Underwater Music Video

Filming an Underwater Music Video with Cinematic Boxfish ROV

Imagine this: The production company Anthony Plant Production of Billboard Charts rock bank, Black Smoke Trigger gives you a call and says they want to use your ROV (remotely operated vehicle) to film their next music video — underwater! Have we caught your attention yet?

Filming an Underwater Music Video with Cinematic Boxfish ROV

In 2019, Boxfish released their latest underwater vehicle — the Cinematic Boxfish ROV. With up to 15 stops of dynamic range, 10-bit LOG recording and monitoring, and up to 120 frames per second of raw recording options, it’s the latest and most state-of-the-art ROV of its kind. Black Smoke Trigger — a New Zealand based rock bank — and its production company first reached out to Boxfish Research in search of an underwater equipment to film the band’s upcoming music video. Little did they know, the Cinematic Boxfish ROV was under its way!

Although the production team was weary at first, as they had never operated an ROV and were used to filming with well known industry cameras such as RED, Arri, and Canon, they were highly impressed with the ease of use once they got their hands on the ROV.

In addition, they were most impressed with the ROV’s video quality, its stability underwater, and the fact that they could use the lenses to match their task at hand, thanks to the Boxfish smart design. Its ability to mimic dolly and crane shots underwater and its precision motion control also contributed to the company’s decision to film the music video with the Boxfish ROV.

Boxfish ROV Enhances Underwater Capabilities

Since using the Boxfish ROV, the production team has seen tremendous results. The team was able to monitor the video and footage from the surface using a standard 4K 17-inch console with near zero latency. This allowed the team to make changes in lighting and positioning the camera as they filmed.

As Boxfish continues to advance its underwater robotics, they are seeing more and more applications for ROVs rising to the surface. While divers are crucial to work in tandem with ROVs, on average divers can only remain underwater for 60-minute intervals. Black Smoke Trigger and the production team was able to use the ROV to film the entirety of the video underwater while focusing efforts on other areas of production to ensure a safe and smooth process from start to finish.

Boxfish would like to extend a huge thank you to Black Smoke Trigger and the entire production team including Cinematographer, Mark Lapwood ACS, and Anthony Plant and Gal Hochman for this incredible collaboration.

Watch the final music video using the Cinematic Boxfish ROV today >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSfvCxdvi3A