UWOL25 | Exploring | by Markus Nord

[Oliver Pahlow]

Markus,

All I can say is you are one brave soul. Those are some fantastic cave shots. That must have been a very cold dive. I enjoyed watching it. Thanks.

[Markus Nord]

Thanks for your comments…

I big reason why I don’t got more video of dry caving was that the housing is heavy in air so it would be shaky, and also, when I got up from the water the dome port of the housing was cold and that made the port fog up. The video I got in the dry cave is in the half flooded channel where I could dip the port and then shoot.

Geir Inge – it’s cool, yes, the journey for the frog is interested. Maybe we will find a small passage (or hopefully a large one) during a scouting trip to the area during this September.

Dale – The frog was hibernating in the cave, so I don’t think it was out looking for food. I had a chat with a amphibian expert I know and he told me that this place would be the perfect spot, if the frog can get out. But I don’t this that will be a problem, in a couple of mouth the frog will be flushed out. I would like to see that… the ride of his life!
I do some grading, but just to make it look natural, but the problem with everyone looking at different screens with different setting makes it really hard. I’ll try to make the white, white and so on. After that I upload the film to my Vimeo account and check it on my Samsung TV, IPhone and Ipad… if it looks ok, I’m happy.
This was really the first “job” I did with the 5D3 UW with my new housing… so I still learning how this camera works UW.

Mike – Thanks, I’m glad you liked it. Next expedition I know more what ahead… better planning and more light!

Paul – Thanks Paul, but if you look again, I do have a zoom and small pan in the stills… ;)
Tell your wife that she soon will… I got a 40 minutes documentary that will so have an English VO, I hope we can sell it around the world.

Oliver – I gets cold after two hours… but as long as you are occupied in you mined you don’t feel it. You just need to suppress though feeling :D


Thanks again everyone for you constructive critic, it helps a lot to become a better filmmaker.
Cheers

[Marj Atkins]

Hi Marcus
I posted a quick response to your film the other night as I did not have time to do any comments then.
I find your subject quite amazing – not only were you all diving in freezing water but into pitch black, dead quiet, unchartered underwater caves too!! You certainly expanded horizons with this one!

It was fascinating to accompanying you through the caves. I really enjoyed that - being able to watch your adventure as it unfolded. One thing that intrigued me was that you were able squeeze through such a narrow space to get into the cave, especially carrying so much gear. I would have been very worried about not being able to squeeze out again myself – which doesn’t make sense I know! Was that sound at 4:04 your gear scraping through?

Your story is simple and nicely constructed except for one thing - because you wrote at the beginning that you were going “to explore these dry parts” on this dive and even mentioned exploring the dry cave for 60 minutes, I thought you would be showing us some of that. I understand now that you did not get any footage of that part and for good reasons but then perhaps it would have been a good idea to remove that discussion (which actually set the scene for this film) so as not to get the viewers’ expectations up. The story ended quite abruptly.

As usual your underwater shots were clear with natural colour, thanks to your lighting. It was interesting to see the wave-like patterns on the tunnel walls as you (we) travelled along. The sound was clear. I liked your combination of accompanying sound effect and breathing - added life to the otherwise silent underwater world.

I also had a few questions about that frog and wondered if it was hibernating down there or was actively living down there. You have answered the question. I did not realize that frogs could survive in such cold conditions. Was that your son in the water at the beginning? I did not think you were old enough to have been filmed by an old cine camera.

I think ‘water mirror’ is probably better translated as ‘reflection’.

I enjoyed watching your film – most entertaining. Well done Marcus.

[Markus Nord]

Hi Marj
Thanks for your comment, one question… what do you mean by:

Originally Posted by Marj Atkins

...Your story is simple and nicely constructed except for one thing - because you wrote at the beginning that you were going “to explore these dry parts” on this dive and even mentioned exploring the dry cave for 60 minutes, I thought you would be showing us some of that. I understand now that you did not get any footage of that part and for good reasons but then perhaps it would have been a good idea to remove that discussion (which actually set the scene for this film) so as not to get the viewers’ expectations up. The story ended quite abruptly...

The first dive part of the film is our journey to the dry area and from the first still at 2:47 and to 3:42 is all exploring of the dry area. After that is our swim out of the cave. So what is it that you think is left out? We got lots of stills but just a few minutes of video from the dry cave. That why I used more stills to show the viewer something from the new area, did you miss that?

The sound you hear at 4 minutes is the gravel against the UW housing, but yes, you do press yourself through the entrance of the cave.

Yes, that my son in the beginning, I’m born in the 1979 so I’m old enough to be caught on Super 8, but I don’t got any film of my in the water. My father got a super 8, which I tried out during film school, but never really worked with.

Cheers
/Markus

[Marj Atkins]

Oops Markus - I'm sorry if I did not explain myself clearly enough. No I did not miss the stills of the dry part and yes I understand that you did not have video footage of the dry section, but, because you stated at the beginning of the dive that you were going to 'explore' the cave I was expecting to see you actually 'exploring' it and not just showing some stills. I feel that your film would have been better finished off if you had not put in the word "exploring" at the beginning which got my expectations up.

I hope that explains what I meant. I think your film is absolutely wonderful and this was merely a suggestion that I thought would make it just that little bit better!

[Markus Nord]

Well, I did show you live exploring with stills and video from a new world, documentary style, during my exploring. If I would have been in a video team following the exploring team, then we would have got some more video and stills. For the next expedition we'll be better prepared and hopefully more exploration divers (it was only I and Stefan who did any exploring and survey). If that is the case, then I can bring some more video out. But shooting high quality video during real exploring is probably one of the thougest thing to do.

Anyway, thanks for your comment.

[Lorinda Norton]

Four hours! I cannot imagine that. As others have said, you are very brave, Markus. The first several times I watched your entry I was so proud of myself, thinking, "this isn't claustrophobic at all." But the fourth time...

As others have mentioned, your use of the "young Markus" footage got this piece off to an intriguing start, drawing viewers into your world right away. Excellent move, and you followed with a great segue into the present.

Thanks for taking us on a well-documented journey that, I think it's safe to say, none of us will be attempting on our own. You certainly expanded my horizon into the world of underwater caving!

[Markus Nord]

Thanks Lorinda, next time is won’t shot a UW cave film… too many got to claustrophobic… ;)

Thanks for watching.