Wired to Win

Cathy Kearns said:

Recently got to see the new IMAX movie "Wired to Win". It's about how the
brain is wired to get riders through the Tour de France. Great race
footage. (It was from I believe two years ago, when Lance was taken down by
the spectator's bag and a huge crash near the beginning took out many
riders.) I thought the brain part was a bit weak, but seeing racing in full
IMAX dome mode was very cool.

The initial plan for that movie was to focus on Tyler Hamilton. They
had his helmet wired w/ various sensors that SHOULD've allowed for
real-time brain wave information. After the doping scandal they had to
practically remake the movie, removing any reference to him. You may
have noticed he was prominent in some of the footage, but his name was
not mentioned once.

Frankly, I think the movie lost a lot of his appeal, having edited out
all the real-time info. The footage was, of course, phenomenal.

Cathy Kearns said:

Recently got to see the new IMAX movie "Wired to Win". It's about how the
brain is wired to get riders through the Tour de France. Great race
footage. (It was from I believe two years ago, when Lance was taken down by
the spectator's bag and a huge crash near the beginning took out many
riders.) I thought the brain part was a bit weak, but seeing racing in full
IMAX dome mode was very cool.

waiting for it to come to my town...
http://www.wiredtowinthemovie.com/venues.html

Wasn't this to star Tyler who then crashed basically killing the movie?
But then Tyler turned the movie to gold by hanging in giving the
directors more brain n pain than they could have dreamed of. Then while
editing... the disaster that turned to gold turned back to disaster.

Scott said:

The initial plan for that movie was to focus on Tyler Hamilton. They
had his helmet wired w/ various sensors that SHOULD've allowed for
real-time brain wave information. After the doping scandal they had to
practically remake the movie, removing any reference to him. You may
have noticed he was prominent in some of the footage, but his name was
not mentioned once.

Frankly, I think the movie lost a lot of his appeal, having edited out
all the real-time info. The footage was, of course, phenomenal.

I haven't seen this movie. I understand that IMAX movies
have to have mass appeal and aren't likely to tell stories
that have a lot of shades of gray, or have a protagonist you
feel ambivalent toward.

But I wonder if turning Ty-Ty into a non-person was the
only or even the right way to deal with his fall from grace.
I have to think that a documentary maker who could handle
ambiguous subjects - like Errol Morris - could have made
something interesting out of the situation. Even apart
from Tyler's brainwaves.

In article <[email hidden]>,

Quoted post said:

But I wonder if turning Ty-Ty into a non-person was the
only or even the right way to deal with his fall from grace.
I have to think that a documentary maker who could handle
ambiguous subjects - like Errol Morris - could have made
something interesting out of the situation. Even apart
from Tyler's brainwaves.

I don't think that eighty-sixing him from the movie was the right thing to do
at all. But it surely must have been down to some IMAX executive being afraid to
have a movie associated with someone who seems to be considered a "cheat." But
that doesn't make the movie any less compelling (at least not to me). For me,
his departure made me less interested in going to see it.

--
tanx,
Howard

Grandma Smith said a curious thing
Boys must whistle, girls must sing

remove YOUR SHOES to reply, ok?

"[email hidden]" <[email hidden]> wrote in
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Quoted message said:

Anyway, I kind of doubt
they dropped Tyler for scientific reasons, rather that he was a
hot potato.

I didn't mean to suggest he was dropped for scientific reasons, but for
better storytelling. Once again, this is a movie about the brain and the
nervious system, not bicycle racing. The racers are the vehicle they use to
tell the story, but not the story itself. And the story can be told with or
without Hamilton.

Quoted message said:

But my larger point is that although Tyler's bust made it harder
for them to make the film they envisioned, dropping him down
the memory hole might not have been the right decision. Maybe
they _could_ have changed the focus of the movie.

See, here's the problem with a movie like this....IMAX is hugely expensive,
and the audience is limited, with no future DVD release or international
market to help recoup expenses. So, what's a film maker to do? Well, as is
the case with most of the productions, they have grants and corprate
sponsors. In this case the grant came from the National Science Foundation,
and the deep corprate pockets were those of Ortho-McNeil Neurologics. Can you
imagine going to them and saying, "Ya know that nice movie about the brain
you gave us all that nice money for? Well, it's about something else now."
No, I can't either. Likewise most of these movies wind up showing in science
centers where they like nice, simple stories that are long on science and
don't tackle a lot of thorny social issues like doping.

Quoted message said:

That's why
I gave the example of Errol Morris. But it probably isn't what
the producers of an IMAX movie are looking for.

Exactly.

Quoted message said:

But my larger point is that although Tyler's bust made it harder
for them to make the film they envisioned, dropping him down
the memory hole might not have been the right decision. Maybe
they _could_ have changed the focus of the movie.

You mean they should have changed the storyline to involve two gay
cyclists in Wyoming.

Tim Mullin said:

See, here's the problem with a movie like this....IMAX is hugely expensive,
and the audience is limited, with no future DVD release or international
market to help recoup expenses.

Actually, they edit and release movies for both DVD and HD TV. I
assume some work better than others and some that maximize the IMAX
factor may be the least suitable for editing down, but they do have an
afterlife or a life after, depending on whether you lean more toward
science or more toward religion.

Curtis L. Russell
Odenton, MD (USA)
Just someone on two wheels...

Curtis L. Russell <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Actually, they edit and release movies for both DVD and HD TV. I
assume some work better than others and some that maximize the IMAX
factor may be the least suitable for editing down, but they do have an
afterlife or a life after, depending on whether you lean more toward
science or more toward religion.

So they do. When did they start doing that? I can't imagine how they hold up
on the small screen. The sell has always been The Experience. The content is
rarely of the quality of what you'll find on Nova or Nature, simply because
of time (usually 45 to 50 minutes) and cost (70mm is insanely expensive to
shoot) restrictions. Sans the big screen and big sound, I gotta imagine the
result is a big, "eh." A quick trip over to Amazon says these aren't exactly
flying off the shelf either, but it's still good to see they are marketing
them, and to have that channel to underwrite some of their costs.

Tim Mullin said:

Likewise most of these movies wind up showing in science
centers where they like nice, simple stories that are long
on science and don't tackle a lot of thorny social issues
like doping.

You know, it has occurred to me while reading this thread
that people were thinking way too hard about the political
and social circumstances of making IMAX movies.

Bob Schwartz

"Tim Mullin" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Curtis L. Russell <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Actually, they edit and release movies for both DVD and HD TV. I
assume some work better than others and some that maximize the IMAX
factor may be the least suitable for editing down, but they do have an
afterlife or a life after, depending on whether you lean more toward
science or more toward religion.

So they do. When did they start doing that? I can't imagine how they hold

up

Quoted message said:

on the small screen. The sell has always been The Experience. The content

is

Quoted message said:

rarely of the quality of what you'll find on Nova or Nature, simply

because

Quoted message said:

of time (usually 45 to 50 minutes) and cost (70mm is insanely expensive to
shoot) restrictions. Sans the big screen and big sound, I gotta imagine

the

Quoted message said:

result is a big, "eh." A quick trip over to Amazon says these aren't

exactly

Quoted message said:

flying off the shelf either, but it's still good to see they are marketing
them, and to have that channel to underwrite some of their costs.

This one I can't imagine doing well in the DVD market. I have DVDs of this
TdF. If I wanted to see DVDs on a giant screen in my living room I could do
that without the scientific filler. And if you just wanted a DVD on how the
brain works there have got to be more informative ones. But seeing the TdF
footage on the IMAX dome, that was really amazing.

Thanks to the group for the background on the Tyler angle. They ended up
following two sprinters from FDJeux, Baden Cooke and Jimmy Caspar. Baden
Cooke eventually won the green jersey on the final day in Paris. (which
tells me this was 2003...) Jimmy Caspar wiped out in the big wreck, and then
rode on for a few more day including finishing the day over the highest
mountian pass. There was one short shot of Tyler, but they didn't even
mention his name, and considering they were talking about how if the front
of the brain decides they will ride through the pain, the rest of the brain
will soften the pain signals, you would think they would have mentioned him,
but they didn't. There was one impressive shot of Jimmy Caspar's right
buttock, with full road rash.

Bob Schwartz said:

Tim Mullin said:

Likewise most of these movies wind up showing in science
centers where they like nice, simple stories that are long
on science and don't tackle a lot of thorny social issues
like doping.

You know, it has occurred to me while reading this thread
that people were thinking way too hard about the political
and social circumstances of making IMAX movies.

Bob Schwartz

OTOH, imagine the impact of a three story hypodermic needle on
potential junkies and neo-pros. Or has rbr had a final vote on whether
that is redundant.

Curtis L. Russell
Odenton, MD (USA)
Just someone on two wheels...

Curtis L. Russell <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

OTOH, imagine the impact of a three story hypodermic needle on
potential junkies and neo-pros.

Likely many would respond with the motto of dumbasses everywhere, "Bring it
on!"