Winners - Underwater Videography Contests
December 2017 Video Contest Winner and Review
WINNER CHOSEN AND REVIEW BY SCUBAVERSE.COM’S EDITOR-AT-LARGE AND RESIDENT UNDERWATER VIDEOGRAPHY EXPERT JEFF GOODMAN
Winner: Changing Oceans by Katy Laveck Foster & Jeff Foster
Winning Video:
First of all, Happy New Year to you all! Great films again in December and all deserving of a mention. As usual I have written a few comments on each film in the attempt to help with your further endeavours. Please do read them all if you can. Picking a winner is always hard and my opinion is not by any means to be taken as the definitive word. Videos and movie making can be an art form as well as being factual and can be very subjective. The important thing is that you enjoy the process of diving, interacting with the ocean environment and producing videos that you are proud of.
Let’s take a look at December’s entries:
Changing Oceans – Katy Laveck Foster & Jeff Foster
Watch Katy and Jeff’s video here.
Excellent written intro to the video which gave the film a great deal of meaning and purpose. As for the film itself, truly excellent. I know many people would prefer to ignore the poor state and serious decline of all our seas – it seems to be too much for them to take in – but we can’t go on ignoring the problem and this films goes a long way towards making us think hard about what we are loosing, what we have left and why we should try our best to do something about it. Great videography and editing with very good choice of emotive music. It was also the perfect length and style to be punchy without becoming preachy.
Komodo National Park – Tobias Koller
Watch Tobias’ video here.
Well done for having a go at presenting and narration. Both were good and added value to the overall feel of the production. Very nicely filmed with excellent camera work and lighting. Editing was also extremely good although I did find the several openings to the film to be a little disjointed. A good amount of factual information given which made the overall video far more interesting. Nice music too.
Diving with Seal, The Farne Islands – Graeme Parker
Watch Graeme’s video here.
Fun opening which got us straight into seal action. They really are the most charismatic animals. You certainly had some fantastic encounters. I love seeing marine animals interacting with people. Although well edited with good quality images there seemed to be a general lack of contrast and colour saturation. This can easily be rectified by making a few simple adjustments in editing.
Il Cristo degli Abissi – Kiril Ivanov
Watch Kiril’s video here.
That was really nice. Very emotive. Good slow and purposeful camera moves which were complimented well by the music. Excellent variety of camera angles and perspective. A fitting memory to Dario Gonzatti. Well done.
Malta Underwater – Lutfu Tanriover
Watch Lutfu’s video here.
Excellent wreck opening and at first the music fitted well but it then became more powerful than the following images so that the soundtrack was taking over from and detracting from the video itself. The camera work throughout was very nice with good clear, sharp and well exposed images. The wide angle shots were particularly dramatic.
And the Winner is….
December’s winner is Changing Oceans by Katy Laveck Foster & Jeff Foster. It is an exceptional film with a powerful and extremely important message.
Well done to you all. 2017’s overall winner will be announced soon – and following that, I can’t wait to see your entries in 2018!
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WINNER CHOSEN AND REVIEW BY SCUBAVERSE.COM’S EDITOR-AT-LARGE AND RESIDENT UNDERWATER VIDEOGRAPHY EXPERT JEFF GOODMAN
Winner:
Winning Video:
Hi everyone. Happy Christmas and New Year. Just four videos this month. I felt the Maria Bereozka film ‘Jingle Fish’ had the edge over the others by way of carefully executed shots and editing, which gave a good steady pace to the video.
Looking forward to more films next year.
If you are keen to advance in your film making skills, don’t forget to look at my book and/or take my RAID Action Camera course.
A love story by Ronald Faber
Synthetic voice – Really!!! Didn’t know there was such software in existence. Should have know better really. Nice video though. I don’t get many entries with David doing the narration. Good story and well shot with great steady camera work and lighting. The editing was spot on as was the music choice. The David voice did give it a certain quality that no matter how good or poor the film actually was, the audience automatically assume it has to be professional and thus top quality. It’s a clever trick but not sure I like it.
Jingle Fish by Maria Bereozka
Nice thoughts and excellent images with great quality. All works really well. The video has a real good feel to it and I love the diver/animal shots.
Fish Dance by Maria Bereozka
Ah Maria, Once again it is your narration that lifts the film by 100%. although your camera work is very good with steady well lit shots.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year Dives! by Maria Bereozka
Not sure about this one. Didn’t quite work for me. It seemed to be a collection of loose shots put together to the music.
The January competition is now open for entries. You can enter up to three videos by clicking here.
WINNER CHOSEN AND REVIEW BY SCUBAVERSE.COM’S EDITOR-AT-LARGE AND RESIDENT UNDERWATER VIDEOGRAPHY EXPERT JEFF GOODMAN
Winner: Sharkydelity by Fredi
Winning Video:
Such good films this month. It took me a while to decide on the winner. I had to watch them all twice. But in the end my choice was Sharkydelity by Fredi. You can seen my comments on this film as well as all the others below.
If you are keen to advance in your film making skills, don’t forget to look at my book https://www.divedup.com/shop/action-camera-underwater-video-basics-the-essential-guide-to-making-underwater-films/
Time to breath by Maria Bereozka
Yep! Love it. So relaxing to watch and I really feel a bond with Turtle. Good camerawork.
Sharkydelity by Fredi
Lovely written intro thanks. Adds so much to the actual film. It’s a great story and stunning images.
A perfect blend of aerial, land and underwater sequences. Your music choice was perfect as was your camera work and lighting which gave wonderful clear, steady, sharp, well exposed and beautiful framed images. I liked your creativity with the editing, especially where you made the most of the music phrases.
Point of view by Maria Bereozka
The written intro was obviously heart felt and moving. It is so good to set up a video in this way. Once again it is your narration combined with your artistic skills and imagination that make your videos so unique.
Underwater Red Sea paradise by Maria Bereozka
Nice feel to the video which was well complimented by the music. My only suggestion is that for general reef shots you try some way to hold the camera steady. It’s not so important with moving subjects like the ray but when there is just coral and background fish the camera must be as steady as possible.
Banda Sea, Seram Sea and Raja Ampat by Daniel French
Sounds like a fantastic trip from your write-up. The on-screen identification captions work really well. I like the slow motion throughout. The slow steady tracking shots and the slow animal movements. It creates a very peaceful feel and the music is perfect. Great camera work and lighting. I also like your camera angle perspective on subjects where you get below the animals.
Maldives Far North Expedition with MantaTrust by ondrejv
Good written intro thanks. I liked the personal on-screen introduction. Wonderful shots of the mantas. What amazing animals they are. Having gone this far though with the shooting and editing I would have loved to have had some information on what you learned about the Mantas especially as you were with the Manta Trust.
Calm Indian ocean by ondrejv
Stunning opening shot of the Sweetlips. Fabulously sharp and well lit. You have captured some excellent wildlife images and the music fits really well. Loved the turtle turning to look at you.
The December competition is now open for entries. You can enter up to three videos by clicking here.
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