Class Video
Why is One-Design Dinghy Sailing So Consuming?
The Serious Sailing, Serious Fun: Traditions That Build Winners documentary looks at that question through the people of the Snipe Class. The project is produced by Vince Casalaina, Snipe class sailor and Emmy-winning videographer.
It takes a long time to tell a compelling story about a one design class. You can go to a single regatta and deliver exciting coverage of that event in a short burst of activity, but to really understand why people choose to sail that class you’ve got to go deeper and find stories that resonate across the class.
Vince has been working on this 45 minute documentary featuring the Snipe Class for more than three years now. During that time he has taped over 50 oral histories with Snipe sailors from around the world, and covered seven regattas including two World Championships. As part of his production process, highlights of the oral histories were posted on YouTube as well as exciting regatta videos. You can check them out at his YouTube channel: Vince Sail.
Here's the basic story that Vince is telling in the Snipe class documentary:
Small boat sailors around the world are passionate about their love of the water and the thrill of competing against nature. The Snipe Class is one of the oldest and strongest because those who sail in it see themselves as family. Having just turned 80, the Snipe Class looks to its younger competitors to step up and carry on the traditions that build winners. Whether it’s in the United States or in countries as far apart as Sweden, Japan and Argentina, you’ll find men and women who know this is the Class they’ll sail for the rest of their lives.
No matter how much time a producer is willing to donate to get a project done, it takes money to make a documentary happen. To raise funds, Vince used crowd source funding sites like Kickstarter. It’s a social media process where you ask people, a lot of people, including people outside of sailing, to donate something towards the project. You set a goal and you don’t get any money unless you reach that goal. That means you put a lot of energy into keeping the challenge in front of people.
Another crowd source funding method is the International Movie Trailer Festival. People can vote for a 2+ minute movie trailer on their website, and the project with the most votes at the close of the contest get’s $5,000 and a distribution deal. You can see how that competition works here: http://tinyurl.com/imtf-snipe-doc.
The Snipe Class International Racing Association helped with clearing rights to some amazing archival footage and to the Class trademarked material. In addition, they have provided cash contributions to the project and have acted as the fiscal agent where individuals could donate money to help fund the project.
If your class is thinking about a video project, here are some things that should be decided before you get started:
- Do you want a promo piece that's fast-paced and has lots of cuts, or are you looking for something more in depth and that allows for interviews longer than 10 seconds?
- Do you want something that looks primarily at competition, or do you want to include day sailing and social events?
- Do you want to showcase different regattas, or is it possible to do everything at a single event?
Each of these choices will end up with a different product and a different budget.
Vince is very interested in working with other one design classes to do a video that highlights the things that make the class stand out from the other one designs. If you would like more info about creating a class video, contact Vince at vincesail@aol.com.