Another challenge for the StormyDog/Noggin team – how to cover a Triathlon festival on a tiny budget with of crew of just four people.
When House of Travel Triathlon Festival organiser John Newsom (of Epic Camp fame) asked us how feasible it would be to produce a programme covering the event, we were keen to be involved. Part of the purpose of the event is to help Christchurch back to a sense of normality after February’s devastating earthquakes – and this is one of the first major sporting events for ordinary people which has been organised since that happened. And given how much time Scott and Allan have spent in the city covering the earthquake and its aftermath, it was a no-brainer that we would want to help. John managed to get enough money out of the sponsors to make it work and we secured an agreement from Sky TV that they would screen it on their sports channels.
An initial recce was a bit daunting – we arrived in the middle of winter, with an icy southerly blowing in straight from Antarctica, and a lowering sky which threatened rain. The township of Pegasus is only partly built, centred on a lake with parkland surrounding it – but even the most beautiful landscape would look less than at its best in those sort of weather conditions. After risking hypothermia out on the course we had to retire to the excellent Flat White Cafe in the middle of Pegasus to warm up with a hot chocolate.
However, we now knew enough to work out roughly what was needed and in the middle of December we’ve ended up here in Christchurch again. It’s about as small a team as we think it would be possible to use covering a relatively major sports event. Annette is producing, Scott Kelso is Director of Photography and Allan and Greg Buckley are on camera. Annette and Allan came down a couple of days early to pick off some B-roll material of Pegasus itself, and to record interviews with some of the major players in the race including Olympic hopefuls Nicky Samuels and James Elvery. We’re staying in the excellent Copthorne Commodore hotel (because they’re sponsoring the race) and recording interviews there and on the premises of the Christchurch Casino (who are also major sponsors). As far as the sponsors are concerned this seems not to be about coverage as much as it is about supporting their communities during a tough time, so good on them.
It’s still a shock to walk through the streets of Christchurch. A lot of the rubble has gone now – just empty lots are left where buildings collapsed in the February earthquake. It’s like seeing missing teeth in a formerly perfect smile. But Christchurch Casino is in full working order and they find us a great place to film with sunlight illuminating a huge dust sheet (behind which the lift is being repaired) which acts as the world’s biggest softlight! It makes our athletes look very beautiful/handsome.
So, interviews in the bag, the day before the triathlon event itself, Allan and Annette pick up Scott and Greg from the airport and head out to Pegasus for a quick recce. As Scott is director, it’s good for him to have a good plan in his head of how we’re all going to work as a camera team. Allan’s going to be in a boat on the lake, covering the swim, and the parts of the run on the lakeside. Greg is going to be on a motorbike (a big, beautiful blue GoldWing) for the bike segment and a quadbike for the run segment, both driven by local man Mike Dew (who’s literally a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend and a jolly good bloke he is too). Scott will cover the transition and finish areas with two cameras.
And then it’s a case of setting up the gear for the shoot and making sure we know what we’re all supposed to be doing at any one time to ensure maximum coverage. With four cameras it takes a surprisingly long time to make sure they’re all set to the same settings (even though they’re all Sony EX1s). One of the cameras refuses to accept any changes and Scott has to talk to the company that hired it out to us to persuade it to cooperate. We all discover something new about a camera we all thought we knew backwards! In the end, everything is laid out ready to load into the car first thing in the morning – and it’s quite an impressive pile!
Next morning isn’t very inspiring as far as the weather is concerned – a bit grey and cool and there’s a strong, gusty wind. But after an excellent breakfast in the Copthorne Commodore Hotel, it’s off we go to Pegasus. We all pile into the hotel’s Subaru Forester which they lent us (they really ARE an excellent hotel!) and soon arrive in Pegasus.
As we drive into the township we spy a small zodiac inflatable on the shore line. “Hope that’s not what I’m filming from”, I say. Oh, how we laughed. And yes, of course, it turns out that it IS the vessel I’ll be filming from, but more of that later.
We hit the ground running, and soon met up with marvellous Mike Dew, who’s in charge of getting Greg and his camera around the course on his beautiful blue Goldwing motorbike, and on a slightly less beautiful but quite serviceable quadbike. He and Greg set off to practice stalking cyclists with the camera, while Scott, Annette and I set up for the rest of the coverage. Scott and Annette are going to run two camera positions in the transition area – one covering transition, one covering everything else. Meanwhile, I’m covering the swim and the run from the Zodiac, piloted by Simon Rutherford. Simon is a prince among men because as we set out on the surprisingly choppy waters of Lake Pegasus he reveals he has a flask of coffee for two. Greg has to lend me a coat as it’s cold out here on the water (lucky the male members of the Noggin/StormyDog crew appear to be largely interchangeable when it comes to clothing…)
The first race we’re covering is the Classic triathlon. This is a chance for us to rehearse the choreography of the whole event. Director Scott and Producer Annette have worked out where each camera is supposed to be any particular point in the race, but this is the first chance we have to make sure Greg and Mike can make the transfer from bike to quadbike, that I can make it from the swim finish to the run start in time and that we have useable shots for the maximum amount of time. We’ve also connected with a couple of our age-grouper interviewees, Vaughan Utteridge from Sport Canterbury, and Jackie Pye, who’s doing the Classic while her two teenage boys are racing in the Elite race. The race goes well, and technically everything seems to work.
Then we shoot our way through some of the other races while preparing for the Elite race, which is unusual in that it goes through the three triathlon disciplines twice.
So back in the boat and back on the bike go Greg and I, Scott and Annette position themselves for the start and then we’re off again. The first three disciplines go smoothly, and as race leader Nicky Samuels leaps back into the water for the swim, we’re beginning to think this may go smoothly.
And as Aurelian Lebrun begins to catch Nicky up, the boat runs out of petrol. And we drift to a stop. This now means there’s one segment of the course which we can’t now cover… and inevitably that’s the point where LeBrun overtakes Samuels.
But Greg is in position to catch them as they cover the final couple of hundred meters to the finish, and then it’s over to Scott and Annette for the final interviews. And that’s it – it’s all over, and now it’s just a case of editing about ten hours of video footage down to a final 24 minutes.
(Originally written in 2012)
You can see the finished programme (which is in three parts!) here.
Programme details
ri
Format: 16:9, 1080 25p High Definition
Duration: 24′
Producer: Annette Lee
Director: Scott Kelso
Writer/Editor: Allan Lee
Cameras: Greg Buckley, Scott Kelso, Allan Lee
Audio: Scott Gillen
Music written and performed by Nicholas Lee.
Commentary: Cameron Harper
Broadcast on Sky Sport 1
