MilitaryPress

Filmmaker Steven Barber captures exclusive documentary on Carrier Classic

By Tamara Henry

Filmmaker Steven Barber is on a roll! “Return to Tarawa,” narrated by Ed Harris, and and his film “Unbeaten” have won multiple awards (including Oscar Short List) and the honor to spur Congressional legislation to bring home two U.S. Marines from 1943 with his third film, “Until They Are Home.” To say Mr. Barber hit it out of the park with his fourth film, “Carrier” is an understatement.

” I was fortunate to be invited to an exclusive speaking engagement in Los Angeles to hear from from a member of Morale Entertainment on how they were going around the world with special events like the “Coaches Tour” and “Astronaut Tours” to boost the spirits of the troops in Iraq and other overseas hot spots where are young men and women are deployed.” Soon after this serendipitous meeting, Mr. Barber signed on to be the exclusive documentary filmmaker for the world’s first basketball game on the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson.

Tim Shelton, executive producer, along with Mr. Barber and cameraman Matthew Hausle, began preparing for what would be an adventure of a lifetime. Permission was granted to do an embark at sea on the Vinson, and Mr. Barber’s production team, Vanilla Fire Productions, went to the flight line in San Diego for the 90-minute flight to the Vinson for a three-day adventure.

“If you have never landed or been catapulted off an aircraft carrier, its definitely something to put on your bucket list,” says Barber. “The adrenaline upon landing and the immediate controlled chaos of the active flight line on the deck, and the intense smell of jet fuel is something to experience.” Landing in the middle of flight operations with 40 F-18 s taking off and landing on both sides of you within in a few feet, is an experience Barber says will stay with him forever.
The production team spent three days at sea conducting interviews with everyone including crew members, the captain and executive officer, pilots, cooks, maintenance men.

“What struck me the most,” said Barber, “was the youth and the courtesy. The average age of a seaman is 22. Captain Bruce Lindsey, the ship’s skipper, pointed out that the 20-year-old seaman who was piloting this five billion dollar nuclear aircraft carrier was not able to drive a car a couple of years earlier! The amount of responsibility and work load these young men and women are given is truly life changing for them.

The next few weeks, Mr. Barber was in pre-production interviewing Magic Johnson and James Worthy. Barber was also able to bring on a $150,000 sponsorship with the entertainment giant, Relativity Media, with their new film, “Act of Valor,” due out in February 2012. “I saw a great deal of synergy between the Navy Seal-themed film and the Carrier Classic, and marrying the two was a natural,” said Barber. “I was able to put both Morale and Relativity together in a meeting, and the “Act of Valor” worldwide debut on ESPN was shown on the ship’s big screen and across the planet.

Barber began filming in earnest on the Monday before the Carrier Classic game. It was a very serious production as the President of the United States would be flying in for the event and there were Secret Service sweeps and a military presence that was unprecedented for a sporting event… but this was no ordinary sporting event. In fact, nothing remotely like this had even been thought of before, and documenting the thousands of people involved from the assembling of the seats to the laying of the first piece of the court was really magical.

“To actually be part of an event that was in so many ways a first of its kind and to be hand picked to be the documentary film maker is an honor I will hold dearly for my entire life,”said Barber. ‘The big unknown that everyone was talking about was the weather as a huge thunderstorm was heading toward San Diego and the word was out that it was going to land on game day! That never did materialize and the weather and the skies were perfect for the event.

Barber was able to grab the first interview with legendary Magic Johnson who was an honorary co captain from for Michigan state as James Worthy was for North Carolina. Other interviews of note were with the Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus, Admiral Moynihan, and Brooklyn Decker who will be featured in the new Peter Berg film, “Battleship!”
When the game began, Barber had three cameras going along with the new red camera to capture all of the basketball action. Along with the production was a still photographer who captured the event with thousands of amazing shots. Barber also pulled off a coup by securing a local helicopter to get directly over the Carl Vinson for the only aerial shots and video of the construction process. “It was surreal to get within 300 feet of the carrier, all approved by the Navy,” said Barber. “I wanted to throw a basketball out of the chopper for a three-pointer, but was quite sure the Navy would have frowned upon that!”

The world’s first basketball game on an aircraft carrier went off with out a hitch and during half time, 92-year-old Leon Cooper, the star of Barber’s first film, “Return to Tarawa,” was able to meet the President. It was the thrill of a lifetime for the WWII vet.
Barber is in post production now assembling the footage and putting together the story. There is interest from several cable companies, and Barber is speaking to several A-list narrators from Pierce Brosnan to Kelsey Grammar. “I am very excited about the finished product’,” says Barber.

For more information, visit www.stevencbarber.blogspot.com and vanillafire.com