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1) What made you choose Le Mans? SM: We knew we wanted to create something from an existing situation, rather than create a fictional piece, that would lend itself to abstraction. We had a few ideas, but finally Rod suggested Le Mans. He's very much a motor sport enthusiast, it's a great passion for him. The culture surrounding the event of Le Mans is what inspired me. 2) The videos are really amazing. What is your background? Where did you go to school? RC: I went to the art school OCA in Toronto, Canada. I enrolled in a program called New Media which at the time (early nineties), was very innovative in that you studied video, computer animation, SFX and audio production. You could also study film too, but I decided in my youthful idealism that film was obsolete... My background pre-Speed Tribe is music videos and also motion graphics. When not running around with video cameras, I'm pretty focused as an After Effects artist and have been using the program off and on since 1996. SM: I studied at the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto, Canada, as well as the Emily Carr College of Art and Design in Vancouver, Canada. Despite graphic design being my obvious strength, I enrolled in the New Media department at OCA. It was a small department, but innovative for its time in the early nineties. The focus was on emerging digital technologies, audio, video and film production. Being at the edge of technology appealed to me. My emphasis was film -- experimental and documentary film. I was also very influenced by the video installation that was prevalent at that time. At ECCAD I studied Art History. After college I completed a short, independent film, it was still very much a student project. Afterwards I worked with similar young film and video makers, helping out on their projects. As well, I was steadily working as a web and graphic designer. I like to wear many hats. Prior to this project I was co-directing music videos with Rod. 3) How were the videos shot? RC: With cameras? :> I should mention they were shot with video cameras that use progressive scan CCDs to create a more aesthetic image. 4) How long were you at Le Mans? How many of you were there? RC: We were there during the race week. We did it with a crew of 5 people! Basically, one producer, 3 camera operators (including Sharon and myself) and one interviewer. The advent of digital video production techniques allows for crews to be scaled down considerably. The cameras are smaller and don't need a team of people to run them. If you want to change the lens or use a different camera mount, you can quickly do it yourself. Very simple and effective. 5) How long did it take to put Speed Tribe together? RC: Over a year. I went down in 2000 which was helpful in learning how to get around the track and find good places to set cameras up. It then took some time to put the production together (permissions, budgets etc) before the 2001 race. Video and audio post production started in September-October of last year and ran through until April 2002. 6) Why did you decide to do 2 versions? RC: I view the two versions as two streams that exist in parallel on the DVD. They play at the same time and its up to the viewer to decide which way to watch them. They can flip between the two simultaneously using the angle button on their remote control. Version 1 was obviously done first. In it we were more concerned with telling "the story" of the Le Mans event. The imagery was attentively polished to bring out the inherit beauty and mood of each shot, adding to the narrative. Version 2 was intended to be more experimental and loose. We placed greater emphasis on the environment, mood and atmosphere and processed the imagery quite heavily to create a raw, more extreme visual style. An area of innovation in creating the Speed Tribe DVD is the process we went through making the films. First we created a 2 hour compilation of the choice shots. The audio producers, Daniel and Patrick, used this to create their music. They sent us their results which we used as a guide track to begin editing, structuring not only the visuals, but also the songs. The goal of this approach was to create a very tight relationship between image and music. We then sent our rough audio-visual edit to Daniel and Patrick for them to fit the audio sequences to the emerging film's structure. We went back and forth a few times, eventually ending up with the completed Version 1 film. From this point, Daniel and Patrick remixed the music using the visual edit of Version 1 as a base. In many cases they started from scratch, with a direct creative response to the visuals. We then responded to their new audio and remixed the visuals, following their creative lead to complete the Version 2 film. 7) How did you manage to hook up with Front 242? RC: I've been a fan of Front 242 since I was a teenager. When I was in art school I went to a concert and gave Daniel a video I had made with their music as a soundtrack. Years later I was backstage a Lollapalooza shooting for Much Music (Canadian MTV) and it turned out Front 242 was playing the festival that year. I introduced myself to Daniel and he remembered my work from years before. They invited me to bid on a 242 video, but unfortunately they didn't like my ideas! Anyway, we kept in touch and talked about making an audio-visual project for many years. We tried once before (with the original iteration of Male or Female in 94/95), but desktop video tools were still far too crude then. It's only recently that technology has progressed to the point that it's possible to make long form video work without millions of dollars worth of equipment. The DVD medium also means that there is finally a format that is suitable to the distribution of audio-visual albums. 8) What does co-director mean exactly? How do you work together? SM: Our collaboration is shared according to our strengths. We both have our areas of expertise, and fortunately, these compliment one another very well. Although our responsibilities and creativity overlaps now and again, we do tend to fall into roles. It's never a clear divide though, we constantly influence one another. A project's initial concept and development stage is a mutual effort (usually with one leading the other depending on who has the better idea!). During pre-production Rod is more focused on the technical aspects and I am more concerned with aesthetic considerations. On a production, Rod gets stuck into the moment, usually involving some form of gear, while I tend to guide the momentum and have the bigger picture in mind. In the post-production stage we usually tag-team with the edt, but that wasn't the case with Speed Tribe, which Rod edited. Following the edit, our roles are clearer -- Rod pushes the mouse creating special effects and animations, whereas my mouth does most the work! Graphics are my domain though, the Speed Tribe packaging and DVD menus were my contribution. 9) What is your next project? SM: Ah, that's a secret! 10) The stereotype is that only men like fast cars? Do you really have a passion for motorsports? How did that come about? SM: I have passion for those that push the limits of being human. Race car drivers certainly do that. Le Mans was a new experience for me, it was not something I actively followed before the Speed Tribe project. However, I follow other categories of motorsports. In my youth, growing up in a small town in Canada, I used to attend the stock car races with my elder brother. It was great fun! Today, it is a well-known fact amongst those around me that I am a fanatical Formula One fan. |