Winners - Underwater Videography Contests
September 2019 Video Contest Winner and Review
WINNER CHOSEN AND REVIEW BY SCUBAVERSE.COM’S EDITOR-AT-LARGE AND RESIDENT UNDERWATER VIDEOGRAPHY EXPERT JEFF GOODMAN
Winner: Discovering the white nurse shark in Manihi by Elsa Collet
Winning Video:
Good films this month and well done to all who entered. Quite a variety of treatments and subjects which were great to see.
Discovering the white nurse shark in Manihi by Elsa Collet
Watch Elsa’s video here.
Very nice. The Grouper were a real treat and very well filmed with good clear images, well exposed and framed. Good music choice too. Then, the white Nurse Shark. Never seen such a thing. How extraordinary. A few of the shots with the shark and grouper together were magical. Well done. You were in just the right place to get the shark moving off, especially when it stopped to look at you.
Maldive Thulusdhoo Island Male Nord by Maurizio Agliani
Watch Maurizio’s video here.
First of all well done for all your hard work in making this high quality film. I have been slightly critical about some of the post production in both your films and hope my comments will help you progress to the next stage of film making.
Not sure about the intro music stings. Bit harsh for me but the visuals were very good. The film itself started with some great wildlife images and I personally liked the physical contact with the Moray. I know many say ‘look, do not touch’ but if you are of the right frame of mind and know what you are doing then I think that basic inter-species communication through gentle handling can be beneficial to both animal and man. The Moray was completely relaxed and the diver was experienced. Good to see a break in the film for surface and location images which created a welcome change of pace. Just as I was settling into the reef wildlife you changed the pace again with the sharks and what I thought was slightly jarring music which seemed to try and create a menacing mood that wasn’t really there. Then back to the serene reef and peaceful island life. The remainder of the film had excellent wildlife images and were a treat to watch.
Red Sea 2019 Daedalus Elphinstone and Brother Island by Maurizio Agliani
Watch Maurizio’s video here.
Nice opening with a feel good factor to following images and music. All well shot and lit. A timely break for the surface sequence of Daedalus before heading back underwater. A good amount of sharks So nice to see them starting to return. You obviously have a good eye for filming. Can I suggest that you have a think about story telling especially if your films are going to be so long. I felt the images and locations needed to develop into some sort of conclusion rather than simply be a catalogue of things you saw. A simple narrative could do this very well. Seven minutes is a long time to keep an audience engaged without any sort of information.
Seal Island by David Gwyer
Watch David’s video here.
Hi David. That was nice. What a great trip. Well filmed and edited topside intro which gave a good feel to the coming day. The seals really performed for you and gave some excellent opportunities for video which you took full advantage of. Well done. Music fitted well.
The Neville Coleman Nudibranch Event by Dean Spraakman
Watch Dean’s video here.
I always like a drone opening. Makes everything so dramatic. I did like the way you cut from aerial to macro and back again. Real cinema. The music created a good pace and you edited images to fit perfectly. The macro was excellent and very well lit as well as completed steady. Just one or two shots had focus issues which I personally would have cut out.
After much deliberation I finally went with ‘Discovering the white nurse shark in Manihi’ by Elsa Collet. Elsa took good advantage of the unexpected shark along with the grouper and made a very watchable short video with good camera work, editing and music. The other films were also excellent. It is always hard to single out a winner which is often unfair as all entries deserve full acknowledgement. But, it was Elsa’s film that stuck in my thoughts.
And the Winner is….
Discovering the white nurse shark in Manihi by Elsa Collet
See you all next month.
Scubaverse.com’s October 2019 Underwater Video Contest is now open! Enter as many as three of your underwater videos 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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