American Cinematographer - June 2006 - 126

Designing Rhythmic, Gymnastic Visuals for Stick It
by Daryn Okada, ASC
This page: Shots
of gymnasts on
the

uneven

were

32

bars

filmed at

fps to lend the
action

a more

realistic feel,
and Look Effects

helped create a
composite of
different
athletes
same

on

the

apparatus.

Opposite: Daryn
Okada, ASC
confers with
director Jessica

Bendinger.

evmnoH3

About ayearago, I received a feature

script titled Stick It, which would be

the directorial debut of Jessica

principal photography, but the visual
storytelling would have to work in
concert with
editing and digital
compositing. My idea might have

music do you

seemed bizarre to some, but to my great

onto film.

relief, Jessica

Missy Peregrym and
Lengies were in training, and I
spent time watching them in the gym,
absorbing how physically tough this
sport is. Dona Jones and Pat Warren,
the Elite Gymnastics consultants who
worked with our cast, generously
educated me about what judges look for

way.

read it, I was excited to discover that the
characters' emotional struggles drove

was

the stop/;

the exploration of the sport of
gymnastics expressed something about
unconven¬

tional, energetic writing style inspired
to find a

style for the cinematogra¬
phy that would carry this same uncon¬
ventional energy. Easier said than done!
me

I felt the total effect of the cine¬

matography could be the linkage of
might not play out tradition¬
ally, but when rhythmically connected
would work like notes in a piece of
shots that

music. Those notes had to be committed
122 June 2006

in

Bendinger, the screenwriter of Bring It
On. From the title, I figured it had some¬
thing to do with gymnastics and thought,
"Oh, another sports movie." But when I

the characters. Jessica's

evmnow'/T

evmnora

saw

her movie the

same

Actors

Vanessa

My first preproduction challenge
design new approaches to propel
the audience into gymnastics through
the cinematography. The camerawork
had to be more compelling than the
coverage seen on television. I thought if
we succeeded visually, this story would
attract a larger audience who could
to

discover, admire and relate to the story.
With

hear? What is going on
emotionally with the characters that is
not on the page?" I needed to get in her
head so I could translate her feelings

limited

budget, careful planning
was essential to stay on schedule with
our unique approach. I needed to learn as
much about gymnastics, and fast. In our
a

discussions, I would ask Jessica, "How
does this

scene

make you

feel? What

and what influences their evaluations of
an

athlete's

performance.

I had to convey to

the rest of the
production team what Jessica and I had
in mind. I shot video at the training
sessions to find possible camera angles.
Jessica would look down

a

balance

beam, and I'd go see why she was
observing it from that spot in the gym. I

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American Cinematographer - June 2006

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