CROSSING THE FINISH: ATHLETE Director Dave's Blog

A bit under the weather. It's been a busy few days with the film and life outside of it.



Monday night - Attended the annual Achilles benefit dinner at the New York Athletic Club. I filmed at last year's event. It was nice to be an attendee this time around. Many thanks to the amazing (and generous) Nora. It was fun to wear a suit and tie.




Tuesday morning - Stopped by the first day of the ING New York City Marathon press conference.




Tuesday night - Dressed up as Jason for the Friday the 13th office Halloween party. I have a new-found respect for the guy who plays Pluto at Disney World.

Wednesday night - Rest and recover because "business is about to pick up" over the next three days.

Zzzz...

DLM
athletemovie.com

SUBSCRIBE TO BLOG: RSS + Email | SHOP: ATHLETE Movie Store

Posted by DLM at 11:40 PM | Permalink

I received a pretty cool email from a runner and cancer research scientist in Seattle. His name is Thomas and he's running New York City next Sunday on behalf of Team Continuum. It's a non-profit that raises funds for cancer patient care programs at leading treatment centers including Columbia, Beth Israel, and NYU.




Dear David,

I’m running the NYC marathon this year for Team Continuum. My colleague told me about your upcoming documentary “Athlete”. I checked out the trailer and your interview by Plum TV. Pretty neat stuff and I look forward to seeing the documentary in 2008.

Regards,

Thomas
Seattle, WA

Thanks for the email Thomas and best of luck next Sunday.




To learn how you can support a Team Continuum athlete or become one yourself, check out their site at TeamContinuum.net.

DLM
athletemovie.com

SUBSCRIBE TO BLOG: RSS + Email | SHOP: ATHLETE Movie Store

Posted by DLM at 03:15 AM | Permalink

Had a pretty incredible meal tonight at WD-50 in the city. Have to admit I was both curious and skeptical about the food. The restaurant is known for its use of non-traditional techniques (liquid nitrogen, ultrasonic waves) and ingredients (xanthan gum, carrageenan) in preparing its dishes. The fancy term for this is molecular gastronomy (I know that's a mouthful).




I had the Wagyu beef with coffee gnocchi and fried butterscotch pudding for dessert. Highly recommend them both. Definitely a memorable experience and a nice change from the usual chicken soft tacos I get from the Chinese-Mexican restaurant around the corner.




Thanks again Erin and Leanne for dinner!

DLM

athletemovie.com

SUBSCRIBE TO BLOG: RSS + Email | SHOP: ATHLETE Movie Store

Posted by DLM at 02:08 AM | Permalink

I spent early Tuesday morning with athlete and cancer survivor Jenny browsing through her collection of old photos. Believe it or not, this was the first time I had ever seen pictures of Jenny as a cancer patient since I started filming her in April of this year.




Up until this point, the Jenny I've gotten to know has been a young, energetic, and vibrant person. So it was definitely an eye-opener to see her in her "darkest moments" during cancer treatment. But for me those photos really do put everything in perspective and make Jenny's athletic achievements that much more impressive (and inspiring).

The stunning black and white photos of Jenny pictured above were taken by photographer Lance Cheshire during her cancer treatment five years ago.

DLM

athletemovie.com

SUBSCRIBE TO BLOG: RSS + Email | SHOP: ATHLETE Movie Store

Posted by DLM at 12:23 AM | Permalink

With the big race less than two weeks away, marathon madness has begun. On my way to catch a train at Union Square tonight, I came across an impressive Asics ad campaign that covered much of the station underground. Check it out.










DLM

athletemovie.com

SUBSCRIBE TO BLOG: RSS + Email | SHOP: ATHLETE Movie Store

Posted by DLM at 10:45 PM | Permalink

That's what the last four nights at home have felt like without Internet connection. The horror. The cause was a shoddy modem that I ended up replacing. Good to be back on the World Wide Web again. Here's a recap of the week so far:




Sunday night -- Met with athlete Artie and his wife Susan to review family photos dating back to the 1940's. Some incredible images. Excited about the opportunity to tell a story that will span over six decades.

Wednesday night -- Met with athlete Jenny to film some additional footage for her story. Got some great NYC night shots.




Thursday night -- Caught a special screening of Sydney Lumet's Before the Devil Knows You're Dead in TriBeCa. Good film. But I did leave feeling like I'd just woken from a bad, bad dream. A real punch in the gut, but worth checking out for the performances.

DLM

athletemovie.com

SUBSCRIBE TO BLOG: RSS + Email | SHOP: ATHLETE Movie Store

Posted by DLM at 12:23 AM | Permalink

I sat down tonight to begin editing the opening credits and realized I was missing something. The first thing that appears on the timeline of my video editing software is the animation for Gare du Nord Pictures (the logo with the moving train). What I was missing were the sound effects for the train, which I never had the chance to record. This may seem trivial but it is the very first thing audiences will see and hear.




So I spent an hour online browsing through a catalog of locomotive sound effects to try to find the perfect match. Not an easy task when there are over 500 to choose from on Sonomic.com (like iTunes but for sound effects). There are sounds for subways, freight trains, trolleys, trains passing left to right, right to left (you get the idea).

In the end I managed to find one that matched the animation and had the right sound I was looking for. So when you eventually watch ATHLETE you'll know nothing on this film came easy. Not even the 15-second intro.




By the way, one of the most common questions I get is "what is Gare du Nord?" It's the northern train station in Paris and the first thing I saw on my first trip to Paris four years ago. For me it was a "wow moment" (yup, that's an actual photo from that moment). One where I realized there's a whole 'nother world out there. And so I wanted a name that conveyed that feeling and idea for me and would reflect the kind of films I want to make -- ones with hopefully a few wow moments in them.

DLM

athletemovie.com

SUBSCRIBE TO BLOG: RSS + Email | SHOP: ATHLETE Movie Store

Posted by DLM at 03:33 AM | Permalink

Ever since I saw the trailer for Anton Corbijn's Control a few months back I couldn't wait to see it. The film is about Ian Curtis, the lead singer of the English rock band Joy Division, a group I had never heard of prior to seeing the trailer. But I was surprised to discover the many connections the band has with some of my favorite artists and songs.




After Curtis' suicide in 1980, the remaining band members formed New Order. Joy Division's unique sound has influenced countless groups over the last two decades including one of my favorites Interpol. And then there's the song "New Dawn Fades" which I first heard on the soundtrack for Michael Mann's Heat (performed by Moby), which happens to be an original Joy Division track.




Corbijn's film is sad and dark, but it's also filled with the kind of energy found in many of the group's songs. It's a solid piece of work that I can't wait to watch again on DVD. Control happens to be his first feature film. Corbijn is best known as a photographer who has photographed countless rock bands and has designed many iconic album covers for the likes of U2 and Depeche Mode.

DLM

athletemovie.com

SUBSCRIBE TO BLOG: RSS + Email | SHOP: ATHLETE Movie Store

Posted by DLM at 06:25 PM | Permalink

Shot the remaining scenes I needed for the opening credits tonight at the American Express headquarters in lower Manhattan (thank you amazing Nora). It wasn't nearly as complicated as last Sunday's Tour de Manhattan but filming the scenes inside the gym presented its own set of challenges. Like how many aerobic steppers do we need to get that overhead shot? Or how do I shoot this so my giant head isn't showing up in the mirrors?




But besides that everything turned out great. Now the real work begins. Edit. Edit. Edit.

DLM

athletemovie.com

SUBSCRIBE TO BLOG: RSS + Email | SHOP: ATHLETE Movie Store

Posted by DLM at 03:58 AM | Permalink

Just got back from Hiro Ballroom. I can't remember the last time I went clubbing (let alone on a Thursday night). It's been a while. But I stopped by Hiro for a few hours to check out Moby deejay at the club. I've been working on the opening credits for the past week, which features a track by Moby, and thought this would be a well-deserved break and a good source of inspiration. And it was.




It's amazing how much my environment has changed since filming wrapped. I went from hanging out at marathon expos and eating dinners at truck stops to hanging out at a club on a Thursday night and drinking vodka tonics. Who says filmmaking isn't fun?



DLM

athletemovie.com

SUBSCRIBE TO BLOG: RSS + Email | SHOP: ATHLETE Movie Store

Posted by DLM at 02:34 AM | Permalink

This past Sunday's episode of Shootout on AMC had a good interview with Todd Haynes, the director of the new Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There, which features multiple actors playing the singer at different stages of his career.

In the interview he discusses how the storytelling structure of films in the biopic genre are always the same. "One size fits all." Regardless of who the picture is about. That served as an inspiration for his unique vision in telling Dylan's story in the film.





I think the same can be said about sports films. Whether it's a movie about football, basketball, or even BASEketball, the ending usually involves an underdog scoring the game winning three-pointer, touchdown, or homerun. The formula is a bit stale.

I think it's time to defy definition.

DLM

athletemovie.com

SUBSCRIBE TO BLOG: RSS + Email | SHOP: ATHLETE Movie Store

Posted by DLM at 01:04 AM | Permalink

Even though filming on ATHLETE wrapped a few weeks ago, there are still a few things I need to shoot during post production. One is a small little piece called the opening credits sequence, which I shot most of early Sunday morning in the city.




To be honest I was pretty nervous going into it. After spending an entire year of just turning on the camera and letting reality happen, it was challenging to have to plan out every single detail for this shoot (which is what I've been doing for the last four weeks). Important things like where the camera needs to be, to scouting the right locations to film at the right time of day.




I think what also made this nerve-wracking was the idea of filming seven different scenes on the streets of New York in the early morning hours; when anything can happen between the weather and unruly club-goers (drunks). Fortunately, after a gruelling four hours, I managed to get some terrific shots without a single incident.




Of course none of this would have been possible without the amazing Nora, who is a part of athlete Artie's Achilles team, and played the role of "everyday female athlete" in the shoot. And there was our incredibly patient driver Ali who drove us around the city and waited for us all morning long. Thank you both very much!

DLM

athletemovie.com

SUBSCRIBE TO BLOG: RSS + Email | SHOP: ATHLETE Movie Store

Posted by DLM at 02:30 AM | Permalink