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Recent Productions Shot On Fujifilm
GAME OF TWO HALVES
ife has rather a tiresome way However as the tale speeds its colleague, cheeky chappie Gavin
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Because the game is real, there is no space for second takes. Collet’s main focus was to try “to get the reactions of the players, because you can recreate other stuff later.”
of overtaking art. So pity the poor filmmakers of Goal II – Living The Dream who now find that the scenario in the
second of the three-part soccer saga, currently on release, cruelly usurped by real-life events.
The sequel picks up the story of young Mexican footballing genius Santiago Munez (Kuno Becker) as he moves clubs from Newcastle to Real Madrid. So far so good.
way through to a Champions League final involving a tense face-off between the Spanish champions and England’s Arsenal, just look who are some of Santi’s teammates? David Beckham, a Real irregular who’s now officially signed for LA Galaxy, and Ronaldo, a recent signing for AC Milan. As for Real’s assistant coach, that’s none other than Steve McManaman (also one of the film’s associate producers), who’s now retired. Santi’s free-scoring
Harris (Alessandro Nivola), who also returns from the first film, is, of course, an invention anyway.
However, not even the ‘reality’ problems can diminish the excitement of the football sequences – perhaps some of the best-ever committed to a fiction feature. Lit by Flavio Martinez Labiano, Goal II is directed by Jaume Collet Serra (House Of Wax).
He explained some of the difficul- ties during filming, particularly in a big game like Real Madrid against Barcelona, where everybody is fighting for camera position. It complicates the logistics of setting up to seven film cam- eras required to be in place the day before the match “so the referee makes sure that they’re not all too close to the sidelines,” explained Collet.
During the games, he remained in the tunnel with a set of monitors and a radio connected to all operators – “giving them the freedom to change speed at will, so they go from 24 frames to 96 frames per second, creat- ing very interesting visuals.”
Because the game is real, there is no space for second takes. Collet’s main focus was to try “to get the reac- tions of the players, because you can recreate other stuff later.” Still, it was a difficult task if you’re shooting with film cameras which only allow for “about six minutes in slow motion” before you have to re-load. A team of doubles acted out the games using similar cam- era positions applied in the game.”
According to Collet, “the only dif- ficulty of shooting” at the Bernabeu [Real’s famous stadium] was that he could only use half the pitch, “because the south side never sees the sun.” As back-ups, and for the other games, they used two other stadiums, Club Deportivo Leganés and Rayo Vallecano, when the precipitation allowed it.
“I shot an exterior; it rained - and this was supposed to be the antithesis of Newcastle,” laughed Collet. ■
Goal II - Living The Dream, now on general release, was originated on 35mm Fujicolor Eterna 500T 8573 and Eterna 250D 8563
Photo above: Kuno Becker as Santiago Munez; top: Alessandro Nivola and Steve Mc Manaman; right: Becks and mascot
36 • Exposure • The Magazine • Fujifilm Motion Picture