Underwater Bubble Blowers User Group Thread NEW

[Amund Lie]

WOHOO!!!
I have just received my Gates two days ago, and off it went abroad to Finland for a shoot with Teemu Liakka before I had a chance to test it myself. What a beauty that fat little housing is :)
Now I can't wait to get my Duclos 11-16 too, the match should be perfect, at least according to what Johnny says here. Teemu reports excellent results with the UltraPrime 20 and 14 behind the dome, albeit the 14 a tad softer. Any similar experience Johnny?

[Johnny Friday]

Hey Amund,
You'll definately like the 11-16. BUT make sure that you have Gates make you the NEW port extender for that particular lens. I wish i could tell you if it will dramatically improve the image, but i can't say because i have not yet used the new port extender. I'll try to reach Gates this week when i have a moment and see about getting a hold of one for testing and post the results, but that may be a few weeks to a month. But be sure i'll do that. If you are shooting with the 18-50 Port Extender, you'll have best results at the 16mm side of zoom unless you plan to do some cropping.

As for the ultra primes vs. std. primes---you bet ya. But $30k vs $4-$7k is a substantial bite. I'll rent the ultra primes for paying projects and use my std. primes for stock. you'll surely notice the difference side by side comparison, but if shooting for TV, then forget it, std's arri zeiss primes will be excellent as well as plethora of nikon lenses. You'll be very happy with the Duclos i can tell you. i did recently bump into some old lenses for $100 to $175 used that resulted in INCREDIBLE results. old 60's lenses. Another WoW affect.

[Rudi Herbert]

Fellow underwater shooters,

This December 27th, in Bodrum, Turkey, my wife will be attempting her 9th freediving world record by plunging to over 120 meters/400 ft on one breath of air. Our video team will be filming on HDV and XDCAM cameras to fulfill our commitments of images to TV stations and sponsors, and also because those cameras allow us to use small enough housings to put at every position along her descent path, down to the goal depth. But yes, we all know that an EX-1 is not a RED, and something as unique as a world record deserves to be shot with the best. So I toyed with the idea of making it a full RED gig, using the RED we have access to plus renting a few others, but the pricing on the housings and accessories has made this option difficult to justify within our budget parameters. Also, as I am her trainer and dive organizer, I cannot take time to be in charge of, and cater to the needs of, a RED production team, with all the requirements that using professional cine gear implies as opposed to the run-and-gun simplicity of HDV cameras. A world record dive event is something very complex and delicate and most resources, attention and efforts need to be focused on the diver and her safety team.

BUT, I cannot for the life of me, imagine having her do something so awesome and not have it on RED, so here's my idea/proposal to underwater RED operators:
- Bring yourself, your RED, your housing and your dive gear to Turkey and film the record dive, and the preceding training dives.
- I can cover your accommodations, meals, local transportation and in most cases, airfare to and from Turkey (depending where you are). So basically, you come to Turkey on my nickel to shoot this event on RED.
- Nice vacation, but you are a professional, you need to make money. I understand and respect that, but that is what I can offer you. The opportunity to shoot something unique (I assure you not many people will have images of a human being disappearing into the blue immensity like a rocket in their demo reel), the chance to see a great country for free, and the chance to add to your stock portfolio some amazing images. Yes, you can go around in your non-diving days and off hours and shoot a ton of great images, you have amazing locations in that part of Turkey, including two of the seven wonders of the ancient world, etc. Again, this can either be a nice paid vacation for you, or if you are entreprenurial, a chance to augment your portfolio as well, but those are the incentives I can offer, nothing else.
- Images rights. We would have complete rights to everything you shoot, without restrictions, think of it as work for hire. But you can use the images for personal promotion (demo reel and the like) without limitations and if you want to place the footage with a stock footage agency, we would enter an agreement whereby we split whatever income that footage generates. That pertains only to diving/record specific footage, anything else you shoot while there is yours to do with as you please of course.
- If anybody is interested, you'll have to submit to me a list of your film gear, i.e: housing, ports, lenses, etc to see if it matches the quality/scope of what we need to achieve, as well as a resume and diving credentials/certifications to ascertain your experience underwater. I cannot tell you how many times we've run across people with state of the art film and video gear that sucked as divers and even compromised the outcome of the operation with their substandard skills and lack of safety protocols. This record is a tightly run operation and EVERYBODY that goes in the water HAS TO BE a very, ver, very good diver, whether part of the video or safety teams. Likewise, you'll have to pass a 5 hour course designed to instruct you on how to act while being a member of a diving record team. This course is free and will be conducted upon arrival in Turkey.
- The training period runs from December 10th to the 27th, when the record will be attempted. For this offer to make sense financially for me, I will need you there for at least 10 days, and even better, the whole time. Anything less than that would not justify the expense.

So there it is, let me know if anybody is interested in taking me up on this offer. It is not the most seductive offer financially speaking but it is far from being the worst thing you could do, so I don't expect those who are perennially busy with paying gigs to jump at it, but someone with a bit more flexibility and time on their hands might find it interesting. Like I said, let me know.

[David Ellison]

If I could dive I'd totally game for this!

[Johnny Friday]

Rudi,
your offer is possibly appealing to a few folks. most however don't know what paying gigs are coming up that far off. However, that said, some other items that come to mind to think about and some questions for you are:

1. Production insurance - for gear/operator - will this be available & from moment departing home location to return?
2. Customs/Carnet: travel with gear from USA that is....is the carnet cost covered & any customs work with Turkey--in fact what does Turkey require of a foreigner travelling to work professionally with pro gear etc... importation/work permit etc...

*those were my two main questions as i deal with them on every shoot out of country.


**yes, you bring up a good point about many folks that would jump at the opportunity to do this but with little or out of dive shape experience and or camera experience. Especially with RED. I do however have to disagree with you about the RED as THE camera for this shoot.....not to mean it is not a good camera, but more that the smaller EX1 and P2 and the like are great cameras for these type shoots. In fact would probably be my first choice a half dozen EX1's. That said, adding extra cameras jsut gives you that many more options of course.

[Rudi Herbert]

Johnny,

Maybe I wasn't clear, but we will get the bulk of the work done with those smaller cameras, I'll have about 3-4 EX-1's there and around 5-6 HG20's in small housings to attach to helmets on the bottom divers and the freediver's sled itself. Still, I would love to have some 4K images from the dive, even if I'm not counting on the RED as a working camera but more as a wonderful addition to provide some high quality mementos of the event.

As for insurance and the like. No, I cannot cover insurance, whoever takes me up on this offer should have insurance and be sure to be covered by it in Turkey. Likewise, I can cover baggage fees for camera gear on the flight to Turkey (without insuring it), but that's it. There will be no duties or work permit related issues when entering Turkey as you wouldn't be "officially" working while there, so the operator would come as a tourist. I will have a special clearance from the government guaranteeing that anyone coming to film the record won't be bothered by customs or immigration at the airport, but other than what I promised in the first e-mail, I cannot cover anything else. I don't need the RED footage to comply with my obligations for the event, I just want it for keepsake, thus this is all that I can offer, and I fully understand if somebody does not like my offer

[Rudi Herbert]

...and yes, for those who've asked, I will have nitrox, trimix and a deco station with multiple 02 whips, BUT any operator would have to conform to a pre-established plan and assume a previously agreed upon position, not dive however deep or long he wishes.

[Johnny Friday]

rudi, what about sofnalime?

[Rudi Herbert]

rudi, what about sofnalime?

Johnny,

You've asked enough questions to make me think that you're interested and the prospect of having Johnny Friday there would be exciting, but it seems like I have to keep giving you the answers you don't wanna hear :-) No, none of my people are diving on rebreathers, so I have no sofnolime, we're sticking with the somewhat more predictable, easier to maintain and less demanding open circuit, but hey, I have enough trimix to even inflate balloons at will, and if that's not a deal sealer, I don't know what is...

[Amund Lie]

Rudi,

I'm interested.

However, the split on selling stock footage is a bit hard to swallow. I could come along on a deal where I get to keep certain shots for me to sell, to at least cover a basic salary for my time. By shots I mean some freediving shots.
After all we are not film students any more, and "paid vacations" are not as tempting as they were 20 years ago. But I understand your situation, and that is why it would be nice to acquire some unique shots that could earn us a buck or two. Lazing around and doing general shots of a Turkish resort is something I can do any day :)

What about shooting a Discovery / Nat Geo or similar special show? Or a film for theatrical release? Make the RED teams do the shots for such a show? Deep freediving has been covered before, but not in 4K.

That way we could agree on a deferred fee to be collected once the show is financed or broadcast/released in theatres. I am also a director and editor, and could aid in the process of producing a special programme parallel to the actual freediving event. Shots will of course be available for other use at the event, but the main focus of the RED teams would be to shoot for a separate show.

I think that if you want professionals to with gear worth +/- $100K and many years of experience to come along, you need to tempt them with a little more than free lunch.
I don't have a problem with deferred fees or revenues down the line, but I need to know beforehand that doing this will generate some money some day.

Amund