I was delighted to be asked by Kerim Sabuncuoglu, Director Visual Commission CMAS – World Underwater Federation, to be President of the video jury for the 2022 competition held in Madeira in early October. There was also a photo competition where the guest president was Tanya Houppermans from the USA.

Jeff Goodman, Tanya Houppermans, Kerim Sabuncuoglu

CMAS is a diving organization that I have not heard much about previously here in the UK. But in Europe, it is huge and I was secretly slightly embarrassed at my lack of knowledge of just how popular and influential it is.

For this week long event there were video teams from Portugal, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, and as they began to gather on the first morning there was a definite party atmosphere as old friends and new acquaintances got together. Some of the teams paid for their own expenses to be at the competition while others were sponsored by their governments. Wow! Now that is what I call taking sport diving seriously.

Day one started with a parade through the town followed by an official opening in the town centre.

Each country was introduced and entered the stage area carrying their country flags. There were national anthems played accompanied by cheering and clapping. It had a hint and feel of the Eurovision Song Contest to it and although I am not a great fan of that particular event, I found myself being drawn into this ceremony with great enthusiasm.

I was slightly disappointed to be the only Brit there but nevertheless I was made to feel very welcome. And, everyone spoke very good English which made my life very easy. In fact, the entire event was held in English as this seemed to be the universal language. Phew!!! Dignitaries gave speeches, contestants cheered and the press and TV interviewed all the important guests. Perhaps next year we may be able to enter a Brtitish team as I know there are many good underwater photographers and videographers here in the UK.

There are very strict rules and regulations to this contest and there is no leeway for excuses for not fully complying. There are too many to mention here but let me just say that they left no room for misinterpretation. The organisation of this event was immense and extremely well carried through.

After a practice day of diving and seeing the allocated dive sites, the contest began in earnest. Contestants had two days to film and edit their work. A marquee, set up in the marina, provided a base for everyone to lay out their diving equipment and cameras as well as the opportunity to discuss the day ahead.

After two dives a day and evening editing, the finished films and photos were sent around the world to a group of online judges to be assessed and marked.

Final discussions of the photo and video results

There were three video categories:

MOVIE CATEGORY

1.1.1.   The video submitted to Movie Category can have a maximum length of 4 minutes (included) and a minimum of 2 minutes. Videos less than 2 minutes or longer than 4 minutes will be disqualified.

1.1.2.   The proportion of non-underwater images and animations, including the title and closing credits will not be more than 30%. In the combination of underwater and non-underwater images in the same shoot, the land image will prevail. Delivering a video out of this percentage will result in the disqualification of the video.

1.1.3.   Participants can include audio files, titles and fixed images (that is shot by him/her) in his/her project. However, the noise effects, visual effects, voice-over, animation and music must be free from copyright.

SHORT MOVIE CATEGORY

1.1.4.   The video submitted to SHORT Movie Category can have a maximum length of 60 seconds (included). Videos longer than 60 seconds will be disqualified.

1.1.5.   Land takes are not allowed in this category. However, half and half shots (30% land) will be considered as underwater take.

1.1.6.   Animations are not allowed in this category.

1.1.7.   Participants can include audio files, titles and fixed images (that is shot by him/her) in his/her project. However, the noise effects, visual effects, voice-over and music must be free from copyright.

UNEDITED MOVIE CATEGORY

1.1.8.   The video submitted to Unedited Movie Category can have a maximum length of 60 seconds (included) and a minimum of 45 seconds. Videos less than 45 seconds or longer than 60 seconds will be disqualified.

1.1.9.   Participants can not include audio files, visual effects, titles and images in his/her project. The video has to be silent, without effects, colour correction, without opening or closing credits. Editing allowed in this category is detaching and removing audio, cutting and pasting the video clips one after the other.

The award ceremony was no less impressive than the rest of the week, with great excitement generated by the contesting teams. Celebrities made the presentations, teams cheered, medals were awarded on the podium, and national anthems played. Fantastic. All finished off perfectly with an award dinner and more celebrations.

While the dinner was well underway I asked  Kerim Sabuncuoglu, Director Visual Commission CMAS, to tell us more about CMAS and the competition:

The winning films are:

MOVIE CATEGORY – IRIS by Jorge Illan and Pilar Castro – Spain

SHORT MOVIE CATEGORY – My Dream by Matthias Harendt and Jorg Steer – Germany

UNEDITED MOVIE CATEGORY – Jorge Illan and Pilar Castro – Spain

There was a short official event video to sum up the week made by Matthias Lebo, underwater cinematographer and film maker:

Come on UK, we could be part of this……..!

As for Madeira as a holiday and dive destination. Great. Well worth looking into. The island is beautiful, the weather and the sea is warm and clear, and the diving safe. For a few suggestions have a look at:

• www.madeira-web.com/en/things-to-do/leisure-activities/water/scuba-diving.html
• www.madeira-web.com/en/

To learn more about CMAS visit www.cmas.org/