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May 02, 2006
Murderball, shot with Panasonic DVX100A, up for Academy Award
Panasonic Broadcast & Television Systems Company announced that its AG-DVX100A Mini-DV cameras were used to shoot the Academy Award-nominated feature documentary Murderball. Prior to its Academy Award nomination, Murderball, a THINKFILM production co-distributed with MTV Films, has dominated the film festival circuit since its debut at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, where it won both the Documentary Audience Award and a Special Jury Prize for Editing.
For virtually the entirety of a 2 1/2 year shoot, filmmakers Dana Adam Shapiro and Henry-Alex Rubin shot more than 200 hours of footage with Panasonic AG-DVX100A mini-DV 3-CCD 24p camcorders. Much of Murderball was a single-camera shoot, with Rubin himself shooting from a wheelchair in the camera’s advanced 24p mode, largely in available light. All of the games, however, involved two or three DVX100As, with Shapiro and David Rodriguez operating the additional units.
Combining literal sparks and the deepest poignancy, the 88-minute Murderball chronicles the lives of highly competitive, quadriplegic rugby players as they overcome extraordinary obstacles to become world-class athletes. Murderball, the sport’s evocative original name, combines the finesse of soccer with the bone-jarring collisions of a demolition derby, with the athletes using custom wheelchairs that look like something out of a Mad Max movie. Yet as gripping as the competitive interludes of the movie (including the 2004 Paralympics in Athens) are, it’s the off-court action of the players, lives played out with grit, heart and flawed humanity, that makes Murderball unforgettable.
The Panasonic DVX-100A and 100B are currently available to rent at Moving Picture, along with all your state of the art production equipment needs.
“Panasonic congratulates Dana and Henry on their first Academy Award nomination,” said John Baisley, President, Panasonic Broadcast. “This nomination is a tribute to what great storytellers can accomplish with the right tool.”
The inspiration for Murderball was a newspaper article about the sport read by Shapiro, then an editor at Spin magazine. He convinced his friend, filmmaker Rubin (Who Is Henry Jaglom, Freestyle), that Murderball was worth exploring as a movie subject. The longtime friends traveled to Sweden for the 2002 world championship to see what the game actually looked like. They found much more, including a potent narrative that pits former Team USA all-star Joe Soares, cut from the USA team and now coach of Team Canada, who seeks revenge against his former teammates, especially the equally volatile star USA player, Mark Zupan. Shapiro and Rubin realized that they’d gone abroad looking for a good sports story, and had come home with a highly-cinematic drama.
Incorporating exclusive CineSwitch™ technology that supports 480i/60 (NTSC), cinema-style 480p/24fps and 480p/30fps image capture, Panasonic's DVX100 series of mini-DV camcorders has set the standard for affordable 24p acquisition and been proven performers with hundreds of independent movies, TV programs, commercials, and documentaries to their credit. Like its predecessor, the new 1/3" 3-CCD AG-DVX100B offers outstanding audio performance, extensive auto and manual controls, and a CineGamma curve that truly emulates the rich look of film.
For more about Murderball, visit www.murderballmovie.com.
Posted by MovingPicture at May 2, 2006 04:37 PM