Ghost shark and wreck movie

Finally got around to actually finishing some of my video projects.

Both movies are shot using Sony HDR-HC3e in a TopDawg II housing, with 2x24w HID videolights. Edited in iMovie 6 on a MacBook Pro (still haven't gotten around to learning FCS2 well enough, but hey... Cut me some slack). Raw material is HDV quality, but I've given it a good beating in the compression in order to keep the file sizes acceptable.

Any tips/pointers welcome, especially on the compression issues. What is considered the "best" quality vs file size ratio for HDV material meant for web publishing?

#1

Pale Ghost Shark

This is a 3:53 long movie from last week, when a team of divers went looking for the Chimaera Monstrosa, better known as pale ghost shark.

File size: 35,7MB

Duration: 3:53

Sorenson3 compressed, 1200kbps, 640x360

Link: http://opheim.com/diving/ghostshark.mov

#2

SS Frankenwald

Visiting the wreck of the SS Frankenwald, which sunk in 1940. A magnificent wreck, considered one of the best wreckdives in Scandinavia. A good 5000gwt vessel, 122 meters long, deck depths ranging from ~27 to ~34msw with sand bottom at 45msw. Still have a lot of good footage that didn't make the cut for this version, but I was getting hell from the rest of the team to finish it, so I guess I'll be publishing a version 2.0 of this one at some point...

File size: 100,7MB

Duration: 9:24

Sorenson3 compressed, 1400kbps, 640x360

Link: http://opheim.com/diving/frankenwald.mov

Knock yourselves out.

--

Best regards,

Hallvard Opheim

Bergen, Norway

Wow, nice footage... that ghost shark is really a fascinating critter! Love the part when it swims right at your camera. BTW, how deep were you for that?

Will try to view the wreck video later.

Cool. I love the shark. The eyes are great but I wonder what condition its retinas were in after all those tekkie narrow-beam lights were shined straight at them. Would be nice to hear you speak the commentary (rather than titles) over a music bed with no vocals.

As far a bit rate goes, I would say 800-1000 kbps for the video part of your file is good for most modern web codecs at 640x360. I go from 500kbps for 480x270 On2 VP6 Flash video, up to 2500kbps for 960x540 Xvid. You've used 1200kbps for the video part of your file which is a little high, but maybe Sorenson needs that much.

Hi Hallvard

I really enjoyed the films. The pale ghost shark was fascinating as I'd never seen one before.

The only thing I'd say was that the text was a little fast. I found myself having to rewatch the films bit by bit to allow me to read all the text. As a film maker it's hard to time that properly, especially as you already know whats written and therefore don't have to 'read' it yourself from scratch. For the general viewer it always takes a little more time than you think, especially as they are trying to watch the images at the same time. Of course audio would be better, but then that's a whole new can or worms!!

I really enjoyed them and it made me feel like UK diving was almost tropical in comparison!!

Cheers, Simon

Wow, nice footage... that ghost shark is really a fascinating critter! Love the part when it swims right at your camera. BTW, how deep were you for that?

I assume you're talking about the scene where the fish swims towards and over me, allowing the filming from underneath the fish. Absolutely my favorite as well. That one was lurking around at ~38-42msw. The one at the beginning of the movie was found at around 25msw, and the last one shown actually popped out from behind a rock when we were doing our 15msw deco stop. I've never heard of them being that shallow before.

Cool. I love the shark. The eyes are great but I wonder what condition its retinas were in after all those tekkie narrow-beam lights were shined straight at them. Would be nice to hear you speak the commentary (rather than titles) over a music bed with no vocals.

The eye-thing actually bugged me a bit as well. Unfortunately, the only time we're ever able to see these creatures are at night, so it's pitch black everywhere. We use the laser beams as our main communication, so floods are not an option except for me filming...

As far a bit rate goes, I would say 800-1000 kbps for the video part of your file is good for most modern web codecs at 640x360. I go from 500kbps for 480x270 On2 VP6 Flash video, up to 2500kbps for 960x540 Xvid. You've used 1200kbps for the video part of your file which is a little high, but maybe Sorenson needs that much.

I'll fiddle around with different codecs and qualities when I get the time. I just reinstalled my computer last night, and installed the full Final Cut Studio 2 suite, so I'll probably be spending some hours trying to figure out those things...

The only thing I'd say was that the text was a little fast. I found myself having to rewatch the films bit by bit to allow me to read all the text. As a film maker it's hard to time that properly, especially as you already know whats written and therefore don't have to 'read' it yourself from scratch. For the general viewer it always takes a little more time than you think, especially as they are trying to watch the images at the same time. Of course audio would be better, but then that's a whole new can or worms!!

Yeah... The audio-bit has crossed my mind, but so far I've stayed with the text. I'll try to expand the time for each text block.

I really enjoyed them and it made me feel like UK diving was almost tropical in comparison!!

The worst part of that particular dive was actually the deco... We had close to 35 minutes total decompression, and when we hit the 6m stop, looking forward to 18 minutes there, we just crossed the "thermal border" in the water, so it was cooooold... Haven't imported the dive from my computer yet, but I'm guessing 7-8 degrees celcius. Normally not a problem, but lying still for ~20 minutes after "finishing" the fun part of the dive, that became quite a challenge.

Thanks for all the input!

Best regards,

Hallvard Opheim

Bergen, Norway