NY Times Lotus Exige Review

I know Blogs are supposed to be written by the person who’s blog it is but Jeff Cutler did such a great job with this write up, I’m leaving it as is.
Jay Duchin – The New York Times/Lotus Exige Shoot
By Jeff Cutler, www.jeffcutler.com, http://jeffcutler.com/jeff
If you know Jay Duchin, you realize he’s a car and cycle nut. Not bicycle, motorcycle. He’s got a need for speed. So when the New York Times – yes, that New York Times – called him to shoot a speeding car at an empty airstrip, he was stoked.
How’d it happen? Well, they gave Duchin Productions a call and all they had to say was that the car would be a Lotus and that Jay would be working with Ezra Dyer from the Improper Bostonian.
If you’re not local to Boston, the Improper is a wry and expertly written local mag. Dyer is a longtime motojournalist. And for further backstory, even with the continuing efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, there are plenty of closed air bases all over the country. One such former military base is only 30 minutes from Boston in Weymouth, MA.
So Duchin met Dyer at the Weymouth Naval Air Station where they stood and stared at a gorgeous blue Lotus Exige. The best part – and something most clients should realize works best – is to give a framework to the videographer and then let him perform magic. That’s exactly what the Times did. They just provided the car and Dyer the driver. So Duchin started shooting.
Keeping in mind that the budget wasn’t that of a major motion picture, Jay put on the hats of cameraman, audio engineer and video producer. Then the fun began. Aside from drooling over the car, Jay maintained the view that he had to tell the story so that it would resonate with a base consumer. There couldn’t be any inside baseball and Jay had to remember that viewers might not even know the cache that the Lotus brand carries.
The small, sexy, fast and unique car had to come across on video with the same impact it had in person. The planned interview with Dyer had to be pumped up with images and Duchin didn’t disappoint – even with a slew of challenges. Feel the cold. It was windy and chilly that day. Audio capture was tough because of the whipping wind and it’s difficult to work cameras with gloves on.
Next, the Lotus is a fantastic vehicle but it’s not designed to fit two grown men and a collection of camera mounts/equipment. Low sun made lighting a challenge. And because the light was fleeting, there was little time to fit the entire shoot and half a dozen runs up and down the runway tough. As he stood outside the car for exterior motion shots, Jay wondered about his science classes back in college.
“Standing in the middle of an abandon airstrip with a car accelerating at me I started to think of Physics,” he said. “0-60 is 88’/second. How good are the brakes on that car? How good a driver is Ez? I hope he remember to turn away from me at the right moment.” Regardless of his worries and challenges, Jay did it. He braved the cold, braced the camera on his leg and the dashboard. And Dyer drove like a gear guru, making fast transitions up and down the runway. Inside the car, battling some motion sickness – you try jetting down a runway at blistering speed and then stopping and turning around, all while looking through a camera viewfinder – Jay remained and trooper. Time. Light. Speed. Queasiness. Rigs. Would it happen? Yes. It was done with light to spare and fantastic footage. And it turned into one of Jay’s favorite projects.
An added benefit was seeing a Porche 928 pull up as he was packing up his gear. With a little cajoling, Jay got to ride the Porche at hyperspeed down the runway a few times.
That’s the recap of Jay Duchin’s New York Times shoot. In the end, it’s not about the destination. In this case, it was all about the ride.
Stay tuned.
The following is some of the footage I chopped up for my portfolio. Hope you like it.