February 2018 Video Contest Winner and Review
WINNER CHOSEN AND REVIEW BY SCUBAVERSE.COM’S EDITOR-AT-LARGE AND RESIDENT UNDERWATER VIDEOGRAPHY EXPERT JEFF GOODMAN
Winner: A dive in Turkey by Lutfu Tanriover
Winning Video:
Second month of the year gone already. Don’t know about the rest of the world but here in Cornwall in the UK it’s been a long wet winter, and I am looking forward to seeing spring and summer animals come back to our shores.
Time to look at February’s videos:
The Heian Maru – Truk Lagoon – Richard Stevens
Watch Richard’s video here.
What a remarkable wreck and thanks for the excellent written intro. It’s always good to be given background information on the video being shown. Plenty to see on her which all made for very dramatic images. Music was an interesting choice. I’m not sure that for me it was the right tempo or feel for the dramatis personae of the sunken ship. All really well shot with good sharp and well exposed images. Some of the framing was very nice indeed. Your dive model had excellent fin movement.
Shark diving in Truk Lagoon – Richard Stevens
Watch Richard’s video here.
Loved the ‘heartbeat’ sound opening. Reminded me of my first shark dive. Personally I am not a great fan of shark feeding although I understand the attraction and thrill for the holiday or occasional diver. It saddens me that we have to go this route to be able to see many sharks in one place. It’s very artificial. First we kill as many as we can find and then attract the rest into frenetic groups for our entertainment. What a bizarre species we are. All that aside, the video was nicely shot with good camera work.
The Pharaoh Cuttlefish – Henry Hall
Watch Henry’s video here.
Very nice short video. I do like single species films. The camera work was good with steady and well composed images. They were also crispy sharp and well exposed. The rapid zoom transitions you used were very effective but would have become tiresome if the video were any longer. But on this occasion the transitions were used well with the right choice of music. The on screen short bites of information about the cuttlefish worked perfectly. The ending was a bit abrupt and could have finished a little smoother on the music fade.
A dive in Turkey – Lutfu Tanriover
Watch Luftu’s video here.
Very dramatic opening with a good pace of music to support the ambience of the location. I liked the mixture of super wides and close up shots as the video progressed. The lighting was just right and added depth as well as colour to the sequences. It was interesting how the divers gave me the feeling of great care being taken with the wildlife and environment. Although the images throughout went together well, have a think about continuity of colour, even though the shots were taken on different occasions. Have a look at colour balance at the editing stage and see if you can make the water colour a little more constant without compromising the animal colour.
And the Winner is….
Four very good films this month, and having gone through all the criteria I usually use to pick a winner, in the end it came down to the film that made me want to get back into the water and that films was A dive in Turkey by Lutfu Tanriover.
I look forward to your entries in March – good luck to you all.
[hr style=”single”]Scubaverse.com’s March 2018 Underwater Video Contest is now open! Enter as many as three of your underwater videos here.
