LATEST WORK: Nikon D4 Project – Motion & Stills (Part 2)

I have been asked many times “Are the athletes also actors?”, usually followed by “… because they sure did do a good job on camera.”  The answer is NO. Dane Jackson, Rebecca Rusch and Alex Honnold are three of the greatest adventure athletes on the planet. All three are helping to redefine their sports by pushing the limits and going farther/faster/bolder/harder than any other humans alive. I really wanted the film to be more than just a visual montage put to music. The D4 allowed me to add the voices and stories of the athletes; really get inside their heads. I wanted them to answer the question of “Why” in their own words. In terms of our approach, the film was shot very much in a documentary style. That is to say, we did not storyboard and sketch the shots and put them on a production schedule. We went into each of the shoots with very few preconceived expectations in terms of the exact feat or setup we would be shooting. We spent three days in each of the three locations, one day scouting with the athlete and two days shooting.

In WHY, I intentionally downplayed the actual feats that we were documenting, mostly due to the time constraints for the final edit. Now, in the aftermath of the shoot, it’s certainly worth calling attention to some of the specifics. Admittedly, this will be a bit “inside the game” for those that are not climbers or kayakers. So, sorry in advance!

In the case of both Dane Jackson and Alex Honnold, we were very fortunate to have the opportunity to shoot them doing real “firsts”. At 18 years old Dane is the current Freestyle Kayaking World Champion. Though his forte is not going over huge waterfalls, as he gets older and stronger, he is beginning to eye larger and larger drops. As we spent the first day in Veracruz, Mexico, scouting and prepping to shoot, Dane’s eyes locked on Tomata Falls. Not only is it a stunning waterfall but also, would be one of the largest falls that Dane had ever run. This was exciting to me as the filmmaker, yet at the same time, nerve wracking. I’m always excited by the opportunity to document something real. I hoped we could capture that intensity, and possibly even some fear, in Dane. My nerves are tested when athletes do things that are really on the edge, especially when the situation may not be controllable or repeated. Once Dane had committed to Tomata, I knew we might only have one opportunity to shoot him running the falls. Dropping a 60+ foot waterfall subjects the kayaker to an enormous impact if their execution and entry to the pool below is not perfect. With three D4s shooting on the first drop, I knew we did not have enough content to work with. When Dane reappeared after the long hike up the trail, it was a huge relief when he announced that he was unhappy that he “boofed it” (landing flat, in kayak speak) and wanted to give it a second try.

When Alex Honnold and I discussed the Nikon D4 project several months prior, we locked in on Joshua Tree National Park. Given the area’s dry weather in late November, J-Tree seemed to be the obvious climbing location. During our first phone call, we simultaneously suggested Equinox as the climb. At 5.12c, this is a test piece in Southern California climbing. On a rope, Alex is a top climber. Without a rope (free soloing), he is in a class unto himself. If Equinox felt good with a rope, there was a high likelihood he would be up to free solo the climb. Again, much like Dane, if Alex did decide to free solo the route, we might only have one opportunity to capture the ascent. Obviously, the stakes are very high, when a fall could mean death. To our amazement, after Alex’s first lap he announced “it felt good, actually pretty easy”. He then proceeded to do it two more times in the last 20 minutes before the sun set. On the second day of shooting with Alex, the tables had turned. He climbed to the crux (the hardest section of the climb), fiddled with getting good finger jams, was not feeling it and backed down. After a 20 or 30 minute rest, he was back on the wall, did one lap and called it. I really value and respect Alex’s ability to listen to his mind and body and not allow any external forces to influence whether he climbed again or not.

I really wanted tons of unique camera movement. To accomplish this, we brought lots of gear that might not otherwise be in my kit with a smaller crew. Stowed in the many bags and cases that we traveled with were; a 15 foot custom ABC aluminum jib arm, 28 inch and 5 foot Kessler sliders, Oracle Motor, AquaTech water housing, four sets of Manfrotto sticks / fluid heads, lots of arms and clamps used to mount cameras in odd positions and the secret weapon, an R/C Octocopter with pilot and crew member Mike Hagadorn. Each time we wanted to fly the heli for a shot we would test the move first by flying a Nikon D7000 with a bit of extra weight added to the rig. We needed to be certain that, despite varied environmental factors (humidity, elevation, spray from the waterfall, etc.), the D4 prototypes would be safe in the air. For the most part our tests worked… except in Mexico on day two of the shoot!