FEATURE / 17
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THE CHALLENGES OF UNDERWATER CINEMATOGRAPHY
Beecham on a marine shoot.
W
orking with professional camera gear can be challenging at times – but adding an underwater environment to the mix needs a whole new perspective and skillset. Dan Beecham, who worked on BBC’s Blue Planet II for almost two years, says the first thing one needs to be is a capable and confident diver. Jason Martin agrees, saying that potential operators must have a commercial diving license. Frog Squad even goes as far as ensuring their crew is of the utmost quality by
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A recent underwater shoot, courtesy of Dan Beecham.
hiring divers with SA Navy experience – some of who are also second, third or even fourth generation commercial divers. “We can and have spent anything from 6-18 hours in the water on any given day, and we can’t have the core of the shoot – mainly the marine crew – not in the water, otherwise the shoot grinds to a halt.” They currently have seven Navy divers on their team, two underwater camera operators, and about five fourth-generation divers who he says are being groomed to take over from the older crew.
According to Dan, one of the challenges an underwater marine cinematographer faces is visibility because this can change daily or even hourly. “Think of it as fog that is always there to some extent,
but increasing or decreasing depending on conditions.” There is also reduced light underwater, he adds, as well as numerous physical or safety limitations that come with running into potential decompression issues.
ONE OF THE CHALLENGES AN UNDERWATER MARINE CINEMATOGRAPHER FACES IS VISIBILITY BECAUSE THIS CAN CHANGE DAILY OR EVEN HOURLY.