Just because you show it in HD doesn’t mean you have to shoot it in HD. Shot in Super 16, ESPN HD’s 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story spans 40 years in the life of the legendary NASCAR racer, who died in a tragic accident on the last lap of the Daytona 500 in 2001. Cinematographer James Chressanthis, ASC, filmed the biopic with director Russell Mulcahy at practical locations in Earnhardt’s home state of North Carolina. It debuts December 11.
Chressanthis credits line producer Lynn Raynor, with whom he had worked on the miniseries The Reagans, with convincing ESPN to shoot in Super 16. "We had an ambitious 21-day schedule with some 50 to 60 set-ups daily," Chressanthis says. "The cameras are mobile and the new [Kodak] Vision 2 films render cleaner, sharper, and grainless images with a wider tonal range than the old stocks."
Chressanthis scouted locations and planned logistics to maximize the use of natural and practical light. He used as many as four ARRI SR-3 cameras and the new Swedish Ikonoskop A-Cam for coverage from different perspectives. "The company purchased an Ikonoskop camera from Pro8mm [Burbank, CA] for $3,000," he says. "It’s a great tool. It carries a 100-foot load and has a 9.5mm lens and an onboard microprocessor that lets you run from six to 36 fps. The camera is only four inches high, so you can hold it in the palm of your hand. I used it to get intimate close-ups of faces, including spectators at racing scenes we staged."
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