Where to learn professional underwater videography?

[gearbow]

Looking to turn my hobby with my love of the Ocean and my hobby with my GoPro to the next level. I would like to fast track my skills and knowledge of underwater videography. I have looked into internships in Koh Tao but they seem to be geared more to students that will be producing private souvenir type videos for tourists. I want to learn professional documentary stye underwater videography.

Any help steering me in the right direction would be appreciated.

 

[ronscuba]

Baby steps, you only have a GoPro right now. Professional documentary style videography is enough to learn on it's own without adding the underwater aspect to it. Don't underestimate the importance of editing.

Watch some UW videos on Vimeo and Youtube. Make note of what you like/dislike. Watch Oceans and Blue Planet. What is different or similar to what you saw on the amateur videos ?

Make a few souvenir tourist type UW videos yourself. Then make a few more, but hold yourself to a higher standard. Practice making quality videos topside as well.

Professional documentary style UW movies like Oceans and Blue Planet involve a huge crew. Writers, actors, narrators, cameraman, lighting assistants, editors, colorists, producers, etc.. All professionals at their one task. Realize that a UW videographer is often a 1 man show, trying to do it all themselves. That is the main reason you see a huge separation in quality from an amateur uw video on vimeo compared to an IMAX movie like Oceans.

 

[4dawgma]

Does your local community college offer any film type classes? It seems like it would be easier to learn some basic stuff on land first. Composition, color, editing, etc. just an idea

 

[yarik83]

ronscuba makes an excellent point. Best thing you can do is make baby steps.

In my personal experience of filming in and out of water those are 2 completely different schools of thought. What works on land does not work in water and what works in water can not be applied to land.

Perfect example:
My mountain biking videos (shameless self promotion plug click on my signature hehehe) we all filmed in a period of about 1 month riding trails over and over and over, setting up cameras, riding over and over, moving cameras, setting up, riding etc etc. And then I started researching what makes mountain biking videos successful... as in why does 1 video generate 1.7 million views in a day and another gets 3 views in 6 years. I learned what I need to leave at editing table and what sparks interest. I learned that people's attention span is short (at least on youtube) so making videos longer than 3-5-10 minutes is a career suicide. I learned that humidity, sun, shade, weather and all that stuff play a huge role.

Same exact could be said about scuba videos. When I first started filming in 2008 my videos looked horrible. Camera shaking all over the place, constantly missing the thing I was trying to film, having all kinds of buoyancy issues because of camera. Editing was even worse until after about 2 years I ironed out all the kinks through baby steps.

As for professional videography I would say that #1 you need to be proficient in baby steps before even trying anything more challenging. After you master what you learn only then can you take additional coursework. Coursework will teach you a few more tips and tricks but editing is where it makes or breaks the ice. You need to be brutal with what you leave out and even more so with what you keep. You can learn all of that by challenging yourself and learning from others.

I learned to do what I do by filming a blue tang for example then realizing that my video totally sucked. Then I would attempt to capture blue tang in a better way and improve etc etc.

I would say as a videographer learn fish behavior, learn how to position shots (ie not filming into sun), learn to hold your camera without shaking it. In my case I love to let fish come to me. I do not chase them too much, I just hover and they get comfortable and I can shoot without scaring them or anything. I was filming this puffer (in one of my videos hehehe another shameless plug) for about 20 minutes just because he let me. I am all puffered out after that which is a good thing because now I will probably learn to skip certain types of fish that I have gigabytes upon gigabytes of footage of. My hard drives contain about 640gb of scuba stuff ie folder for angels, folder for trumpet fish etc etc.

---------- Post added February 4th, 2013 at 11:25 PM ----------

Here is an example of a well put together video. Not my own but of some high school aged kids at Weeki Wachee state park here in Florida Canoeing. You can watch 300 canoe videos and only see one that looks like this:
It tells a story that starts at parking lot and ends at upside down boats, some diving, some crashing, splashing, cool angled shots, sped up and slowed down footage. I guess it has one of everything in it.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZvLvu2OxrI

 

[rhwestfall]

You mean a PADI specialty wouldn't cut it?

 

[diversteve]

As you get more advanced:

Jill Heinerth sometimes takes on video apprentices - Advanced Technical Diving Training
Howard and Michele Hall do yearly expeditions - Howard Hall Productions - Film Expeditions

You've likely seen both of their work on National Geographic - among others. Howard does the u/w IMAX stuff also.

I'd also connect with people thru Wetpixel - many of those people do documentary filming for a living or work in the industry. Video Gear and Technique - Wetpixel :: Underwater Photography Forums

Might also connect with the groups here on SB (and elsewhere) that are doing Internet and TV u/w productions currently. Some offer expeditions.
Another Shade of Blue with Ty Sawyer
Into the Drink
LiquidAssets.tv

You'll need a better camera though...and eventually a demo reel.

 

[gearbow]

Thanks all and especially diversteve. I am getting a little better and I have been taking baby steps as it were. It is time to take it up a notch. I think I will start with something like this Koh Tao Videography Training Course | Underwater Video Ko Tao Thailand . Then take a sebatical so to speak from my job and approach some of the above mentioned people with a demo reel or documentry that i produced during my coarse.

If anyone is interested here is some of my stuff gearbow - YouTube

 

[FettSolo]

Hey gearbow, if you are going to train on Koh Tao, I would highly suggest ACE Marine Images. They were the first underwater videography company on KT, and thus have been doing it the longest. I interned with them for three months and learned quite a bit. Am I at BBC-level now? No, of course not. It takes longer than three months. But I think it is a great place to get started. If you stay there longer than three months, you will probably work with Chris (the boss) on a short documentary piece using more professional equipment. Please feel free to PM me if you want more details.

To get a sense of your final results, you can check out my reel here: Sandcastles from my mind. - Koh Tao, Thailand
Again, I am not ready to film 'Planet Earth 2' just yet. But my reel is a start, and it's been worth in weight in gold for always securing job interviews ("We loved your fish footage").

 

[drbill]

Hey gearbow, if you are going to train on Koh Tao, I would highly suggest ACE Marine Images. They were the first underwater videography company on KT, and thus have been doing it the longest.

Good to hear that ACE is still there. I had lunch with them when I dove off Koh Tao back in 2001. That was before I actually got a camera (although I had worked with the Cousteaus on a two-hour documentary for TBS in 1985). I bought my first rig when I got back to the States two months later and have been filming ever since. I have been very fortunate to have my work used by a number of network stations and PBS and NHK (Japan's public TV station).

 

[Interceptor121]

There are some good books around such as
John Boyle step by step guide to underwater video - it is a bit old now but it is comprehensive except editing
Jeff Goodman - A guide to underwater wildlife video & editing

You need to take into account that shooting with a fixed lens camera like a gopro and doing what those people do in the books and in their work is essentially not compatible. The Gopro is a good fun device but it is not capable to do the classic wide-medium-close-super close framing once you read those books you will realise you need to upgrade your equipment and this will be expensive