Planning & Preparation

You've already chosen a reputable underwater cameraman and a support team and boat contractor to work with you, but you also need to plan in detail what you are going to film and how.

Your cameraman needs to know what you want him to film and how, and you need to listen to his advice on how he can achieve that for you and what he needs to do the job. A production meeting with him is probably best particularly if you have storyboards he needs to see and discuss with you.

Make sure you can source the lenses he needs, the housing he's chosen and the team he'd like around him, all of which takes much longer if you're working overseas.

Check local conditions

Get local information on weather conditions, visibility, tide times, currents, hazards, water temperature. If it's a natural history shoot, talk to the local experts to make sure the species you want to film actually does turn up at the time of year you've decided to film, or if they've started to change their patterns - only the locals will know this and they'll know favourite feeding and breeding grounds.

Schedule your shoot

Schedule your shoot day by day - everything takes longer than expected: everyone is wet, the kit is wet, the boat is moving, people get tired more easily and it slows everything down. There are also dive tables that your dive supervisor will ensure you obey and that means there are a limited number of dives per day your team can endure before they have an accident or get bent. If you're filming natural history underwater, schedule from experience and local knowledge then double it! (That usually ensures you get luck on day one!)

Production risk assessment

Complete a Production Risk Assessment (PRA) in good time and have it signed off by a Health and Safety expert with experience in underwater filming. Getting this in place early on in the schedule means that you can go filming quickly if necessary, but if it's not in place, your insurance company isn't going to let you go anywhere until they've seen it. On big shoots with actors underwater, stunts, remote underwater filming, a PRA will need so much detail you'll think you're writing a book - but it's all necessary information to keep you and your team safe, and if things still go wrong, it should help you in court when you all get home.

Once you're filming on location, expect things to go wrong: dive kit to pack up, weather systems to upset visibility, all of which delays filming - but you'll have thought about this and planned for it!