Movie and Video

Movie and Video under water

essential knowledge for underwater movie making

by J Floor Anthoni (2005)
www.seafriends.org.nz/phgraph/movie.htm

Making movies under water does not just consist of taking a film or video camera on a dive. In addition to the knowledge and skills required of a still photographer, the movie maker must master a few more. In this chapter we'll explore what these skills are and how they apply to underwater movie making. These skills also apply to the makers of slide shows and they can also help the still photographer.

introduction	Some general remarks about story telling and the skills required to make it happen. What do you need to do under water and which pitfalls to avoid.
skills	Moviemaking requires not only the skills of the still photographer but many other capabilities as well.
underwater	Is underwater moviemaking any different from that above water? Yes it is. Here are some important tips.

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introduction
This chapter is not about professional moviemaking but about what an amateur can achieve. Moviemaking is the art of the ancient story teller (raconteur) in a modern setting. It consists of the tried elements of:

grabbing attention: something must happen before people sit down to listen. Attention must be grabbed and fast. Children give you five minutes to grab their attention. Should you fail, you've lost their co-operation, necessary for sustaining their attention. The opening scenes of a movie are of critical importance. They are not for your ego but for grabbing attention, and it begins with the title.
keeping attention: in this modern age of communication, people's attention span has shrunk from half a day to less than half an hour. This doesn't mean that a movie should be short but that it must change tempo and content to keep grabbing renewed attention at intervals not exceeding 15-20 minutes. It is done in many ways such as overlapping themes, parallel stories, action alternated by love scenes and so on.
feeding curiosity: one of the main attention keepers is that you have something to say the audience does not know. Have you ever wondered why gossip is so widely practised? Story telling has over the ages been used extensively for teaching new knowledge. The most powerful movies will leave you with something learnt forever. Learning is a very gratifying experience. Story telling has also been important in religious teachings. In underwater movies you have a lot to say that your audience does not know.
stirring emotion: the human being is still mainly primitive, governed more so by emotions than the mind. Telling stories that stir emotions, are winners that bring in the money. In modern society where all freedom and risk of living has been regulated away, people hanker to live the lives of others, the idols of their listless lives. As a diver, you live such an adventurous life, and your movies have something to say that your audience does not know, so from these comes your main strength. Exploit it.
springing surprise: surprise is the most sudden break of continuity, a moment that wakes your audience into horror or laughter. The good story teller knows how to lead up to his surprise, but do not underestimate the difficulty and skill needed to master this.
spinning an ending: many movies seem to forget this most important final element as they fizz out into the scroll. Your ending is as important as your opening scene as it gives you the opportunity to wrap it all up. What is it that you wish your audience to remember? What is the final and most important message? It is the last bit that will be remembered best. Give it your most creative attention.

This is the general framework of any movie or slide show you will make, and you must commit this permanently to your memory, because you will need to find the shots to fill this framework. Before you pull the camera trigger, you must have a general idea of the story you are going to tell and where this shot fits in. It makes moviemaking much more difficult than still photography where this really doesn't matter.

Before you can begin putting your film together, you must have all the shots that complete the above framework, which is a lot more complicated than you may think. It means for instance, that during your holiday, you will need to complete all missing shots for that holiday movie you planned. You will need to put your opening and ending sequences together and you must have all your surprise moments ready. Towards the middle of your holiday you must have a good idea of the entire story.

Skills required
One of the most satisfying aspects of moviemaking, but also the most disappointing, is that you must master a number of skills that are not easy to acquire. In the professional world, each of these skills is a professional specialisation which is mastered to perfection. The film director chooses his script writers, actors, cameramen, soundmen, stagemakers, editors and so on from a wide choice of professionals and forges these together into a team that works in synergy. As an amateur you are all these professional skills, embodied in a single person and you are the director as well. Here is an incomplete list of these skills, to give a general idea:

script: the story is adapted to a film script which chops the continuity of life (or the novel) into distinct scenes like the sets of a stage play. The continuous idea and narrative is chopped into dialogues and sound bites.
visualisation: artists draw story boards to visualise the story, paying attention to angle and distance of the 'eye' (camera). This is the most important part of the project, as the team can now proceed.
special effects: special effects are planned well ahead, requiring different sets and stuntmen. In this digital age, many special effects are applied at the editing stage, but they must be produced earlier on. Many special effects still require the actors to act on empty stages.
sound: the music for the movie is decided on at an early stage.
stage & sets: the story may move from country to country, requiring new sets wherever needed. The shoot happens often in countries that are able to provide the service needed, as moviemaking is a very busy world.
props: props have their own importance in a movie as a recurring item, a possession with special meaning.
dress making: dress makers know well ahead of time what is required.
camera: the cameramen have a good idea of what is required and work ahead of each shot. Often the camera setup takes much longer than the shot.
makeup: while a shoot is prepared, the makeup artists do their job.
acting: actors rehearse the dialogue to be ready for the shoot. Many changes are made on the fly once the whole comes together. Re-takes are needed to improve the effect of the shot.
continuity: continuity between shots is needed to establish the impression that the film was shot without interruptions. Dresses, make-ups, props, lighting conditions and much more must be kept the same between shots.
pre processing: nothing is more telling than the first look at the developed footage. It may prompt a re-shoot.
editing: in the editing room a new interpretation is added to the storyboard. Cutting is not just removing the bad and superfluous bits, but subjecting the images to the 'language' of our eyes and minds. It is a most fascinating aspect of moviemaking. Much has been written about this, and you should master it to a high degree. Editing the sound is often the most difficult bit.
narration: narration is particularly important in documentaries, and it is most likely that your movie will run like a documentary. So the narrative and how it is spoken is an important skill.
production: once the movie has been completed, it must be taken in production, which is a major and expensive activity for cinema. In the case of digital video, it means just running another copy.
language adaptation: subtitles in various languages and resynchronising with foreign language actors is a major business.
marketing: for the money to come in, your movie must be seen by the highest possible number of people. It is a frustrating business, dominated by the big players and movie festivals where entry is prohibitive.

Of all the above skills, you will most likely need some of the ones marked in blue. Don't feel inadequate or let the ideal requirements overwhelm you. Moviemaking begins at modest efforts and remains a pleasure, indeed an obsession, for life. Seeing your results improve from movie to movie is very gratifying. For me the moment of birth of a movie when for the first time you sit back and roll the completed movie, complete with sound and narrative, sweeping you away, is a very emotional moment, akin to giving birth. Yet every frame you have seen many times and you know every glitch and imperfection - amazing and intoxicating.

underwater moviemaking
Underwater movie making is essentially no different from that above water but when viewing amateur underwater movies and videos, a pattern of typical mistakes becomes clear. We'll deal with these in this chapter.

So what are the most important things to do for amateur underwater moviemaking?

image quality: it seems obvious, yet moviemakers do not have the discipline of the still photographer and they end up with mediocre images which then become the very basis of all further effort. The image is the basis! Underwater video usually ends up with endless footage of boring images, excessive use of zoom, instability, lack of colour, lack of contrast, sharpness fading in and out, and exposure changing uncontrollably. They are an insult to moviemaking. So what should you do?

theory: swat up on the theory of underwater photography such as this course. Do not accept that the image you get is the only image you can get. Don't accept that the majority (of mediocre videomakers) must therefore also be right. Apply all the principles of lighting, lens, angle and opportunities. Use the sharpness test pattern to determine the effective resolution of your camera (don't believe the salesman).
three-CCD: for modern cameras the one or three CCD issue is no longer relevant since the serious cameras have three for most accurate colour rendition. They are also digital (DV) and no longer interlace the frames stored on tape. This essentially improves image quality and makes you independent of the confusion of broadcasting formats (NTSC, PAL, etc). It also facilitates editing. My advice: don't waste time on any other type of camera.
settings: be in control of the camera's settings. Don't accept that autoexposure and autofocus will give you the best results. Your camera was never designed for underwater use. Control your colour balance manually. Aim for the most colour and signal information for later post processing in the editor suite. Keep working on the quality of your image as there is always room for improvement. I have to confess that I made major mistakes here, mistakes that I later regretted.
lighting: movie and video depend on external lighting as much as still photography, but you are at a disadvantage. The power of the strobe light during its one millisecond duration is still many times that of a movie light. The position of your movie light is also more critical. Learn to work with filters to optimise the light intensity you have available. You must also have an efficient bracket system to do this.
stability: it is true that camera movement can add to the feel of the underwater world but more often a swaying or shaking image is rather annoying. The camera is your viewers' eye, and the human eye is an extremely stable platform. A tripod (often used as monopod) is an absolute must, so use it wherever possible. When shooting above water, get a fluid head and a very stable tripod because this improves the quality of your shoots beyond belief. On the other hand, keep an open eye for the moving camera where this adds to creativity or the feel of the image. You must make use of your own head's stability and view through the viewfinder rather than the LCD image held at some distance.
depth of field: because the film or CCD size is so small (typically 6-8mm), your camera produces a depth of field that still photographers can only be envious of (twenty times better!). Even so, keep an eye on the iris (aperture) setting and the amount of light available, for optimal results.

zooming: because you have a zoom lens, does not mean that you must use it as such. The zoom is more important as a lens of variable focal length, so that you have an arsenal of lenses in the one zoom lens. The zoom allows you to focus critically in order to film in the zoomed-back position (for movies). When the camera sits on a tripod, zooming in simulates the diver moving closer (interest) and likewise zooming out simulates moving back (fright, end). But the moving closer is a more natural dive maneuver. The problem with zooming in is that at no point in the shot do you have a satisfactory composition and you cannot easily cut from a zoom to something else and it ends up as a waste of time and opportunity. A problem with electric zoom is its rather jerky start and end. So if you use it, make sure it has a specific purpose with limited range, and remember that it will most likely be cut out in the cutting room.
panning: panning a shot simulates an eye or head movement and can be very natural when done from a stable platform. It is very powerful when leading a scene in by surprise as the subject of interest comes in sight. But it can be very disturbing and wasteful. Panning belongs to the eye and mind 'language' referred to above. When following a fish moving through the seascape, panning is natural and powerful. Keep the frame slightly ahead of the movement such that the fish is moving into unoccupied space (not easy). Remember that it is very difficult to cut from one pan into another (it is a no-no) unless it is a smear. Remember also that a pan gives you footage that is continually unsharp and of low quality.
starting/stopping: someone who shoots expensive film has no problems stopping his camera, as every second costs. A film camera starts immediately and exposes correctly on the very first frame but a video camera differs. Video is a dynamic image of a single spot traversing the image many times from left to right for each frame. Starting the camera means that this motion must be synchronised with what is already recorded, and this means a period of delay (2-4sec) and a doubtful transition that usually must be redone in the cutting room (always do this as a matter of principle!). So many videomakers just keep their cameras running, believing that tape is cheap. However, in the cutting room these endless amounts of overburden weigh heavily in the time needed for cutting and storing. Learn how to start and stop your camera for a minimum amount of footage with maximum quality.
ending a sequence: letting a fish swim out of the frame is a very important shot that makes cutting to the next more natural. Likewise panning the subject in or out or smearing out (fast pan). Once you have shot the quality shot, think of the beginning and ending shots necessary for smooth cutting. You may still be able to take these even though the subject has left (the diver is still there and so is the surrounding).
gradual improvement: nature photography has its frustrating moments because wild animals cannot be directed. Their most natural instinct is to flee. A sequence is therefore begun at a safe distance after which one can move in, gradually improving impact and quality. It is not a good idea to keep the camera running. As you approach (very slowly), improve your shots with different lens settings and angles, remembering where each fits in, such as beginnings and endings. Then think about the cutaways.
cutaways: a cutaway is a short shot to be used as glue between other shots that cannot be cut together easily. It also has extreme powers in the language of eye and mind. When you have done your very best to get the footage that really matters, it is rather frustrating to discover that the cutaways you did not shoot, are actually more important! Cutaways are usually shots of onlookers, suggesting that the scene just shown was what they were watching, and their expressions their reactions to that scene. It is a very powerful tool in moviemaking as it draws the viewer inside the picture. So make sure you have ample shots of divers looking, coming, going, looking left, middle, right, up, down, opening eyes, closing eyes, breathing hard, etc. etc. Also that fish suddenly taking off, or just watching. These will be your little gems in the cutting room. Make sure you have too many to choose from.
beginnings and endings: make sure you have alternative opening and ending sequences. These are best shot mid-way your holiday or expedition when the story has become sufficiently clear.
slide shows: people who use slides for slide shows often do not have the same editing facilities as the moviemaker. For them it is often necessary to think about their editing while shooting. This is not the place to recount the many tricks known to this most interesting aspect of photography but the points made above still apply. Slide show makers spend more time on sequences of various exposure settings to simulate a fade-in or fade-out. They are also interested in combining images either by projection or by placing two slides inside one frame. A bird silhouetted against a smooth white sky (shot at 1/250s) allows them to put the bird inside a sunset (shot at 3s) for instance. They are interested in evenly dark parts of images at opposing ends of the frame, projected together by two projectors, with suitable transitions in between. It is an entirely unique art and skill that can be very satisfying and the effects they achieve equally apply to moviemaking.

We are not going to review the many good books that have appeared and are still appearing. Moviemaking is now so old that the ones shot as early as fifty years ago, are as good as the ones seen today. Visit a second-hand shop to get those books that disclose the very essentials of moviemaking without the modern gadgetry.

The eternal compromise
In movies and to some extent video too, the small image is projected on a large screen and there is never enough light. So the temptation is high to expose film on the bright side for it to project brighter. But as we know, this bleaches the colours too. And once overexposed on diapositive (reversal) film, there is no way back as quality is lost forever. The solution is to shoot originals on negative film which has a large degree of tolerance and which is particularly tolerant to over exposure. But this requires a two-step process and more expense. For the video enthusiast, aim for a slightly underexposed image (0.3 - 0.5 fstop) which can be corrected in the editing room for optimal brightness.