Champion stuff!
Posted on Sep 3, 2024 by Pro Moviemaker
The Samsung Portable SSD T7 Shield was the perfect partner to record Team GB’s junior motorcycle racing team
Advertisement feature
Action sports filmmaker Joe Haskayne isn’t one to shy away from a challenge. But when the Team GB junior motocross racing squad requested a feature-length, fly-on-the-wall documentary shot over five days – then edited and published just three days later – it was a tough ask. Tough on minds, bodies and equipment, as the event was to be held on a sandy race track in Holland, and the weather forecast was for rain.
Regardless, Haskayne was confident he was up to the job, despite being a stickler for always shooting in the highest-quality codecs for ultimate quality. There were to be no half measures, so the right kit was
of paramount importance.
“I love high-resolution Raw video files, which give lots of room for editing in post,” he starts. “But it takes up a lot of hard drive space, and with such a quick turnaround we needed something very fast, totally reliable and rugged. With 4TB of storage and fast import and export, the Samsung Portable SSD T7 Shield was perfect.
“Not only were we shooting footage to make the final edit, but also a lot of stills and making reels for social media in the days before and during the World Championship event. The pressure was truly on, and the Samsung Portable SSD T7 Shield triumphed.
“The portable drive was noticeably faster than the SSD I use, and was ideal to work with my new laptop thanks to the Thunderbolt connection.”
This gives superfast read and write speeds of up to 1050MB/s and 1000MB/s, around ten times the speed of most external HDDs and faster than many rivals, too. And it’s quick enough to edit directly from the portable drive, even in the high-bit-rate 4K Raw files up to 120fps that Haskayne likes to use to shoot action.
The Samsung Portable SSD T7 Shield had to have a large enough capacity to take lots of footage from Haskayne and his second camera operator Ellie Mawby. To make a complete behind-the-scenes documentary, Haskayne travelled to the event in a crew van with the team manager, his assistant and two team coaches. Meeting up at Dover before crossing the Channel, there was plenty of real-world excitement captured.
Mawby travelled to the event with one of the youngest riders and his parents to get an alternative view. All 15 riders, more team personnel and a huge articulated lorry carrying 30 race bikes met at the circuit in Holland. The team had a full day of training and coaching, followed by presentations then two days of qualifying and racing.
That’s a huge amount of footage, and with the demands for almost instant social media videos, there was no room for error.
Even in the heat of competition, the Samsung Portable SSD T7 Shield worked at full throttle and stayed cool despite the pressure. That’s because it has a tough aluminium body and high-tech rubber exterior with Dynamic Thermal Guard, which prevents overheating even when recording 4K 10-bit 4:2:2 All-Intra footage from Mawby and Haskayne’s high-end cine cameras. And with the final project being delivered in 4K, there was no need for proxies as the Samsung Portable SSD T7 Shield served up footage quick enough to enable real-time editing with no hiccups. Haskayne even shot some footage in 8K to enable cropping in post – and the portable drive never missed a beat.
Compared to a conventional HDD with spinning discs that can easily get damaged or wear out, the Samsung Portable SSD T7 Shield has no moving parts, keeping data fully protected. For added data security, it comes with drivers for Mac and Windows, as well as Samsung Magician software which monitors its health and lets you alter settings. And as it weighs a mere 98g and is 88mm long and 13mm thick, it’s smaller than most smartphones and can be used on most phones with a USB-C connection.
The body has a rubber cover and is IP65 rated for water and dust resistance. And that was very much needed in the wet sand of the Junior Motocross World Championship. It also provides protection against drops up to three metres, which is something Team GB could have done with!
Although a few spills meant none of the individual British riders rode away as world champion, Team GB ended up celebrating on the podium with a bronze medal. Three days later, after a marathon editing session and sleepless nights, the 80-minute doc was launched and quickly attracted more than 16,000 views.
“It was a tiring, trying eight days of non-stop hard work, but I loved it,” says Haskayne. “And to see the Union Jack being waved by the riders on the podium was the icing on the cake.”
Vote for Samsung
Two of Samsung’s incredible products have been nominated in the external hard drive category of the Pro Moviemaker Gear of the Year Awards, which honour the very best equipment for filmmaking. The Samsung Portable SSD T9 4TB and even bigger Portable SSD T5 EVO 8TB are both shortlisted.
The winners are voted for by filmmaking professionals. To cast your vote, go to the Gear of the Year link.
This feature was first published in the September/October 2024 issue of Pro Moviemaker.
