Uncut Fishing, for all your fishing DVDs. Looking Back

Uncut Fishing 4 - Looking Back With Andy Commons.

Review by Andy Commons.

Over the course of time I have been producing fishing video's (3 years) I have never before thought about writing a review myself, I thought it would be a good idea to put my thoughts in to text so you can enlighten yourself a little more about our business at Uncut Fishing.

Three years ago I was sat in my local pub chatting to some mates of mine, talking about fishing as usual when I said, "Who fancies making a video on fishing." There was 5 of us sat at the table at the time and only one of them said he was interested, the others were giving negative comments about what I had said and generally taking the ****. They new we had no equipment in regards to video cameras/computers, nor did we have any experience in video production. So as you can imagine; we were the laughing stock of the evening, however we survived it and was very excited about our thoughts at the evenings end.

The day after there was a knock on the door, nothing to unusual about that only this time it was 7am. Bang, Bang, Bang. I thought what the ek! After shouting at the dogs telling them to be quiet (Barking) I managed to open the door, it was Ryan the friend who was interested in making the fishing video with me. I was over the moon with Ryan's enthusiasm and welcomed him into my humble quarters, we talked about attempting to make the fishing video and all what we thought would come with it. Money was very tight, we new we would have to find around Ł1,500 and this was going to be very difficult as I was out of work at the time and so was Ryan.

Maybe it was the ale talking as we both come to the conclusion that to raise Ł1,500 was beyond both our means... Or was it! I decided this wasn't to stop me doing what I really wanted to do. I sort out items which I no longer needed, like excess fishing tackle, an old heater, some radio equipment I had, power tools and my favourite CB radio & Power pack. I sold the lot on eBay on a friends computer. I didn't get what I thought I would, however once the transactions had gone through I was Ł235 in pocket which was enough to get me a cheap video camera 'Yes' we were on our way.

Two weeks after being in the pub talking about our fishing video, we had purchased our first camera, it was a Canon MV400i. Ryan laughed and said, "I would never be able to produce a video on that thing." I said to Ryan, "never mind that" we need a computer to put up a website and explained that this would /or could save us a lot of money on advertising, he thought I was off my head! because neither of us new how to turn a computer on let alone produce a video and gain sponsors which I intended on doing. It was at this stage Ryan informed me that he was unable to give the amount of commitment I required and thought it best if he 'resigned'. I was absolutely gutted with this news, infact I was heart broke as Ryan was; what I thought my only chance of completing the project I had set out in my own mind.

Very Determined

From then on I spent a year in pursuit of specimen fish I would ask anyone who was available to do the filming for me, I asked my Dad, brothers, my son and friends to help. A year to the day later, I eventually completed my task and gained the quality fishing footage I needed to make several Uncut Fishing productions but no experience on video editing. My first video was edited, simply by editing the footage on an ordinary VCR but the quality of the production suffered using this method. The only option I had was to learn what I thought to be the perfect editing computer programme, Adobe Premier Pro and all my editing problems would be over. I did just that and by doing so we are now able to offer you quality productions at quality prices.

Looking Back With Andy Commons

What I did was look through all the old footage gathered over the course of time I was fishing and realised that I had enough quality video footage to produce another Uncut Fishing production. I have of course used some old footage along with video footage which has never been seen before and compiled a superb fishing story with excellent DVD quality properties which gives you a running time of 1 hr 8 mins of good all round family entertainment. Looking back is shot across various venues in the UK including the Shimano Linear Lakes in Oxford and Browning Cudmore Nr Stoke On Trent and finally a little nearer to home. The production shows some of my great moments whilst I have been fishing along with some really frustrating times as well, one clip shows me catching two reputable carp in 3 minutes of each other where another shows me losing a near 30lber at the net. Along with tactical information on fishing there is a treat for all you pike anglers out there as well, I show a friend of mine landing a cracking pike which gave him the fight of his life. This DVD production is a must for all anglers, it doesn't matter what stage you are with your angling skills I guarantee you will fully enjoy this production.