Last July we showcased some amazing freerunning videos shot on the Nokia Lumia 900 by Claudiu Voicu, one of the world’s top extreme sports film directors. Next week, Claudiu will be recording the action at the Red Bull Art of Motion event in Santorini, Greece. Using the epic camera of Nokia Lumia 1020, he’ll capture the way 18 incredibly talented freerunners tackle the challenging course across the rooftops. We’ll publish the film here at Nokia Conversations as soon as it’s ready – needless to say, we can’t wait to see it. To whet our appetite, we persuaded Claudiu to give us a bit of inside information… here’s what he told us.

What exactly will your film be about, and why should a Nokia Lumia lover watch it?

The film will be documenting and showing a behind the scenes view of the Red Bull Art of Motion event in Santorini, one the most anticipated freerunning events of the year. I’ve filmed a lot of freerunning in the past, with cameras ranging from entry-level DSLR’s to the more expensive RED cameras, but this time I want to see how far I push mobile camera technology – especially with something as hotly anticipated as the Nokia Lumia 1020. I also aim to give everyone watching a good idea of what they can achieve from a device they’ll be carrying around with them every day.

Why did you choose this particular event for your film and what is it that appeals to you personally?

Quite simply, because it’s the biggest and best event on the freerunning calendar. I’ve known a lot of the freerunners competing for quite some time now, and every year they continue to progress and push the boundaries.

I chose this Art of Motion event in particular as it’s quite easily the most picturesque and freerunning-friendly environment possible. Many of the athletes agree that nothing can match Santorini for its almost purpose-built architecture, and this definitely shows when you see the incredible moves everyone pulls off on the various rooftops and ledges. Because there’s no set route in the competition, it’s always interesting to see which of the many available options each athlete takes to reach the bottom.

The Nokia Lumia 1020 is the world’s best camera smartphone, but which of its features make it good for capturing extreme sports like freerunning, and how will your film showcase these features?

Normally when shooting freerunning videos or photos, a lot of people use a wide angle lens to exaggerate heights and distances due to the way the optics work. The Lumia 1020 has a very wide field of view for a phone, and it helps you capture the shot you want, especially if you’re going for low-angled shots of people jumping across rooftops. You can also use the lossless zoom feature if you’re shooting from a distance. 

As we don’t want to carry any heavy rigs or tripods with us, we’ll be making the most of the 1020’s newly updated OIS technology to keep our shots as static as possible. It should hopefully translate to some very smooth movements when we’re chasing after the freerunners on the course.

The software also has a lot of features to help capture action sports. The Pro Camera app from Nokia lets you select shutter speed – to minimise motion blur in fast moving action – and controlling the final exposure of the image. Action Shot is also very useful if you want to capture sequence shots of a friend doing a trick or jump.

***

We can only imagine the excitement for the 18 competitors, but happily the film will have a competition element for us in the audience, too. We’ll reveal the whole deal once it goes live, but it’ll certainly be worth keeping your eyes open for some hidden items throughout the film. Who knows, at next year’s Red Bull Art of Motion, it might be you shooting with the Nokia Lumia 1020!