The Sweet Science of Producing Boxing Shows

There's something about boxing movies that is inordinately compelling for a sport that, 在现实生活中, often seems to be little more than two men in a ring beating each other senseless. But then why do films about boxers such as 在海滨, 身体与灵魂, 摔得越重, 肥胖的城市, 岩石, 愤怒的公牛, 当我们是国王, 百万宝贝, 《百家乐软件》 把我们束缚住? 也许是因为 在海滨 和 摔得越重 screenwriter Budd Schulberg said, "Boxing is a mental sport. Think of a prizefight as a chess game of mind 和 body, you are a little closer to it than if you compare it to a bloody brawl in an alley."

Or maybe it's because the so-called sweet science of boxing is both chess game 和 back-alley brawl, there's so much punch, 权力, 感伤, hubris to mine within that contradiction, that filmmakers so often seem to strike gold there. For EventDV 25 filmmakers Cristina Valdivieso 和 Jon Connor—partners in Society Hill工作室 和 第三帧媒体, two top contenders 从 岩石 Balboa's fighting city of Philadelphia—seizing the opportunity to document 4 days in the training life of super lightweight Amir Khan for British pay-per-view TV was a no-brainer.

阿米尔·汗宣传片 从 Cristina Valdivieso + Jon Connor on Vimeo.

But the gig itself took the stamina of a 15-round split decision, drew on the best of their knowledge 和 talents honed shooting events 和 documentary film projects.

The Philip Bloom Connection

Cristina 和 Jon first made contact with UK-based pay-per-view sports channel Primetime in late 2009 when the UK-based broadcaster approached DSLR icon Philip Bloom, their partner in the late, lamented Canon Filmmakers Live, to shoot a pilot for a show called 世界上最伟大的.

Bloom referred Cristina 和 Jon for the gig because they shared his key qualification: Like Philip, they were owners 和 expert operators of Canon's just-released EOS 7D. The show's producers wanted the show shot on Canon DSLR, but knew that the 5D Mark II, though taking much of the world by storm at the time, 不能拍25便士, which was a must for PAL-based British TV production.

世界上最伟大的 was an interview- 和 roundtable-based show that assembled various old-school sports journalists such as former 拳击了 编辑伯特·休格, a h和ful of boxing greats to discuss "who, 一英镑换一英镑, were the best fighters of all time in each division." Cristina was hired to shoot the pilot with her 7D while Jon took stills for a behind-the-scenes documentary. "Both of us had always been pretty big boxing fans,琼恩说。, "和 we are 从 Philadelphia, where we have a statue of 岩石," so it seemed like a natural.