Simone Barraco 8mm. By Red Bull. Pics by Hadrien Picard.

Jul 03, 2014

Written by Bart de Jong

Read 2699 times

Filming an entire BMX video on a one roll 8mm film without any editing or cuts. This was the dream that came true last March thanks to French film director Hadrien Picard and Genoa-born BMX street rider Simone Barraco who will be representing Italy next 5 June at the Austin X-Games – competing against the greatest athletes of his discipline. Simone Barraco is one of the best riders on an international level which is why he came immediately to Hadrien’s mind. The endeavour was not an easy one: selecting the music, examining the times and rhythm of the track, planning how and where to shoot the tricks and then pull them on the first try.

Barcelona was chosen as the set for the video since its streets have always been particularly appealing to skateboarders and BMX riders. Above all, Simone has been living and riding there for about a year.

Each clip has to be filmed in the right order and each trick had to be pulled at the first take because the film could not be cut or

dited in case of error. Simone responded enthusiastically to the proposal and even if the endeavour turned out to be more complicated than imagined, everyone’s expectations were met.

Simone pulled a lot of tech tricks on the streets of Barcelona and he only missed two, like the final one, that he landed on the second try.

In order to make the filming more reliable, Hadrien decided to carry his project out twice with two Super8 Braun Nizo 801s – cameras that are about 40 years old. So, Simone had to pull each trick on the first try twice, for each camera. Both films were developed and the more fluent and “cleaner” film was chosen and HD scanned.

Hadrien went without the convenience and sure-fire results of digital filming, preferring the analogic image. The result is a clip that is one of a kind by today’s standards with a 1970s-style retro, nostalgic and vintage flair.

“It was harder than expected but it really was a super idea. This video, my video is different from all the other products,” Simone commented while looking over his clips and photos.