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MillimeterRacing for Sound
Jan 1, 2009 12:00 PM,
By Michael Goldman
Photos By Emanuel Coltellacci
Capturing audio from chaos.
“For HD, in PAL run-and-gun style, there weren't too many options,” he says. “We needed multiple formats, and I wanted to stay away from cameras that use [solid-state card-based recording media]. We were running around too much and had no room for error or reshoots, so I needed hard, tangible tapes at the end of the day. I shot a live event for a DVD two years ago for a band in Montreal using the same combination, and I got good results in post, so I decided to do the same thing here.”
Russell says about 90 percent of the race was shot using the HDX900, with the Z1U used in tight quarters and by a French aerial team capturing wide shots of the race course.
“We mostly shot with the HDX900, including two Steadicams and one jib, and two others on a tripod or shoulder cams,” he says. “The Z1U was great in the air, where the rig required a lighter camera, and we had two others that we utilized as floating cameras during the race.”
Russell echoes Van Strydonck's theme that such production work is not for those out of shape or faint of heart, and he heaps praise on the crews that worked the race.
“Following the competitors was the tough part,” he says. “They were top-caliber, and at the end of the day, our camera people were almost dead from following them around. We usually shot four or five events a day, with each camera team leapfrogging the other. Our Steadicam guys especially were unbelievable — running the city as we followed them through very narrow streets and traffic. It was chaos, and yet they did a great job.”
Emerging recently from an online editing session, Russell says he was particularly pleased with the imagery that resulted from that hard work. The project's timeline allows him plenty of post flexibility to color correct the footage with, he says, a goal of making it look more like serious documentary footage than a sporting event. If he could do anything different, he says, it would be to increase prep time on location.
“I got to Morocco maybe eight or 10 days before the race, and I kind of felt we lacked time to really scout the location and prepare for some events,” he says. “There was also some rain, so the location scouts didn't always tell us what things would look like under sunshine. For something like this, I would want more scouting time on location in the future. But that said, I'm very pleased with how things turned out.”
— M.G.
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