Sunday, March 15, 2009

Aturtle swims through the waters that surround Molasses Reef, just off Key Largo.

At first, everything appears drab; the corals, the sea, the turtle, they're all dark and flat. Then, as if a light has come on, the scene brightens. The corals fill in with their natural purples, greens and reds. The turtle, itself now flush with color, swims through a clear blue sea over a vibrant garden of reef.

Inside his digital video production studio in the bottom level of a canal-side Key Largo home, Conrad Eskelinen is working to make dreams come true -- for himself and, he hopes, for a whole community of marine research organizations that never before could afford to put on a good show.

Eskelinen, 41, is the owner of DiveBum Studios, a business that he started back home in Michigan nearly two decades ago and relocated to Key Largo in 2003.

Through the years he has done 10,000 to 20,000 projects, he said, mainly advertisements and corporate documentaries above ground and still photography below the surface of the sea.

But these days Eskelinen is shifting much of his energy toward underwater motion pictures, thereby combining his lust for filmmaking with his love of diving, a hobby he took up in Michigan's many lakes as a child.

"You don't make a business move with something you are so passionate about unless you are 100 percent confident in it," Eskelinen said.

What changed for him recently is a $70,000 piece of equipment that stands on a tripod just outside the door of his home-based studio. Last year, DiveBum invested in a Red One digital camera, a technology that is just a couple years old and is being hailed as a breakthrough in the film industry.

With four times the pixels of high-definition, Red One is capable of filming at roughly the same definition as the 35-mm film cameras used by the major Hollywood studios.

And while $70,000 might sound like a lot of money, it's a fraction of what those cameras cost, even before you add in the savings that come from dealing with digital images rather than developing and working with film.

Red technology shoots what is called a raw file. The resulting images are gray and somewhat lifeless when first viewed in the studio. But they allow for a much more exacting enhancement process, in which the natural colors can be filled in on one portion of a screen while not marring the rest.

For example, in Eskelinen's turtle shot, amping up the green characteristic paints the proper corals, while not adversely impacting the blue waters or the turtle's white underbelly.

The difference between Red technology and HD cameras Eskelinen has used in the past, he said, "is literally like buying a really nice Nissan that is all souped-up and trying to compare it to a Ferrari."

Earlier this year, DiveBum invested a bit more in its Red One, springing for a custom-made $10,000 waterproof case. The setup, said Eskelinen, combined with DiveBum's in-house studio, will allow the company to produce top-quality underwater videos at prices that previously would have been impossible.

"There's a whole market out there between the mega-expensive Hollywood films and the guy that literally takes a home underwater camera and gets a few shots," he said. "That's the void I think I can fill."

More specifically, Eskelinen is honing in on research organizations and nonprofits that work for the betterment of the underwater environment. Scientists, he said, are great at researching data. But they aren't always as focused on the presentation.

"When it comes to presenting that data, they're still thinking like scientists," he said.

Films that sharply depict the marine environment can be powerful tools in the twin tasks of fundraising and creating public awareness, he said.

Just a few weeks after getting the Red One underwater ready, DiveBum is on its way to inking its first institutional client. Eskelinen last week met with Dr. Patrick Rice, director of the marine science program at Florida Keys Community College. They came away with a verbal agreement to work together on several projects.

"It is just going to take us to the next level," Rice said Monday.

Among other projects, Rice said he plans to use DiveBum to film the sinking of the Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg off Key West and to record an upcoming coral restoration project. He also believes DiveBum videos will augment the community college's effort to create virtual images of the Keys reefs for Google Earth.

"If we can offer state-of-the-art technology, we can draw students from all over the U.S. and the world," Rice said.

Armed with his new waterproofed Red One, Eskelinen said he hopes he can offer similar services to other marine organizations.

"What this is going to do is just open up the doors for them," he said.

rsilk@keysnews.com