Beckys Underwater World

Reflecting upon everything I have learnt on this entire unit, I found it not only fascinating but also a life experience I will never forget, I am so grateful for the opportunity, I mean how many people are able to say that they do scuba diving as one of the units on their degree? Every time I have mentioned that to people they are always so shocked, and fascinated by the fact this uni does it as an option.

Then I got to learn how to film underwater which was a whole new qualification in itself, and not many people even have it. I have enjoyed this unit as a whole so much even though I struggled with the actual diving element itself. 

I honestly do not know if I will generally dive again now this unit is over, not in the UK anyway, I want to say that I will, I really enjoyed the confined water dives but I found Vobster very overwhelming and I didn't even manage to get into the lake to get my filming qualification due to a panic attack which sadly wasn't my first during my training, but I did despite this manage to complete my open water training there. Having this fear though means that I may struggle to dive in any deep open water which defeats the whole purpose of diving! Overcoming my fear enough to get the open water qualification however was a really rewarding and proud moment for me, and I'm glad I managed to achieve that but I am not going to push myself to do something that I clearly still have no confidence in, and scares me too much to try again, also as it’s classed as a dangerous sport it would be dangerous for me to try again if it scares me that much. Despite this I did dive in the pool and help with the underwater scenes when it came to doing our actual film, as luckily like I stated before we weren't using vobster in our final film, and diving in confined water doesn't affect me. I do feel a bit down about having this fear as I feel like I am missing out on some amazing views underwater, and generally great life experience if I do this abroad, but who knows maybe one day I will try again. 

Anyway I do not mean to be negative whatsoever! Everyone is different and it really is like a whole new world underwater that everyone should experience if they are able, and if it doesn't work out then it doesn't matter you tried!

I gained so much experience from making this film, it was my first ever time on a film set as a member of the crew and of course my first ever underwater film, and we worked with some incredible actors, especially Zara who played Julia, she did such a good job and it was a pleasure to work with her, she was so friendly as well. Despite the issues I had I am really glad I did this unit as not many people get this chance especially not at uni, and it really added to my university experience. 

I worked with some very hard-working, skilled individuals as part of the crew as well, as they study film production at university anyway they did a great job at organising and of course filming and editing, I got given roles I would know or understand what to do (as I am on a different course, I don’t do any of the things they do all the time so their skills were a lot more advanced then mine) despite a few hiccups of time management and finding certain props and people in time, it all worked really well in the end

 Thank you for reading my blog and checking out my journey, I may carry on updating it someday especially if I do decide to try diving again!

Bye everyone!

Becky 

x

The second rough cut of our film was put on our google drive earlier, but due to the fact I cannot post it on here (this is for 2 reasons, one because of file size and 2.spoilers!) I have taken some screenshots from it instead, it is looking so good and I cannot wait to share the final version with you guys, which I will put on here as soon as I am able too.

Robert has completed the promotional poster for the film! He was also our photographer

Today has got to have been the longest day ever but it was so worth it, today was the day we did the underwater shots and one of these shots included a sunrise scene at the beach, so we all went down there at 5am, we only had 2 drysuits so henry and robert got in the water with the actress and used their cameras to get different angles, and the actress had to walk into the ocean up to her chest just in a wedding dress which i thought was pretty amazing.

Here are a couple more shots from this morning 

By about 6am this scene was already wrapped and we got to go home for a break!

After the beach scene I went home for a couple of hours, then was asked to come back by 9am I brought along a picnic basket complete with food for one of the scenes we would be filming, and for the rest of the day we filmed our montage scenes, we had a bit of an issue finding someone to play the role of the boyfriend so in the end we had to change it to the idea that the boyfriend was there but was instead behind the camera in each scene this way no actual boyfriend role was needed and it still looked really good. Some of the montage scenes were again filmed in the house and then we travelled to southsea common and the castle to film our other shots. Once we had wrapped on the montage scenes robert took a couple of photos of the female lead actress for our promo poster for the film which should be out soon. 

We then travelled home for lunch and took a break before our pool filming at 7. Around half 5 we walked to triton and got our equipment ready, then left for eastney pool which we had hired out for 2 hours. The filming went so well, I got to take turns holding the lighting underwater and even got a go on the camera! However I did struggle with this part as at one point i struggled to get my balance and use the camera at the same time, i dont think my footage is too bad considering this but i don’t think it will be used in the final film. 

We officially wrapped on the film around 8:20pm tonight and we could finally go home and make sure our actress who had been an incredible sport and we were so grateful to have could also go home. Here is a final group photo from when we had just wrapped our film!

Due to not using funding in the end, the 2 days proved quite expensive as we had to pay for the actors transport, the main actresses hotel, food, drink, the pool hire fees. There was a lot more then I thought there would be! We came up with how much each person had to pay overall and we all sent our part of the payment to henry, to make it fair. 

Today we started the first day of filming for our short film!! 

I mentioned earlier on in my blog that our film was originally going to be called ‘tides’ but we have decided to give it the name ‘Her Anchor’ as we thought it went better with the storyline of the film. For the filming I was put on clapper board duty! This was more important for editing reasons so that the editor knew which scene was which therefore making it much easier to edit. 

Day 1 of filming was all done inside Robert and Henrys house, the day started around 10am, and me and india walked to the station to meet one of the actors and walk him to the house, the main actress was already back at the house by the time we got back. They quickly ran over the script then got themselves ready, kevin was only able to make it to the first day of filming so we had to get all his parts filmed today. 

The filming went so well, as we would do the same scene over and over again from different angles, and checked for continuity issues the whole time so that each scene would be perfect. Both actors did a really good job as well, this was my first time working with professional actors and working on a film set so everything was very new for me, but also very exciting

Doing the clapper board was obviously a very easy task for me but I did often have to get into awkward positions to get in front of the camera! 

We also had lunch ready for the actors as we took a break around 2pm, the scenes with the father were wrapped by around 5:30, I had to get a taxi to the scuba shop to pick up equipment, which ended up being a bit of a waste of time as David decided to bring everything with him tomorrow instead, as he would be meeting us at the beach at 5am! as we wanted to get the sunrise and also film when noone was around. David also agreed that I wouldn’t be able to bring all the equipment back on my own hence why he decided to bring it with him instead. 

CASTING NEWS

We held auditions yesterday for the lead role of Julia and her father and here is who we cast!

Zara Symes has been cast as Julia 

Kevin Stones will be playing her father.

Filming will be being held over the next 2 days, Indiegogo was not used for funding in the end, but we all have handled it pretty well ourselves. 

Went to vobster quays today for the open water part of our filming training, unfortunately due to a personal issue, i was not able to dive and didn’t receive my qualification, however I was given a participation certificate for trying anyway,

I felt really disappointed with myself and like I had let my group down, but it isn't too much of an issue due to the fact that we are not using vobster in our final film, and I should be fine when we start filming in a few weeks as we are only using a swimming pool. 

We are currently in the process of casting our final roles and finding a wedding dress for the female lead’s costume, and we have also organised a date with David we will be using the pool to film, which will be may 2nd! 

The confined water part of my underwater filming module is complete! 

I had such a good time, and I enjoyed it so much more this time around as I had a bit more experience, and felt better about it in general.

We spent saturday looking at the types of camera and casing we would be using then did our theory part of the training, sunday was the practical in the pool. 

Here are a few photos from the weekend.

Over the last two days me and my group have met up to discuss ideas, and today we pitched our idea to Ben and Claire.

Our current title for our film is going to be ‘Tides’ and is going to be a dramatic fiction short film, based around a brides grief after losing her fiance, on the day of their wedding. 

We will be fundraising on the site indigogo for our film, so any donations will be much appreciated, the site is not currently live but I will post when it is.

I start my underwater filming training on the 12th and 13th March so will let you guys know how that goes too!

Hello and welcome to my blog about my scuba diving adventures!

My name is Becky I am a 2nd year student at the University of Portsmouth and I am currently in training for my PADI open water diver certificate.

Once I have completed this course, I will be starting the underwater filming and media module, which is an option I chose to do this year for my degree.