Videography With Jeff Goodman

2 day weekend and 5 day week day Underwater Video filming and editing courses with Jeff Goodman and Sea Fans

Award winning International Television Underwater Wildlife cameraman and Film maker Jeff Goodman hosts filming and editing workshops with Sea Fans around the pristine coast of Falmouth S.Cornwall .

During the courses, Sea Fans will be providing guided dives for the participants to enable them to gain the best footage of the local underwater wildlife. Shore diving will include locations such as the silver steps below Pendennis Castle in Falmouth . Boat dives will include such sites as the Manacles, one of the top 10 dive sites in the World, or one of the many wrecks that are located within the Falmouth Bay, each providing a safe haven for many of the sea life found in UK waters.

Based in Cornwall and working globally, Jeff has over 30 years experience in Wildlife and Underwater filming. Jeff's credits include working for the BBC , Channel 4, National Geographic, Discovery, Animal Planet and many others.

Jeff explains more. “The underwater world is an endless source of inspiration and wonder to the photographer and filmmaker. However, the art of wildlife film making is much more that sitting quietly with your camera and waiting for things to happen. It is a combination of knowing your camera, researching your subject, choosing a location, creating a story and finally taking good video. These courses will help you combine all these aspects and lead you to create underwater wildlife sequences and films to be proud of.”

Sea Fans with Jeff is offering a variety of course types which can be tailored in both duration and content to accommodate all standards of filmmaker from the complete beginner to the semi-professional who would like to make underwater filming a career.

Workshop Structure

Having first of all assessed the standard of each participant be it beginner or more advanced, Jeff talks in some depth on how to get the best out of your camera.

During the courses , Jeff shows you how to film marine life in terms of technical quality as well as understanding how to get the most from a reef or wreck in terms of animal behavior. You do need your own cameras and laptops for editing. Please contact Jeff for any pre-course advice.

Topics to be covered on the 2 day weekend sessions are :

Filming

_A discussion and practical session about cameras and how to set them up for the optimum results when filming.

_The do's and don'ts of good camera techniques.

_Go through good basic camera set-up;

_Auto/Manual-Focus

_Auto/Manual exposure – iris – shutter speed – gain

_White balance

_Sound

Some basic filming techniques

_Steady shots

_Framing – especially with 16:9 – top and tail – anticipation of subject movement

_Zoom

_Pan and tilt

_Duration of shot

_Continuity of lighting – which effects contrast/colour/depth of field etc

_Pull focus – follow focus

_Lighting

The importance of planning and research

_Learning how to avoid having to process, and finally edit great quantities of poor quality video in terms of time, cost, and morale.

_Considering different audiences for your work.

_Basic sequence structure – W/A – M/S – C/U – Ex/C/U

_Story board – Planning if possible – plan while filming –think of how this is all going to fit together.

_Control how much you shoot – cost in time and resources

_Discuss who the audience might be and what their expectations are.

Topics to be covered on the 5 day week day sessions are:

All the above but in greater detail with the addition of:

Editing

_Transferring shot material to edit system

_Film logging and organization

_Story boards – planning – script- film outline

_Rough assembly of footage

_Good sequence structure

_Cutting techniques

_Simple transitions and effects

_Fine cutting

_Sound planning and addition

_Working with sync sound

_Narration – music – titles

Equipment & Software

_Video camera and underwater housing

_Laptop computer

_Suitable software - Mac IMovie, Adobe Elements or Adobe Premiere Pro

By the end of the 5 days you will either have completed a good quality 3 minute film or at least be well on the way and have the necessary skills and knowledge to complete your project at home.

Students will have the opportunity to showcase work on www.earthdive.com and Utube

Students will be able to approach Sea Fans prior to the course to book out diving equipment for use on the course.

Itinerary is;

For the weekend we have

Day 1- morning classroom, afternoon shore dive, late afternoon classroom.

This is basically the same for day 2.

So only two shore dives.

For the 5 day we have

Day 1 - morning classroom, afternoon shore dive, late afternoon classroom

Day 2 - morning classroom, afternoon boat dive, late afternoon classroom

Day 3 - morning classroom, afternoon boat dive, late afternoon classroom

Day 4 - short morning classroom, boat dive, late classroom

Day 5 - All day classroom editing. No diving.

All dives are in relatively shallow water to give a good bottom time. Guided diving show the best wildlife for the area. Classroom lectures will continue on the boat as we travel.