Lights! Camera! Action!

I had an amazing opportunity tonight to be apart of a huge "first" for our university. The Vikes were given some grant money to make this fantastic recruitment video and I was lucky enough to be chosen to represent the field hockey team. It was an incredible night of filming and was from about 7:30-11:00 pm last night! We had some Vikes alumni and a couple of the U18 girls come out as extras and some goalies, too! The whole scene was staged around my goal that I scored at nationals in 2008 but because of my shoulder sprain I was able to re-create that shot. Luckily, actually... because I don't think even if I was healthy I could repeat that shot in any form for filming. Check out that vid:


Ali-reverse stick shot from Ali Lee on Vimeo.


So, the first thing we filmed was this shot from underneath. The filming crew at Brudders were very creative and made this like 5 foot tall mini-platform that had plexiglass to stand on. They put a thin layer of water on top and I stood up there and really only had one or two chances to make the shot right. From underneath it was so dark staring up at the sky that with the lighting you could only see my feet, the ball and when my stick comes in contact with the ball. So, I had to hit the ball off a mini ramp and the water splashed everywhere. It was pretty awesome!

To piece it all together we did a number of takes where I basically dribble down the field and beat 3 people and shoot, score and celebrate. It took a lot of takes, a lot of patience and some awkward sequences. I had to shoot from a certain spot, try and spray as much water as possible and get the ball to go into the mesh right in front of the camera. Tricky!

All in all it was a great night though and amazing to see how the film business works! I am stoked to see the finished product and i hope I get some of the B-Roll to make my own mini film!

I snapped a few shots of the field before the end.