Stealing
Altitude: FAQs
Most of these questions originated from
fellow film students during the first semester after we finished the film. I put
them here as much for posterity as for their value to those few who are still curious
about these things.
Q: "Where were the jumps filmed?"
A: With one exception, all the jumps were filmed in
Century City, CA at what is now the Sun Bank Building on Avenue of the Stars. At the
time, the building was under construction and was being jumped frequently.
Q: "Why do they wait until sunrise to jump?"
A: Calm winds and reduced traffic make sunrise the
safest time for daytime jumps. Nighttime, however, is the ideal time to sneak into a
construction site. Thus the wait. The majority of skyscraper BASE jumps take
place entirely at night. Usually, jumpers won't start hitting a site in daylight
until its jumpable days are almost over (as is the case when high rise construction sites
are nearing completion).
Q: "Were you guys ever caught inside a
building?"
A: No.
Q: "Whose feet are those in the POV angle over the
edge?"
A: The movie's featured character, Don Jacobson. He
volunteered to stand on the edge and let us film that shot. It was one of our
"pick up shots" and was not filmed on the day of the featured jumps, but later
at a completely different building. If my memory serves me, he wasn't even wearing a
parachute for that shot, but was merely holding onto a safety cable that lined the roof's
perimeter.
Q: "Where did the cameraman stand to get the rooftop
angle of the jumps?"
A: You don't want to know. I don't want to remember.
(hey, we all have our stupid moments, OK?) For the opening shot, I stepped over the safety
cable and leaned against a naked aluminum window beam. I had no safety harness.
The flimsy beam would flex & bend as I leaned into it. Roger stood next
to me and watched over me, ready to grab me if I lost my balance. For the final
jumps, I was standing on the safe side of the safety cable. Because that floor plan
was tapered a bit, I was actually standing a few feet "beyond" the jumper's
corner launch point, giving the illusion that I was somehow suspended over the edge.
Q: "Your subject's wife refers to a 'one-eighty' in
the film. What's that?"
A: BASE jumper's slang. It refers to one of the most
dreaded situations that can arise during a BASE jump. Modern parachutes are
directional wings that fly forward at a high rate of speed. When they deploy, you
want them to open in the direction you are facing -- away from the building. When
one deploys backward -- or 180 degrees off-heading -- the jumper has seconds to turn it
around before it slams him/her into the structure. A one-eighty killed the man to
whom our film is dedicated. Any off-heading opening (100, 120, 130 degrees) can be a
serious problem.
Q: "I heard that Sundance passed you guys over the
first year you submitted the film there. Then they took it the next year. What was
that all about?"
A: The film has a gritty "hit or miss" quality
to it that resulted in an inconsistent festival & critical record. Shortly after
Sundance admitted it in '92, one of their festival directors told me he regretted not
taking it sooner. My guess is that the film generated a positive reputation amongst
rival festival directors, making it hard to turn down a second time.
Q: "I saw the film listed in the 1991 AFI Film
Festival guide, but I didn't see John Starr listed as co-director. Was that a
typo?"
A: Yes, and a major one at that. I like to think
that somebody got sacked over that one. It happened partly because Roger was doing
most of the festival submission legwork; festival directors tended to zero in on his name.
Somewhere in the shuffle of putting together their film catalog, the catalog editor
or other festival employee accidentally omitted my name. I got lots of apologies
from all involved parties.
Q: The film credits say "film by John Starr and Roger
Teich", so who did what on the film?
A: We shared every aspect of making the film (directing,
camera, lighting, editing, interviewing, etc), and each of us made key
contributions. When preparing the film credits, we joked a lot about ways to
equalize the credit so that nobody read into the order of our names and attributed one or
the other with being the "driving force" behind this tiny, humble, rough, but
worthy, film accomplishment. And so our names appear in the credits
alphabetically. If ever there was a true 50/50 partnership to emerge from that
class, this was one.
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