Filming Young Snowboarders
Talking on his cell phone in the snowy, crisp backcountry of Tahoe, California, snowboarder and videographer Anthony Cupaiuolo had to laugh. High on a mountain summit while taking a break from videoing a snowboarder, Anthony talked about his mid-April shoot with Bailey Duran. “She’s so cute, personable and such a strong rider that she made my job easy,” he says.
Anthony’s company, First Tracks Productions, has been operating out of South Lake Tahoe since the early 2000s making commercial and enterprise snowboarding and action-sports videos. He has trained and filmed snowboarders long enough to spot talent when he sees it. “Bailey is the youngest snowboarder I’ve ever worked with,” he says. “I’ve never seen a girl of her age doing the things she does. That’s remarkable considering that this is her first season. It’s not like she’s been on a board since the age of two. She really impressed me.”
In making Bailey’s video, Anthony attached a small digital HD camera on her goggles for rider point-of-view action footage. “These cameras have come a long way since I first started using them,” he says. “They used to be wired into a backpack and were heavy and cumbersome. The new ones are self-contained. They shoot to micro SD memory cards inside the camera, so they aren’t wired to anything.”
In addition to the goggle cam and the primary camera he operated, Anthony set up a flip camera the size of a cell phone on a tripod. The three cameras worked together to catch all of Bailey’s turns, spins and 360’s. Anthony digitally edited it together in post-production, adding music and all the principles of good storytelling.
First Tracks’ videos are distributed nationally and internationally, and can be viewed online on 1010TV and ToTalVid.com, among other sites. The staff at First Tracks is made up of action sports enthusiasts like Anthony who hit the snow during off hours for a little R & R. “I was in grad school in D.C. for a career in political consulting,” says Anthony, “but I was also a snowboarder and an instructor. When others would go to the beach, I’d head to the mountains. That’s why I moved out here. I’m lucky I could make it my career.”
“One of the good things about living in the mountains is that we get a lot of snow,” he continues. And snow days are play days for him. “It’s difficult to shoot when it’s snowing because the equipment gets wet. So those are the best days for me to snowboard.” He even gets to do a little snowboarding on the job. “I have a heavy pack due to the equipment, so I can’t ride as relaxed as I like, but I can’t complain. It beats my old desk job.”
