Roberta Mancino Day 5

E:60 wrapped up its production on its feature of Italian fashion model and extreme adventure athlete, Roberta Mancino, on Tuesday, by traveling from Rome to Bomarzo, Italy to shoot a formal interview and more specialty portraits in a 16th century park of carved stone gargoyles.


It was a unique but fitting backdrop to try and explain what makes Mancino do what she does so well. Check out this link to learn more about the Park of Monsters in Bomarzo.

In was an exhausting 5-day shoot, with over 1,000 miles travel by car and truck from the most northern parts of Italy (the Dolomites), down to its largest city (Rome), and further points further south (Cisterna and Anzio).

On September 1, the E:60 production team was back in Rome, but not for long. Some headed back to the United States, the others moving on to assignments in India.

Tune in to E:60 this fall to see the exciting feature on Roberta Mancino. And check out tomorrow’s daily blog to find out more about what they are working on in India.

T. Sean Herbert
E:60 Feature Producer
8/31/2010

India Blog Entry - September 1, 2010

All India had been was rain and hotels for me the first two days here...

 

But today, the sun was finally shining in Bhopal, the site of our first story.

 

As some of you recall, in 1984, a major gas leak from the Union Carbide plant in the city of Bhopal killed thousands instantly. It was utter chaos for weeks in Bhopal. Many would be afflicted with permanent injuries like deformities, blindness and mental problems.

 

In the last 25+ years, not much has changed in the city of Bhopal.  The UC plant still stands, now amongst twisted weeds. The inhabitants surrounding it are still dirt poor.

 

What does this have to do with sports, you ask?  I've said that the best sports stories are not stories about sports, but human interest stories and the effect they have on the world of sports.  It can be something small or something big. But likely, anything that has happened -- calamity or success -- has some tie to sports.  Bhopal is no different.

 

Children in the neighboring slums, who cling to nothing but a shirt on their back, still dream of getting out one day. Without a viable school system, sports may be their only option. And it is a gigantic longshot. But still they dream. And they do it on the playing fields in Bhopal -- of which many in the slums are located on or around the Union Carbide plant.

 

While this image may appear romantic, it is hardly that. Because of the gas leak and the lack of cleanup throughout the last two and a half decades, these children are playing on grounds that are likely highly contaminated.

 

Today, accompanied by a reknowned testing agency, we went around to a couple smaller cricket fields to see how contaminated they were.

 

Imagine knowing that as a child you were playing your favorite sport on a ground so contaminated it's unsafe. What would you do about it? If you live in the slums, you have no choice. Either play there or don't play at all.

 

Who's to blame for this? Not an easy question to answer.. More to come on that in later entries.

Yaron Deskalo

Roberta Mancino Day 4

E:60 continues production on its feature of Italian fashion model and extreme adventure athlete, Roberta Mancino on Monday filming more Rome sights before traveling 90 minutes south to spend time with fashion photographer, Stefano Manfredini. He has been one of Mancino’s favorite photographers and has shot many of the 29 year-old’s most memorable images.

After E:60 cameras documented Manfredini’s talents up close, they turned their cameras on him, for an interview with Jeremy Schapp about Mancino’s talents and appeal as a fashion model.

Then the E:60 production team headed to the coastal town of  Anzio south of Rome on the Tyrrhenian Sea, where Mancino was raised. We visited some of her old stomping grounds and the Anzio train station where Mancino used to live in an upstairs apartment. The day ended with a sunset shoot in the town square, harbor, and at the beach.

Tune into E:60 this fall to see the interview with Manfredini, and more sights and sounds from our trip to Italy. And check out tomorrow’s daily blog to find out where E:60’s production team is headed next… a hint… it’s a very scary place.

T. Sean Herbert

E:60 Feature Producer
Aug 30, 2010

Roberta Mancino Day 3

The E:60 crew drove nine hours from the Dolomites in northern Italy to Rome in order to continue producing its feature on fashion model-turned-dare-devil, Roberta Mancino.  On August 29, 2010, at 11 a.m. on Day 3 of our shoot, we were in central Rome when Jeremy Schaap interviewed Mancino’s mother.  A translator was used to convert the questions into Italian and the answers into English.

By 1 p.m., the E:60 production team was scouting for a location for Schaap’s next interview. Jeb Corliss is among the top wing suit flyers in the world and Schaap was going to be asking him questions about his girlfriend, Mancino. E:60 produced a feature back in 2008 on Corliss and his pursuit of trying to jump out of an airplane in a wing suit and land safely without a parachute.  Some called him crazy, other call him a genius.  We’ll give you another chance to decide.

After the Corliss interview, the remainder of the day was spent traveling the streets of Rome capturing the best moments of Mancino’s Italian roots.  Even if you have never traveled to Rome, you will likely recognize some of the locales.

Watch E:60 this fall to see which moments from these interviews and what iconic Rome sights make the final cut. And check in tomorrow to here more behind-the-scenes tidbits from the Roberta Mancino shoot in Italy.

T. Sean Herbert, E:60 Feature Producer  

8/29/2010

Roberta Mancino Day 2

E:60 continues following Roberta Mancino in Italy this week on Day 2 of her attempt at her first helicopter proximity jump in the Dolomites.  On August 28, 2010, her day begins early, at 7:30 a.m., when she awakes to check the local weather reports with the chopper pilot.  She’s in luck…the weather is going to be very favorable.  She and her boyfriend, Jeb Corliss, start to prepare mentally and physically.  They travel with a few hundred pounds of gear, including their wing suits, helmets, some hi-tech HD camera equipment, and of course, their parachutes.

E:60 crews were dispatched to the heliport for Mancino’s 11 a.m. departure, while another camera crew headed to the area where she hoped to land, and another took a gondola to the top of Sass Pordoi, a 10,000-foot mountain top adjacent to Mancino’s jump site. That crew then had to take a perilous hike nearly a mile down to a perch on the edge of a cliff with the best vantage point for Mancino’s planned trajectory. 

At 11:10 a.m. the E:60 crew joining Mancino in the chopper called the other crews to let them know that they were taking off from the heliport in a few moments for the 6 minutes flight to the chosen drop site. And on schedule, with all of E:60’s cameras rolling, the helicopter quickly appeared on the horizon, climbed to about 11,000 feet, and then Mancino and Corliss stepped out onto the choppers rails in their wing suit poised to take an extreme leap of faith…

Watch E:60 this fall to see what happened next.  And check in tomorrow to find out what’s next on this incredible journey.

T. Sean Herbert, E:60 Feature Producer  

8/28/2010