WINNER CHOSEN AND REVIEW BY SCUBAVERSE.COM’S EDITOR-AT-LARGE AND RESIDENT UNDERWATER VIDEOGRAPHY EXPERT JEFF GOODMAN

Winner: Rangiroa by Charly Texier

Winning Video:

Oh boy! All excellent films but I think two very clear contestants for first place. Victor by Todd Kortte and Rangiroa by Charly Texier. The other six video were all good and a joy to watch but these two stood out. The difficulty in choosing one of these over the other is that they are both great videos for very different reasons. Content, treatment, music, narration, sentiment, camera work, editing and more. In the end I had to choose the one that left the most lasting impression and that was Rangiroa by Charly Texier.

Congratulations to all for your hard work and I look forward to seeing more next month. Please do remember to let me know which camera and lights you use.

Let’s take a look at this month’s entries:

Victor by Todd Kortte

Watch Todd’s video here.

Well, that was really good. I loved it. This film will strike a chord with anyone who has had personal encounters and interactions with marine life and will hopefully inspire those who haven’t to re-evaluate their diving ethos and look closer and all the incredible species our oceans support.

This film had all the right ingredients for an informative and entertaining video. The personal on-camera introduction and following narration held me captive through to the end and was factual as well emotive. It was all extremely well shot with excellent editing, graphics and music. But most of all it was so good to see someone taking the time to tell us about the animal itself as well as giving a few tips on how it was filmed. Then to finish off there was guidance on how divers can help to track and thus conserve the Manta.

My Manta Moment by Daryll Rivett

Watch Daryll’s video here.

Two Manta films in the same month! Hi Daryll, some lovely images here. It was surely a memorable encounter. There seemed to be no sound track with the video so I am unsure if this was deliberate or something gone wrong in the transfer. Either way, very good to see the Manta.

Jellyfish Lake – Palau by Daryll Rivett

Watch Daryll’s video here.

Excellent post card opening and then a well edited land sequence to get you into the water. Good music choice. The whole film had a really nice feel to it. The Gopro on a stick shots worked well.

Rangiroa – Charly Texier

Watch Charly’s video here.

Stunning location and the drone opening showed it off to perfection. Your transition from aerial dolphin to underwater worked well and started a wonderful diving sequence. You managed to create a most relaxing pace to the film with top class editing to the enchanting music track. The whale shark and the revolving camera on the dolphins was spellbinding as was the one-to-one dolphin encounter. After about 3 minutes in I thought that was it, but I was wrong. It just got better and better right up to the end.

Painted frogfish by Jack Pokoj

Watch Jack’s video here.

That was nice. You did well to keep the image sharp and steady. Good lighting too. Thanks for sharing which camera and lens you were using, I know this will help others.

Nauti Diving by Pav Smirnoff

Watch Pav’s video here.

Lovely feeling to this video. A really good club/friends dive. The music was the key, as it set the scene and kept my toes taping through to the end. Not a great deal happened in the film but that didn’t matter. The pace and mood alone made me want to come over and join you.

Diving Audacious by Pav Smirnoff

Watch Pav’s video here.

Hi Pav. Another feel good film. Not the music I would have personally chosen but it worked really well. All very well shoot with good clear sharp and well lit images. Loved the after dive pub photos.

Fais Do-Do Jambalaya by Dennis Deavenport

Watch Dennis’ video here.

Loved the opening moments of this film with both the music and the images. I love Cajon music anyway and in the context of this video it worked really well. I did have doubts how long it would hold my attention though and was very pleasantly surprised three and a half minutes later when I was still tapping the table in time with the beat and enthralled with the on screen action. The edited images fitted perfectly with the pace and beat of the music. It was very exciting to watch animal behaviour in a different way without making them look stupid. Some of the shots, especially the clownfish with the shoaling fish behind, was brilliant. More please

And the Winner is….

Rangiroa by Charly Texier

Well done Charly, and well done to everyone, some great videos last month. I can’t wait to see what you will share with us in June.

Scubaverse.com’s June 2019 Underwater Video Contest is now open! Enter as many as three of your underwater videos here.