Winners - Underwater Videography Contests
August 2022 Video Contest Winner and Review
WINNER CHOSEN AND REVIEW BY SCUBAVERSE.COM’S EDITOR-AT-LARGE AND RESIDENT UNDERWATER VIDEOGRAPHY EXPERT JEFF GOODMAN
Winner: Seals in the kelp by David Gwyer’
Winning Video:
Hi all. Thanks for taking the time and making the effort to enter your films. As always they were a treat to watch and good to see so much talent out there as well as a great love of the oceans which comes across in all the films.
This month the winner is ‘Seals in the kelp by David Gwyer’. A lovely story of animal encounter with divers. Well filmed and edited with a lovely personalised script and narration.
Note.
If you have not received your prizes for previous months please contact me at jeff@scubaverse.com and I will look into it for you. We have been having a few issues with supply lately so please bear with us.
My model is an octopus #gopro #underwater #freediving by Maria Bereozka
Hi Maria. Well you have done it again. A great film. If we were to take the video material on it’s own it would be OK but nothing special. When you add your very special spoken story everything changes and becomes totally captivating. I liked the music too. There were just a few occasions where the volume of your narration was a bit too low under the music and I had to concentrate hard to hear what you were saying. You obviously love the marine world so keep on filming and sharing.
Manta Circle Part 7 – The best video on Go Pro with divers from Circle by Maria Bereozka
Nice. Lovely animal. It’s so nice to see a continuous shot with no editing. I felt like I was getting to know the ray quite well as an individual. Good music choice.
Scuba diving in Jackfish Alley dive site Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt by Maria Bereozka
Another goody. Pretty average video material but brought alive with your excellent commentary and choice of music. If you are going to do more filming with scuba, have a think about taking your time with framing and lighting and try a few more close-ups otherwise the film just become a catalogue of images despite the good narration.
Seals in the kelp by David Gwyer
Liked the introduction scene very much. You told a great story with the narration which was accompanied by wonderful underwater video. What a fabulous encounter. Really well filmed and edited and I loved the sentiment. Perfect music too.
Ghost pipefish of North Sulawesi by Pim van Schendel
Perfect written introduction and the following images were excellent. Your macro and close up camera work is very good. Steady, sharp, well exposed and well lit. Lovely film.
The Maldives in 4K HDR, Scuba Dive into the Underwater Beauty of the Indian Oceans Finest Dive Sites by Daniel French
Great drone opening which really set the scene and location. The sharks with the manta and the shoaling fish was quite wonderful as were all of your underwater images. The on screen identification graphics worked well. On a slight negative side, it was quite a long film at 9m30s to be without some sort of story to keep an audience fully engaged, despite the excellent images..
The September 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:
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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