starbucks at 8:15 would work. Lance? Does that work for you? I'll buy you all coffee and breakfast while we're there (I like their oatmeal and cheese danish myself).

Starbucks is right next to the KFC on Commercial

Note to self: delete this post when the blog goes public

Food Stuffs

David - Bucket of food
John - Bucket of food - guacamole, whiskey
Lance - Lunch on Friday
Steve - More food
Tim - Hot Dogs, Chips
Tyler - Bagels (just kidding - after working all week at the Bagelry, he probably doesn't like the smell)
Eric - Breakfast Saturday & Sunday and picking up any slack. I got Salmon Burgers from Costco!

Drinks - can you all bring you favorite beverage? That includes coffee, since I'm not gifted in that department.

Note to self: delete this post when the blog goes public.

Cable Cam

The Cable-Cam is in working prototype order. There's certainly room for improvement, but it'll get the viewer running alongside young Eric as he blitzes through the woods back to camp.

Now, how're we going to get good sound of the panting, heart pounding, foot stomping, running too?

Day for Night

A bit of this story takes place at night. You can't really shoot at night and get decent footage.

So, we'll use the crane day for night technique instead.

To add to the challenges, it'd be great to have some dust, or mist, in the air so young Eric's flashlight beam shows up. The other day, while channeling my inner fireman, it occurred to me that a CO2 fire extinguisher might be just the thing. Any of you happen to have one of those?

K.I.S.S.

In spending time thinking about the shooting schedule, how we only have two evenings, and how many shots & angles there are, I realized it doesn't make any sense to move about to different islands. We'll just make Turn Island do it all. Camp fires be darned - we'll use the camp stove...

Story Boards

Finally figured out the Storyboards app on the iPad. Phew! Thought I might have to draw it by hand.

A little note about the props: there isn't a camp stove or flashlight in the app, so I substituted a laptop and bottle. Use your imagination...

This is the second attempt - I put the original "slideshow" together with Windoze movie maker - which doesn't play well with the iPad. So, here's one created with Final Cut on a Mac. Let's hope this one does better.

Control the Beast

There has to be a way to control the camera (on the gymbal posted earlier) when it's out on the jib, or on the wire. So, I gutted an old Futaba "Super Seven" transmitter for the brains, a TV from the local "one stop shopping" store, some anodized aluminum & plastic clad fiberboard, a hinge and bolts from the hardware store, and eureka! A control station for the DP.

The idea is a suitcase like thing that protects the controls and monitor in transit and that opens up on arrival, ready for use.

Crew now Forming

We have an actor for "Young Eric"! His name is Tyler, he's 20, and loves to boat. He's a bit of a ham, so he won't be shy in front of the camera.

So, that means "Old Eric" will be me, and David Weed can go on behaving as himself. (I had designs on David playing the part of "Old Eric" 'cause I had someone in mind to play "Young Eric" that looked a lot more like David than me. That hasn't panned out, so back to plan "A". David is a fine boat captain too, so when we need a driver of the shooting platform - he's the man.

My brother, Tim, will play "Tim" and also double as skiff wrangler (it's his boat), camera operator, sound man, and all-round useful guy.

John Meloy has signed on to do it all: camera, sound, and whatever else comes up - like cooking steaks? He's good at that too.

Steve Work is there with enthusiasm. All around smart and creative we'll put him to work holding a mic boom and equipment setup.

Updated:
Lance Cadena has volunteered his time too. He'll be doing the behind the scenes capturing, so when this vid goes viral, we'll have some teaser stuff to go with it.

Shoot Schedule

June 1~3, 2012
The majority of you have spoken - the first weekend of June is the most widely available.

Here's some interesting tidal info:
  Saturday, June 2
  Saturday, June 9

Note that higher tide is of value in the evening. We need access to the beach, and ability to move boats around inside Little Turn - and that cove get's "lumpy" when the water goes away.

Change of Plans

Ok, there's going to be shooting at Turn Island. That'll still be location of the beach where "Young Eric" comes ashore and then get's chased off by his imagination.

But, I scouted it this weekend and learned that fires are no longer allowed anywhere on the island. Camp stoves, yes, but not camp fires. Or beach fires. And, a fire is pretty important to the "sitting around the campsite telling scary stories" atmosphere that makes up the "outer story".

We're looking into Shaw Island as an alternative location for the outer story.

Let's do all of the inner story at Turn island - forget trying to move all the way up to Matia for what would otherwise be only a couple of shots. If we frame it right, pretty much any island will do.

Hardware

We'll be using cameras & lenses. Natch.

I've got a couple of Canon 7Ds with lenses from 14 ~ 200mm. Even got some great old glass from my Pop that he used with his Contax. The 25 & 135 are especially sweet.

Since a bit of the footage needs to be shot on the water, from a moving boat (note to self: finish the story so that part is obvious), and we don't want the viewer(s)* getting seasick, the camera should be stabilized.

So, I'm building a 3-axis gyro-stabilized mount around a 7D.

The thing it's not yet attached to, nor seen in the photos, is a trolly that'll hang from an aluminum extension ladder. (We're gonna need a ladder anyway for shooting up in the trees, might as well make it pay for itself in as many ways as possible). It'll hang out from the deck of Favorite so we can shoot "young Eric" from a variety of low angles ahead/alongside/behind him as he runs his skiff over the water.

The "trolly" also has motorized wheels so it can crawl a line stretched through the woods, spider-cam style.

This whole gadget is radio controlled, with a video downlink so we can frame the shots. I have all the bits here - just need to complete the assembly. I don't have a good enough monitor, nor is the video signal HD, so we won't be able to pull focus accurately on the image, but if there's enough time set aside to get this thing done, we can pull focus to pre-determined points.

Here it is so far:

* There might be 3 viewers besides the group of us film-makers...

Further Reading

I've been stumbling onto various posts that abound the interwebs. Thought I'd start linkin 'em here as food for thought.

This post subject to change as more are stumbled upon.

http://nofilmschool.com/2012/01/director-power-collaboration
http://nofilmschool.com/2012/01/director-objectives

http://vimeo.com/videoschool/lesson/147/scary-shooting-techniques

Locations

This story starts at Turn Island. It could be any of the campsites in view of the boat moored on a bouy off the north beach, or inside the cove by Little Turn also looking north.

The flashback could start in Friday Harbor marina where the young Eric sets out on his trip up San Juan Channel. Or, it could be a long shot looking into Friday Harbor from out in San Juan Channel.

Flashback continues north past Jones Island and up between Orcas and Waldron islands.

We settle in to more boating detail as Young Eric approaches Matia Island.

One of the challenges of filming this story is that the east end of Matia is off limits to people as it is now a wildlife reserve. So, a scene of Young Eric pulling around the point and seeing a cove empty of other boaters can be started at Matia, but will finish by pulling into the cove between Turn and Little Turn. To frame it so it's not too obvious that we're now on the wrong island the arrival at "Matia" should be shot from high in the trees. This can play into the story of "being watched" as the viewers point of view could be that of the imaginary bogeyman - a bit of foreshadowing.

The Twist

So, what is it that makes this story interesting?

The "Original Story" is a simple spook story where we never see the imaginary bogeyman. It's just someone's fears being shared with no antagonist to see.

The "Outer Story" is just old guys sitting around reminiscing, right?

Well, the inner story is about an imaginary antagonist. What if the friends around the campfire are imaginary too? We see 'em. They talk about the spooky stuff that sets up the telling of the original story.

But what if the two friends interactions are just what Eric's imagination would expect? For example:
1. The dishes being done are single items: one plate, one cup, a couple of pieces of silverware.
2. When Eric comes ashore, he brings chips & beer to share around, that are never opened or moved by the other two even though the express thanks.
3. There's only one camp chair near the fire, occupied by Eric, the other two sit on the campsite picnic table.
4. Wide shots of the campsite show only one sleeping bag in the tent.

The Outer Story

Two middle-aged guys (Tim & David) are sitting around their island campsite campfire after sun down as a third is finishing up the dishes aboard the boat. As Eric comes ashore, David & Tim are overheard talking about their experiences getting spooked in the woods.

Eric pipes in with his story and we flash back to the past and the "original story" is told.

At the end of the original story, we're back to present day.

Original Story

I (Young Eric) was running a skiff from Friday Harbor to Bellingham one summer afternoon and I decided that the route over the top of Orcas would mean a nice stop overnight on Matia Island.

I had a tent and sleeping bag packed with the intention of staying on shore in one of the campsites.

As I approached Matia in the late afternoon from the west, I could see there were boats in Rolfe Cove so I swung around along the south shore to see if I might have the little cove facing Seal Rocks in the east end to myself.

No one was there as I pulled around the point, and elated, I dropped an anchor a little way from shore with a long line so I could unload the camping gear and “clothesline” the boat back away from the beach for the night.

The sun was on the horizon by this time, so my first priority was getting the tent up. I found a little hide-away back in the undergrowth above the bluff and went to work with the ground tarp and pup tent.

At some point in my efforts, I began to feel a little uneasy. Nothing major I told myself, just my imagination waking up here in the woods all alone.

I pushed my discomfort aside and laid out my sleeping bag and dug out something to eat along with my flashlight to offset the coming night.

I made my way down to the beach to check on the anchorage one last time, when my unease returned a little more forcefully. I had this eerie feeling my activities were being watched. I scanned the shoreline in the gathering dusk but spotted nothing. No gull or crow nor seal or sea lion to explain the sensation. I turned back around and searched the uplands, again coming up empty of spies.

I shook away the feeling and laughed at how silly this was and told my little voice “there’s nothing there” with more bravado than I really felt. I chided myself: “I’ve slept out in the woods on little islands alone before, so what’s big deal tonight?” Just a long day in the boat I answered.

I returned to my camp and rooted around in my backpack for more snacks, all the while keeping alert to any sounds around me. All was quiet, but the feeling of not being alone wouldn’t leave me.

I got out of the tent with my flashlight and scanned the now dark woods, throwing shadows of gnarly tree branches around, but still nothing to explain the feeling. I guess I expected to see the glow of eyes, or something to answer the sensation, but I neither saw nor heard anything to support my rising fears.

I decided to explore a little way into the wood with my light - I was going to face down this fear and prove my imagination was operating in overdrive. Venturing further into the woods, with yet no evidence of anything or anyone actually out there, I couldn’t tamp the silly fear down, if anything it was growing stronger with each step.

On heightened alert I stopped on the trail to get my breathing under control and try to will my heart rate down. I stood still for a moment and listened to the woods with all the attention I could muster. The way was more open here with none of the undergrowth as along the shore, and though my feeble little light could reach a little further, nothing was revealed that would cause me any harm. Small birds or animals, a breeze to rattle the leaves, even camper’s voices from the other side in Rolfe Cove would be welcome explanations now. Still there was nothing.

Calming myself a little at the further lack of visible or audible evidence of anything worrysome, I turned around and worked my way back to camp. Though the sense of foreboding had eased a little at again finding nothing, as I approached the tent my apprehension returned full force. I cast the light about me desperate to find something, anything, taunting me and again came up empty.

Throwing off any remaining reasoning ability, I stormed into camp and dropped the tent as quickly as I could, folding it haphazardly on itself and my supplies still inside. Tripping over myself and the loose fabric I raced over the bluff and down to the shore. Hand over hand drawing the skiff to shore, I threw the mass of tent, sleeping bag, and backpack into the bottom and leaped in, with heart pounding in my ears, I madly pulled the boat out to the anchor.

Once away from the shore, and having no creature chasing me down for dinner, I laughed at my fears. Still, I decided that other campers nearby might not be such a bad thing, so I hauled the anchor, started the motor, and worked my way slowly around the north side of the island back to Rolfe Cove.

Picking my way along the rocks and between the moored boats with my flashlight, I found a spot between the dock and shore to drop anchor again, this time with the intention of spending the night sleeping in the skiff. I folded the tent and tarp into a pad and laid out in my sleeping bag looking up at the stars and wondered what it was that had happened back there.

Sometime during the night I was awakened by the wind blowing smartly over the top of the island. Had I remained in the east end I’d be taking the brunt of it right now, perhaps even pushing the skiff ashore and stranding me for a time.