Sachtler ™
A Vitec Group brand
Sachtler ™
A Vitec Group brand
Thomas Rist and his business partner Rene Jung of JuRiFilm have been providing services for independent filmmakers, worldwide feature films and television productions, music videos, commercials, corporate videos, broadband and podcasting since 1996. Over the years, JuRiFilm has done several successful Volkswagen and Audi projects for the Berlin-based car commercial production company United Visions. So, when Audi created their “Audi Mileage Marathon – Great American Road Trip”, it was only natural for JuRiFilm to document the journey.
Audi’s goal was to increase support and understanding of clean diesel – especially in the US, diesel engines have a bad image. To do this, Audi decided to take 23 vehicles on the road: seven Q7 clean diesels, seven Q5 TDI 3.0 automatic cars, seven Audi A4 3.0 TDI’s and two Audi A3 2.0 TDI’s. The journey took off in New York and for several weeks trekked across the United States, through Washington, Memphis, Dallas, Amarillo, Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe, Monterey, Los Angeles, and points in between – testing the cars’ efficiency. JuRiFilm captured the action.
“What looked like a single job was actually comprised of four different projects for Audi,” explains Rist. “We needed to create a half-hour documentary, a daily internet five-minute report for Audi’s web page, five short commercials for the Los Angeles Automobile Show and four seven-minute television reports. Each required a different style.” Production-wise, the challenge was to create a shooting package that could fit into a single Audi Q7, along with three crewmembers. They had to fill the needs of each segment of the project and shoot while moving. “We created more-or-less four point camera positioning,” he explains. “One on the tripod, the second on the shoulder, the third out of the roof window and the forth out of the trunk, with me sitting in the trunk.”
Rist chose a PAL format 1080 50i Sony HDCAM because most of the finished product would be placed in Europe and the format gave him a high frame rate, necessary to capturing fast moving objects and cars. The camera was mounted inside the car facing the driver and passenger positions, while Rist shot with Sony F900R cameras carrying 6.3 - 200mm Fujinon HA 16x6.3
BERM lenses. The package also included a mattebox, Panasonic BT-LH80W HD monitor, Sachtler Cine 7+7 HD with carbon legs, Video 18 SB head with a high hat and three Litepanels Mini Plus lights.
“The Sachtler Cine 7+7 HD was key to capturing the beginning of our journey,” Rist says. “I had to shoot the 23 Audi cars being brought from the facility in New Jersey to Central Park in Manhattan, some 20 miles. For safety reasons, we needed to shoot from inside the car, out of the trunk. Because of the fast adjustment capabilities of the Cine 7+7 HD head, I was able to re-adjust for the different driving situations (highway, bridges, and varying road conditions) quickly: due to the fluid head's Speedbalance technology, returning to the previous shot is easy.” Rist’s challenges began immediately. While in New York, at Broadway and Times Square, the director wanted to shoot four cars next to each other, driving slowly through the streets and in the style of normal New York City traffic. “I went for the simple solution,” says Rist. “And counted on Sachtler to help get this one-time-only shot. I put the main camera on a Sachtler head mounted on a high hat. Working with the suspension system in the car and the ability to quickly and precisely adjust the Sachtler head, we were able to capture what the director required.” Each stop along the road challenged Rist’s creativity. Sometimes it was to meld his minimal package into real on-the-road conditions, other times it was creating something out of nothing – using a Steadybag, lenses three inches from the floor, or skirting around a track, keeping out of the way of super-professional drivers who came perilously close to the camera. “No matter what situation I found myself in, I knew I could count on Sachtler to provide the support I needed,” he explains.
“You need two things to be a successful cameraman,” he says. “You need your instinct to see situations coming up and you need capable filming equipment. To serve a situation intuitively, you must have tools that you can handle intuitively as well. For me, Sachtler heads and sticks are always the quickest and most precise to handle tools to use. Over the years, I have used my Sachtler Video 18 SB, 20 SB and Cine 7+7 HD blind – without thinking. I know them so well it doesn’t take my attention away from the situation I am filming."
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