Major Project - Race Day Shoot
Race Day Shoot
Today was an incredibly eventful day. We arrived at Brands Hatch first thing at 07:30 in the morning, once meeting George in the parking area myself, Alex's friend Jon Simes, Nick (Alex's Dad) and George began discussing the plans for the day once again. We also had UCA course peer Alex Hargood joining us at 9am so that he could help out with filming, though we didn't see much point in having him get up early enough to get to the track as early as we did given that we really wouldn't need him until the qualifying laps at 10am. I immediately picked up the Sony AX53 and rigged it on the shoulder-mount for additional stability, as well as the additional battery that I placed in my pocket in case I needed to change the battery in a pinch, though since we had access to a garage we were able to charge the batteries at lunchtime which was fortunate for the operators out on track who only had a single battery to work with.
The first order of business was for us to drive down and park up in the pitlane area which allowed us to have all of our equipment much closer to the garage/shooting area than we were used to, it also allowed us to sit in the cars with the doors shut when we needed to listen to audio from PTC's we'd recorded, or digitise footage at lunch. Once we were there we met up with Sam for the first time, accompanied by both his partner and his mother - all the while I was filming Alex on a M.S. (Mid Shot) tracking him C.O.F. (Center of Frame). Once we established the order of events for the day and introduced the rest of the crew to Sam and his family, we headed towards the reception desk so that we could all sign on as media personnel. After we were established as on-site media I accompanied Alex and Sam to the drivers' mandatory briefing where they discussed the format of the race, what each flag represents should you be issued with one and what their policy is when it came to cheating or foul-play etc. Once that was done with we had George meet up with Alex Hargood as he arrived at the track just before qualifying, during which I was based in the pitlane collecting important actuality of the garage, Sam & Alex conversing and the car itself. As part of their practice they were practicing the speed at which they could switch in and out of the car; the race they were competing in involved a mandatory pit-stop in which the drivers would either change to their partner or step outside of the vehicle, close the door, and step back in - therefore the faster drivers are capable of switching the more time they can make up when they get back out on track.
At this point I was sure to grab a clip-mic from the kit bag so that I had everything I needed in my pocket to rig someone up in preparation for a PTC segment. We had planned 3 key PTC's during this sequence - a brief chat with Sam where I ask him what qualifying actually means and how it's relevant to the race itself, a 1-3 minute interview with Alex after qualifying in which I ask how he's feeling, what's going to be going through his minds when he lines up on the grids etc, and then finally a PTC with Alex at the end of the day detailing his after-race thoughts. These were all included on the shot-list that we were working from, put together by Alex as part of his role of director. Both me and George were referencing this list constantly throughout the day, ensuring that we got all of the crucial shots that we needed for the edit, whilst simultaneously gathering as much GV's, actuality and action shots that I could on the Sony AX53. The PTC with Sam discussing Qualifying went really well. I was sure to ask him to keep his answer to a maximum of 60 seconds as we knew that we were already short on time when it came to this sequence so we didn't want to have to cut too much of what he said out. We were originally planning to have this take place while Alex was out doing his qualifying laps, however we quickly realised that the garage was far too hectic during that time and we didn't want to bother Sam too much while he was thinking about what Alex was doing, therefore we opted to shoot this PTC at lunch-time once things had died down slightly.
The race was scheduled for 15:30 and lunch was at 13:00 for reference, this gave us enough time to also carry out the PTC interview with Alex which I did as a M.S. (Mid Shot) against the garage door during the lunch-time period. This interview also went really well and Alex was surprisingly relaxed considering, though this benefited us all as we had enough time to do a second take so that we had options to play with during the edit. During lunch we called all of our operators back to the pitlane so they could have a break, have something to eat and sit down while we waited for the pre-race preparation to begin. The way racing events tend to work means that due to the different categories of race taking place across the duration of a day, things can get ahead or behind schedule, therefore altering the timings for each event. In today's case, we were running ahead of schedule, meaning the race that was scheduled for 15:30 actually began just after 15:00. We had previously agreed that Sam would start the race before pulling in somewhere between the 15-20 minute mark, at which point Alex would switch places and finish the race. This was mainly down to the fact that we wanted to get that shot of Alex crossing the finish line along with the chequered flag.
As Sam rigged himself up and Alex put his helmet on and prepared himself for the race, tensions were escalating in the pits. We sent the operators back out around the circuit about 40 minutes in advance so that they had sufficient time to prepare for the beginning of the race, with additional coordination being overlaid by myself and George through the walkie talkies. Participants of the event were called to the starting line, at which point Sam wished Alex good luck and got into the car. At this point he circled round the pitlanes and went up towards the far-end, where he would eventually enter the circuit and line up on the starting grid in the position determined by their results within qualifying. The red lights went out and race was underway, I and George were standing beside Alex in the pitlane as he watched Sam out on the straight and anticipated the upcoming pit-stop. The race seemed to be going smoothly and the excitement, at least for us operators, was ramping up. It was only when Sam pulled into the pitlane for his pit-stop that we began to realise something may be wrong.
As Sam came round Druid's Bend on one of the last laps he did, he clipped the side of the curb and immediately felt a difference in the way the car was handling. He said that he would have to turn into a corner much harder than normal in order to get where he wanted to go, and for that reason immediately pulled into the pits at the next opportunity. It was only when he got out of the car besides a confused Alex & crew that he saw the damage for himself, the front left wheel hub's top bolt had torn out of its mounting eye on the suspension strut. The uncontrolled cornering loads has bent the bottom bracket so far that it couldn't be re-seated and wouldn't have been safe enough to take back out on track. The situation wasn't at all clear in the moment however as Sam told Alex to get into the car and get strapped up as he attempted to investigate/fix the problem, however it quickly became apparent that the car wasn't going anywhere, and neither was Alex.
This was a visceral gut-punch to all of us present on the day, none more so than Alex I'm sure who not only had the worry of getting out on track and fulfilling this dream, but also fulfilling the requirements set by the university in producing a cohesive documentary with a clear beginning, middle and end. Initially both myself and George were incredibly concerned in regards to how we were going to handle this situation, both in the short and long term. Fortunately, credit to Alex who remained calm and composed throughout the entire ordeal, ensuring that we were able to step away for several minutes and figure out where we go from here. I continued getting GV's and actuality of the car, Sam and his relentless attempts to get it in working order; of course not only was this of heartbreak to him and Alex because they didn't get to finish the race, but Sam actually drives the car to and from race events, therefore he was suddenly and unexpectedly without a way home.
After things had calmed down and the race had ended, Me, Alex & George headed up to the media center to collect our thoughts and decide what to do in regards to the documentary/shot-list. We were originally planning to head to the podium ceremony following the race and hope to get footage of Alex either being recognised for his racing debut, or even being awarded with a podium finish. This of course wasn't possible given the circumstances, however we agreed that it would be worth attending the ceremony regardless, in which I recorded as much material as possible so that we could craft an ending out of whatever we had. We discussed options about how we're going to end the documentary, however this will obviously develop in the coming days. For now, we're focusing on potentially re-organising a second race opportunity over the next couple of weeks, though everything is currently up in the air.
We've reached out to our course leader to try and get another perspective on the issue, unfortunately he's unavailable because of the Easter holidays, so we're likely going to have to figure this one out on our own. Everyone we've spoken to up to this point has been positive, and have emphasised how unexpected the events of today would be from a viewer's perspective, though it's hard to avoid the idea of this being a colossal anti-climax, given how much we tie everything else in the documentary to the race sequence at the end.
Time will tell.
Today was an incredibly eventful day. We arrived at Brands Hatch first thing at 07:30 in the morning, once meeting George in the parking area myself, Alex's friend Jon Simes, Nick (Alex's Dad) and George began discussing the plans for the day once again. We also had UCA course peer Alex Hargood joining us at 9am so that he could help out with filming, though we didn't see much point in having him get up early enough to get to the track as early as we did given that we really wouldn't need him until the qualifying laps at 10am. I immediately picked up the Sony AX53 and rigged it on the shoulder-mount for additional stability, as well as the additional battery that I placed in my pocket in case I needed to change the battery in a pinch, though since we had access to a garage we were able to charge the batteries at lunchtime which was fortunate for the operators out on track who only had a single battery to work with.
The first order of business was for us to drive down and park up in the pitlane area which allowed us to have all of our equipment much closer to the garage/shooting area than we were used to, it also allowed us to sit in the cars with the doors shut when we needed to listen to audio from PTC's we'd recorded, or digitise footage at lunch. Once we were there we met up with Sam for the first time, accompanied by both his partner and his mother - all the while I was filming Alex on a M.S. (Mid Shot) tracking him C.O.F. (Center of Frame). Once we established the order of events for the day and introduced the rest of the crew to Sam and his family, we headed towards the reception desk so that we could all sign on as media personnel. After we were established as on-site media I accompanied Alex and Sam to the drivers' mandatory briefing where they discussed the format of the race, what each flag represents should you be issued with one and what their policy is when it came to cheating or foul-play etc. Once that was done with we had George meet up with Alex Hargood as he arrived at the track just before qualifying, during which I was based in the pitlane collecting important actuality of the garage, Sam & Alex conversing and the car itself. As part of their practice they were practicing the speed at which they could switch in and out of the car; the race they were competing in involved a mandatory pit-stop in which the drivers would either change to their partner or step outside of the vehicle, close the door, and step back in - therefore the faster drivers are capable of switching the more time they can make up when they get back out on track.
At this point I was sure to grab a clip-mic from the kit bag so that I had everything I needed in my pocket to rig someone up in preparation for a PTC segment. We had planned 3 key PTC's during this sequence - a brief chat with Sam where I ask him what qualifying actually means and how it's relevant to the race itself, a 1-3 minute interview with Alex after qualifying in which I ask how he's feeling, what's going to be going through his minds when he lines up on the grids etc, and then finally a PTC with Alex at the end of the day detailing his after-race thoughts. These were all included on the shot-list that we were working from, put together by Alex as part of his role of director. Both me and George were referencing this list constantly throughout the day, ensuring that we got all of the crucial shots that we needed for the edit, whilst simultaneously gathering as much GV's, actuality and action shots that I could on the Sony AX53. The PTC with Sam discussing Qualifying went really well. I was sure to ask him to keep his answer to a maximum of 60 seconds as we knew that we were already short on time when it came to this sequence so we didn't want to have to cut too much of what he said out. We were originally planning to have this take place while Alex was out doing his qualifying laps, however we quickly realised that the garage was far too hectic during that time and we didn't want to bother Sam too much while he was thinking about what Alex was doing, therefore we opted to shoot this PTC at lunch-time once things had died down slightly.
The race was scheduled for 15:30 and lunch was at 13:00 for reference, this gave us enough time to also carry out the PTC interview with Alex which I did as a M.S. (Mid Shot) against the garage door during the lunch-time period. This interview also went really well and Alex was surprisingly relaxed considering, though this benefited us all as we had enough time to do a second take so that we had options to play with during the edit. During lunch we called all of our operators back to the pitlane so they could have a break, have something to eat and sit down while we waited for the pre-race preparation to begin. The way racing events tend to work means that due to the different categories of race taking place across the duration of a day, things can get ahead or behind schedule, therefore altering the timings for each event. In today's case, we were running ahead of schedule, meaning the race that was scheduled for 15:30 actually began just after 15:00. We had previously agreed that Sam would start the race before pulling in somewhere between the 15-20 minute mark, at which point Alex would switch places and finish the race. This was mainly down to the fact that we wanted to get that shot of Alex crossing the finish line along with the chequered flag.
As Sam rigged himself up and Alex put his helmet on and prepared himself for the race, tensions were escalating in the pits. We sent the operators back out around the circuit about 40 minutes in advance so that they had sufficient time to prepare for the beginning of the race, with additional coordination being overlaid by myself and George through the walkie talkies. Participants of the event were called to the starting line, at which point Sam wished Alex good luck and got into the car. At this point he circled round the pitlanes and went up towards the far-end, where he would eventually enter the circuit and line up on the starting grid in the position determined by their results within qualifying. The red lights went out and race was underway, I and George were standing beside Alex in the pitlane as he watched Sam out on the straight and anticipated the upcoming pit-stop. The race seemed to be going smoothly and the excitement, at least for us operators, was ramping up. It was only when Sam pulled into the pitlane for his pit-stop that we began to realise something may be wrong.
As Sam came round Druid's Bend on one of the last laps he did, he clipped the side of the curb and immediately felt a difference in the way the car was handling. He said that he would have to turn into a corner much harder than normal in order to get where he wanted to go, and for that reason immediately pulled into the pits at the next opportunity. It was only when he got out of the car besides a confused Alex & crew that he saw the damage for himself, the front left wheel hub's top bolt had torn out of its mounting eye on the suspension strut. The uncontrolled cornering loads has bent the bottom bracket so far that it couldn't be re-seated and wouldn't have been safe enough to take back out on track. The situation wasn't at all clear in the moment however as Sam told Alex to get into the car and get strapped up as he attempted to investigate/fix the problem, however it quickly became apparent that the car wasn't going anywhere, and neither was Alex.
This was a visceral gut-punch to all of us present on the day, none more so than Alex I'm sure who not only had the worry of getting out on track and fulfilling this dream, but also fulfilling the requirements set by the university in producing a cohesive documentary with a clear beginning, middle and end. Initially both myself and George were incredibly concerned in regards to how we were going to handle this situation, both in the short and long term. Fortunately, credit to Alex who remained calm and composed throughout the entire ordeal, ensuring that we were able to step away for several minutes and figure out where we go from here. I continued getting GV's and actuality of the car, Sam and his relentless attempts to get it in working order; of course not only was this of heartbreak to him and Alex because they didn't get to finish the race, but Sam actually drives the car to and from race events, therefore he was suddenly and unexpectedly without a way home.
After things had calmed down and the race had ended, Me, Alex & George headed up to the media center to collect our thoughts and decide what to do in regards to the documentary/shot-list. We were originally planning to head to the podium ceremony following the race and hope to get footage of Alex either being recognised for his racing debut, or even being awarded with a podium finish. This of course wasn't possible given the circumstances, however we agreed that it would be worth attending the ceremony regardless, in which I recorded as much material as possible so that we could craft an ending out of whatever we had. We discussed options about how we're going to end the documentary, however this will obviously develop in the coming days. For now, we're focusing on potentially re-organising a second race opportunity over the next couple of weeks, though everything is currently up in the air.
We've reached out to our course leader to try and get another perspective on the issue, unfortunately he's unavailable because of the Easter holidays, so we're likely going to have to figure this one out on our own. Everyone we've spoken to up to this point has been positive, and have emphasised how unexpected the events of today would be from a viewer's perspective, though it's hard to avoid the idea of this being a colossal anti-climax, given how much we tie everything else in the documentary to the race sequence at the end.
Time will tell.
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