Once again the Red Bull Elements took place this september in France in the beautiful area surrounding Talloires, a picturesque village on the shores of the Annecy lake and in the shadow of La Tournette, an iconic mountain dominating the lake.
This was the 4th edition of this unique outdooor relay race. Have a look at the action clip to get a glimpse of the intensity of the race! Rowing, trail running, paragliding and mountain biking are the disciplines involved… but each with a twist that makes this race stand apart from traditional competitions. The level of athletes and teams was impressive in the past. But this edition has been the most disputed ever, without a doubt. Olympians, word champions, professional athletes are the norm in the top finishing teams, and only a couple of minutes separated the top 3 teams after more than 5 hours of racing!
On a production level I put together a team of 25 people for the job: 9 cameras on the ground, 2 runners on motorbikes, a cineflex, HF transmissions for the live signal getting to l’Equipe 21, a satellite truck a.k.a. SNG), 3 editors, 3 POV operators… this extensive team reflects the complexity of the event’s geography (the area to cover is huge!) combined with tight delivery schedules for a TV newscut and action clip. We also needed to cover some key aspects of the race and of the leading teams for the 13-min TV highlights. A big effort in coordination! but the event is well worth it and if you think you’re having a tough day running around on this production, a quick look at the athletes pushing themselves is a good reminder of who’s really making the effort here… 😉
all pictures courtesy of Red Bull Content Pool / Damien Rosso / Dom Daher / Jeremy Bernard / Tristan Shu