Once in a Lifetime: A Fast-Moving Tribute to a '70s Phenomenon
Once in a Lifetime is a documentary about the rise and fall of the New York Cosmos and the North American Soccer League (NASL) in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Narrated by actor Matt Dillon, it features interviews with top international soccer stars of the '70s, including Carlos Alberto, Franz Beckenbauer, and Giorgio Chinaglia. Why make a documentary about a defunct soccer team and a league whose heyday was nearly 30 years ago?
"The reason we have soccer and a decent following in the U.S. today is literally because of the Cosmos and the NASL," says co-director and editor Paul Crowder (Riding Giants, Dogtown and Zboys), who used an Avid Media Composer Adrenaline system to cut the documentary. "That's quite a bold statement, but it is well supported in the film."
The birth of the NASL was humble enough: in the 1960s it was made up of just five teams that remained from the collapse of two earlier soccer leagues. Then Steve Ross, who was head of Warner Communications at the time, bought the Cosmos in 1971. More importantly, in 1975 he hired the greatest soccer player in the world to play on his team: Pelé. "They brought in the Pied Piper," says Crowder. "Then everybody else came, and the league became a success."
In the two years after Pelé's arrival, the league grew to 24 teams. But success proved to be brief, a case of too much, too soon. The rapid growth diluted the league, Crowder explains, "They couldn't get people to watch it on TV. ABC came in in '79 and bought a network deal for that year. No one watched it. They pulled the plug and that was the end of it. Without a network, the league wasn't going to survive."
There was one last chance to make a go of the league when the U.S. attempted to become host to the 1986 World Cup, but the nod went to Mexico instead. "Everybody bailed out at that point," says Crowder. Despite representing the ultimate in cool and celebrity in the '70s - just being associated with the Cosmos could gain one entrée to the notoriously exclusive disco Studio 54 - the once mesmerizing New York Cosmos, developed through the pioneering efforts of Ross, folded in 1984.
"I wanted the film to have a '70s look and feel, so I used lots of picture-in-picture, lots of layering, and split-screens."
- Paul Crowder, Co-Director and Editor, Once in a Lifetime
A Back Story Worth Telling
Three production companies stepped in to capture the brief but pivotal lifespan of the Cosmos: GreeneStreet Productions and Cactus Three, both located in New York, and London Passion Pictures, in London. The BBC also contributed financing. The documentary will air on the BBC this summer after its theatrical release, which is expected in late spring.
Once in a Lifetime is Crowder's directorial debut. He shares co-director credit with John Dower, from whom he inherited much of the documentary's footage. "The interviews talk to each other really well," Crowder says. "John Dower did a great job, getting everybody bouncing ideas off each other, knowing what each person said." Before the production could secure contracts and interviews for all the film's subjects, Dower had to leave Lifetime to finish another project. The producers turned to Crowder because they thought he could bring a positive energy to the project. "As a soccer fan, I was all over it," says Crowder. "I added all sorts of footage ideas, some interviews, and found more B-roll. I also hired Mark Monroe to write. Then I cut the film."
"The Adrenaline worked great. It handled streaming brilliantly. It was just so simple, smooth, and quick."
- Paul Crowder, Co-Director and Editor, Once in a Lifetime
New Technology, Old Film Look
Crowder edited Once in a Lifetime in 24p on a Macintosh-based Media Composer Adrenaline system, which he bought two years ago to edit Riding Giants, for which he won a 2005 ACE Eddie Award for Best Edited Documentary. (See "Paul Crowder Adds Adrenaline to Stacy Peralta's Riding Giants."]) The Media Composer Adrenaline system proved to be ideal for his needs. "I wanted the film to have a '70s look and feel, so I used lots of picture-in-picture, lots of layering, and split-screens."
Using the footage he inherited plus some he created, Crowder ended up working with a variety of resolutions (28:1, 14:1, 3:1), but the mix did not prove to be a problem for the Media Composer Adrenaline system with its ability to accommodate multiple formats and resolutions within the same timeline. "I'm talking about six layers thick of picture-in-picture, with color correction, speed-ups, titles, lower thirds, and so on," says Crowder. "But I didn't have to render anything in order to look at it. The Adrenaline worked great. It handled streaming brilliantly. It was just so simple, smooth, and quick."
When Crowder reached six layers on the timeline, he would render a layer 'on the fly,' then build another six on top of that. "I was playing six layers in 90-minute sequences, hitting play, and watching the whole film without stopping, without under-runs or anything. I was really, really happy with how it performed under those conditions. The Adrenaline just rocked."
Easy Translation from Offline to Online
Crowder the editor became Crowder the director when it came time to finish the film in HD at PostWorks New York, a postproduction house in the Soho section of the city. Ben Murray, an editor at PostWorks, handled the online on an Avid DS Nitris system.
Murray notes Crowder's significant use of effects in the offline cut of Once in a Lifetime. "I haven't seen something this complex in a while," he says referring to the host of visual effects used to create the film's look. "Paul pushes the in-box effects to their maximum potential." But the Avid DS Nitris system handled the challenge. "What's great is that everything translated across from his Adrenaline into the [Avid] DS Nitris, even his Sapphire plug-in effects," says Murray. "[As a result] I was able to spend my time taking the cut to the next level in HD."
During the offline process, Crowder would send an e-mail to Murray with an Avid bin file containing his latest sequence. Murray would then set up a split-screen view of the online and offline cuts so he could compare them and ensure that the extensive effects transferred over to HD without a hitch. He used the Avid DNxHD codec to create a space-saving HD version for the online cut, which provided exceptional picture quality and could be handled with the same speed and ease as SD.
The Avid DS Nitris system's re-linking feature is a favorite of Murray's and was especially useful for incorporating changes late in the project. "If Paul changed the cut, he could just send me a sequence, and it would automatically re-link. For example, I never have to worry about whether this master clip has a different length. If the timecode is there and it's from the same source, it shows up automatically. Re-linking is one of the strengths of the [Avid] DS Nitris. It gave us a lot of flexibility, which was especially important on a time-critical project like this one."
Time was indeed tight for the project, as finishing wrapped just a week or so before the film's premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in February. Although the filmmakers used the Avid DS Nitris to prep an HD master for film out (working in 1080p/23.98), they also made the documentary available for delivery in the 1080i format for Berlin. "I don't think we could have done this on any other system," says Murray about the 11-day finishing process.
What's Better than Screening at Sundance?
The U.S. premiere of Once in a Lifetime will take place at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival (April 25 - May 7) in New York. And although the documentary did not screen at Sundance, something even better happened in Park City: a distribution deal. Miramax and ESPN picked up the documentary and plan to release it soon after its U.S. debut so viewers across the country can experience what it was like when some of the world's greatest soccer players assembled in New York, and soccer, at least for a moment, was king.
*CREDITS: Photo: George Tiedemann. © GreeneStreet Films LLC