Maritime Training DVD's - your opinion counts

**WalportTrainingFilms** · July 13th, 2009, 08:27 AM

I'm looking to speak to people involved with either the selection and purchasing of maritime training resources and training DVDs, or those that watch them during their training or onboard their vessel.

I work for a UK company that produces maritime training films, and we're keen to make sure that we're producing films that are both:

(a)suitable for shipping companies and training bodies to use

(b)educational and entertaining to those that watch them

If anyone has any thoughts on this subject, feel free to join in the discussion. We’ve just made a film on the safety issues surrounding lifeboat drills but would particularly like comments on what other topics you feel need to be covered in the future. Also, I'd appreciate your views, good and bad, of either our products (if you've used them) or other training films.

We make a specific point of trying to make our films a little more entertaining than the competition, as a common complaint of training films is that they can be a little 'dry', but I'd like to get feedback from those that matter - the seafarers that we're trying to help train, and those that supply them with their training resources.

Any input would be very helpful.

Thanks

**Old Bakelite** · July 14th, 2009, 05:11 AM

Chris,

You have certainly reached out to one of the best marine sites out there, even if it is very US specific and dominated.

In fact, I am surprised that you have not had any replies from the many sea going Captains who contribute here who are very professional and are usually very well opinionated.

Personally I feel that for safety videos it may be a sign of the digital age that we live in such that it is very easy to bypass the safety part to get to what we really want to view. Unless the Companies and Captains/Ships Safety Officers make it mandatory to watch them before the main movie...a bit like the federal warning on DVDs about copying etc.

But then again, movie night is a thing of the past so how else do you get crew together, in addition to fire and boat drills and all the other tasks they have to hand.

Making them fun and interesting to watch is certainly a good way to go, much like many safety posters have been.

With all of today's broadband connectivity with ships perhaps it is possible for the shipping companies to find a way to make safety video clips come up at the start of internet sessions for example?

I certainly remember the safety films that were attached to the old movie reals...for the dozen re-runs of "Faraday Night Fever" we still had to watch the clip about safe heavy lifting! No fast forwarding then!

**cmjeff** · July 14th, 2009, 08:00 AM

First of all the USCG is very specific on it's training requirements so it is unlikely a US company will purchase the videos.

Second, there are already a few hundred videos to choose from. What makes yours stand out from the crowd? (Hint... don't say "more entertaining than the rest". I've never met a video producer that thinks his videos are the boring ones.)

Last, I surfed around your site and didn't see one video preview I could watch. I'm sorry but I'm not about to push my company to purchase your product until I have, at least, a taste for the goods.

**cmjeff** · July 14th, 2009, 08:06 AM

Strike that, I finally found one preview and it is more interesting than 90% of your competitors but not compellingly so. I still don't realize what makes your video the one I should be purchasing?

**WalportTrainingFilms** · July 15th, 2009, 08:38 AM

Hello Ian, Jeff

thank you for your comments re my earlier post, your time is appreciated.

Ian you mention about bypassing the safety film to watch the real entertainment. I think that mowadays the training films are shown seperately, as part of a specific safety briefing or class. Thats certainly how I understand it, anyway.

Jeff, sorry about the lack of previews on the site at the moment. We've just relaunched the website, and I'm curently working through the job of making the preview clips, and posting them to the website. I believe there
are about fifteen titles that do have trailers, out of the 50 or so available. It's a slow process, but I'm getting there.

I appreciate your point about this forum being US centred, but as I'm not here specifically to sell (I'm no salesman) but to see if I can get some opinions on the general subject, I'm not too bothered. Having said that, we do sell to US based shipping companies.

Thanks for the "more interesting than 90% of your competitors" comment, at least we're heading in the right direction. I think that most (not all, I admit) of our films are slightly 'different' from the majority of the others that I've been able to watch. Some films that I've seen are so slow and wooden that I would imagine it would be hard to stay awake through them, never mind come away having absorbed an important safety message.

In varying quantities, depending on the specific title, our films use humour, drama, realistic action and, in a couple of the films, a bit of raunchiness

to get the message over to crew, and help them remember it. We also do a series called POPS (Programme Of Personal Safety), that uses clips showing common safety risks, without a voice over, making them understandable by crew with poor or no English language skills.

I dare say that not all our titles will suit everyone, and some people might not appreciate the use of humour or a quirky approach, but we feel that where appropriate it makes the training message stronger by making it more interesting.

We're about to start re-making some of the older titles to update them, which is part of the reason that I've started going out to people to get opinions about their training needs and experiences. Hopefully some of the new titles will be even more ambitious that their predecessors if I can gather a few insights from the audience.