Great Job for your first attempt but my comments on the video are going to be a bit more harsh. Please take these as constructive criticism. You have alot of talent but I am going to give you some tips to make better videos.
First, please don't harass the fish or eels just to get a shot. Never touch the fish either, they have a mucus coating which protects their skin from infection. Touching them can scrape it off and leave them vulnerable.
Second, the video is just waaaay too long. It would have been much better overall to cut it into 2 or 3 videos. You have to remember that most of your viewers are going to be non-divers and their attention span is short. Give them your best clips and edit out the so-so ones. The section with the turtle at the end is boring and you are harassing him. You have other shots that should be clipped down to 10-20 seconds at most. The rule of editing that was taught to me ---- unless you have footage of something really outstanding, like a shark giving birth, keep the individual clips under 30 seconds.
Third, the octopus night dive section was the best part of the whole video. It would be better as a stand alone video. I actually missed it the first time watching your video as up to that point there wasn't any real excitement and it was long.. so I turned it off. When I saw comments that you had an octopus hunting I went back to watch it.
Lastly, color correction. I am guessing you are leaving on the lights the whole time shooting as the color has an odd greenish or bluish cast on WA shots. It is best to turn off the lights, put on the red filter, and go with that. In fact, I use my red filter 95% of the time as I like the color contrast better, then I do some slight white balancing in editing. I am not familiar with your camcorder, it is possible the funky tint is due to it not having the best low-light abilities. A good editing program can usually help with that.
Okay, hopefully you won't be upset with my critique. I hope you go back and re-edit the video with my tips in mind. I posted my first videos here on SB and on another board and got some harsh criticism, was told to go back and re-edit them. After I licked my wounds, I did what they said. Wow. What a learning experience. I reposted my new videos and got much better feedback, and I LEARNED SO MUCH!!
robin
