Manatee Encounter

[marksm]

Here is a short Manatee encounter shot in Crystal River Florida. I would like to know if the opening sequence feels too long to new viewers. I have just looked at it too many times to have a fair opinion.



Enjoy

Mark

 

[BTravlin]

No, I don't think it was too long. It set the scene nicely. Looks like that was a lot of fun.

 

[Dayo Scuba]

Mark:
Great video and I enjoyed watching it, however unless things have changed at Crystal River this year you are only allowed to use one hand when petting Manatees. You may want to edit the film.

 

[BTravlin]

What's the reasoning behind that rule?

 

[marksm]

Fish and Wildlife is trying to balance between conservation, public awareness, and the economic interests in the area. A tough position. Here is F&Ws rule.

In addition to authorizing the regulation of motorboats, paragraph (d)
states ... “it is unlawful for any person at any time, by any means, or in any
manner intentionally or negligently to annoy, molest, harass, or disturb or
attempt to molest, harass, or disturb any manatee; injure or harm or attempt
to injure or harm any manatee; capture or collect or attempt to capture or
collect any manatee; pursue, hunt, wound, or kill or attempt to pursue, hunt,
wound, or kill any manatee; or possess, literally or constructively, any
manatee or any part of any manatee.”

I have never been able to find a government rule against two handed touching. I believe it to be a self imposed tour operator rule. Two handed leads to grabbing which can lead to riding or attempting to imped manatee travel. I think it is a good rule to follow.

Regarding our two handed touch in the film...Although we were trying, we realized how easy it was to forget our Manatee manners. Although we never pursued them, we found ourselves touching them with two hands on occasion when they approached us. We were reminded not to due so by the good folks at Birds Underwater. Lesson learned. I say this very thing on the youtube page because I want others to see how innocent it can appear but it is still wrong to do. Thank you for the comments.

 

[Empty V]

Hey Mark great vid bro! It's videos like this that really push me to finish my housing for my DVX. HDV really can't shake a stick at a real 3CCD prosumer camera. The one thing I would say is to try to time your cuts to the music. It's something that most dive video editors don't do and they don't realize how much of an impact it makes. With slow dissolves, start a dissolve on a beat and end the dissolve on the next beat. It might take some experimenting to see what duration fits but once you get it, it will work for that entire song.

I had this editor working on a film for me who was pretty green and he couldn't believe how much 1 frame affects the entire rhythm of a film. Rhythm is very very important when it comes to editing. But I take editing a little more seriously than most people.

Nice work my friend!

Billy

 

[marksm]

Yep, thanks for the advice on the tempo editing. I'm trying to use this new Cinescore software from Sony but I haven't figured out how to force music transitions. After I can do that, then I can shift mood and tempo along with music stabs when appropriate. Never enough time to figure all this stuff out and work for a living at the same time.

 

[BTravlin]

It didn't look like he minded the two handed touch seeing as how he rolled over so you could scratch his belly!

 

[Empty V]

Never enough time to figure all this stuff out and work for a living at the same time.

That's why I decided to edit for a living. Getting paid to figure stuff out rules! Anyways, the best way to do that is not to change the music to fit the image but vice-versa. Laydown your audio track (make sure you can see the waveform) and make your cuts that way.

Billy

 

[Natasha]

Nice viedo. Thanks for sharing.