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i may be nuts, but i sure enjoyed "On Any Sunday". 

i daydream sometimes regarding what combination of human interest could bind together some compelling photography and result in an audience experience that would both entertain and educate.  such a project would lose money of course, but if i had that money to lose i'd like nothing better than to track the national tour for a year, and gather the stories and footage from which a tale could be spun.

doing an event justice would be somewhat intrusive of course, and would require the cooperation of the SCCA, but if Ferrari could be woed successfully by Frankenheimer (Grand Prix) then i bet there'd be a way.

multiple fixed cameras (minimum of four) and some hand helds, and the need for very high speed photography would make the effort a traveling circus i reckon.

but damn it would certainly be a labor of love...if done right a cult classic for a pretty small cult!

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Charlie Thompson
'04 JCW Cooper [STX]
NER Cannon Fodder

I would buy a copy, Charlie. That's one copy..... :)

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Jay Storm
96 Impreza L FSP
98 98 Impreza 2.5RS- co-driver DSP
Wives are like SCCA rules...
If she doesn't say you can...you can't

Or a Deadliest catch style show.  There certainly enough colorful personalities to at least make it funny as heck.

If it'd got to do with autocross I would be down for a copy.

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Want to go faster, please send money.

Joe_914:

Or a Deadliest catch style show.  There certainly enough colorful personalities to at least make it funny as heck.

Very true.  Heck, I'd watch Deadliest Cone.

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#12 STS 2007 Scion tC
#24 ITS/DSP 1991 Nissan 240SX

i'm thinking about the "Two Roads to Baja" format I saw recently - tracking one low buck team, and one contender - substitute Topeka for Baja

the contender thread would serve the drama, the hundredths of a second, and the high speed photography (it is beautiful when done right)

the low buck thread would be someone running on a regional shoestring that makes the pilgramage for the first time - a very different kind of drama, and one that makes the accessibility of the sport evident

the overall punch line would be akin to that 8 minute video - to wit, this is serious racing, safe, and addictive! (and full of diverse folks)

just watching the DSP battle brewing up here in the Northeast makes me wish even harder...

 

 

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Charlie Thompson
'04 JCW Cooper [STX]
NER Cannon Fodder

with Rob's kind permission, I am posting a PM thread on this topic - for your dining and dancing pleasure:

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PM thread with ccytrader (with Rob's permission)

Your video idea

Hey Charlie, I saw your post about the traveling circus type production to document a seasons worth of NT events.  I was curious how much thought you had put into it and what kind of ideas you had.  I was thinking about this and ways to bootstrap it but not really sacrifice quality.  I think it would be possible to get a nationwide company like United Rentals to offer up a few scissor type lifts for each weekend to give birds eye viewpoints for video and/or photography stands.  Figure most of their rentals on the more construction type equipment are done Mon-Fri and anything on weekends would be a bonus.  I think if done correctly, it could be done for a fair price and the benefits would be huge.  With some basic sponsorship you could probably even offer up some live feeds online.  The guys who took 1st this year on One Lap in Mid Price Sedan are from my region and they had live feeds on a website throughout the weeks travel.  I am sure they could offer up some info about acquiring help in that department.

 I think what the SCCA needs is yet another committee.  Perhaps organizing a group around the country to look at what works and what doesnt.  And given the group would be so widespread, some sort of online situation for communication that is set apart from the masses on the forums here would be needed.

 

Rob
 
Rob S.
116 FS 2008 Ford Mustang Bullitt

Central Carolina Region 

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 05/19/2008, 2:09 PM 300954 in reply to 300678 

 cmt52663

 Re: Your video idea

Rob,

Thanks for your reply.

I wish I had some muscle to move forward on this concept - however I'm an unemployed IT type with no contacts or background in the world of production.

My post was intended to provoke others, and I expected one of three results... (in order of likelihood)

1. a polite rejoinder that would introduce me to the last such effort, and its fate

2. no response whatsoever, as the notion I raise could be completely half-baked

3. a stirring of interest from I don't know who!

 

I rather suspect that such a project would need to begin with a business plan, including at least:

> the concept, format, duration, and a framework for the finished production (rough)

> an initial exploration of logistics, leading to a budget

> a clear specification of the target market, and the potential investors that would be interested in that market

 

If enough folks call my bluff I might be provoked into having a stab at that plan in draft, but there is no doubt in my mind that I'm not the best person to try and drive forward.

I'll lay low for a while longer and see what ripples occur on this topic in the next while - we shall see!

Part of my fascination for this project arises from watching Paul and Lynne Kozlak dance an IROC camaro through a tight course at NHMS.  I watched with such intensity that I can still replay parts of their runs in my head.  If I could put that type of performance in super-slow motion on a screen I reckon it would have some real impact.  Have you seen an F1 car in super-slow motion bouncing off the curbs through a chicane?  It is poetry, physics and courage in one stunning image.

The harder part though is to get the story line correct, as the essence of the sport is the people, not their machines.

Feel free to pour gas on this little fire, or indeed to challange and debunk these initial thoughts.  More debate is the best course for now I do believe.

Cheers,

Charlie

Charlie Thompson
'04 JCW Cooper [STX]
NER Cannon Fodder 
 
 
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 05/21/2008, 4:20 PM 301474 in reply to 300954 

 ccytrader
 
 Re: Your video idea

Well I think you are spot on with the idea personally, as well as your thoughts about how reactions can/will go.  It is undoubtedly a huge undertaking because things are so spread out over the course of the year.  As of now I have way too many projects going on to immediately offer up any major help beyond the random ideas that may pop into my warped mind.  However, as/if things clear up I would be more than willing to help in any way I can.

Rob S.
116 FS 2008 Ford Mustang Bullitt

Central Carolina Region 
 

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 05/21/2008, 5:47 PM 301500 in reply to 301474 

 cmt52663

 Re: Your video idea

Thanks Rob - for now all I could suggest is that perhaps I could take our PM thread and add it as a public post?  Perhaps over time it will percolate and gather momentum...

Would that be alright with you?

 

Charlie Thompson
'04 JCW Cooper [STX]
NER Cannon Fodder 
 
 

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 3 hours, 43 minutes ago 302643 in reply to 301500 

 ccytrader

 Re: Your video idea

Charlie sorry for taking so long to get back to you, prepping and whatnot for Atlanta NT took all my freaking time!!  Thats fine with me if we put it into the public eyes.

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Rob S.
116 FS 2008 Ford Mustang Bullitt

Central Carolina Region 
 

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Charlie Thompson
'04 JCW Cooper [STX]
NER Cannon Fodder

There is a person who made a movie about the racecars  he had painted and was choosing  for the Sundance  film fest. I think the film name was Mine Life With Sportscar. He is from Milwaukee.

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MIKE MACHI
CREW CHIEF
USGUYS RACING
IM IN SHAPE! ROUND IS A SHAPE.

cmt52663:

i may be nuts, but i sure enjoyed "On Any Sunday". 

No...you love that movie because it is amazing!

I think that SOLO is a really good candidate for an On any Sunday type flick. I would buy tickets/dvds in a heartbeat... I promise that I would not just get it off of bittorrent...

Solo and TV isn't a new topic. I've spoken about ProSolo and TV for the last couple years and a PR friend of mine has been trying to drum up support for it.

But that's not new. Even the SEB had thoughts about it. I had to dig this up, but in the April '89 Auto-X magazine, part three of the "SEB, Behind the Scenes" reports that the SEB thinks TV and ProSolo would be a good match for both parties.

Rereading those articles, I wish GRM still reported on the SCCA like that. I wish the SEB/CRB/BOD would allow themselves to be interviewed like that. 

Funny quote from Howard Duncan, "He likens SEB membership to smoking: you cough and hack, but it's so addictive that you keep on lighting up." 

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Aut tace aut loquere meliora silentio.

modernbeat:

Solo and TV isn't a new topic. I've spoken about ProSolo and TV for the last couple years and a PR friend of mine has been trying to drum up support for it.

But that's not new. Even the SEB had thoughts about it. I had to dig this up, but in the April '89 Auto-X magazine, part three of the "SEB, Behind the Scenes" reports that the SEB thinks TV and ProSolo would be a good match for both parties.

Rereading those articles, I wish GRM still reported on the SCCA like that. I wish the SEB/CRB/BOD would allow themselves to be interviewed like that. 

Funny quote from Howard Duncan, "He likens SEB membership to smoking: you cough and hack, but it's so addictive that you keep on lighting up." 

rotflmao on the Duncan quote, and thanks for the history lesson - you confirm my faith in the creative and resourceful members of the organization

i figgered that somewhere, someone, had been there and done that

i stand behind my interest though..  present tense

(that and the better part of a sawbuck will get you a cup of coffee - at least in Boston)

however, i was not brave enough to visualize any video of a serial nature - more of a one off...   getting a recurring slot is setting the bar pretty high in my view.

any business plan in view on any such effort, serial or otherwise?  was the concept rebuked by the short list of possible advertizing sponsors?  is there a RIP marker in view?

Thanks,

Charlie

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Charlie Thompson
'04 JCW Cooper [STX]
NER Cannon Fodder

FWIW, I would lend some corp support.  We helped the two roads series...

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2006 Noble M400 (E-Mod?)
CHASECAM the global leader in motorsport video acqusition. We innovate, not copy or import. Official supplier to SCCA Pro Racing. Sponsor for SCCA ProSolo. Supplier to MazdaSpeed, V8Supercars, etc.

Joe_914:

Or a Deadliest catch style show.  There certainly enough colorful personalities to at least make it funny as heck.

If it'd got to do with autocross I would be down for a copy.

Mr. Lehman, I am impoverished without your views sir ---

Cheers,

Charlie

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Charlie Thompson
'04 JCW Cooper [STX]
NER Cannon Fodder

modernbeat:

Solo and TV isn't a new topic. I've spoken about ProSolo and TV for the last couple years and a PR friend of mine has been trying to drum up support for it.

But that's not new. Even the SEB had thoughts about it. I had to dig this up, but in the April '89 Auto-X magazine, part three of the "SEB, Behind the Scenes" reports that the SEB thinks TV and ProSolo would be a good match for both parties. 

I can't see how a ProSolo shootout is any less exciting than drag racing, and they put that on TV.  We could actually generate a pretty good amount of TV-able footage if all the Pros went to the Doublecross run format and ran qualifying shootouts.  If we could rig a format where the cars started on the outside and finished in the middle the finishes would be pretty exciting to watch.

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Dave Heinig

07 GXP Z0K (Thanks Rob!)

DaveH:

modernbeat:

Solo and TV isn't a new topic. I've spoken about ProSolo and TV for the last couple years and a PR friend of mine has been trying to drum up support for it.

But that's not new. Even the SEB had thoughts about it. I had to dig this up, but in the April '89 Auto-X magazine, part three of the "SEB, Behind the Scenes" reports that the SEB thinks TV and ProSolo would be a good match for both parties. 

I can't see how a ProSolo shootout is any less exciting than drag racing, and they put that on TV.  We could actually generate a pretty good amount of TV-able footage if all the Pros went to the Doublecross run format and ran qualifying shootouts.  If we could rig a format where the cars started on the outside and finished in the middle the finishes would be pretty exciting to watch.

I was thinking of a project that would result in one hour of finished video, as opposed to a series.  Call me cautious, but I don't think our demographics are comparable to the IHRA or NHRA.

Should it prove feasible to produce one hour, the experience would certainly be illustrative with regard to the notion of a series.

Crawl, walk, run ?

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Charlie Thompson
'04 JCW Cooper [STX]
NER Cannon Fodder

I've produced video for over 20 years now and every time I think about how to make this work I run into the same Catch-22....

1) You need more time between runs for the camera crews to setup, (switch in-car cameras, interview drivers, etc...).  

2) The extra time between runs causes the events to run much longer and people complain about the tv crews ruining the sport.

 

I'm not an expert on this subject as my experience has been with making local 30 second television commercials and long format corporate videos.  But I have a lot of experience with the technology involved and with enough equipment and budget, it could be done.   The tricky part is following all the different stories spread amongst the various classes.  There's almost no way to avoid missing something.   You'd have to be happy with getting say 50% of the action.

This is something I've always dreamed of doing, but never wanted to take the financial risk.  I'm not much of a risk taker.  :)

I have thought about putting together a weekly or monthly autocross oriented audio Podcast.  We could interview the top drivers, etc...   But again, I chickened out due to time constraints, etc...   I have the equipment/experience to pull something like that off. 

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2007 Mazda MX-5 MRS (C-stock)

there speaks the voice of experience - any approach that raises hell with events would be doomed i reckon

would a "Two Roads" approach mitigate that d'ya reckon?  control the scope a bit?

trying to capture all aspects of an event with equal depth does seem too daunting, i agree completely!

but i should think that if one could find a willing victim from the top rank of drivers, and another from the second tier (regional) that a story could be constructed using only a few NT events that would still set the stage for topeka (or wherever :0) )

i still look at this top down - beginning with a consensus on goal(s) and scope that would be (1) appropriate to the SCCA, (2) beneficial at least to some degree to the Public Safety community, and (3) potentially of interest to a few corporations

i wonder if your experience with video includes any use of high speed technology, and if you've any sense of the cubic sums required to even begin to address a single event - given some scope assumptions...

 

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Charlie Thompson
'04 JCW Cooper [STX]
NER Cannon Fodder

I think the "Two-Roads" approach while doable, you run the risk of ending up with two boring stories (again, I don't have a lot of experience with this....it's just a guess).  The people that are going to view a show like this are going to want to see in depth coverage of the "highlights".  

High-speed camera technology is evolving very rapidly right now.  At the NAB convention last April, manufactures release cameras capable of shooting 1080p video at 9000 frames per second.  But those are going to be expensive cameras, even to rent.   The good news is that there are now a lot of options for cameras that shoot 60 fps (30 fps has been the norm for years).   So even at just 60 fps you can cut the speed in half and it still looks fluid.  I would guess that would be good enough for what we're looking for.  

Personally I think camera placement and having a large number of cameras would be more important.  I always thought an overhead camera would be especially slick where you could overlay 2 runs to compare the different lines, speeds in corners, etc...   Like they have done with downhill skiing events. 

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2007 Mazda MX-5 MRS (C-stock)

You're definitely on to something.  Several fixed cameras to cover the racing, one manned camera at the start and one at the finish, plus two 2-man camera/reporter teams running around grid would get you a decent amount of footage.  One guy watching the scoreboard could direct your camera teams to  the guys duking out at the top of classes.  You can then cut and splice after the event to tell your stories.  At a Pro it would be difficult to talk to drivers due to time constraints, but at a Tour you could probably find the time.  The 2-drivers are the busiest, but there's still time to answer questions and grab a 30-second sound byte here or there.  Just eavesdropping on co-driver discussions could make some good video.

FWIW, my last run at the Atlanta Pro would have made for some pretty good TV.  The last set of runs between me and Paul Kozlak at Devens would have been pretty good too, although I didn't like the ending of that one as much. 

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Dave Heinig

07 GXP Z0K (Thanks Rob!)

DaveH:

...At a Pro it would be difficult to talk to drivers due to time constraints, but at a Tour you could probably find the time.  The 2-drivers are the busiest, but there's still time to answer questions and grab a 30-second sound byte here or there. ...

You don't talk to the drivers until after the runs. Have a knowledgeable commentator from within the Solo community talk to the host/camera about what successes and boo-boos the drivers are making during their sets of runs.    

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Aut tace aut loquere meliora silentio.

I wouldn't have any unmanned cameras.  The cars move to fast for them to be static.  Maybe the overhead camera could be static (if it's even possible....helicopter?)

You would probably interview drivers after their runs, but if appropriate you might interview them before as well.  Lots of different options here.  

This is fun to talk about, but I have no idea how you would garner the funds/SCCA support/etc...to make it happen. 

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2007 Mazda MX-5 MRS (C-stock)