Climbing Video 101

Just as digital photography opened up the world of image-making to the masses, so have the many gadgets that shoot video opened up the creative possibilities for amateur filmmakers. Whether you have an iPhone or a $6,800 Canon XF300 camcorder, you can be your own media mogul thanks to Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, and similar sites.

Getting started in filmmaking can be a confusing and bumpy road, paved with crashed hard drives, terrible audio, and absolute frustration, so we at Climbing have tapped our professional contacts to help you, the wannabe videographer, get started. Below, we tackle the entire process, including planning, shooting, and post-production, plus a range of camera options for your project. May you use this guide well, whether you want to become climbing’s Martin Scorsese or just get more than 14 views on YouTube.

PLAN IT OUT
Many amateur filmmakers skip the planning process entirely, yet it can prove to be the most crucial step in turning a bunch of random shots into a concise and coherent video that people will actually want to watch.

Begin with a strong idea of what you want your video to be. Is it an artistic vision that you’ve been dreaming of shooting since you started climbing? Is it a straightforward documentation of a friend’s send? Is it a tribute to a certain crag or a humorous look at climbing culture? Different story objectives are going to require different shots, and the objective also infl uences the editing process. For example, a story-driven piece obviously will need strong interviews and B-roll (we’ll get into this more later) to accompany your action footage. A friend’s ascent of his latest project could simply be a compilation of attempts with a victorious clipping of the chains and background music. Even a humorous clip requires thought and preparation, including a complete script that is, you know, funny.

Two things integral to film planning are shot lists and storyboards. The shot list provides the bones for the storyboard, which acts as a skeleton for the story. The storyboard gives you an idea of where each piece of the film will go, in what order, and roughly how long they will be. Be as specific as possible when drafting these tools, so when you go into the field, you know exactly what you need and, if need be, what you can sacrifice.

A typical story for a short climbing film might be your friend’s battle with his long-time project. Think of it in terms of beginning, middle, and end. The beginning might be his training days, talking about how long the project has haunted him, climbing other routes to gain a specific strength. The middle would entail working the route, stick-clipping his way up, or falling repeatedly. Toward the end of this segment, you might want to show the climax of him sending the route, with a simple triumphant shot on the top. The end segment could be short and sweet: a little wrap-up of how it went down and what the route meant to him, or just a shot of the celebratory beer with friends.

Fitz Cahall, co-creator of the 22-episode web-TV program “The Season,” says the stories he films usually start with the athletes. Hopefully, the objective will mean something to the subject, and then “their passion will resonate.” He also suggests knowing the ins and outs of where you’re shooting, because you might be hiking in before fi rst light. “Love the dark,” Cahall says. And with any outdoor film project, there is a good chance you will get rained out. Be prepared to adapt, and don’t ignore an exceptional shot because it’s not on your list—you might need it later. Have backup shots planned in case you can’t get what you wanted. It’s always better to have too much than not enough, and the almost infi nite storage capability of digital video makes extra shooting easy.