Japan and Back Again: Claudia Corbisiero on Her Passion for Creative Directing, Producing

Japan and back again: Claudia Corbisiero on her passion for creative directing and producing By Heather McLean, Editor

Friday, November 15, 2019 - 11:14

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Claudia Corbisiero at the Rugby World Cup 2019

A passion for creative directing and producing in sports broadcasting has led Claudia Corbisiero around the world and back many times. As a producer at Noah Media Group, an independent production company specialising in high end sports content, most recently she was in Japan at the Rugby World Cup, and Corbisiero is now gearing up to get back to Tokyo for the Olympics next year, working directly with Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), the Host Broadcaster of the Games.

Sport has always played a big role in Corbisiero's life. She explains: I'm a big sports fan and always have been. I think sport showcases some of the rawest emotions humans feel; passion, patriotism, sacrifice, elation, devastation. Sport is the ultimate story of human endeavour and plays out in a concentrated period of time that's often really well documented, which is great for storytelling.

Yet she adds: I didn't necessarily set out to go this far in sports broadcast, but I've loved my journey and where I am now. I really love the fact that you get to be so hands on with so many levels of the production. You come up with an idea and often execute it yourself, from development to post production. It's an amazing feeling.

Japan and back again

At the 2019 Rugby World Cup Corbisiero was tasked by IGBS, the Host Broadcaster, with creating a 50 minute short documentary review of the tournament, telling the most emotive stories she could find.

That meant, finding and filming interesting people, places and players, utilising both the additional content crews travelling around for the tournament, a camera operator in Tokyo and my own camera, and then working with an editor to put these stories together .

To tie this in with Japanese culture Corbisiero linked some distinctive Japanese cultural traits with traditional rugby values, like respect, bravery, and unity, and used these to punctuate the film. I found a performance artist who created giant Kanji characters of these and filmed her painting our seven Japanese values and used these as a theme, she continues. Alongside this, I also produced 10 creative promos, filming with Taiko drummers, manga artists and at light museums and tea houses around Tokyo. It was an incredible experience; I fell in love with Japanese culture. It's an amazing blend of tradition and innovation and so visually rich, which is wonderful to capture on camera.

It was quite a tough eight weeks with a tight delivery time, but overall I absolutely loved my time there and the content I created, which was picked up by broadcasters all over the world, she notes.

Tokyo 2020 is the next feature on Corbisiero's horizon. She says: The project I am working on now is for Tokyo 2020, creating Sport Guides for OBS which essentially break down each Olympic sport for viewers. We decided to use 3D animation for these and set them in a futuristic Tokyo world, with the athletes represented by holograms performing their sport on rooftops against a neon backdrop.

To achieve this I directed a motion capture stage at Pinewood Studios, filming with about 50 athletes over a six week period to get the data needed for the animation, explains Corbisiero. This project has also meant managing a team of researchers, editors and graphic designers who are working tirelessly to get this project delivered for March.

She adds: Whilst working on this project, I also produced and directed a campaign for UEFA Euro 2020 to announce their Mascot, creating four promotional videos for their marketing department. Additionally I travelled to Canada in July for a series we are creating for the IPC that follows young aspiring Paralympians.

At the Olympics itself Corbisiero is again going to be working on promos. She says: Next year I will be working on a promos team with OBS at the Olympics, producing creative content around the tournament. This means coming up with interesting ideas to film and intertwine with the best sports footage from the event. The Olympics is always an incredible event as it really does bring the world together for a few weeks. I also cannot wait to get back to Japan!

Claudia Corbisiero [far right] directing athletes for a mocap shoot for Tokyo 2020, creating Sport Guides for OBS

Fortunate series of events

On how she got into her first job, a series of events led to her becoming a runner for the multi-sports team at Sky Sports. Corbisiero explains: From a young age I loved cameras and video editing; I used to adore Windows Movie Maker and obsessively edited footage I shot on my dad's digital camera. I would make trailers for movies that didn't exist and cut music videos starring my long suffering younger brother.

A family friend was an assistant producer at Sky Sports and they managed to get me some work experience sitting in with an editor there the summer before I left for university. Through coming in for work experience, I became friendly with the pub sports' team who worked on darts, speedway, snooker and pool. In all honesty I knew absolutely nothing about those sports, but the team were incredibly creative and used to produce some really interesting content around the tournaments which really stood out, she continued.

Corbisiero started doing odd jobs for the multi sports team, such as organising their tape library and logging old rushes comps, and eventually she started running on outside broadcasts for them, making teas and coffees.

She goes on: When I left for university, I continued working on OB's and doing office days in my holidays or on weekends. I would do the World Dart's Championship for three week

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