“Fly” directors capture jump shots on screen

In making He fliestheir feature-length documentary about BASE jumping, directors Saul Schwartz and Christina Clausiao spent seven years trying to capture the feeling of sincerely wanting to throw yourself off a cliff.

The doc, which premiered this week at the SXSW Film & Television Festival, takes a look at the sport, which has been criticized for the apparent risks it poses to its participants, through the lens of three romantic couples, who love to BASE jump. Against the reality of falling in love with a partner.

BASE JUMPING, AS SEEN ON He flies, They either deploy parachutes after jumping from high surfaces (bridges, buildings, cliffs) or use wingsuits (mesh-sleeved suits also called squirrel suits), which allow the user to glide down a mountain, sometimes reaching speeds of 200 miles per hour. “Sometimes we would walk for hours just to get what’s called a ‘flying shot.’ You spend days planning and two hours walking and then (get) a three-second shot,” Schwartz says.

Following their debut at SXSW, the directors spoke to Hollywood Reporter About earning the trust of the BASE jumping community and capturing the speed and sound of flights.

How did you come to this sport?

Saul Schwartz I have a very good friend who was a very good climber, Dean Potter, and he was telling us that he and his friends in Yosemite started climbing and then instead of coming down, they would wingsuit jump. And they died a lot. We watched it a little bit on YouTube, said it might be an interesting short film, and maybe we’ll head over to it. A week or two later Dean died. We headed there and quickly found that what they and these people do is amazing. We also came to the conclusion that we didn’t want to focus on someone who had already died. We’ve heard that the people who taught Dean how to jump are legends of the sport called Jimmy and Marta.

How did you decide to focus on romantic relationships in BASE jumping and not just the sport?

Schwarz It takes time to actually arrive. They are a completely closed society and we now know why. But it took us a while to think that (the film) is about couples and relationships. In this very dangerous world, what do relationships look like? How do you like? He became that guiding light.

Why did society take persuasion?

Christina Clausiao They feel, from the outside, that they are being completely judged. There’s a lot out there that paints them as reckless death cults that are just adrenaline junkies. The persuasion came from spending a lot of time with them, and they began to realize that this is a long-term (project) and that these people are interested in our lives. We integrated ourselves into their lives, and didn’t just show up and shoot for a few days and then leave without having any real connection or high-quality photography. This world can be seen through very quick YouTube videos. We wanted to be in their heads.

Schwarz When they were filmed, in the early days, there were a lot of clips of these guys, especially them flying in wingsuits, and there were a couple of shepherds who came in. A lot of people were still dying and the sponsors got scared of the sport and left it to be this filth, on the edge (hobby). One of the things we told them right away is that we never want you to change anything for us. It’s interesting for us to see if you want to jump in, and choose to pull back. We don’t care if we have to climb for three hours, it’s a better view. The more we get to know them, the more I really start to care about them. You’ve become a bit of a Jewish mother, at the end of the day. You’re like, “Are you sure you want to do this?” But you’re not supposed to say that out loud.

How did you shoot the case jumpers? What type of equipment were you using and how did you capture their travels?

Clausiao The film team mainly consists of Shoal and me. Shoal spent a lot of time climbing with these guys with a good, solid camera that was heavier than it should have been.

Schwarz We started convincing them to pay more attention and shoot in 4K. We also realized, since we come from photography and love cinematography, it wouldn’t be cool if it didn’t celebrate what they call “the art of human flight.” We made this film on a very limited budget and had always dreamed of being able to shoot with a Cineflex system (a very stable camera system used in series like Planet Earth), which is a very expensive toy that is usually used in these kind of mountain action scenes, but we never had the money. So, when we sold the film (to Nat Geo) we did a final shoot and took some (shots) that helped fill in this angle that we felt we had a void in. They move faster than a helicopter, but we can keep up with them at this great magnification. They created this ability to cut from an outside perspective directly into their cameras.

The wingsuit looks like jet engines when it flies close to the camera. How did the sound design work in this film?

Schwarz Umbrellas are louder than they look, and if they are in an environment with a lot of reverberation they become very gentle. But the real crazy sound that shocked us was the sound of the wings as they passed you. Nothing you hear in the film messes with it; It’s just how it looks. We were using jumper microphones, but those microphones only worked before and after (the jump) because the speed meant the sound was completely gone, no matter what we tried to do.

Clausiao We really tried to enhance these natural sounds that they talk about. The moment they jumped off the cliff, it was like complete silence with everything very focused. We really tried to mimic, so when they jump there’s nothing, and then you hear the sound of the wings. We also tried to enhance a lot of what they talked about — what it’s like for them and how it feels — to give the viewer a feeling of being there with them.

What would audiences take away from your film?

Clausiao In this society, when they stand on the edge, it really tells them how to live. This is something I was constantly thinking about and wanted the audience to feel. You don’t have to jump BASE, you don’t have to wear a wingsuit, but we want you to feel a community that truly lives with intention. The question (for viewers) is: Are you living the life you want to live? Are you truly living by intention?