Fred Mortange Interview from Red Bull's Shoot to Thrill

For those who need a little introduction, Fred Mortange, aka French Fred is one of the more talented videographers on and off the filmer board. Doing not only some of the top videos in the past decade (Flip: Sorry, eS: Menikmati and most of the newer Cliche Videos: Bon Appetit and Freedom Fries) But, not only is Fred skilled behind the motion but also quite skilled behind the stop motion. He recently had a show called "One foot in the Grave" and was a finalist of the Red Bull Illume. This interview below was taken from the Red Bull Shoot to Thrill contest as Fred was one of the team directors, and this was his take on the contest. Thanks to Colormagazine.ca for the syndication of this interview.
Take a break and read for a sec.

SHOOT TO THRILL: What were some of the difficulties of the Shoot To Thrill weekend?
FRENCH FRED: It was mostly our concept, it wasn't the easiest, so it complicated things very much. But, we liked our idea a lot.
SHOOT TO THRILL: What do you mean? What was your concept?
FRENCH FRED: Reflections, for every single shot, in glass, water, chromed objects, mirrors...so that made everything complicated of course.
SHOOT TO THRILL: What sort of schedule did you keep?
FRENCH FRED: We used a 10am to 7pm schedule. I only chose daylight filming, and we were doing non-skating shots in the mornings.
SHOOT TO THRILL: What was the team's overall strategy and goals?
FRENCH FRED: We were trying to do something visually interesting, original, and different--something other than what you can usually see in skateboarding. We didn't have the goal to film as many tricks as possible, nor in getting hammers. We focused on the esthetics of skateboarding; the style of it.
SHOOT TO THRILL: Was it hard to motivate anybody?
FRENCH FRED: No, they were all into it. They put in a lot of effort--skating a lot, getting things done, being patient, and re-doing things. It's not easy to skate under these special conditions, and they never complained. They handled it very well. It was a good team, with good guys.
SHOOT TO THRILL: How much did alcohol play a part in your weekend?
FRENCH FRED: 0%!!! There wasn't a single beer around during our whole mission--just a few Ming juices got swallowed in!
SHOOT TO THRILL: What do you think is the key to success with this type undertaking?
FRENCH FRED: It's import to come with something that is not formatted. There's only one reason I hope we win: we didn't focus or worry about getting hammers done, but skating still had an important role, of course. I think skateboarding is too focused on the big action these days, and it's forgetting about the style.
SHOOT TO THRILL: Which other team do you think is your biggest competition and why?
FRENCH FRED: I have no idea. We were not competing, just doing our cool little project. I personally don't do it for winning, just for the opportunity to do a cool piece. I hope it works out in the end! It's hard to wait for the films to be processed!

To read more Directors interview's from Shoot to Thrill, hit up www.redbullshoottothrill.com