Docu film - comments please

Hi

This is my first attempt at a documentary about fireworks anemones and I would appreciate any feedback regarding improvements in filming, framing etc. The most obvious comment would be the lighting in the first bit, but owing to politics of my dive club, I didn't think I would get a second chance to film these beautiful creatures.

My project for this year is to do some more anemone filming (not this subject, unfortunately) and would appreciate any further tips

John Dory

Very nice! The voice over and the music both sound great. Might be fun to get a different perspective on one with a diver in the shot to show the viewer a sense of scale. A close up of the squat lobster would work too. You did an amazing job with the low vis conditions. What rig did you use and if you don't mind, which processing/editing software are you using?

When I view the file I get a large black band around the video, Is that on purpose or am I doing something wrong?

Thanks for sharing!

Steve

Thankyou for your words of encouragement! I use a Sony Handicam in a Mako housing. The software package was Ulead8 (yes very archaic - I've now upgraded to Adobe Premiere Pro).

I went back this year and have zoomed in on the squatties, as this will be part of the theme of the next project. I didn't know much about the anemones when I went down, only when I studied the footage I realised the relationship with the lobsters so at the time I didn't think about it. I like the idea of a diver close by to give perspective

I think the black line is my inability in downloading to youtube, not your fault.

John Dory

Nice video about a specific subject.

I found the voiceover quite difficult to follow (and I'm from Cheshire!). What sort of mic are you using? You might like to try and get hold of a better mic for voiceover. Slow down the speaking and enunciate like you're reading Jackanory to some foreign kids. Also you can duck down the music as you're speaking using keyframes on the audio track in Premiere Pro. The music was competing with your voice too much, especially when the bagpipes kicked in.

Thanks Nick

I listened again to the video and you are right about the music drowning the speech. I'll take on board the use of keyframes. The mic I used is a GN Metcom 8110. I noted there was variable quality, depending I guess on how close to the mic I was.

Thanks for taking the time to critic my video

John Dory

Interesting vid. After spending two days in a Scottish Loch last year on a shoot it made me cold just looking at it!

I'd echo Steve and Nick's comments. A couple more pointers would be to capture some different angles and perspectives on your subjects, particularly as it is a single subject film. After awhile it appeared that I was looking at the same shot over and over again because they were so similar. WA, mid range, close up, macro, from above, from sea bed level etc would all make it more interesting visually for the viewer. Another thing would be to do some lead up introduction work before hitting your subject which can help set the mood.

That is a very interesting relationship that you found between the squatties and the anemone's. Do you know if it had been documented before?

Well done and hope this helps!

Cheers, Simon

Lots of great advice - -many thanks to all for your time and comments. One last question - does the panning round the subject work? I have to admit that I use this a lot to disguise an unsteady hand. However I am aware that professional films tend to have static shots.

Simon - I haven't seen any documentation about the squattie - anemone relationship, I did send the link to SeaSearch, maybe thay will investigate it further, I know these anemones are subject to their studies

John Dory