Tourism and Events Queensland and Uber came up with the epic idea to ride share a submarine on the Great Barrier Reef. At first it may have seemed crazy but most of the good ideas are. It was a very successful campaign worldwide and we’re proud that our content was a big part of it. We got to work up the east coast from Heron Island to Agincourt Reef out of Port Douglas and shoot some stunning content on beautiful reef systems with cool people from around Queensland, Australia and the world. Of course we loved every minute of it!
When you get a call to fly out to Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef in a chopper and work with Uber, Tourism Queensland and Joel Parkinson the only logical answer is yes. We had never been to Heron so it was a great place to start the adventure.
We soon found out the trip was in 5 days time and we could only bring 15kgs worth of gear including underwater and drone videography and photography kit because of the weight in the chopper. The answer was still yes, we just minimised the kit and made it work. Probably a good thing because I can get carried away with kit sometimes.
We spent 3 days based on Heron Island and we got to shoot, dive and snorkel with the ScUber over stunning coral reef and with a diverse range of wildlife. Joel Parkinson came for a ride in the sub and we filmed his experience and he got to bring his daughter along which was great.
We got really lucky with the weather and it cleared up and flattened out. On day 2 we had such an amazing experience when 2 turtles showed up and swam between me and the sub. One of them turned straight at me while i had the video running and the backup camera shooting photos. After filming a few people in the sub we interviewed Joel and the next morning he went down to explore the reef in the ScUber Submarine with his daughter.
The whole experience was a whirlwind but such a great job to work on and the content went global which was great for the reef, TEQ, Uber and us. TEQ mentioned that the videos did amazingly well around the world. We got to work with great people and also saw some of the most stunning sunsets we have ever seen. I also have to thank the Aquatica Subs team, that crew are not only great people but highly skilled at what they do. Before this trip I hadn’t met any submarine pilots . I hope they are all this cool!
We left Heron Island stoked with the video content, photos and content we had captured and above all Tourism Queensland and Uber were happy with the outcomes. We still had a bit of editing to do but little did we know the ScUber experience wasn’t finished for us yet.
After Heron Island ScUber was on the move to Agincourt Reef off Port Douglas. The boat and submarine had organised to set up just near the Quicksilver pontoon. We got a call about a week out and they asked us to work with them again filming the winners from around the world. This was again with TEQ but also some direct work with Uber which was cool.
Little did we know there was a big surprise in store and we were going to film it. It had to be kept hush hush but one of the winners was going to propose to his partner in the Sub!!!! Epic content to capture but also challenging because we needed audio, multiple cameras and basically not to screw it up. Audio in the sub was tough given the fans and motors were so loud but we worked out with the pilots that they could turns those off for a certain amount of time, just enough for a proposal it turns out!
They were an amazing couple and she said yes! We shot other winners from the UK, USA and Europe and they all loved it and were amazing people who really enjoyed the experience and were grateful for their time on the Great Barrier Reef.
The campaign has been very successful and recently won a Bronze spike award in asia.
All in all it was a well thought out and managed campaign and being able to do video and content production on a project like this was an amazing experience. The people were all great to work with and getting to go in a submarine on the GBR was very cool. The campaign also donated the revenue from the paid ScUber riders to the Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef which I think came to around $100,000. It was a balanced campaign. It proved that the reef IS NOT DEAD but money, time and resources are also donated to the process of protecting it for the future. Win win I’d say. I would also highly recommend becoming a citizen of the Great Barrier Reef and following the story and helping where you can.
I thought I’d just finish with this last piece we shot on Quicksilver cruises with Dr Glen Burns and master reef guide who is dedicated to the reef. He answers a lot of the current questions about the reef. This piece of content was apparently Tourism Queensland’s highest engagement story for 2019. It’s great to see so many people interested in education on the reef and protecting it for the future.
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