I was out in the afternoon with Warren who
is nearing the end of his intensive professional videography course and new video trainee
Marc Thomas from the UK who completed dives one & two
at two of Koh Tao's perfect training dive sites, Mango Bay
& Japanese Gardens, with these dives he was getting
used to holding the housing underwater and then basic shooting
techniques. Warren is in the last training module before
he starts to shadow our video crew and make he very own
Open Water Diver movie.
Whilst out diving at Mango Bay we filmed the
usual amazing broad range of marine life including the large
school of fusiliers, crabs, batfish and butterfly fish aswell
as the seahorses that are found in the shallows, (pictured)
For other video students James he has elected
for one of our other training programs - the recreational
videographer training which is more of a documentary based
production course, he is also nearing the end of the program,
and will be airing his showreel at Crystal DIve Resort in
the next few days.
above video students Marc &
Warren as they film a Hermitt crab, fusilers, juvenile lined
sweetlips, pink anenome fish, and a seahorse
Over the past few weeks underwater video student James Husher from the UK has shown excellent abilities as a videographer both above and below the water. He is now in the final stage of the pro course with only a couple more dives to complete, here he will film an open water diver group for Crystal Dive Resort, he will of course be accompanied by DDP staff to make sure all runs smoothly, click below to see more shots from his underwater videography course.
underwater videography james during his pro video course
What a few months we have had with our Professional Videography course schedule, currently we have Steve, Mark, James, Kati, Warren in their final stages of the course and waiting to start at the end of August & Sept we have Mark, Steve, Julie,Oscari & Isabelle. Aswell as the video courses we have our internship program that is proving a great success, we are now taking bookings for end of Oct/Nov.
This morning videography student Warren with
Video TrainerJon at Chumphon Pinnacle -Koh Tao
Full Moon rush finally over and bring out
the Whalesharks & False Killers!!
What a few days we have had at Deep Down Productions.
Over the past 5 days DDP have filmed over 400 students and
customers for Crystal Dive Resort, started two new Professional
Videography courses and continued with the video courses
we are currently running, and if that isn't enough we were
lucky enough to have five videographers (staff & students)
double diving one of Koh Tao's premiere dive locations Chumphon
pinnacle and witness and film two Whalesharks, on the other
Crystal Dive boat two DDP staff who where filming Open Water
divers filmed a pod of usually mis-identified False Killer
Whales.
whalesharks - koh tao, filmed by
underwater video students kati & james, false killer
whales - pottery pinnacle, filmed by hiroshi and video internship
trainee Essi
Once back at the editing studio we made a
great movie about the whalesharks that were filmed and used
footage from both students and staff.
This is the busiest month of the year for
Koh Tao, for DDP this means filming Open Water Diver students
for Crystal Dive resort aswell as teaching students our Underwater
Videography Courses, this year looks like it will top
every year to date, with over 150 customers to film for
Crystal Dive in the next three days and another videography
course starting with Warren (UK) tomorrow & Jane at
the weekend DDP is certainly not feeling the pinch of the
worldwide credit crunch.
Video Internship graduate filming open water
course divers
Essi is well into the underwater
internship program and producing some excellent videos
for Crystal Dive Resort, every video she has made she has
sold a least one DVD. She definitely has a creative flare
and an eye for a good shot, we encourage all our staff and
students to use their own inputs in the video creation and
Essi is doing just that, as the high season hits Koh Tao
we will most certainly be needing her help at DDP.
underwater video internship graduate
filming skillsfo open water divers - koh tao
Recent interesting sightings whilst out
with underwater video students
Over the past couple of months we have been so busy with videography courses we havent had time to show you what we have been filming, when taking students out videography trainers will have a camera with them to demonstrate required skills for that particular training dive, sometimes we see something a little special and film it in HD 1080i for our stock footage portfolio.
Mimic Surgeonfish filmed by
video trainer Jace
Lemon Peel Angelfish
Depending on area, these fish mimic one of several Angelfish to avoid predators, we were lucky enough to spot a specimen mimicking a Lemon Peel Angelfish, it is easily recognised by the lack of spine found on the gills as in all Angelfish
Mimic Surgeonfish filmed by
video trainer Jace
Other footage from Hinwong Pinnacle and Hinwong Bay today are Razorfish & three nudibranch risbecia tryoni both filmed in HD 1080i by videography trainer Tony
Steve has come to the end of the next module of the DDP professional video course, for his final module he will be shadowing the videography crew to see how we film students from Crystal Dive Resort, after this he will do what they do when he begins the underwater videography internship program. Here are some of his final dives of module four.
underwater videography trainee mark complete module for of the pro video course.
Professional Underwater Videography Students Editing Workshop
During every editing module of the Underwater Videography course we hold workshops for the students, we understand that everyone learns the editing at the own speed so the workshops are there to give the students time to see how we overcome certain issue with regards to colour correction, special effects, beat matching to name a few. The workshops also give them time to speak to us and each other about different ideas they may have and how they have used there creativity to develop their individual styles. All workshops are scheduled to work around everybody's timeframe and held in the studio on our 32" flat screen, this way it is easily viewable to those watching.
Students Kati, Mark & James with Stu and editing genius Tony whilst he covers how to colour correct.
Underwater Video Internship student films Open Water course
Today Underwater Videography Internship student Essi is back at DDP after a short trip home to Finland, today she was filming an Open Water course for Crystal Dive Resort ( Koh Tao's premiere dive center ). Assisting was video trainer Tony - making sure everything that needs to be in the movie was shot and recorded. Like all videography students & internship trainees alike DDP always has a member of the crew at hand during the the dives & edit.
Video Student nearly finished
Also diving today was Video Trainer Jace who was diving with underwater video course student Steve. He is nearly at the end of the professional training program and has made excellant progress both filming and edting. His next step is to shadow staff and learn how to film/edit a full dive video.
