MTV Lets Snowboarders Shine via Sony

By Andrew Lippe

MTV this week is beginning its own countdown to the Olympics via a new documentary shot using a Sony HDV Z7U camera that follows the Canadian snowboard federation team during its summer training.

The 60-minute documentary, called “Summer Sessions,” was shot in 1080i but aired in 4:3 SD on the main MTV channel. “We took some extra time in post production to make sure we really liked the look, so we did a lot of work on the color to make it look as good as possible,” says Ben Rotterman, executive producer.

Summer Sessions was a one-hour preview for the 10-part MTV documentary series, “Over the Bolts” that showcases snowboard riders as they train and compete for spots on the Canadian Olympic snowboard team.

Rotterman says that the Sony HDV Z7U camera performed very well. While the documentary was shot on HDV tape MTV is looking at using Sony XDCAM cameras for the “Over the Bolts” series that began filming this month.