Winners - Underwater Videography Contests
June 2022 Video Contest Winner and Review

WINNER CHOSEN AND REVIEW BY SCUBAVERSE.COM’S EDITOR-AT-LARGE AND RESIDENT UNDERWATER VIDEOGRAPHY EXPERT JEFF GOODMAN
Winner: French Polynesia by Olivier Bourgeois
Winning Video:
Exciting entries this month which once again make me wish the impossible of being everywhere at once to witness the amazing marine life we have on this planet. But, just seeing your entries makes me glad to know it is out there. Keep it safe, look after it. Spread the word.
This month’s winner is French Polynesia by Olivier Bourgeois. Not only stunning images but a lot of thought has gone into the production with clever editing and great music choice to set the mood.
Love the end question from the turtle.
Just some Hammer Heads living the life by Megan Ratnam
Great experience and what a perfect way to spend a dive.
Meet the reef Egypt by Domenico Pertschi
Lovely images. Clear and crisp with excellent colour. Very steady camerawork especially on the close ups. Good music choice.
French Polynesia by Olivier Bourgeois
Stunning opening with the blue aerial and then the magnificent underwater shoaling fish. The music and the speed of the action throughout was perfect and produced a wonderful dream like quality that kept my full attention right to the end. Beautiful film, well filmed and edited.
Falmouth Bay, Cornwall, May 2022 by Graeme Parker
Liked the opening. Good to see so many happy divers. The transition from the surface was well thought out but I have to say that I was glad you changed the music at that point as I felt the opening score was a bit too manic for the pace of the shots. However, once underwater it all worked perfectly. Lovely wildlife shots with good camerawork and nice lighting. I think a gentle and informative script/narration would well be worth thinking about.
Gyllyngvase Beach, Falmouth, Cornwall, May 2022 by Graeme Parker
Lovely opening with stunning scenery and perfect music choice. The colours are wonderful. You did well with the dogfish, keeping it perfectly in frame as well as very steady. The spider crabs are excellent. Good idea to put in a short shot of yourself.
Philippines Reef Fish by Dave Weeks
Great title shot and very nice transition to the underwater sequences. Good steady, well lit shots of a lovely variety of marine life. The music was a good choice but did become a little soporific after awhile. Perhaps you could think of some narration to explain what we are looking at which would add another dimension to the film. Maybe try a few extended shots of just one animal and shoot it in a variety of ways, wide angle, mid shot and close up. Love the Turtle shot, Excellent quality.
A story about human… by Maria Bereozka
Thank you for the full and emotive written intro. It’s an important story to tell. I was greatly saddened to see that boats still tie up to coral. They are mad, stupid, short sighted and must be stopped.
In search of the best shots with GoPro by Maria Bereozka
Good message in your written introduction. Beautiful long developing shot. You get great stuff freediving. Nice commentary and very good music. Is that you in shot?
Scuba diving in Tiran island with Go Pro by Maria Bereozka
Whole new ball game, filming wildlife with scuba tanks and not free diving. New disciplines to master in camerawork, lighting and editing. This was a nice film that showed the delight of just being underwater.
The July competition is now open for entries. You can enter up to three videos by clicking here.
Winners - Underwater Videography Contests
June 2022 Video Contest Winner and Review

WINNER CHOSEN AND REVIEW BY SCUBAVERSE.COM’S EDITOR-AT-LARGE AND RESIDENT UNDERWATER VIDEOGRAPHY EXPERT JEFF GOODMAN
Winner: Remora attack me! Scuba diving at Shark & Yolanda, Sharm el Sheik by Maria Bereozka
Winning Video:
Congratulations to all who took part this month. Great films and all worth mention. Please read my comments to each film below. It’s a tricky business film making. So many facets to look at and get right. Story telling, filming abilities, sound tracks, editing skills and on top of all that the luck or patience needed to see and film beautiful marine species.
If you did not win this month it is not because your film was not as good as the winner. It is all subjective to the eye of the beholder. Me. Every film was worth a mention and I hope you are all pleased with your work.
Oh boy!!! This month, at first, there was one film that just edged ahead of the others. The Corona Chronicles Curacao by Oliver Knopken, It was a lovely film with great sentiment and very well filmed. BUT….then there was a very late entry by Maria Bereozka – Remora attack me! Scuba diving at Shark & Yolanda, Sharm el Sheik. Although the wildlife images generally weren’t as good as Olivers, the film was very well made and thoughtfully produced and sat comfortably with me as a viewer with a great story and perfect music for the mood. Very well filmed and edited and just had the edge over Oliver’s film.
If you are keen to advance in your film making skills, don’t forget to look at my book https://www.divedup.com/shop/action-camera-underwater-video-basics-the-essential-guide-to-making-underwater-films/
Looking forward to seeing more next month.
BDE Liveaboard 2022 by Angieseamisstress
Looked to be a great trip. You have put the story together really well. Lovely wildlife shots. The music fitted well and the editing was good. There were just a few shots that were a bit soft and out of focus which didn’t spoil the film at all but it is always a good idea to cut them out unless they are a crucial part of the film.
Meet the reef Egypt by Domenico Pertschi
Lovely images. Lots of colour and variety of animals. Nice steady camera work and lighting. Music worked well.
Dance of the Squid by Pim van Schendel
Thanks for setting up the film with the written introduction. Stunning images and all well filmed with excellent framing. What amazing animals. I did like the long developing shots. And eggs to boot. Great. The music worked really well. You were certainly in the right place at the right time.
Searching for happiness by Angiesea
Love the sentiment of the story. Very nice surface introduction. A real feel-good film. Thanks for sharing it.
Divers Go! by David Gwyer
Hi David. More UK diving…Please…….Great beginning. Just a quick comment from the start. Have a look at balancing your narration with the music in terms of volume. The music is quite full on while the voice-over is very quiet. It does get better as the video goes on. Nice descriptive narration and great mixture of archive images with the modern day church footage. A very good short story. The intervening storm was a good addition. Real UK diving. A well told story with good camera work and editing.
What do you want to see? by Maria Bereozka
Excellent. Just the right length to make an impact. Powerful images and good music to make the point of the video. This should be shown on all flights to diving and holiday destinations and tourist boards should be showing this or similar along with their normal advertising.
The Corona Chronicles Curacao by Oliver Knopken
Great opening sequence. One quick comment for the first coastal shot – please try to get the horizon horizontal. Always drives me nuts to see dipping horizons on TV and films. You can correct this easily in editing. Love the narration and the story. Great sentiment. Well shot and edited. Music works really well. You have some superb wildlife images in the video.
Freediving with spotted eagle ray in the Red Sea by Maria Bereozka
Hi Maria,. Another great film from you. So peaceful to watch. Beautifully filmed and I simply love the long single developing shot. Colour correction looks good. Music works well. Your timing to freedive down from the surface was perfect to catch the ray coming up over the reef and give another perspective.
Remora attack me! Scuba diving at Shark & Yolanda, Sharm el Sheik by Maria Bereozka
Thanks for the written intro. Nice opening sequence and I think the narration was very good but as I think I may have mentioned on a previous occasion, as your voice is quite soft spoken I think you need to give it a bit more volume in the edit. Just to make it stand out from the music. The script content was very nice and told a good story. Very well filmed and edited with many lovely wildlife images. Loved the Remora.
The August competition is now open for entries. You can enter up to three videos by clicking here.
Winners - Underwater Videography Contests
May 2022 Video Contest Winner and Review

WINNER CHOSEN AND REVIEW BY SCUBAVERSE.COM’S EDITOR-AT-LARGE AND RESIDENT UNDERWATER VIDEOGRAPHY EXPERT JEFF GOODMAN
Winner: Baja California – Socorro : Diving in size XXL by Noemie Stroh
Winning Video:
Hi all. So many good places in the world to dive and so good to see them being filmed and appreciated. However we are too close to loosing it all with overfishing, pollution and climate change so lets not be complacent and make sure we all do our best to protect and conserve.
Five entries this month and the winner is Baja California – Socorro : Diving in size XXL by Noemie Stroh. I do realise that not everyone has access to such amazing marine life and so I always look at filming skills as well as the actual species. But in this case Noenie has capture incredible images of incredible wildlife and edited them together in a thoughtful and exiting way.
Underwater birds by Maria Bereozka
The video shots you get by free diving are so good. No bubbles to worry wildlife. Beautiful ray and good music choice. I think I have said it all before on your previous films. Great and really nice to watch.
Scuba diving changed my life! by Maria Bereozka
Love the written intro. It was Cousteau who inspired me to explore the undersea world although perhaps a few generations before. Nice to see a different style of film from you. Lovely sentiment and very well shot with a perfectly slow pace. A simple film but with good impact. Have a look again at your opening narration as your words were a bit quite and lost behind the music. Love the long shots.
Meet the reef Egypt by Domenico Pertschi
Hi Domenico. Lovely images of some fabulous marine life. All sharp, steady, well framed and well lit. Good music choice too which kept a nice pace to the video. Red Sea – fabulous place to dive.
Tiran Island: scuba diving with Go pro 9 by Maria Bereozka
We are going to need to change this monthly competition name to the ‘Maria Bereozka show’. You have more entries than anyone else I know. Excellent. Keep sending them in. Nice pre-dive sequence which really captured the feel of Red Sea boat diving. Good underwater images and the music fitted well. As you are now getting into the scuba aspect of underwater filming and finding much more to film, have a think about some sort of narration or story line.
Baja California – Socorro : Diving in size XXL by Noemie Stroh
Fabulous drone shots to open the film. It’s a wonderful location. The link from the surface shot of the Sea lion to the underwater was great and the following images were stunning. I loved the shot of the diver under the massive shoal of fish. Your camera work is very good as is your lighting. The dolphin squeaks under the music was a simple touch but very effective. Well done. So many good images. The puffer fish and the ray made me smile. My only negative thought was the music, while starting well it eventually became a bit monotonous.
The June competition is now open for entries. You can enter up to three videos by clicking here.
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