Fighting Films had not intended to release a DVD of the 2006 European Championships. But after the second day of competition, and with Great Britain top of the medal table, the plans changed rapidly. That evening, having spoken to the office in Bristol, England, we decided that GB’s performance deserved a DVD. This, we agreed, would hold up other productions, including the 2005 World Championships DVDs. But it was priority to get the production out, and get it out quick.

Back home the judo public were aware of Britain’s success, but would only ever read newspaper clippings and magazine reports. We came to realise very soon that people wanted to see how all four British fighters won their medals. They wanted to witness how Craig Fallon, at just 23, had become the second most successful British male fighter after Neil Adams.

By collecting the host broadcast footage of the three day tournament whilst I was out in Finland, and making notes of everything I’d shot each day, it sped up the whole process of turning around a quick DVD. The editing process back in Bristol was made easier too, by the fact that the host broadcasters had filmed the event to a similar style to that of Fighting Films. FF’s Simon Hicks is European Judo Union TV Director, and his insistence on major European events being filmed in a particular way made the footage far more varied and exciting. Indeed, the Finnish TV crew studied the TV coverage of the Fighting Films GB World Cup, and took a big influence from that when they set up their camera team for the Europeans. The emphasis on the DVD is the medal fights and the major moments. Fighting Films have crammed all the highlights, all the medal contests, and all the British success onto one DVD. Great Britain ended the tournament third on the medal table - their best result in ten years.

The French, meanwhile, topped the table. And, within two days of completing the rough edit, we had Emmanuel Charlot and Jane Bridge over from Paris to add the French voiceover to the DVD. They both agreed that the most exciting fight of the Europeans for them was Fallon’s -60kg final against the reigning European Champion Armen Nazaryan (ARM). Fallon fought the contest on a knife edge, always looking like he was going to get caught by Nazaryan. But at the last possible moment he would twist out, spin away or counter his opponent for a score of his own. The ‘Houdini’ style of judo is fast-becoming Fallon’s trademark, and is gaining respect from all over the judo world.

Other highlights on the DVD include a fantastic battle of styles in the -66kgs final between the technician from France Benjamin Darbelet and the wrestler from Georgia Zaza Kedelashvili. And the very last fight on the DVD is a massive power struggle between the gigantic Polish fighter Janusz Wojnarowicz and the young pretender from Germany Andreas Toelzer. The DVD has an original theme to it, with newly written music, a long slow-motion piece of continuous judo at the end and a new commentator on the block!

Previous Articles:

Feb '05: Behind The Camera - When are the Olympics going to be ready?
May '05: Behind The Camera - IJF Coaching Series Part 1
Aug '05: Behind The Camera - IJF Coaching Series Part 2
Oct '05: Behind The Camera - 2005 World Judo Championships
Apr '06: Behind The Camera - The Fighting Films GB World Cup
Dec '06: Behind The Camera - 2006 World Team Championships
Oct '07: Behind The Camera - 2007 World Championships and the FF GB Judo World Cup
Oct '07: Behind The Camera - Autumn and Winter 2007