Digital Video - May 2008 - (Page 38)

of it all and the human stories involved would make for a wonderful film. I began preliminary research in the fall of 2002 and tried unsuccessfully for a couple of years to get financing and the project off the ground. Finally, once the first HDV cameras became available, I decided to go it alone, and I built the production from scratch that moment forward. There was no funding for it whatsoever when I started. In fact the Sony Z1 I used in the beginning and a huge part of the production was purchased with my credit card — it’s been the best debt I’ve ever had! Ultimately, as the film evolved, the creative team grew, and we were able to put together some significant sponsorships and finished the film with the help of private investors. How did you find your six runners to follow? As for the individuals featured in the film, I had ideas for the kinds of people I was looking for from the very beginning. [Olympic bronze medalist] Deena Kastor, who I had known for some years, was the first person committed and the amateur runners followed. Based on the breakdown that I had developed, I issued a casting call across the United States via numerous running publications and online communities. The e-mails began coming in, and once I narrowed these down, I made a couple of trips to Chicago and met with about 70-80 people. From these meetings, the cast of amateurs emerged. Finally, Daniel Njenga, Spirit’s Kenyan star, I found by working directly with the Chicago Marathon. A variety of formats are seen in the finished film. What cameras did you use? Spirit was primarily shot with three cameras. I used the Sony HVRZ1U as well as the HDW-F900 HDCAM and the Panasonic VariCam. While I would have loved the opportunity to work entirely in one format, economics played a major role in these decisions, and at the end of the day, while admittedly there is not a perfect match between formats, the story speaks for itself. What was your typical camera setup to cover the runners in action? Almost all of the pre-marathon shooting was done with the Z1 with an attached shotgun mike. It was very small and flexible, which served me well when there were moments when I would literally have to run to get in front of someone. This can be especially difficult when you’re running to get in front of an Olympian! What type of camera support? While a good deal of the production was handheld, an array of tripods were used, as well as a Steadicam SK8, which was very useful on the Lake Michigan training runs. How did you handle audio recording? There was actually no sound recordist for probably 95 percent of the production. Again, this was a tough budgetary issue. As a 38 dv may 2008 result, much of the audio was simply recorded with a Sennheiser ME 66 shotgun mike mounted on the Z1. During more formal sitdown interviews we also used a Lectrosonics wireless with a Sanken mike and boomed with the ME 66 overhead. On the day of the actual marathon, we were finally able to afford several sound people. What was your approach to covering the actual marathon? The filming of a big-city marathon is logistically quite complicated. I had several crews working different aspects of the race, for example, following each runner/character before and after the race. [I did this myself with the film’s two elite runners], filming all of the runners during the race and then filming the race itself. Inside the race with the runners was the most complicated. We used pedicab cycles with the amateur runners and motorcycles with the elites. Catching each amateur and staying with them was key because if we lost them, they would likely not be seen again until the end of the race! To assist us, each runner was accompanied by a pacer who was equipped with a cell phone in the event they separated from the camera. It required a lot of planning and coordination, and while it all went off smoothly, there was certainly a lot of nail biting the day of the race. Describe the postproduction process. We converted everything to HDCAM and edited using Final Cut Pro 5.14. Color correction was done at West Post Digital in Santa Monica [California] and final mixing at Wild Woods in Studio City. The final production was mastered to HDCAM SR and D-5. Some great archival footage appears in your film. Was there a specific budget for it? Nearly a quarter of the budget was dedicated to licensing footage and specifically Olympic footage, which came from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Television and Archives Bureau in London. While I had watched a lot of running films and marathon coverage and over the years amassed quite a collection of this material myself, I was very fortunate to also draw upon the expertise of so many running legends, as well as the wonderful collection of running films put together by Mark Hale Brown at www.runningmovies.com. For theatrical release, your film was distributed via satellite. Can you explain how that worked? Prior to the film’s premiere at the Chicago International Film Festival in October 2007, we had received interest from National CineMedia’s Fathom Events, which specializes in the satellite distribution of theatrical events. This became a wonderful match as it enabled us to get the film into many more theaters than usual. We worked specifically with all of our alliances in the running world to promote the film, and after two one-night-only screenings, Spirit of the Marathon topped $1 million in ticket sales! It’s a very exciting model for independent films and distribution in years to come. DV www.dv.com http://www.runningmovies.com http://www.dv.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Digital Video - May 2008

Digital Video - May 2008 Contents DV Update Close-Up AJ-HPX3000 Camcorder Sidecar Raid Zoom H2 Recorder Instant Expert 324 Flat-Panel Display Extreme 35MM Adapter Type-S JIB How Slow Can You Go? Global Gastronome Mixing It UP Long-Distance Runaround Tools & Technology DV 101 Production Diary

Digital Video - May 2008

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