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

Winner: The Farne Islands , Northumberland, UK by Graeme Parker

Winning Video:

So…another year almost over. Hope you had some good diving this year even if travelling was hard to do. One thing with not doing that much diving and filming is it gave many of you time to re-visit previous footage and do some editing. Hence there have been some great videos throughout the year. Stay safe from Covid and look forward to seeing your films next year.

Be sure to catch my zoom interview with Clayton Conn, Novembers competition winner which will be published early this coming January.

Every film this month was top quality and a pleasure to watch, hence making picking a winner quite difficult. In the end I just had to go with the film that stayed in my mind.

This months winner is The Farne Islands , Northumberland, UK by Graeme Parker. It had a very definite beginning, middle and end with an easy feel to the surface introduction, great underwater interactions with the seals and very nice surface closing shots to end with.

Dive Fantasy at Christmas Rock by Craig Beasley

Lovely written introduction. Thanks. Nice. Liked the narration and script accompanied with some great music. That was a perfect film transition from the snowy surface to the snowy underwater scene. Very clever and very well edited. The images throughout are excellent, well filmed and lit. Loved the Christmas hat.

Dive the Valentines by David Gywer

Nice opening with really good sound effects. Great narration and a well told story. Good music which fitted well. You packed a lot into the one and half minutes which kept up the pace throughout and hence viewer interest. Excellent. Even though the film was short, I felt I know know the dive site really well now.

Diving Hamsa aka Stone Beach near Hurghada, Egypt by Scubabeat

Perfect written introduction as well as the identification graphics throughout the film. Lovely camera work with very good lighting. You cut the images to the music well. So many stunning species.

The Tenant by Kiril

That was nice. I dived Lake Baikal many years ago for the BBC to film the sponges as well as the Baikal Seals. Great experience. The lighting on the sponges and Sculpin was very good.  Perfect sharp and well exposed images, all well framed and the music fitted well. Short but really good glimpse at a little known species.

Journey of the Little Sand Shrimp by En-Min Chua

That was so good. Really well filmed. Camerawork was sharp and steady and everything was well lit. The on screen graphics worked well. I loved getting a glimpse of the world of the shrimp.

The Dolphin Men by Adam Shepherd

Different!! Wow! So graceful underwater. Must have taken years of training to do that. Music was very dramatic.

Riding a Cucumber by Evgeny Kovban

Well done. Splendid film. Excellent camerawork and lighting. The sharp and steady close ups were perfect. I’ve never seen anything like it.

December diving fun at Florida by ondrejv

That was quite some opening shot. Must have been crowded down there. The two Angelfish were really nice. The shoal of snappers and the turtle were of such good quality with stunning colours. Lovely lighting. Music worked very well.

Scuba Diving Lipah Bay, Amed. by Jan Venter

Good written intro. Thanks. And… good to see someone introducing their own film. Definitely makes it more personal and interesting. A perfect introduction for those divers who are new to the area. Perhaps as a little extra, it would have been nice to briefly show some video or still images of the areas you were talking about before getting into the underwater sequences. The underwater images were lovely, with good camerawork and lighting. The music and the images were well edited. Great quality.

Dann Fenoir by David

Excellent close ups with good steady camerawork and lighting. Nice series of animals with amazing colours and designs. You caught some very interesting behaviour as well. Would loved a little narration to say what they were and what they were doing.

Nudi Harbor by Fra-and Timothy Quimpo

Excellent written introduction to your video. Thanks. Nice on scree typed message which is all to true. Perfect opening drone shots of the pier to set the scene. Fantastic animals, all beautifully filmed and edited. The on-screen information graphics worked really well. Your macro work is so steady and sharp. Lovely to watch.

The Farne Islands , Northumberland, UK by Graeme Parker

I did like your surface shots to introduce the film. Very simple but very effective and relaxing to watch. The transition to the seal underwater was perfect. Stunning animal. The interaction with the diver was what dreams are made of.  Good music and nice camera work. Do have a look at colour  balance if you can. There were just a few shots near the surface that were quite red. Easily fixed in the editing. Lovely ending with the dolphins. I love UK diving.

Diving The SS Thistlegorm by Graeme Parker

Good opening photo of the ship. Always good to see things like this. A great wreck to dive and film although as there is so much to see down there, sometimes it is difficult to decide what to capture to show the true essence of the wreck. But you did it well. Perfect music, Loved the turtle shot.

You&Mantas by Romain Francois

Beautiful animals and really well filmed. I liked the way you intercut images of the reef although I personally would have started with the Mantas rather than the turtle and coral. Great music which fitted the imaged really well.

Scuba Diving in Bali by Jan Venter

Thanks for the written intro. Stunning images with perfect lighting and beautiful smooth tracking shots. In fact some of the best reef shots I have see for quite a while. It was a joy to watch and very relaxing. My only negative comment is that 25 minutes is a very long film relying on just images. There is no story to engage with and so even though what you have shot is excellent, after awhile it does become very reparative. It would be a great video to put up on display where people are passing such as dive shows or dive exhibitions.

Bulls by Romain Francois

Nice opening surface shots to set the scene. Stunning sharks. An exciting dive. Good camerawork with sharp steady shots. Have a go at trying to increase contrast and colour balance in editing. Just a few minor tweaks will make all the difference.

Crayfish – The Salvation by Mitja Harvilahti

Very concise and interesting written introduction. Thanks. I did like backward reveal shot. Most  effective. The on-screen graphics worked well. Your video certainly portrayed an eerie location with perfect music and well planned images. Assuming the crayfish are native to the waters, well done for letting them go from the lost or discarded trap.

The January competition is now open for entries. You can enter up to three videos by clicking here.