The Ultimate Underwater
Video Course
with Jonathan Bird
Get ahead of
the competition and learn all the basics of
shooting
and editing underwater video in just one
week!
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Jonathan Bird
shooting on Kwajalein with Mark Miller on
sound assist.
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NOTE:
The next course dates will be
announced.
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About the
Course...
The one week course will cover
concepts in storyboarding, planning, gear
consideration, composition, lighting,
shooting for the edit, editing and
advanced underwater techniques in macro
and wide-angle video. This is not
just a week of diving with a few tips and
pointers. This is a complete course in
video for anyone interested in learning
how to shoot like a professional. Want to
be a really good underwater shooter? Take
a few years off your learning curve and
take a class from a guy who shoots
underwater for a living.
The course is basically
broken into three different "sessions"
each day--a lecture session, a shooting
session and an editing session. The
lecture involves 2-3 hours per day of
classroom instruction followed by a
shooting assignment and then later, an
editing assignment. Each day, the class
reviews editing assignments for group
feedback. The schedule is busy...because
there is a lot of material to squeeze into
a week. At the end of the week, there will
be a "film fest" where all the students
will show off their best video.
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Gear: What you need
and what we bring...
Editing gear will be supplied, in the
form of Mac laptops running Final Cut Pro.
These are wonderful little workhorse
mobile editing systems for short projects.
Using FireWire, students can edit their
footage and also run it back out to tape
(pure digital...no loss!) and take
everything they do home with
them.
Students will need to
bring their own cameras/housings/lights.
For students who do not yet own this gear,
please drop us a line and we can help you
pick out the gear which is right for you.
(We are not in the business of selling
gear, however). At the very least you need
a camera and housing, as well as plenty of
tape stock (10 one-hour tapes will be more
than enough). A firewire-equipped miniDV
or Digital8 camera is required. Obviously,
everyone needs to be not just certified
divers, but competent divers too. This is
not a diving class. Course size is limited
to six to insure personal instruction for
everyone.
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Don't take our
word for it!
I took Jonathan's video course in
November 2001, held in Bonaire at Captain
Don's Habitat. I'd been shooting Hi-8
video on most of our dive vacations for
the previous four or five years and
editing on an obsolete linear system
(Pinnacle Studio 400). This is really a
"hands-on" course, covering all aspects
from shooting, scene composition,
non-linear editing of video and sound,
care and feeding of equipment to giving a
mini-course on being a model to the
partners of the students. It's a lot to
pack into a week, but Jonathan is an
excellent teacher and organizer who
clearly knows his stuff, and is able to
convey his knowledge in a clear and
entertaining manner. I particularly liked
being able to compare the wide range of
cameras, housings and experience the other
students brought along.
If you are a complete beginner, or
someone like me, wanting to take your
skills to the next level, I'd highly
recommend this course.
Roger Burnham
Orange, California
rburnham@blennylips.com
During an edit session, Roger
shows Jonathan how the edit looks so far.
Roger's blenny edit was hilarious!
Meanwhile, Chuck contemplates an edit
decision.
"Having enjoyed underwater video as a
hobby for a couple of years, I needed a
workshop that would help me overcome some
difficulties I encountered like how to do
macro video, how to better stabilize my
camera in surge and how to edit my tapes
more professionally. Jonathan's
videography workshop in Bonaire provided
practical advice for handling these
problems as well as some I didn't even
know I had! His training blended an
academic understanding of the concepts of
shooting underwater video with hands-on
exercises that put these concepts into
practice. I highly recommend Jonathan's
workshop to anyone who wants to shoot
professional-looking video." --Judy
"I hadn't shot a single frame of video
underwater before taking Jonathan's
underwater video course in November of
2001. How was I to know that composing a
shot while hovering head down over fire
coral in a 4 knot current would be
difficult, especially when that spotted
moray eel doesn't want you there. Thanks
to Jonathan's teaching techniques I was
able to get that shot and many more.
Jonathan has an entertaining, easy
going teaching style and keeps his
students focused and having fun all day
long. During our week on Bonaire we were
learning from sun up on through the
evening and enjoyed every minute of it. A
typical day included morning lecture
sessions followedby mid-day dives followed
by editing sessions followed by night
dives.The learning and laughs continued
through our lunch and dinner breaks.
Taking Jonathan's course leaves you
with much more than the average weeklong
dive vacation. You come home with a
feeling of accomplishment and a refreshed
enthusiasm for diving. I would take
another trip with Jonathan and crew
whenever I have the opportunity."--Steve
Groh
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On the reefs of Bonaire, Bob shoots a
Green moray.
During a lecture session, Jonathan
demonstrates how to run Final Cut Pro
using a laptop and video
projector.
During an edit session, students work
on their daily assigned projects.
Assistant instructor Greg ("Gator")
Brunshidle helps Jeff learn the ins and
outs of digitizing footage from his
camera.
Jonathan films a manatee using a
closed-circuit rebreather in
Florida.
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About
Jonathan...
Jonathan Bird is a professional
underwater cinematographer and
photographer working in both the
television and print worlds. He does a
fair amount of still photography work for
dive and nature magazines. However, he
makes his principal income from work in
video. Jonathan does television work on
documentaries and news programs, both for
outside clients as a freelancer, and for
his own production company. He has won
many awards including the CINE Golden
Eagle and two Emmy Awards for his
television work. He has been an adjunct
professor at New
England Institute of Art and
Communications
(part of the Art Institute) for five
years, teaching courses in television
production (including single camera
production, ENG/EFP production,
post-production, non-linear editing and
television engineering). His film
Sharks:
Search For a Feeding
Frenzy is
currently airing on the USA Network. His
film Beneath
the North
Atlantic
has aired all over the world and has been
translated into dozens of languages. He
has recently finished a one hour
documentary about manatees called
Endangered
Mermaids
which will air in the United States in
2002. He is currently in production on a
film about the wrecks of Kwajalein Atoll.
This is his most elaborate and involved
film to date. Principal photography took
over 2 months on location on Kwajalein.
(There is an account
of the first four weeks of shooting
on-line for those interested). He has
several
books of his
underwater photography, a line of
calendars and even a poster.
For more info, check out his
on-line
CV.
More
Dive Adventures
with Jonathan Bird...
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Jonathan (right)
shooting divers on a wreck in Kwajalein
Lagoon during the filming of Oceanic
Research Group's latest documentary
The
Silent Wrecks
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