Fail Better: An Industry of Trial and Error & Route Du Rhum 2018

"Ever tried. Ever failed. No Matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better."

- Samuel Beckett

 I first heard this when watching Nick Martini of Stept Studio’s promotional film for Oakley, 100. The short film (which is a real favourite of mine) follows Olympic freestyle skier, Alex Beaulieu-Marchand in the 100 hours leading up to a big competition. Beckett’s words encompass what it is to be both an athlete, and sports cinematographer: both arts require experience and practice, and I believe 100 acts as a perfect example of this.

Progression presents the industry with both benefits and flaws gained through trial and error. A key piece of advice given by many sports cinematographers is to get close to the action rather than zooming in (the likes of drones has aided this as mentioned in the last post), as it lends to a more intense and dramatic viewing experience of the activity. Historically, sailboat and powerboat races were filmed using cameras positioned on boats, onshore and from helicopters. However, the underlying issue with any close up sports filming, is the risk of interfering with the sport itself: Despite attempts, the helicopters and boats could not get close enough to the race without the boat’s wake or helicopter’s rotor wash disrupting the race in hand.

So, like Beaulieu-Marchand does when his tricks don’t quite work out in 100, the industry adapted...

High magnitude telephoto lenses were used to capture close up details from further away. However, this also breached issues regarding high expense, difficulty in stabilising them on boats and helicopters, and their telephoto effect distorting the image for the viewer. But this didn’t stop the innovators. In the 1990s, boat races such as the America's Cup saw an increased demand for media coverage: the viewers wanted more racing, along with a better image and experience, and the TV and film industry was ready to give it to them. In 1999, David E. Grober invented a stabilized camera and marker buoy for use in coverage of aquatic events. It enabled cameras to get closer to the action without disturbing the event by positioning it in replacement of a rounding buoy or course marker in the water. The system is anchored down to avoid drifting, and controlled remotely by an operator sitting in a boat or onshore.

As mentioned in my last post, more recently, with the era of drone filming weighing down upon us, capabilities for one to film themselves aerially whilst participating in water sports has emerged. Drones now have features whereby it will lock onto the subject performing the sport and follow them as they move. Drones have made aerial filming of water sports more achievable than ever before: where helicopters distracted and dangered the athletes by disrupting the water and making too much noise, drones are inexpensive in comparison, require much less training to operate, and enable us to capture unique angles that would be impossible via helicopter. For instance, in the latest Route Du Rhum sailing race which finished on Sunday 11th November 2018, these techniques were used frequently.

In conversation with Daniel Wickham...

ITV Channel TV cameraman, Daniel Wickham, is a friend and mentor to me. Whilst back in my hometown, Jersey, I caught up with him today following his return from filming the Route Du Rhum. He said he was really lucky to have had the opportunity to film the event for 4 days when it began in St Malo, France. He went out to the race to focus on Jersey-man Phil Sharp's. Thanks to heavy sponsorship, Dan was able to be positioned on Sharp's sponsor's boat to capture his footage for the local ITV coverage which was to feature as part of a news piece the following week.

Dan explained how there was lots of coverage of the event using the event's own cameras. However since Sharp was not one of the front runners, if they had solely relied on the event B-roll footage they would not have got any of Phil himself. He said this is a frustrating thing, but it's one of the problems with filming major sporting events. Another problem Dan said it's common to experience at these events comes if you're relying on telecoms networks to live stream anything. On their second day, him and the ITV presenter attempted to go live using a Garland LiveView Box to interview Phil, however with it being such a busy event, there was too much contention on the 4G mobile network, and they struggled for signal. He said it is at these moments you wish that sat-trucks weren't so expensive and hard to navigate through big crowds!

When discussing the use of drones vs. helicopters for filming sailing, Dan said they "have to use helicopters as drones simply don't have the endurance" for filming long races such as this one. The drones also can't withstand the strong Force 5 winds of the race conditions.

To check out more of the event footage from this years race, click here!

Dan in action filming the Route Du Rhum 2018 (Source: Instagram @danwjsy)

These are just a few examples within a sport which has seen great technological evolution. It demonstrates how the film and TV industry continually adapts to the times in order to serve the sports they’re capturing, without compromising the logistics of the sports themselves. Nevertheless, despite these examples appeasing their sporting subjects, other sports have seen the media completely change ‘the beautiful game’ as mentioned in my earlier blog posts.

Interview with Daniel Wickham taken place on 6th December 2018.