Fly Christina Clusiau Talks BASE Jumping and Human Flight

We are talking today about Fly, a new documentary about base jumping, which is something I knew nothing about and learned a ton. So tell me, where did this idea come from? Have you seen this before? Is it something that you heard about and thought this would be a great idea? Yeah, it's something we heard about. We have a number of climbing friends and one particular climbing friend said, you should go to the Yosemite.

There's a lot of these climbers that are jumping off cliffs instead of walking back. And so we thought that, okay, well, that's great. Let's go explore and see if that maybe there's something here. And we kind of followed a famous climber by the name of Dean Potter. And we knew of him. We didn't ever get to meet him because he actually ended up passing away before we were able to speak to him about filming with him.

And we kind of decided at the moment that we didn't want to do a film about somebody that had died, but we wanted to do a film about this community because we saw that it was just so full of life. And even though many people kind of perceive it as a death cult and adrenaline junkies, we saw the opposite. And so we started just filming with them and we met Jimmy and Jimmy and Marta introduced us to Scotty and Scotty introduced us to Espen and it kind of went down that road and that's how it really began.

So why did you choose these three couples specifically? Um, there's a lot of reasons. One is they all make a living from the sport. And that was something that we decided that was one of the directions we wanted to go in is we wanted to profile people that are actually doing the sport day in and day out every day, because it really, it makes it a much different story when it, when you're talking about relationship aspects is that they're in it all the time versus there's many people that are in this community that will jump a few times a year or that do not make money out of it.

They actually, um, have other jobs. And so I think that was something that we thought was a little bit unique because it is a sport and there's only a good handful that really, you know, this is their livelihoods. At the beginning, there was someone that you briefly interviewed, um, not a jumper who said, we are, we're trying to love life and live life and they're trying to cheat death.

I thought that was so interesting is that I know you said you weren't portraying them as, as adrenaline junkies, but was that something that really stuck out with you that they're cheating death in a sense? I don't think it necessarily stuck out with me per se. What I think we were trying to do there is to show that the outsider perspective is that that's a lot of, a lot of how I think they're perceived to begin with is that they're people that are trying to cheat death.

And we wanted to show like, basically what it looks like for me for standing on the ground, looking up, like, what are your thoughts around that? And then very quickly switch it into the mind of individuals. And so we tried to create a picture that would be you or I on the ground, watching these guys fly by. And what are we thinking? What is, you know, what is our perception?

Like, is it beautiful? Is it scary? Oh my God, these guys are crazy. And then now you're in with these individuals. You're in, you're in their mindset. You're trying to understand from them why they do this. Yeah. Let's talk for a second about the visuals because of course they're incredible and amazing and scary as hell. In my perspective, where did that footage come from?

How much of it was yours? How much of it was either drone footage or how much of it was, specifically what they had given you? Yeah, it's a variety. A lot, all the GoPros came from the flyers, many of the flyers. The archival, of course, came from the archives of Jimmy and Marta with their story. And then a lot of the verite scenes, the flyby scenes, the exits and landings all came from us.

And so, and then the helicopter footage and the drone footage, was also something that we, we pursued. I think it was really important for us to try and bring the viewer as close as we could to the beauty of human flight. So we had to find ways because neither Shalul or I are jumpers. We're not skydivers. We have no idea what it's like to have a camera on us as we're flying through the air.

And so we were, we sourced a lot of footage in that sense to give, to give a lot of footage to the viewer. And so we had to find ways to different perspectives and cut it in a way that you can view it from both their perspective, but also a perspective of somebody on the ground or in a helicopter and trying to just show different, different ways visually.

In addition to that, it was really the audio that also we wanted to enhance because that is something that you, the first few times I ever witnessed it, I was more enthralled by the sound it makes from afar. And so we really wanted to enhance that. So we really worked on capturing production audio in order to, to bring that to life. And there's this moment that when somebody jumps off a cliff, there's a complete silence before this inflates or before the parachute opens.

And so we really tried to take those moments that we would hear all the time and, and bring them into the fold of the film to enhance the experience. Yeah. I did notice that, that there was audio along with all these amazing visuals and it, it did give it a different perspective. I do think that you certainly captured that with the film. So to me, in a sense, these people are kind of portrayed a little bit as like nomads.

And it's almost like an addiction that, that they go and all these different places. And, but at the same time, there was this cohesive group, this family, you know, when they meet every year in Vegas and, and just the feeling of, Hey, let's have a party and let's, you know, it's, we're a family. And even with the wedding scene, that was amazing. So talk to me a little bit about that, because you said you wanted to portray them in such a way that they really aren't these, these cheating death type people.

They are a really cohesive group. Yeah. I'm glad that came across because we, we definitely worked hard to keep, keep that aspect of it. Cause that's what we saw. We're so full of life and love and, you know, heart and love and pain and all of this wealth of emotions. And I think it really connects them. I think it really kind of embodies who they are.

It's something that is very beautiful to witness. And a lot of times I would, people would ask us at the beginning when we started the production of the film is, you know, like, why do they do it? Why, what's going on? Why, how, what about, what are their lives like? And I always used to talk about that. If you stand on the edge of a cliff, it really informs how you live.

And I think that was something that I learned from all of them is how much they took to heart. The fact that they're not naive to the sense that that could be their last jump, that they, there is complete risk in that. And they take it at heart in order to live their life to the fullest they can. And I think they were also, I'm sorry, go ahead. No, that's just something I wanted.

We wanted to capture. Yeah, you definitely did. And they're also not, they're not unapologetic about that as well, but I do want to, because they were very open about the loss and that this could be their last jump. So were you surprised by that at all? Do they, I thought that they probably, would shy away from that in a sense, but they really don't.

Yeah, they don't. They, I think they, they know it to be truth and fact and it happens. And I think a lot of them has seen a lot of it and they all know somebody or themselves that have been injured or hurt or in this sport. And you know, we tried to touch on it very sensitive, sensitive, very in a sensitive way as we did. And instead we want it to be to the effect of like, what is, what are our characters feeling when these things happen?

And let, let that speak rather than us judging whether or not they, what, what their emotions should be. And so we really wanted in a way that, you know, we would never show something, somebody dying on camera, but instead reflect on what it means to them. And I think they see it a lot. And I think it's very, it's, I think, emotionally, it's very hard for them.

I think it's very charged. They go through a lot of processes, but then, you know, at the same time they continue on. And I, and I've never really fully understood that, but I'm also not a base jumper.