2025 ended on a high note.
Behind the Mask launched the Behind the Mask Academy, and the first trip brought us to the Maldives.
Not for a typical dive holiday.
Not for a standard underwater filming workshop where everyone sits through presentations, nods politely, then goes back to filming the same fish from the same angle.
This felt different from the beginning.
Our base for the week was the ScubaSpa Yang, a liveaboard moving through some of the most iconic dive sites in the Maldives. Strong currents. Shark cleaning stations. Coral reefs dropping into deep blue water. The kind of place that looks like paradise, then immediately reminds you that the ocean does not care about your shot list.
For seven days, the boat became a floating creative hub.
Ten filmmaking students. Seven freedivers and underwater performance students. Eight mentors from different parts of the world. A lot of camera gear. A lot of wet hair. A lot of questions.
And somehow, very little ego.
A different kind of underwater filmmaking workshop
What made this Academy special was how personal it felt.
The groups were small, so every student had proper time with their mentor. Not vague feedback from across the room. Not “nice shot” and then everyone moves on.
Real feedback.
What worked?
What felt rushed?
Why is the movement shaky?
Why does the color look dead?
Why does this frame feel empty even though there is a shark in it?
The kind of feedback that is sometimes a little uncomfortable, but only because it is useful.
Some participants came with clear goals. Color grading. Better movement. More confidence. How to film animals without disturbing them. How to work with freedivers. How to stop panicking underwater when everything suddenly happens at once.
One participant mentioned they took up videography and quickly realized they had no clue what they were doing down there.
Honestly, relatable.
Underwater filmmaking has a very special way of humbling you. On land, you can pretend you know what you are doing for quite a long time. Underwater, the ocean exposes you in about 30 seconds.
Your buoyancy is off.
Your frame is crooked.
Your subject left.
Your fin is in someone’s shot.
Your camera settings are wrong.
Lovely.
Freedivers, filmmakers and the strange magic between them
One of the most interesting parts of the trip was the collaboration between scuba divers, camera operators, and freedivers.
Because filming a freediver is not just about pointing a camera at someone who looks elegant underwater.
It is a relationship.
The freediver has to understand where the camera is, how to move through the frame, when to wait, when to approach, when to trust the light, and when to simply let the water do its thing.
The filmmaker has to stop trying to control every tiny movement and actually observe.
Julie Gautier was on board guiding the freedivers and underwater performers. Her work has always carried this very rare feeling of honesty underwater. Not posing. Not pretending. Not forcing beauty. More like allowing the body to become part of the water.
Some sessions were planned. Some happened more spontaneously. A freediver would move. A filmmaker would follow. They would review the footage afterwards and see what happened. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it looked like a confused underwater traffic situation.
Both were useful.
Because that is where learning actually happens.
Luca on board
Luca from Underwater Lunatics was on board as one of the filmmaking mentors, shooting throughout the trip and working closely with the students.
He also created the final after-video together with Flo from Behind the Mask.
That part felt very natural for us, because the whole trip was built around something we deeply believe in at Underwater Lunatics: underwater filmmaking should not just be about beautiful images.
Beautiful images are easy to admire.
But the real question is: what do they make people feel?
Do they help people understand the ocean differently?
Do they make someone care a little more?
Do they turn a dive into a memory, and a memory into responsibility?
That is where storytelling begins.
And that is also why we loved being part of this Academy. It was not about building perfect little showreels for everyone. It was about helping people see more clearly.
Not just through the camera.
Through the whole experience.
The best classroom was the ocean
There were technical lessons, of course.
How to move with the camera.
How to approach marine life.
How to work with available light.
There were also sessions about editing, color grading, and post-production, because underwater footage has a special talent for looking magical in real life and deeply disappointing on the screen if you do not know what to do with it.
But the most valuable lessons did not always happen during the official sessions.
They happened between dives.
Over coffee. During gear prep. While reviewing footage. While laughing at mistakes. While watching someone improve from shaky and frantic movements on day one to slower, calmer, more intentional shots by the end of the week.
Less competition, more connection
One thing that stood out most was the atmosphere on board.
Underwater filmmaking can sometimes feel lonely. Or competitive. Or weirdly secretive, as if sharing knowledge will somehow make someone else steal your future whale shark shot.
This trip was the opposite.
People shared what they knew. They asked questions. They admitted what they did not understand. Mentors helped students, students helped each other, freedivers helped filmmakers, filmmakers helped freedivers understand how they appeared on camera.
The roles kept shifting.
Some days you were the one teaching.
Some days you were the one completely confused.
Some days you learned the most by watching someone else quietly do something well.
There was no crown to claim.
Just a group of people trying to get better together.
What came out of the trip
The video after captures the feeling of that first Academy week: the learning, the awkward first attempts, the questions, the mentorship, the improvement, and the strange little family that forms when people spend a week in the ocean together.
You can watch the after video here:
Another film also came out of the trip, shaped by the freediving work and the atmosphere of the Maldives:
Both films carry a different part of the same experience.
One shows the people and the process.
The other shows what can happen when movement, water and trust come together.
More Academy trips are coming!
This first Behind the Mask Academy trip felt like the beginning of something.
More Behind the Mask Academy trips and projects are coming. If this feels like your kind of experience, you can apply here:
