Filmmaking / Directing : Shooting film underwater by Pelan Le

Pelan Le This is truly ambitious and possibly impractical, depending on your budget. Underwater shooting is peculiarly onerous and not recommended for newcomers. It is expensive, it is dangerous (to people and equipment), it is slow, lighting is a serious issue as even in a shallow pool light will diffuse within a few feet, and it requires special insurance. Very few cinematographers and camera operators can do it. Camera rental houses will permit it only with highly experienced camera department and insurance in place.... etc. SAGAFTRA has special rules and rates and would IATSE, that apply as well. If you are planning to use a dslr in a housing and an actress... you likely won't get good footage... You really need adequate rehearsal as well.

My underwater experience is limited to still photography only with a Nikonos & TTL flash. That was tricky enough. I agree with most of what Shadow says. Lighting is a key.

Thanks for the replies and discussion! It’s definitely very tricky to navigate just from my own research into the matter so all insight is certainly welcome. For the purpose of storytelling, not a whole lot of light is needed. I intend to delve into the siren/mermaid mythos but with a dark spin to it so lots of shadows and darkness will add to the atmosphere. Like you both said, I think my biggest concern will be getting just the right amount of light for capturing the footage however (before factoring in other aspects like camera and gear).

If I’m aiming to shoot maybe no deeper than 10ft in water (idea is deep enough where the surface of water isn’t in the shot, but shallow enough that sunlight can illuminate), is that a possibility? Or will the sunlight not diffuse down that far?

Model/actress I had in mind is a trained deep sea diver so she’s thankfully pretty experienced and comfortable in water. Me, on the other hand, will have to train and prep extensively. Hopefully I can pull it off...

Thanks again for any additional insight! Always looking to learn and improve.

I'm assuming you want to do an underwater fight scene.So on top of Shadow's concerns I would add that if one of your actors takes a shot in the soleplexes they will by reflex suck air if they're underwater at the time all the safety precautions in the world won't save them from drowning.If you want to add water as an element I'd suggest starting with say a fight in a toilet block.You can do a fake drowning by cutting a round hole in a sheet of MDF or plywood on top of some saw horses.Put a fish tank full of water on top.camera underneath with a long lens.One actor puts his hand on another actors head into fish tank actor screams bubbles go everywhere cut between it and fight scene with actors head shoved into toilet.If they smash a sink during fight you can get some interesting shots of water on floor splashing during fight,reflection shots etc.You could do a fight scene where the kill punch etc knocks the actor into a pool.To film it I'd get the fishtank and weigh it down and put a camera in it.This will get your lens under water level and staying dry while you're above water level.If you film at night try to do it in a single night as atmospheric conditions will effect light penetration into the water.Aperture has some affordable small LED water proof lights.And the use of the strongest HARD light you can find on a boom above the actor is essential.As Shadow mentioned the light diffuses very quickly in water but you can get a diffused ray effect in water.If you want an angle from the bottom do yourself a favour and weigh yourself down so you're not fighting the water and just use a Go-Pro in a water proof case.Do it in very short bursts because it'll be exhausting.And strap the Go-Pro to the actors head and get him to do the fall into the pool numerous times.Add some fake blood Latex and/or waterproof makeup and you've got a 100% practical effect scene that is difficult but feasable and safe and cheap to shoot.

You should check out my friend Devin, he specializes in underwater cinematography: https://www.devinhumefilms.com/

Oh no fighting in this one. I can only imagine how much more difficult that will be to pull off. Thinking more along the lines of her coming up from underneath and dragging main protagonist down to the depths. That’s a great idea with the fish tank/bubbles to indicate a struggle. Can maybe integrate that with quick cuts/in post edit.

In terms of budget and practicality, I was considering a go pro just for this segment of the film. Won’t be the best footage but may work. Will have to do some tests for sure and experiment. Thanks for the amazing detail and insight Craig! Didn’t even think about blood, etc till you mentioned it. Will run the latex/waterproof makeup idea by the hmua.

Did you act in an underwater fight scene or filmed one? Will love to check it out if you have footage online anywhere.

I'd suggest renting or buying the Olympus Tough TG-6 camera, waterproof to 50 ft, the GoPro 9, sharp, clear 5K video, great for snorkel shooting, or the GoPro 8, with 4K video.

hire a pro, the learning curve is high on that field and you need a photographer and a good swimmer in the same body

Erik A. Jacobson thanks for the suggestions! Will look into those and see if I can pull off the look I’m aiming for. Which one do you typically use?

@ivan @wally @karen thanks for the suggestions. Wish I had the budget to do so but since this will be an entirely self funded project (along with the help and time graciously given by friends and colleagues), I have to figure out what is possible within my limitations. Up for the challenge though and hearing some out of the box thinking from others (such as Craig’s!) is quite motivating. Going to try and reach out and see if anyone experienced is willing to collaborate on this but will continue to research in the meantime.

I'd recommend renting one of the GoPro cameras. But it depends on what your DP feels comfortable with.

There is an entire selection of underwater accessories for phones on B&H: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/action-camming-underwater/ci/24361/N/3941525854

I think the big thing you have to plan is how long you anticipate being underwater per shot and how close you intend to get to your subject (which will determine the best lens for you). Your footage will look better if you choose two or three high-quality prime lenses versus giving yourself more options, which you won't be able to change without coming up anyway. Just my two cents!

Pelan I'd get down to my local scuba club as you might find a few people their who are doing their own underwater film making of their dives etc with their own gear who would be willing to get involved.I'm Australian and in Australia all scuba divers by law have to have up to date underwater rescue tickets I'm guessing it's similar in the U.S. so you might be able to find a couple of rescue divers for your own piece of mind.My wife wasted 4 nights of my life and numerous hours of research to attempt to film a simple scene of an actress in a white linen dress diving into a pool swimming underwater to the other end.And in 20 hours of footage maybe we got a couple of minutes that worked.Footage from different nights shooting was unmachable and most usable footage was only seconds long.From memory my wife shot it at 24 frames if she did it again I'm pretty sure she'd shoot at 120 frames or more so the short bursts of really good footage could get stretched in the editing suite.Long story short 4 weeks of hair pulling wife has a tantrum footage no longer exists.The only other thing I was thinking was a few years ago the winner of Film Riots(youtube) 60 second short film competition was an under water film called Shark Survival it's completely green screen VFX and from memory there's a video on youtube called Shark Survival VFX or something similar.That may be a more feasable way to shoot this for you.Best of luck anyway,y.