How do they shoot long underwater scenes (especially the even longer stylistic ones)?

How do they shoot long underwater scenes (especially the even longer stylistic ones)? - Unrecognizable person taking photo in evening nature

How do they shoot the music videos where people are singing inside water? What confuses me if that is plain special effects is their clothes, they behave exactly how clothes behave in water.

The motion of the cloth is slow, like it's supposed to be in a fluid, whereas the motion of the person is normal (or slow, but for stylistic reasons). I mean, it could be special effects, but that will really surprise me, because it will certainly take a lot of effort.

Example:



Best Answer

It really depends on the film, but the best example I can think of is the James Cameron's The Abyss, and I suspect they did the same thing in the music video you mentioned.

As detailed in this Time article about the film, there is a large tank of water for the scene to be filmed in, with all the crew using oxygen tanks. In between cuts, support divers with a spare oxygen tank will then swim up to the cast and give it to them. In the case of The Abyss, there was also an underwater oxygen refilling station so they didn't have to surface every time their Oxygen tank was empty (which would be once an hour), but in shorter and/or cheaper projects they would just swim up to the surface to do so.

Though in the music video, the angle of the light source seems to indicate that she isn't very deep underwater and could probably reach the surface with a single kick.




Pictures about "How do they shoot long underwater scenes (especially the even longer stylistic ones)?"

How do they shoot long underwater scenes (especially the even longer stylistic ones)? - From above of short stocking for wearing on legs placed on black background
How do they shoot long underwater scenes (especially the even longer stylistic ones)? - Black and white of large sized whale with elongated pectoral fins swimming in dark sea
How do they shoot long underwater scenes (especially the even longer stylistic ones)? - Jellyfish with Long Tentacles





Tips For Shooting Underwater | Filmmaking Tips




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