Final project about turtle monitoring by student Lucien

Posted Aug 12th, 2021 by Elisabeth

Here’s a little update about the underwater video course I have been teaching the past 2 weeks…

The past 10 mornings or so I have been working with Lucien, who is 12 years old. Lucien has been on Koh Tao for 4 months now. Part of his home schooling program was a turtle monitoring project. Luckily on Koh Tao we have easy access to a bay where we often find Green turtles and the occassional Hawksbill feeding on the rubble.

We went freediving and snorkeling for a few days to find some turtles that reside in the bay. Lucien has done his basic Apnea Total freediver course with me a few months ago, so he is very comfortable holding his breath and diving down to 6-8 meters.

During his personalized video course I taught Lucien about underwater video shooting, story telling and editing footage in Premiere Pro. For his final project we decided to make a short vlog about his turtle project in which he had to go in front of the camera!

To prep for his interview we came up with some questions and Lucien prepared his answers in advance. We found a nice spot with a view of the beach to film him. The interview went pretty smooth!

Once back on the computer we edited the interview, added some footage we shot the prvious days, added royalty free music, titles and color corrected the shots. Check out Lucien’s short vlog here below…

Photo & Video Training FAQs

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What does the underwater video course entail?

I always personalize my underwater video courses because everyone is at a different level. Also you can let me know what you would like to be able to do.

In the course we cover underwater shooting, story telling, camera angles and editing your footage in Adobe Premiere Pro using tools, color correcting and titles. I will teach you where to find the right royalty free music too.

And then some people like to learn to make social media videos and other how to add a voice over for example.

If you only have 5 days, probably we will stick with the basics. If you opt for a longer course we can add all sorts of things.

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What equipment do you use for the underwater video course?

You can bring your own equipment. If you have a camera (even a GoPro) you would like to work with, that’s fine. Some people bring their own laptops too.

If you don’t have your own equipment you will use Oceans Below’s rigs. We have a Sony a6500 in a Fantasea housing with wide angle and macro lenses and a Sony a7RII with a Nauticam housing and different lenses. We sometimes use our video lights, a tripod, a Rhode pro microphone and neutral density filters. At the editing studio we also have 2 powerful computers for 4K video editing which you can use.

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Do I need any background in video or editing?

No. You can absolutely start from scratch! If you do have some experience in taking videos and editing we will just skip the basics and go from there. If not, no problem!

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Fantasea Line has had the pleasure to work with Elisabeth and Oceans Below for 5 years. These have have been some of the most productive and successful years of cooperation in my 50 year diving career. On every level, for first class video editing to test diving, to Brand Ambassador for Fantasea, We value every aspect of our cooperation with Elisabeth. She is a first class professional and wonderful person to work with.
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