Winners - Underwater Videography Contests
January 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: Fascinating Cuttlefish – a peak into mating behaviour by Khaled Sultani
Winning Video:
January nearly over all ready. Good to see this month’s entries and as usual there was quite a mixture of style and technique.
In general please do have a look at the best settings for YouTube uploads because the quality in some entries was quite poor, which is such a shame after all the hard work of doing the film in the first place. Crazy to fall down at the last hurdle.
Anyway, here are this month’s entries:
Fascinating Cuttlefish – a peak into mating behaviour – Khaled Sultani
Watch Khaled’s video here.
Well done. Great film. You brought the video images to life with the informative and clear graphics. All nicely shot but when editing do have a look at exposure and contrast just to try and improve an otherwise milky picture. Good music.
Shark Porn – Kissed by a shark – Khaled Sultani
Watch Khaled’s video here.
You set up the story really well with good topside images and then well shot underwater sequences to follow. Wonderful sharks and well done for the smooth follow shots as well as the diver cut-aways. What an exciting dive. Once again we see that sharks can be gentle and sensitive animals and don’t lead their entire lives in a feeding frenzy.
Got Muck? – Khaled Sultani
Watch Khaled’s video here.
Lembeh, what a place! Great collection of close-up critters and all beautifully shot. Music fits really well and the pace of the film is just right.
Similans – Andreas Fiskeseth
Watch Andreas’ video here.
Nice short and well shot film that really did give a taste of the diving on offer in the Similans. Good music, opening graphics and aerials. Some nice camera moves in there too.
Manta Rays North Male atoll Maldives – Haisham Rasheedh
Watch Haisham’s video here.
Beautiful animals and nicely captured on video. Good steady camera work and the music suited the mood well.
Friends and Anemones – Wendy Northway
Watch Wendy’s video here.
Like the way you have treated this with the smaller video frame size and the graphic information below. Very stylish and easy to read. The video images themselves are very good. I found the music to be just a little too heavy for the otherwise informative feel to the film.
Showreel – Klemens Gann
Watch Klemens’ video here.
A collection of superb images but for me the very heavy music track was very distracting. It shouted ‘danger’ and ‘panic’ were as the images themselves had a very peaceful feel. Quality of the images was really good and the framing of each animal spot on. As a show reel it was good to let us see the good quality and variety of what you have done but as an entertaining video it was too clinical.
Noonu Atoll Maldives – Harmonies in Blue – Juergen Selig
Watch Juergen’s video here.
Loved the opening shot which was followed by excellent underwater images. Good emotive music as well.
Sardine run – Milton Westy
Watch Milton’s video here.
So good to see that many fish in one shot. Must have been a thrilling dive.
And the Winner is….
All were very good videos but as I have to pick a winner and I have gone for Fascinating Cuttlefish – a peak into mating behaviour by Khaled Sultani. Not the best shot or edited film, but the addition of the graphical narration was excellent. Very clear precise information about the mating Cuttlefish kept my full attention right through to the end.
I would like to give special mention to Friends and Anemones by Wendy Northway. She just went that little bit further in post production and produced an informative and well shot video.
I look forward to February’s entries – good luck to you all.
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Scubaverse.com’s February 2017 Underwater Video Contest is now open! Enter 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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