How do you plan your shoots?

[stillhope]

Well, I'll certainly agree about the money part. I haven't seen much of that in a long time, except on its way to somewhere else!

I really appreciate your explanation. I guess I've never done the sort of social postings of imagery you're talking about, but now that I think about it, maybe that's what these messages are all about? Maybe these words are my way of getting the sort of feedback for my ideas that you're seeking with your images. Wow! Life is sure convoluted sometimes.

 

[HiDefPics]

Production planning is so critical to getting great results. As others have said, before you ever get in the water you need to think about what story you want to tell. Then you figure out the best way to get the shots you need to tell that story. And of course when it comes to shooting underwater, Mother Nature & personal safety hold the trump cards. For example, when we were shooting footage of the Spiegel Grove for our Florida Keys DVD we really wanted some nice wide shots to show the scale of that wreck. It took 2 separate trips to FL and at least 8 dives to get the right shots. One day the water is murky green with viz of 20', the next day it's so overcast the whole wreck looks like a big black blob, then the current is ripping so hard that even my scooter can't make forward progress. Sometimes you need to know when to get out of the water and go shoot your dry land footage.
So I guess my advice is plan, plan, plan ... then be flexible.

 

[DiscoverTheBlue]

Hi PerroneFord,
We have a large archive of footage shot throughout the years - this means: it is always useful to collect "stuff" and save it properly after dives.
However, when really planning a project - e.g. a film about a specific animal, we write a rough script first. From the script evolves a shotlist (required shots to suit the text, which will later be narrated). If we have the shots needed in the archive we use those - if not we have to go out and specifically search the animal in question. Then we spend as much time / dives as necessary to get the shot - this can be quite time consuming and require patience. We have some shots that might last 3 seconds in a finished film that took us 5 or more dives to acquire!
Good persistance!
Jacques
DiscoverTheBlue.com