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|| SportsShooter.com: News Item: Posted 2004-05-24
'Fallen Classic' documentary was a labor of love
Max Morse spent 14 weeks and filled 15 videotapes to produce his 31-minute documentary on V.J. Lovero.
By Brad Mangin, SportsShooter.com
Photo by PF Bentley
Max Morse works on his project in an Anaheim hotel room.
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A 15-20 minute documentary project for PF Bentley's MPV362 Video Documentary class at Brooks Institute turned into a labor of love for 21-year-old student Max Morse. His project, "Fallen Classic," evolved into a professional, 31-minute, ready-to-air film about the late Sports Illustrated staff photographer V.J Lovero.
Morse embarked on this personal tribute nearly three months ago. "While attending V.J.'s funeral, I was so touched by all of the lives he affected that I knew that this was something I had to do," Morse said. "Another reason I decided to take on the project was that it was a topic close to my heart. When I was eight years old, my dad passed away. Seeing V.J.'s sons John and Jay, I knew this documentary would be something that they could look back on to learn more about their dad; something I wish I could do now."
Morse approached his instructor PF Bentley with his documentary idea shortly after the funeral and was eager to get a head start on his class project in the coming term. "Max came to me at the end of the previous term with his V.J. Lovero idea. I approved it pre-class, as he needed to shoot some events (spring training) during the term break," Bentley said.
Morse officially started the project on Wednesday, March 3, 2004, when he took the long drive from Ventura, Calif., to Tempe, AZ, site of the Anaheim Angels' spring training. "Over my four days in Tempe I had the opportunity to interview a number of photographers, ballplayers, managers, and team personnel. Everyone I talked with had a special story to tell, and each had unique insight into the life of this great man," Morse said.
He also shot plenty of video at a number of the ballparks during that initial trip to spring training. While that footage didn't make the final cut, he said it was important for him to be out there. "It really helped me to tap into the mindset of V.J.'s favorite time of year," he said.
Photo by Jeff Bottari
Brooks Institute instructor PF Bentley works with Max Morse in the Gene Autry Suite at Angels Stadium setting up the time-lapse sequence before sunrise.
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"After I returned home from Arizona I began focusing more on the compilation of stock footage and photographs. The stock footage ended up being an unbelievable aid in telling V.J.'s story. I have USA Today staff photographer Robert Hanashiro and longtime Lovero friend and former Angels pitcher Kirk McCaskill to thank for that. "
Morse had others who were more than willing to lend a hand. "Phil Ellsworth (V.J.'s assistant) took me into the Lovero Group offices and spent a great deal of time with me sorting through and scanning both images of V.J., as well as images that he captured. I also got a ton of images from a number of V.J.'s friends that were shown at his memorial. Another key group of photos I got from baseball picture editor Nate Gordon of Sports Illustrated. He sent me a number of covers, as well as all of V.J.'s selects from Game 7 of the 2002 World Series."
With the deadline drawing near and realizing that a number of key people in V.J.'s life were located 3,000 miles away in New York City, Morse scheduled a quick trip in between classes to conduct some important interviews that were crucial to the success of the documentary.
"The interview process came to a climax when I spent a 24-hour period flying to New York, taping interviews during the day, then flying back home to California. It started around 5 p.m. on a Wednesday night when I caught the red eye from Long Beach to JFK and landed at around 6 a.m. A friend of mine picked me up at the airport and we headed into Manhattan. After a stop for breakfast and a change of clothes, I descended upon the Major League Baseball offices on Park Avenue to talk to picture editor Paul Cunningham before a series of interviews at Sports Illustrated.
"Max had with him a small travel bag, which I assumed contained a change of clothes," Cunningham said. "When he started to set up for the interview, he opened his bag which only had his video camera and recording gear. I asked Max where his clothes were and he responded that his return flight was at 5:30 p.m. so he didn't need a change of clothes - or toothbrush - I guess. Leave it to Max to make a nine hour trip to the opposite coast seem easy."
Photo by Robert Hanashiro
Max Morse assists V.J. Lovero in the overhead basket at Candlestick Park in San Francisco during the Giants @ 49ers NFC playoff game in January of 2003.
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After his visit to the MLB offices, Morse caught a quick lunch and headed over to Sports Illustrated where he interviewed a number of staffers, including Director of Photography Steve Fine. "Everyone that I talked to at the magazine was extremely gracious, taking a lot of time to sit down to conduct interviews with me," Morse said.
"When Max came to NY to interview the SI staffers, everyone basically lined up to participate," said Sports Illustrated On Campus Director of Photography Maureen Grise, "We were extremely honored that he thought to include us. The truth is, I didn't feel like I was much help to Max and his project, it was harder than I thought to speak on camera about the impact V.J. had on all of us. If Max got anything usable out my tear-filled interview it's all because of good editing on his part."
After the interviews, Morse caught a cab to JFK and made his flight with about ten minutes to spare. "I only got a few hours of sleep before I had to be back up and on my way to Bentley's class the next morning at 8 a.m.," Morse said.
Morse's deadline was pushed up because the finished piece had to be turned in before he headed to the Kentucky Derby Workshop on April 21, which left little time for sleep as interviews were chased down, tapes were logged and classes were attended. "He always had the option to back out and do something else, but his focus never wavered and he kept his eyes on the prize," Bentley said.
The final major hurdle for Morse to clear was a challenging time-lapse scene he wanted to film at Angels Stadium on the day of an Anaheim Angels home game. "Another key part of my project happened thanks to Tim Mead, Eric Kay, and the rest of the Anaheim Angels organization. The time lapse was an idea I had out at spring training that I carried back with me, eventually doing it at Angels Stadium in Anaheim. After an all night editing session in my hotel room in Anaheim, I headed to the park at 4 a.m. with assistants Jon Austria, Jeff Bottari, and Aaron Kehoe. PF Bentley also joined us as the technical guru."
Photo by Jon Austria
Max Morse takes a break in the Angels dugout before the game on April 18, 2004 while shooting the time-lapse sequence for the project.
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"Since the Sunday game on April 18, had been picked up by ESPN as its Sunday Night Baseball game of the week, all of the auxiliary press boxes were taken up. This was the angle that we had hoped to set up from, so the folks at the Angels went out of their way to make it happen for us. We were given access to the Gene Autry Suite (the largest suite they have) for our all day shoot. Arriving well before sunrise, we set up three Canon EOS 1D bodies firewired to Powerbook laptops, capturing jpegs every three seconds. We also set up a video camera. After all three 1D's went down, we were left with just the video camera. Luckily, the time lapse turned out really well, setting the right stage for the documentary," said Morse.
Morse had to race against the clock to make his deadline. Bentley would not cut him any slack. "The next three days were spent furiously editing and piecing together the documentary. All in all, the edit process took over a hundred hours," Morse said. "Another key contribution came from a friend of mine from Loyola Marymount University, Ryan Ross. He provided me with the audio tracks that flow the project in the right direction," added Morse.
"I was impressed that Max flew to New York to film interviews with editors and friends of V.J.'s at Sports Illustrated. He also spent numerous days at Angels Stadium and long nights editing his project. The final outcome is a tribute from Max's heart to someone he obviously cared very much about. By the way - he passed the course," said Bentley.
Photo by Jon Austria
Brooks Institute instructor PF Bentley with the time-lapse set-up in the Gene Autry Suite at Angels Stadium in Anaheim.
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"In the end, Bentley gave me an A- for the project, because of a few technical errors. However, what I learned over the last three months has been incredibly important," said Morse.
Jim McNay, Coordinator of the Brooks Institute Visual Journalism Program added, "This project by Max Morse demonstrates the kind of heartfelt storytelling we're promoting in our still and video photojournalism classes. Max has put together a great project on a great photographer. It will introduce V.J. to those who never knew him, and will keep his memory in place for those who were his friends."
Grise summed up Morse's efforts, "We are all so grateful to Max for coming up with the idea to document V.J.'s life so that future photographers and sports fans alike can learn about V.J. and the indelible mark he left on the lives of everyone he met. The passion that Max has demonstrated for this V.J. Lovero video project is inspiring for all of us to see. He believed in the idea and then went out and made it happen. Not many people could have pulled it off. He deserves a lot of credit for this achievement"
The complete version of "Fallen Classic: The V.J. Lovero Story" is available here:
http://www.sportsshooter.com/special_feature/vj_tribute/index.html
Technical data:
Gear used in shooting: Canon GL-2 video camera with the wide-angle adaptor, Sennheiser wireless microphone kit, shotgun microphone, tripod, 15 sony mini DV tapes.
Gear used in editing: Apple G4 Tower and G4 Powerbook, Sony Mini DV Deck, 300 GB Maxtor hard drive, Final Cut Pro editing software and Sorenson Squeeze 3 (compression).
Total number of interviews: 24
Total hours of sleep in last week of production: 11
Related Links:
Fallen Classic: The V.J. Lovero Story
Max Morse's member page
Brooks Institute of Photography
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