Community
Feb 13, 2020
Andy Lewis, also known by his notorious nickname @sketchyandylewis, is a man with no shortage of hair-raising stories.
Andy enjoys long jumps off cliffs, slacklining and performing in Super Bowl halftime shows with Madonna (excuse me, what?!) ... Thats right, you may remember him from Super Bowl XLVI when he introduced the mainstream media to slacklining. Andy is a pioneer in this sense, and hes also a GoPro OG whos known for tricks and stunts that leave your knees weak and palms sweaty. It's no surprise where his nickname comes from.
From the GoPro HD days to now, Andy has brought GoPro along for all of his insane adventures and been awarded multiple times for his GoPro submissions, but he says nothing compares to being selected for the GoPro Million Dollar Challenge. We caught up with Andy to find out more about he ended up hanging out on a net hundreds of feet up in the air for his Million Dollar Challenge submission.
GoPro: When did you first start using GoPro?
Andy Lewis: I first started using GoPro in 2005, and I have used every HERO camera released. For me, GoPro is an essential product to filming anything at a professional level. The hand-mounted cam, selfie stick, POV and drone use of GoPro is part of everything I do, always.
GoPro is literally the main tool I use to collect media and share my adventures. It's also the main part of any featured commercial or TV show I am a part of. Its a household name now, and for good reason, as GoPro has supported endless events, fundraisers, sports and athletes-including me over the years. And now, being in the Million Dollar Challenge, it feels lovely to see a company giving back!
What's your day job?
I own a business, BaseJumpMoab (BJM), that takes people tandem base jumping. This is my new day job! I've been creating a platform to introduce base jumping to everyone!*
I developed this company specifically to help encourage, inspire and expand people's mindsets. So far, it's been a special and memorable experience to people who have dreamed about BASE jumping, who want to challenge themselves to face fear or who are just looking try something new.
I started BJM in 2018, and we've had over 100 tandem BASE jumps already. And to capture the memories, we use MAX to film all our jumps as a company standard.
What inspired your awarded clip?
On the day this was filmed, we went out to "the net" to do the "ceremonial opening" of net-jumping season, which is only a few weeks long. The first jumps of the net every year are very special, and only the most special people on the planet get to be a part of these first jumps. This year, there were two nets: one from me, and one from GGBY Fest designed and built by Ryan Jenks.
We opened both nets with a tandem BASE jump-a dream I have had for years. My partner, Aleta French, and I got to be the first ones to jump the big net, and we recorded it with MAX and HERO8.
When I opened the second net, I watched as Ben Dicko flew through the hole with Sylvan Christensen, and then, Ryan Jenks BASE jumped afterward-all filmed with the MAX.
We also rigged rope swings, zip lines, cowboy hot tubs and a handful of other amazing things to kick off the season. All of this is in support of slacklife! Doing things for fun, because you love it. The GoPro Million Dollar Challenge is for sure a really delicious icing on an already amazing cake.
What GoPro were you using + settings?
MAX in 360 mode, capturing 6k 30fps, mounted on a 4-foot collapsible stick.
What are you going to put the earnings toward?
In short, the earnings will go back into the cycle of amazing stunts and support the fun projects that we love to build. I am going to try to split the earnings accordingly between all the people who helped this come together-the riggers, the stunt men, the camera men, the camera owners, the gear owners, the designers and, of course, try to pay myself a bit, too.
As a crew, we definitely worked really hard this year and focused on designing stunts and collecting brilliant imagery and video. There is always more than one person behind making this true magic happen. Without the work of a community, these shots would never exist.
Would you participate again in the future?
120% YES; its one of the best contests in the year!
What are you most excited to create more content on: HERO8 or MAX or both?
Both! I love each camera for the different styles of media they create, but HERO8 and MAX are strongest when used together. They are like a superhero team.
I love the clear, crisp and stable footage from the HERO8 for POV shots, BASE jumps, underwater imagery and shots that HyperSmooth 2.0 helps with. I also love HERO8 for getting still frames from high-res videos because I can turn the frame rate up and have many options for the best single moment captured.
With MAX, I love the cinematographic dynamics it offers. MAX can create a full movie out of one stunt. It almost feels like you are recording more than just the stunt, and it shows because it can be edited it in all different ways-unlimited, really.
I find that I like to use MAX most on a selfie stick or extension pole to maximize the range of image being captured. For tandem BASE, there is no better camera to film with than the MAX. Being able to Reframe the videos, use the pivot feature and zoom is truly an amazing boost to video capture in general.
Anyone you would like to thank for making this dream a reality?
Always thank and appreciate your land management services, like BLM and SITLA.
And thank you from me to all these people and more: @AtairCanopies, @BASEJumpMoab, @Sterlingrope, @GibbonSlacklines, @sylvanslacks, @thehomiehome, @aleta_ventures, @spencerseabrooke, @verjanfpv, @hownottohighline, @BenDicko101, @danwalsh, @BurnerDaddy and @ggby_fest. Without you, The Slacklife just simply wo
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
Community 
