Paul Collins

SKILLS

Underwater imagery

I started shooting Red cameras in 2012 with the Red One in a Gates Housing. Over the years I added more and more lens options, extenders, tripods, sliders all for the underwater world. In 2016 I upgraded to a Red Dragon and the Gates Housing and have subsequently upgraded the housing to DSMC2 as I have shot a number of times with the Red Helium inside my housing.

Filming underwater on the rebreather is where I am most happy. I have over 2500 hours on a rebreather and have filmed throughout the Pacific Ocean documenting some of the worlds most incredible marine life behaviours, from Sharks mating to Cuttle fish emerging from their eggs and scientists catching new species of fish at 123meters.

TimeLapse

More and more timelapse are becoming an integral part of any production and are a great visual spectacle. I have a full motion control system with an 8ft slider and a micro slider for detailed work.

I am often asked to process the timelapse sequence as I have a good working knowledge of LRTimelapse software which I feel is one of the best tools out there for processing the images taken from the stills camera and turning them into a great high resolution video clip.

Drone pilot

Flying the Pantom4 Pro and the Inspire 2 over the past four years has allowed me to see and capture shots that were only previously possible from helicopters or planes.

Drones are such a useful tool and I have flown them from large liveaboard and research vessels to small dive boats and even kayaks!!

dit and post production

Over the years I have acted in the capacity of an in-field DIT on many occasions, data wrangling, logging and creating low resolution proxies to upload back to eager SP’s based back at Head Office. I have a working knowledge of most backup software and have my own licenced version of CatDv Pegasus which I use for the hundreds of hours of my own stock footage and also to create libraries for on location shoots when called to.

When working with productions where underwater filming is not their core skill I have often worked to colour grade the RAW footage that comes off Red cameras. With a licenced copy of DaVinci Resolve and several years of experience grading client footage as well as my own stock footage I am well versed in giving the RAW footage the pop required. This is especially relevant with underwater footage where all too often experienced colourists who are not divers often struggle to visualise what it really looked like underwater.

I have also worked on a number of shoots for NGO’s and private clients, not in the media industry, where I have been contracted to deliver a final product from an underwater shoot. To this end I have a great deal of experience with the Adobe Creative Cloud suite of products, mainly Premier Pro and After effects as well as RedCine X.

diving skills

I have been diving for nearly 30 years, since I was 20 years old. In that time I became a PADI Open Water Instructor, a TDI Tec Instructor and a normoxic Rebreather diver amassing over 2500 hours on the rebreather, initially with an AP Valves Inspiration then moving onto a JJ-CCR. Over the years I have gained invaluable knowledge, experience and certifications that allowed me to further my career as a diver and an underwater cameraman.

• RYA Power Boat Level 1&2

• Apex service Technician

• HSE Part 4 Commercial Diver

• Qualified Hyperbaric Chamber Technician

• Scuba Pro Level 1 Service Technician

• Nitrox & Trimix Gas Blender