Would you but a video of your vacation?

I have a few questions for my fellow divers out there:

1. If you could get a professional looking underwater video of your dive vacation made with full editing, sound, and post-production work like titles and slideshows mixed in, and all on a DVD format, would you consider it?

2. What would you like to see as extra features or options for something like this?

3. What kind of price range would you feel was fair for the work (for 1 tank dive,? 2 tank,? weekend,? etc.)?

4. Have you seen this offered at any resort or lacale you've been to before, where,? what did you think of the service?

I'm doing a marketing report for college and thought this would be a cool project. Any tips would be appreciated. And any suggestions in any aspect of a business featuring the filming and editing of dive vacations in general would be cool too.

TIA.

(edit: typos)

i saw a guy in West Palm Beach doing this on the boat.

He had an underwater video camera, at the end of the day, on the way back to the shore he would put the video on the small tv for everybody to view... and then gather emails/addresses/money from everybody who was interested. And then you got your VHS tape in mail.

I think the price was something like $40 per person.

It was all edited and with a soundtrack.

The funny thing is I think the movie was made on digital camcorder but then saved to VHS.

I've been on have offered trip videos...they usually include head shots of each pax, shots of the boat at anchor, footage from the week of diving, and a 'catchy' soundtrack...

Prices average around $50-60 for a 30-min. offering.

The production values have been, for my tastes, a little cheesy...lots of dissolves and wipes that tend to be annoying. The soundtracks have been good or bad depending on the producer's tastes in music.

My Galapagos video has stunning visual images, but the music selection is horrid...some funky atonal jazz selections that absolutely don't fit the subject material.

Here's a tip, try to include approximately the same amount of footage of each diver in the video...

I guess an option on the music in the soundtrack would be beneficial as well. Don't wanna anybody to have to listen to Fusion Jazz or some other horrible noise .

Cara with the Odyssey liveaboard in Truk Lagoon did a great job with edited music for $60. One of the best keepsakes from a great dive experience.

JohnStrr once bubbled...
I have a few questions for my fellow divers out there:

1. If you could get a professional looking underwater video of your dive vacation made with full editing, sound, and post-production work like titles and slideshows mixed in, and all on a DVD format, would you consider it?

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It would depend on what happened during the dive and the equipment of videographer. If i could view before and after editting it would be great. As for the final format DVD is the only option now since most everyone has a DVD Player.

2. What would you like to see as extra features or options for something like this?

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Items like 3d fades or 3d rain images (ie video clips laying flat and projecting up with 1 and 2 video feeds. Also along with some great logos done with after effects

3. What kind of price range would you feel was fair for the work (for 1 tank dive,? 2 tank,? weekend,? etc.)?

Click to expand...

i would think a price of about $50 per hour of video would be good if the video didnt require a lot of post production video

4. Have you seen this offered at any resort or lacale you've been to before, where,? what did you think of the service?

Click to expand...

I have seen it done in some locations but most of the time it was done by someone with a video camera that was several year old and not up to the latest technology in cameras. Ie using a modern Mini DV camera and/or 3cccd . models like sonys 120 BT, trv 950, vx2000, pd 150 canon optura 200, elura 50, and GL2 or XL1s ablet a little on the large side for underwater work. With any of these cameras in a housing that fetured electronic controls and the ability to manually control them (focus, zoom, iris, etc )

I'm doing a marketing report for college and thought this would be a cool project. Any tips would be appreciated. And any suggestions in any aspect of a business featuring the filming and editing of dive vacations in general would be cool too.

TIA.

(edit: typos)

Click to expand...

As for the biz aspect of videography is that you have to be able to communicate with the client very well and to be able to think 3 steps ahead of the client. when you take a assignment be sure to find out from the client what they want and dont want, and most important of all that you need to have your bouyancy and steady hands are a must. well if i think of anything else i will post it

well if you need any help just feel free to pm me

I've seen this service offered in the Yucatan, Grand Cayman, and Maui. Since that's as far as I've been, I'm convinced they offer it everywhere.
My buddies and I got one from Mexico, diving the cenotes and Coz, and one from GC, diving Stingray City. If it's a unique dive, I don't mind paying for a video. As far as a fair price... Most have been in the $50 range, if I recall. Seems steep, but split between a group of 4 or 6, it's not so bad.

I've seen vodeos offered in most of the location I've been. They vary between a a cheesy 30 min. video where the photog did one dive with the group then just inserted those divers clips in a stock video location clips. The divers in the group were really PO'd when they realized there were dive sites on the tape they had never seen! This style is typical of the tapes that are available the same day or the next. Price $25-50. VHS only

Others have been short 30-45 min. tapes where the photog does a couple of dives with the group, gets clips of everyone and tries to capture the feel of the diving. Tape is usually edited to seem like a single dive with generic canned 'island music'. Ready before end of trip, usualy 3-4 days. Price $40-50 plus photog's dive expenses. VHS only

The really great ones, in fact I've only seen one, came from a real pro who hung with our group the whole week. He was actually on vacation at the same resort as us. After seeing his videos for a couple of nights, we asked what he's charge for a custom video for our group. He dived with us the rest of the week, got shots not only of everyone but of things we enjoyed. For instance, from hanging out with us he learned I love Octopus and Juv. Drums. The finished tape has those creatures in it. He did that for everyone. Virtually every cool thing we saw that week was on the tape. The editing told an excellent story and took your emotions from funny to reflective. He asked us for our music preferences and/or total dislikes and format preferred. It took about 3 weeks to get the videos, some got DVD's some VHS tapes. The music was amazing with some songs we'd never heard but that fit into our likes/dislikes. It was truly a custom recording of our vacation. For this we paid $60 and it was well worth it.

I think dive videos are a great idea.

I did a "3-tank safari" in Grand Cayman and the whole day was taped with an option to buy either VHS or DVD at the end of the day.

We paid US$90 ~ £55 for the DVD which was about 30 mins long and had full editting, sound and funky menus and graphics.

It was a little pricey, but it does give us a memory of a fantastic dive...

I had been dreaming of getting caught in an UW video ever since I started diving.

I finally got the chance while in Thailand a month ago.

This guy offered to go down with you on a personal basis (or maximum for couples diving together), and offered to show you previous videos before you had to commit.

I was stunned at how professional he seemed to be and signed up.

He stayed with me all day, taking video on the beach and on the boat and coming down on a dive.

I paid around 50€ for a job well done on VHS, I could have had a DVD for the same price.