Upcoming F1 Documentary '1'

So I've barely seen or heard anything about this, and it's scheduled to be in US theaters October 1st. Hm.

Some info from IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2518788/

Sounds intriguing so far--anyone else know anything about it?

Doesn't seem to have a torrent-search friendly name

Here's the trailer (warning, contains multiple fatal accidents) - http://www.comingsoo...s.php?id=108114

Judging by how they show death already in trailer and overall construction of that trailer I think it will be quite poor movie. I hope I'm wrong, but it seems that there's not much of unseen footage (if any), a lot of rehashed interviews and tons of scenes that can be seen in almost every other F1 documentary... I think they will be trying to capitalize on Rush premiere.

Here's the trailer (warning, contains multiple fatal accidents) - http://www.comingsoo...s.php?id=108114

 

Judging by how they show death already in trailer and overall construction of that trailer I think it will be quite poor movie.

This actually looks like it is going to be a fabulous documentary. And if you make a doc about the history of Formula One and in particular the evolution of safety then you simply can't ignore how ridiculously dangerous it used to be. From the second half of the '50s until the end of the '70s there were drivers losing there life very year, in some seasons even three per season. This should not and cannot be ignored if you're talking about F1 history.

It's a great film.

You know I would love it more if they made a documentary about the work in an F1 factory over a year...

starting with preparation for the tests, etc. like show all that happens behind what we see on tv.... now that would really be a documentary I'm intrested in...

of course there were short clips about such stuff in the different F1 shows, but I mean something that takes on the topic more broadly

Trailer looks fantastic

Quite original name, '1'

Thanks for posting the trailer - seems quite good and certainly less costly than 'rush' ;)

 if you make a doc about the history of Formula One and in particular the evolution of safety then you simply can't ignore how ridiculously dangerous it used to be.

This should not and cannot be ignored if you're talking about F1 history.

My only issue that the documentary isnt called "Formula 1 safety".  It is called "1". Obviously being a reference to Formula 1, but death and safety is the **ONLY** aspect of the sport being shown.

Its like doing a history of flight, calling it "F", and ONLY showing spectacular video of crashes and aircraft exploding into fireballs, discussing safety, and nothing else.

Or maybe doing a documentary about Native American "indians", calling it "I", and ONLY describing bloody gunbattles with cowboys, and nothing else.

Or a documentary on the Apollo space program, calling it "A", and ONLY decribing the Apollo 1 fire, the Apollo 13 explosion and death risk... and nothing else.

Forgive me for being a bit broader sighted, but surely there's more to show the public of this sport than death, destruction, and safety rules.

@ alfa1: have you already seen the doc? Otherwise: how would you know that it's only showing death and crashes? I seriously doubt that they would only show that but as mentioned before: it's an essential part of F1's history and a topic where other documentaries often stear clear off.

Thanks for the link.  I'll definitely be watching it.

Great stuff, I'll be following this surely.

Oh my good, how I hate these "we mix some archive footage with some interviews of old men"-documentaries. That does not even merit to be called a 'documentary', because it hardly documents anything itself. These films don't observe anything original, they use previous observations (archives and stories from "old men", and thus are documentaries on the second degree.

Furthermore, in this trailer (and let's assume for a moment that they try to present the movie in the best light possible in a trailer), there is nothing new! Nothing which we haven't seen already. As a matter of fact, only a few weeks ago there was a similar show on British television ("The .... Years"), showing similar footage with similar people (Stewart) commenting similar things (Safety).

There is nothing original about this "1"-project! Except the fact that with Lewis Hamilton it seems they've also interviewed a young man....

Instead, they should send out cameramen in the field, show how life really is in its raw form (as Dziga Vertov imagined documentary filmmaking). Later examples of that would be Frederick Wiseman, such as his film Missile. They should make a real F1 documentary like that on F1. 

A couple of decades ago there were similar "real" documentaries on F1. I remember one where a team of filmmakers followed the development of a turbo engine (was it Cosworth?). There you have some real insights into F1, which are not pre-filtered by some former racers trying to expand their personal legacy.

Please, no more "old men"-interview compilations!!!!

* rant over... 

But even without rant mode: nothing exceptional about this trailer...

Oh my good, how I hate these "we mix some archive footage with some interviews of old men"-documentaries. That does not even merit to be called a 'documentary', because it hardly documents anything itself. These films don't observe anything original, they use previous observations (archives and stories from "old men", and thus are documentaries on the second degree.

Furthermore, in this trailer (and let's assume for a moment that they try to present the movie in the best light possible in a trailer), there is nothing new! Nothing which we haven't seen already. As a matter of fact, only a few weeks ago there was a similar show on British television ("The .... Years"), showing similar footage with similar people (Stewart) commenting similar things (Safety).

There is nothing original about this "1"-project! Except the fact that with Lewis Hamilton it seems they've also interviewed a young man....

 

Instead, they should send out cameramen in the field, show how life really is in its raw form (as Dziga Vertov imagined documentary filmmaking). Later examples of that would be Frederick Wiseman, such as his film Missile. They should make a real F1 documentary like that on F1. 

A couple of decades ago there were similar "real" documentaries on F1. I remember one where a team of filmmakers followed the development of a turbo engine (was it Cosworth?). There you have some real insights into F1, which are not pre-filtered by some former racers trying to expand their personal legacy.

 

Please, no more "old men"-interview compilations!!!!

 

* rant over... 

 

But even without rant mode: nothing exceptional about this trailer...

I just want to state - other than Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel was also interviewed. 

So I've barely seen or heard anything about this, and it's scheduled to be in US theaters October 1st. Hm.

 

Some info from IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2518788/

 

Sounds intriguing so far--anyone else know anything about it?

No mention of theatre release on either the IMDb site or the trailer. In fact both state that it will be released via the internet - on demand or through I-Tunes. All of which suggests that this is a fairly low-key, low-budget production. Essentially some talking heads and some old clips - mind you "Senna" used exactly that format pretty effectively.

Uh oh... I can feel a Jackie Stewart " In my day you had a 1 in 3 chance..." quote being trotted out yet again! 

Uh oh... I can feel a Jackie Stewart " In my day you had a 1 in 3 chance..." quote being trotted out yet again! 

It's a little bit like overheating a Mars bar in the warm sun. It loses all it's strength and it doesn't have any rigidity left.

Surprised no-one's mentioned this in a while. Came out in the US 1st October on itunes. Watched it last night and it's very good. Nothing you won't know already but still a well produced film with contributions from lots of current and past drivers and key engineers/managers etc and great footage. Well worth a look.

John Barnard. Cooool!

Uh oh... I can feel a Jackie Stewart " In my day you had a 1 in 3 chance..." quote being trotted out yet again! 

Young child with no respect..

http://f1-history.de...-1969-324052912

Saw it yesterday. 2 hour doc.

Quite powerful and full of original images from the 60's and 70's and singular interviews with some characters today (too much of Bernie and Mosley for my taste).

It is centered on safety and we can see how things have changed for the better no doubt.

Still I think today there's a nasty use of safety car periods and red flags, not to mention fear of rain or use of small uncharacteristic circuits.

Recommended.

Young child with no respect..

 

http://f1-history.de...-1969-324052912

,....so that's how he got the boxer nose.

I'm sure it is. I've been looking forward to it's release for a while. I'm not savvy with itunes though. Hopefully it will be put on dvd or something eventually. It's debut screening IIRC was at the inaugural COTA US Grand Prix to a load of F1 bods and journos. It was well received I believe.

Yep. I was there. So was Bernie, Fitipaldi, Jackie S, Hellmund the COTA founder, John Watson, Hobbs, Roger Ebert, and a bunch more...

Great night. Great movie.

Edited by AustinF1, 22 October 2013 - 23:14.

It's a little bit like overheating a Mars bar in the warm sun. It loses all it's strength and it doesn't have any rigidity left.

Wise, wise words.

You know I would love it more if they made a documentary about the work in an F1 factory over a year...

 

starting with preparation for the tests, etc. like show all that happens behind what we see on tv.... now that would really be a documentary I'm intrested in...

 

of course there were short clips about such stuff in the different F1 shows, but I mean something that takes on the topic more broadly

 

 

Sin'

I watched one many years ago that was done by Gillette - it follows the Benetton team for the year - when MSC was driving.  Can't remember the name but it was a multi episode series and very good.   I

1997 Benetton - A Year In The Fast Lane (6 x 25 min episodes)

here's a list of a few others that are similar:

1999 Driving Ambition - A Season With Eddie Jordan (36 mins)
2000 Racing Arrows - Season with Arrows F1 Team (5 x 25 min episodes)
2007 Track For Success - F1 Season with Williams (49 mins)
2007 Made In Holland - Behind the scenes with Spyker F1 (41 mins)
2008 The Factory - Williams F1 Season (8 x 26 min episodes)
 

Edited by Raelene, 23 October 2013 - 08:58.

I thought "1" was a bit weirdly structured and unpolished. Still it had interesting bits, I saw some new stuff and never bad to see more interviews and opinions from the great old timers.

To expand my opinion about the things I didn't enjoy - it seems like it is trying to be a history of the sport from a safety point of view, but then it kinda goes in other directions like describing the 1976 championship battle in detail or showing the lifestyle of 60's and 70's drivers or how Bernie Ecclestone bought the TV rights so in the end it feels like a messy attempt at showing interesting bits from the whole history of f1 from 50s till 80s or so (and a bit of later years). Also there were some weird special effects on some of the interviews and too much resolution/graininess inconsistencies between different pieces of footage. Other movies use mix of archive footage and new footage but manage to make it look more consistent. Some parts had terrible quality and grain like taken off VHS cassettes, while I have seen same footage having better quality in other f1 movies. Music choices were a bit corny.

I come off as a big hater probably? Sorry about that. Other recent documentaries and movies that focused on shorter time frames have been awesome, maybe that's why I felt "1" was a bit underwhelming. The new BBC Hunt vs Lauda documentary was way more fun for me personally, I actually watched it 3 times. McLaren and Ferrari team principals were hilarious in it and the Lauda part of the story was inspiring, it was very well directed and edited.

Edit: spelling

Edited by Briz, 23 October 2013 - 23:05.

I'd not heard about this until I saw this thread yesterday.

I've just finished watching it all and I quite enjoyed it tbh, it was good.

That said I was rather upset when they showed parts of Francois blue Tyrrell being loaded onto a truck and it was now mainly red..  quite distressing

overall it was good I'd say and well worth watching.