making of a movie shot

These are the different steps of the creation of ONE shot in 16mm film for the new Pirate movie.


With the 16mm we are not far from cinema, by the way Clement Maillet also works for cinema during the summer. No sound-recording possible and it is never possible to check the rushs before the final numerisation. Each 3 minutes roll costs around 150euros each, so at this rythem you better have riders that stomp landings really often !
This also explains why 16mm movies have a cruel lack of sounds and funny lifestyle during the sessions. But now let`s get into the subject would ya ?

A usual day of snowfall in Austria. Jocki Köffler goes out filming with Clement in Leogang.

pic1 : A short lift-up and the small crew gets lost in the woods almost only known by the pirates and the locals.

pic2 : The way to the spot is not always easy. Clement brakes a tree or two to access to the chosen point of view.

pic3 : Onspot you have to pack the snow and create a platform to have a large and fluent camera move. For sure you dont wanna have your feet diving down of 20cm in the middle of the trick.

pic4 : During this time, Jocki who arrived at the top of the pillow line packs-up a little starter in LOADS of pow.

pic5 : A precise focus if, of course, always important.

pic6 : Rewinding the camera´s engine, indeed this Bolex is all mechanic.

pic7 : Metering of the light in order to have the roll perfectly exposed.

pic8 : There we go, Jocki is ready. That is what you see through the lense. A little bump in the move and the shot will be fucked-up... Jocki screams a big "OK. DROPPING IN TEN !". He takes his speed, throws a big half-cab of the grand`pa´s.

pic9 : He drops, doesnt move the arms too much, lands good... Clement confirms that he was well in the frame : THATS IT ! WE GOT A SHOT ! "YEAH DUDE !". It was a first-track-or-nothing spot.

We finally have our shot here, we can move to another spot and re-do it all again, again and again. The Pirates have five crews with 20 riders traveling all around the world to produce 40 minutes of tricks for the upcoming snowboard DVD out this fall.

words and photos by Jerome Tanon