This summer marked some new territory and film making challenges for our fig films team: Filming sailing regattas. Director Melissa Martens talks about the challenges of filming out on the water.

Growing up in Chicago, Lake Michigan has been a big part of my summers.  From driving up the coasts and hanging out on beaches to admiring the water as I drove down lake shore drive; I thought I had experienced just about all there was to being on the lake. That was until this summer presented an opportunity I had not considered. Filming a sailing regatta.

Talks began early summer with the 102nd sponsor of The Race to Mackinac, Veuve Clicquot on making a documentary about the race.

Fig media had a longstanding partnership with the Moet Hennesy brands that lead us into a new territory. When old client that got a new position with the Cliquot brand, she called us to consult on a new project. Producers James Gustin and Andrew Ettenofer saw an opportunity to develop relationship with Clicquot and build a great documentary story. James’ vision was to create a documentary on the culture and parties surrounding the race- making a cinematic branded documentary that people would want to watch and pass around. What better backdrop then a 102 year old race?

Fast forward to July. Since that first meeting, I have spent a total of three and a half weeks on the water of lake Michigan over the course of two months. When I first learned we were going to go out on sailboats with crews, I knew I wanted to bring in our amazing director of photography, Tim Musho. He has a great eye for seeing scenes in a way that I am continually inspired by. So he and I went out on Mojo our first night out. We learned so much. The night ended with me hanging off the back end of the boat, praying for land.

Tip # 1: Don’t look through your camera the ENTIRE time you are on a boat or you will get sea sick.

Thank god for Tim that night. I have a new found respect for the Deadliest Catch Crew.

A typical rookie mistake: When filming in new territory a rookie acts like a kid in a candy store trying to cram every last bit of sweetness into their mouths. This was my first time sailing, I got excited and wanted to film everything, I was a rookie again that night. After looking through the view finder of my Canon 5d Markii for two hours in rocking seas…I was rocking holding my hair back off the side of the boat. My next time out and every time since has been much better.We got amazing footage that night and had a blast with the crew.

Tim was great at picking out shots and angles that created a cinematic look.

photo above by Tim Musho

To add some perspective to our shots we tried out one of Billy Rood’s new toys: The GoPro HD cam. Mounting this to the side of the boat and tying it off. The casing for waterproofing allowed us to get close to the water to get the bow of the boats moving in and out of the water. The only draw back to this camera is the long encoding times… it took 5 hours to prepare the 10 minute shot for editing.

Tim and I sat down and looked over all the footage and gave me ideas for covering the 2 week event. He flew off to Montana with producer James Gustin to finish shooting the summer activities on the promotional video I have been directing and I stayed in Chicago to prepare for the race.

My second time out (sans Tim) on Mojo was to learn the protocol of “man overboard”. The water was very different this time out, wind was light. Conditions for filming were easier and I did not get sick. This trip required a few drills, so I geared up to get the team in action. I quickly learned where to be and where not to be.

Tip #2: If you don’t want to end up in the water: duck, sit and stay.

I am not a sailor. I had no clue what was going to work and what wasn’t. Being in the action made for great shots, but was not necessary for a whole trip out. After getting your action shots, I found the best spot to sit was in the rear of the boat facing forward. Saving all the fancy bow shots for when we were complete and docking made it easier on the crew and easier for us to balance. This kept my body safe from being clothes-lined by the jib arm and my camera safe from taking a plunge. From this position I did not have to crawl over the deck with the crew, hold on to wires or duck to make sure I was out of harms way. No problem if you are working the boat- difficult with expensive equipment and long lenses.

Over the next few weeks, I was on and off several different boats both large and small.

photo above by Melissa Martens

I tried just about everything I could think of to keep my shots level, smooth and well composed. I found that different strategies for filming worked for some weather conditions but not others.

Tip #3: If the boat is a-rockin’ your tripod be a knockin’.

film still by James Gustin

The scene above does little justice to the conditions James and I faced on the morning of the race. After a rough storm passed through Chicago, flooding much of the city and leaving its wind behind. (good for sailing, tough for filming) We found: If there are any waves over even a half foot, you are better off going hand held. It took 2 people to operate the camera in any wavy conditions. One person to weight and hold the tripod, compensating for the up and down motion, calling out directions to the boat on where to turn and warning the shooter of possible movements that could mess up the shots. The shooter had to focus on riding the fluid head up and down with the motion of the waves, much like when you gallop on a horse, we quickly learned you had to work with the motion of the water not against it. Keep your shots wide and ride your focus hard. It was easier to go hand held when things were really rockin’ then it was to try and use a brace of any kind. James and I found that intuition and trusting our bodies to compensate worked better then trying to work through a tripod.

Tip #4: Focus Pullers are your friend. Bruises are not.

above photo by James Gustin

The Markii’s provide their own sets of challenges. As a filmmaker that rarely shoots photography, getting my fingers to work right on a new camera had me starting out clumsy. After James and Tim returned from Montana, they brought with them a focus puller rig. We took this rig up to Mackinac island. The rig made it easy to focus on moving targets, like sailboats. The only drawback was the chunkyness and weight. I always had to have the rig on a tripod or monopod. Which on a boat, when you might have to move suddenly, made for some choice bruises of the large black and blue kind.

Tip#5: Teamwork. Teamwork.Teamwork.

None of what we captured would have been possible without lots of teamwork. Aside from challenging filming conditions, the logistics of covering an event like the Race to Mackinac was a huge undertaking. We covered 6 events, interviewed 15 people in 10 locations and shot 300Gb of footage! It took a total of 5 teams of people in addition to our own to help us shoot the race: The Veuve Clicquot team lead by Anna Kimball, The Chicago Yacht Club team and Christie Denson, The Mojo Crew, The Beau Geste crew and the Race Committee. Anything we could come up with or want, this team helped us get. From boats to get out on the water, to interviews with great sailors, it has been amazing to see the documentary start to take shape. We are so grateful to everyone that supported our efforts and to our client at Veuve Clicquot for giving us the opportunity to work on such a unique project.

Update:

The film continues to gain views in the sailing community. Featured on Sailing.com, A Chicago thing and on Veuve Clicquot’s website.

figfilms.net

Executive Producer Anna Kimball
Producers James Gustin and Andrew Ettenhofer
Director Melissa Martens
Cinematography Tim Musho / Melissa Martens / James Gustin

Special thanks to:

The Chicago Yacht Club
The Race to Mackinac Race Committee
The Grand Hotel
The captain and crew of Mojo
The captain and crew of Beau Geste

Updated Credits

Credits
Interviews

Jan Promer
Nancy Snyder
Mary Ann Lillie
Captain William Pinkney
Janet Crabb
Brian Bailey
Bob Tagatz
Anna Kimball

Beau Geste:
Karl Kwok

Mojo:
Jeff Comeaux
Gary Powell
Scott Ruhlander

Additional Voices

Mac Committee Chair
Greg Freeman

Chicago Yacht Club
Christie Denson

Beau Geste
Gavin Brady

50 free
Dave Berger

Mojo
Gregg Comeaux
Tory Enerson
Brad Seavoy
Reid Speirin
Bob Constantino
Sandra Lee
Sonya Edmonds

Executive Producers
Anna Kimball
Timothy Norris

Fig Films

Producers
James Gustin
Andrew Ettenofer

Director
Melissa Martens

Cinematography
Tim Musho
Melissa Martens
James Gustin

Editing
Melissa Martens

Production Assistants
Nicole Humpfrey
Phillip Batta

Post Production Assistant
Rajesh Bhagirat

Transcription
Samantha Pletzke
Anna Gilliam
Bryan Whitely

Original Score
“Byron”
“Hearts”
“Last Night”
“Mahalo”
“This Can’t Be”
“Underpass”

by Skimasks
SkimasksMusic@gmail.com
Original Music
“The Arrival”
Lyrics by: Erin McDougald
Music by: Erin McDougald
& Rob Block
Performed by Erin McDougald
(piano: Rob Block,
bass: Jack Zara,
drums: Brian Ritter)
Courtesy of:
Flapper Girl Productions
All rights reserved
Recorded at CRC
Chicago, Illinois
2010

Special Thanks to:
Grand Hotel
The Musser Family
John Hulett III
Mayor Margaret Doud
Joy Cmiel
Bob Tagatz
The Mackinac Island
City Council
Mackinac Island Residents
The Pink Pony
Brian Bailey

Special Thanks to:
Chicago Yacht Club
Race to Mackinac Committee:
Greg Freeman, Chair
Winn Soldani, Vice Chair

Chicago Yacht Club
Sponsorship Committee:
Rick Lillie, Co-Chair
Nancy Snyder, Co-Chair
Liz Ware

Chicago Yacht Club Staff:
Jim Clark, General Manager
Christie Denson,
Communications Director

©2010 all rights reserved.
This motion picture is
protected pursuant to
the provisions of the
laws of the
United States of America
and other countries.
Any unauthorized
duplication, distribution
and/or exhibition of this
motion picture may
result in civil liability
and criminal prosecution.