34 replies to this topic

[wagsy]

Here is a link to a 8 min demo clip I quickly cut together for a company who were interested in my HDV footage.

DEMO WMV 35megs

QT H.264 115 megs

Well Im happy to say they must of liked it as the whole gig is worth $6,000 AUS...

I'll fill you all in later on where it's all going to end up..I have also a UK mob and a Russian mob now after some as well....

Har har and I just sold another Nat Ning DVD online....there goes another bottle of Burbon....

HDV might not be as good as true HD but it looks like more companys can afford to buy HDV footage than true $$$ HD. I spoke to the guys a few days ago that are cutting up my Whale Shark stuff for a National Geo program and they said it looks great on their Avid mixed in with Digi Beta.

[SimonSpear]

Wags, honestly that was mezmerising. Awesome vid - they should be paying you $60k for that not $6k!!

Cheers, Simon

[MikeVeitch]

congrats wags... i will start the dowloand later and hopefully is done when i come back from diving...

[peacedog]

Wags - no bullshit - you are my hero. I aspire to your level of work.

Fan bloody tastic.

[brycegroark]

Great work, Wags. Wish I had some of those subjects down the street off my local pier! Really enjoyed it! Congrats -

Bryce

[Mary Lynn]

Whoa, Wags, that's such beautiful footage! Simply beautiful, and incredibly well shot. (I too think it's worth closer to 60K....) You just have such a good eye for composition, you get the behavior *and* that nice blue saturated water.

If you lived closer I'd interview you about some of your technique! One thing is clear: you spend a lot of time getting the shots done right. And you're stabilizing the camera in the static shots (which I should try to do more of), and keeping a good steady camera in the moving shots (I'm *so* envious!).

Do you have any tips to pass along to folks like me who are always interested in improving our shooting?

You rock, Wags! Keep up the inspiration!

Mary Lynn

[peacedog]

Yeah, I second that, Mary Lynn. Can we have a new forum, Ask Wags? I have a list of questions already.

[Nick Hope]

Awesome stuff Wags. You're really setting a high standard. I love the lighting of the grouper in the cave which can't have been easy to get right. The scooter flyby was cool too. It's great that you're getting your stuff accepted by the likes of NGC.

[wagsy]

Thanks for all your comments.

Yes mixing colour WBing and lights is tricky but the little cod hung around long enough to get it right. In fact he has been living there for years....

The mob in Russia are interested in 3d underwater. That is bolting two housings side by side and shooting. Anyone have a spare Phenom??

Tips....get to know you gear and you need to not have to worry about anything down there, only to have 100% concentration on your subject. Keep the shots as steady and smooth as you can. Keep the bubbles off the lens and try to think about each shot like taking a still photo. Get to know your animals and their ways and don't damage the coral....LOOK COOL B) ...Use your breathing for buoyancy control.... yes you will need to hold your breath for some shots, but I would not recommend that for people just starting off into scuba and underwater video unless they have many dives and years of experience under their belts.

[MikeVeitch]

aha... it only took 6 hours or so.... but i downloaded it successfully!!! hurray!!!! (the smaller version...)

Nicely done Mr Wags.. haven't heard that first song in ages!!!

Now i have to put something like that together myself... most likely more mantas!

hahahah

[CamDiver]

Hey Wags,
Kudos on your work my man. Got some really nice stuff there. Still waiting for the Z to land but it'll get here in due course. Once it hits Palau my friend I'll be playing catch up......Great work and good editing. Well done.

Another note for your pointers is SECURITY. Dive safe. When I first started out in video with an old sony VX1E in an Ikelite housing I was rabid. I would spend hours flitting from one rock to another desperate to fit every content the Oceans could throw at me on just one tape. One bad experience in a shallow dive site saw me get completely carried away. I'm in 10m, nothing's gonna go wrong, right. Wrong. The ever alluring blue saw my profile go into a steep nosedive. Before I knew it (45minutes into the dive) I was at 30m still hunting for critters.

I was in trouble. My dive buddy was as keen as I was to hunt for filming subjects. Looking at my guages I had little air and five years of deco clocked up. I stayed very still for the next week !!!! I learned my lesson. BIG TIME.

I guess for people like us, we get to dive everyday as we work our way through this roller coaster of a ride we call life, so we know we can come back to the sites again, again and again until we get what we want. That doesn't mean though that we should disregard those base elements of security which bind our timed limitations to the watery wonderlands of our respective base locations. I cannot reiterate this point enough.

DIVE SAFE and DIVE AGAIN !!!

Good work Wagsy.
Mark.
OK, so we all hold our breath when the odd Manta decides to fly around the lens .......

[huguito]

Amazing stuff!
Truly beautiful. I am really impressed.
Is that footage from Ningaloo Reef?

Hugo

[anthp]

Awesome Wags! Michaela is totally inspired and you are my hero too!

Look forward to hearing about the other details when they become public. Congratulations.

[RebreatherDave]

That rocked....the QT version took about 15 mins to download....

Once I figure out how to use an editing program, if I ever do that is.....I want to make a documentary version discussing the marine animals, their habitat and habits, and a little about the surrounding island and its history to just add a little variety.

However we all like popular music intersperesed with footahe, and slow fade out/in transitions are used to give ti the artsy/dreamy effect of the kaleidescope of colors and life.....

I am trying to figure out what format to use to have both music and fade out/in scenes, like in the end as a closer, while still having the documentary/education effect of the hard transitions documentaries are known for.....

But the real tricky part is combining them both at the same time.....where their is narrative information over music, but that requires figuring out what you want to narrate, then having all the timing right with the music so when the narrative voice comes in, the music gets a little quieter so as not to disprupt the voice......

Maybe I am over-analyzing things, but dang, sure seems complicated! lol


Great job Wags.....I'm leaving for P.G. two eves from now.....gotta find some ghost pipefish, pygmy seahorses and especially a flamboyant cuttelfish or two.

[Mary Lynn]

Thank you, Wags, for all the great insight! I feel so strongly that this is one of the best ways to improve: share tips and experiences. This is what I love about Wetpixel!

Then we can think about what we've heard from others, try out some new techniques and approaches and incorporate what works for us. Of course, another essential way to improve is to get out there and practice!

Wags, do you use a tripod or other form of stabilization for your really static camera shots. If, so what do you find works well?

Recently, I came across a document by Ron Church dated 5/20/59 at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Archives (where I volunteer processing the Conrad Limbaugh collection). It was a series of shooting tips for underwater filming for the Hollywood stock industry. I'll share a couple of pointers from 1959:

"Use a tripod for every scene unless it is absolutely impossible. The scenes you shoot may be sold later at a great profit...if (and only if) it is shot steady on a tripod. A tripod increases the chances of selling a film by three fold."

This, of course, is probably not so much the reality now, and many incredible shots come from good midwater camerawork, but I thought it interesting to see what they were suggesting to be successful in the stock footage market of the time.

More tips, Wags, please!

[RebreatherDave]

When he made that macro video of the upside down shrimp that like to hang out with morays, there is NO WAY he didn't have that camera set down against something...either that or he died and came back to life just after he got enough footage......

[andydives]

Nicely done Wags! I would need a sherpa to haul all of that gear to my next destination.

Andy

[wagsy]

Gee not getting much work done today....
Dave we are all still waiting on seeing some of your footage.....love your comments. Mark thats sounds like a scary dive you had, yes at deeper depths or on deco dives one needs to be more carefull than just the normal shallow play dives.

Anyhow Kelly and I just got back from a dive on the Exmouth Navy Pier. It has been closed to all divers for now but we have special permission to document all the life so we have it all to ourselves now....although it was only 19 degrees..yep we wore our dysuits...

Thanks for all your comments and allot of those clips and more are ending up in the edited verson to be displayed at trade shows for a Plasma/LCD company right across the US.

More Free Tips and stuff......................

We have used tripods but find by the time you get the things set up the subject has moved or you still cannot get into the postion you want, however they are good for certain planned shots.

Having battery packs on the bottom of the housing helps as you can sit in in the sand or rubble and have the lens off the bottom. I often use the port guard to rest on things, carefull not to damage anything plus the lens or I will push down on the housing if it's in the sand etc and let the water move me around instead while trying to keep the housing as still as I can.

I will even hold my breath just to get a 20 or 30 second steady shot. On macro this helps allot as even your breathing will move the camera when zoomed tight on macro. Also one has to do it when a Manta hangs over your head or the bubbles may scare it and causing it to take off...Manta's really hurt when they hit you...

You need to play catchup breath later on to get your body gas levels back to normal afterwards or you may end up with a headace or even go to sleep if you do it to much. Once again I don't recommend anyone doing it...

I general only dive with Kelly or someone highly experienced or just by myself as I cannot concenrate on my shots if I have to look after someone else. It's the instructor in me...Also my dives normaly go for like 60-90 mins so most people are empty way before that however I do use more air when filming due to breathing bouyancy control for shots. When I'm filming, anyone diving with me needs to look after themsleves as I will be off in my own little world and many times I will only come up when my tank starts to get hard to breath on Might be abit hard on a dive chater boat to do as the DM will give you a serve...but we have our own RIB and compressor....

When I am diving deep or deco dive, I will dive with a buddy but I figure if I can free dive to 30 meters and back then I can get from the bottom to the surface easy from 20 or less meters and we all know that your air just does not run out instantly giving you heaps of time and air to get back to the surface.

Here is some macro grabs from the dives we just did with the 94 degree lens and Hoya+2 on the flip arm...better do some work now.....

[MikeVeitch]

i sucked a tank dry last week too..no need to turn it off to get the reg off..

DO NOT DO THAT AT HOME!

[DeanB]

Yeah, I had a buddy (not much experience) decide to ascend and go back to the jetty while i was still filming..I turned around to check on him and he was gone. I had a scare, he had a huge bollocking. He's been fine ever since. Lack of skills and a decent dive plan. Never be too complacent.

Lesson learned.

Dive safe

DeanB