Raja Ampat From Above And Below

[stphnmartin]

Appreciate it Trevor. It will be a while till I do another trip like that. I dive locally in the puget sound around Seattle. This time of year the viz gets really bad and taking good video isn't in the cards. So, I may be hiking more.

 

[Skulmoski]

My daughter and I liked the video very much. She now wants a Phantom 3 and a GoPro Hero for Christmas! Gotta stop watching videos with her!! (But yours, we will make an exception since they are exceptional!)

Best

GJS

 

[CT-Rich]

I think the drone footage was great and appropriate. This was a travel log going over days and from day dives into night dives. Using the drone footage illustrated the transitions. Also, rapid cutting is good for setting some moods,if you want to tell people about a cruise ship disco, then yes, rapid cuts. Diving in a remote corner of the Pacific, a sunset should be savored. If you want to the director's cut, some of us would enjoy a more extended version. I always look at the length of a video first anyway to see if I have time, so I was not feeling Cali-girl's anticipated endings. I try to keep my videos under three minutes, only because I don't think the dives warrant more time. Yours certainly do and the quality of the footage makes it justified.

 

[stphnmartin]

My daughter and I liked the video very much. She now wants a Phantom 3 and a GoPro Hero for Christmas! Gotta stop watching videos with her!! (But yours, we will make an exception since they are exceptional!)

Best

GJS

Thanks so much. It's hard resist the allure of a drone and GoPro! Especially for a kid! So it's best not to expose them to such things. If it's any consolation, it's nerve racking flying the drone over water!

 

[stphnmartin]

I think the drone footage was great and appropriate. This was a travel log going over days and from day dives into night dives. Using the drone footage illustrated the transitions. Also, rapid cutting is good for setting some moods,if you want to tell people about a cruise ship disco, then yes, rapid cuts. Diving in a remote corner of the Pacific, a sunset should be savored. If you want to the director's cut, some of us would enjoy a more extended version. I always look at the length of a video first anyway to see if I have time, so I was not feeling Cali-girl's anticipated endings. I try to keep my videos under three minutes, only because I don't think the dives warrant more time. Yours certainly do and the quality of the footage makes it justified.

Thanks Rich. I do the same thing--look at the duration ahead of time. I agree with you. For my local dive videos I keep it to a minute or two. That's helped by only having a small amount of footage too. And also not the crazy amount of marine life like there is in Raja Ampat. Perhaps after my 100th mantis shrimp sighting I'll be less enamored with them. Oh, who am I kidding. Those things are awesome!

 

[Cali_diver]

Sorry I was just trying to help. I too look at the time on videos, just had it full frame without the timeline. I have heard enough professionals beat it into people to keep things under 5 minutes. People have a hard time paying attention beyond that. Your video (especially the critters) was great. Please just ignore my post. Cheers and keep up the good work!

 

[stphnmartin]

I appreciated your comments Cali_divergirl. No worries. I agree sometimes it's easy to get attached to some clips and not cut till it hurts!

 

[H20doctor]

im going to chime in here and say a couple of things .... first of all its up to Mr martin to create His videos , and edit them they way he wants to... as a Film maker , or a director, they are in control , their creative control to edit the movie in the way They please to do.... To sit here and say to him.. your shot was too long, or this shot should have been different, is a Joke , and a slap in the face ... His Videos are Amazing , to try and take a week of diving , and compress that into 1 video ??? insane ... I would have watched it If it was a Full Hour ... the color and the life is incredible...
So unless you shoot for discovery channel , and own a Red dragon camera in a 110k Gates Housing , and have done many Tv documentaries... I think you shouldn't criticize someone who creates underwater Videos to share with the rest of the world ... shots are shots... and its up to the editor for His creativity , on how They want their Movie to look and run ...

 

[chillyinCanada]

Try not to lose sight of the fact that Mr. Martin specifically asked for critique. I don't think it's appropriate to be brow-beating someone who took that request to heart.