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The Long Run: DOP Cole Becker on Shooting “King of Moab”
The Moab 240 is one of the most brutal races in the world: a full-circle ultra-marathon trail with over 30,000 feet of elevation on a trail that spans mountain ranges, desert plains and steep canyons. Participants are forced to endure extreme swings in temperature, unforgiving terrain and – most of all – their own physical limits.
Last year, runner Max Joliffe claimed the first-place prize in the Moab 240, running an incredible and hard-run race against all odds – documented in an hour-long film captured by Director Tylor Wolter and DOP Cole Becker.
We caught up with Becker to explore the process of creating King of Moab, and the struggles of documentary production whilst on the run – literally.
It is hard not to be moved by Max’s story in King of Moab: the beginning of the documentary highlighting Max’s recovery through running is just as motivating as his end victory. That story was part what attracted Becker to the project:
This project stood out as my first opportunity to shoot a full-length documentary. I’m always drawn to stories that capture the resilience and determination of people, and this film offered a chance to document something truly extraordinary.
More broadly, I believe that a genuinely compelling story and a passionate crew is always at the heart of a great production. It’s the first green light for me when deciding whether to be a part of a project.
I think positivity is the most important quality a filmmaker can have. Everyone around you is going to soak up your positive or negative energy and a happier crew makes better images and tells better stories every time.
Documentary filmmaking, especially of this type, is always a tightrope. When the subject is under intense pressure, you have to strike a balance between getting the footage that you need and giving them the space that they need. When someone is already under a mountain of pressure, how do you build the trust to film them? It became an essential part of the team’s pre-production prep to help Max feel comfortable with their presence without being invasive.
Building real, human connections with Max and his crew was crucial. We didn’t want to just observe, we wanted to be a part of the journey. This meant investing time well before race day, sharing phone calls, pre-race interviews, and countless conversations to create a level of trust where Max could focus on the race without feeling self-conscious about the cameras.
We wanted Max to feel like he could comfortably go through his daily routines and not think twice about us being there.
But with the King of Moab crew having to contend with a huge range of shooting setups – from sweeping drone shots to grounded handheld footage following Max – a huge part of pre-production was ensuring that they had the right tools for the job.
Flexibility was the top priority when building the camera package for this project. I knew there wouldn’t be much time to reconfigure the camera setup while filming so having a solid build that could adapt to various shooting conditions throughout the day seamlessly was crucial, allowing me to go from handheld to gimbal and back with all my accessories smoothly.
I knew having a matte box on the doc was important to help keep image contrast consistent and kill any unwanted flares. The Misfit Atom ended up being the perfect matte box for this film. It’s extremely lightweight, could pack down very small and was great for holding the 4” x 5.65” Digicon filter we used during night scenes to help lift the blacks slightly. Nothing fancy, just a stellar tool for the job.
It’s critical that a camera setup can expand or contract depending on the shot without losing its core functionality. Side handles are a simple but essential addition, allowing for quick adjustments in hand positioning and better control for various camera moves. It’s the small details that often make the biggest difference. The KASBAH Shoulder Rig kit worked really great for this doc. It’s breathable hand grips made a huge difference in the desert heat, keeping my hands dry and comfortable during long takes.
Even with Becker and the team’s versatile rigs, it was still a big ask to get all the coverage that they needed for the documentary. Of the 69 hours it took to complete the 240-mile trail, Becker and the team had to work with the limited access they had.
Due to recently implemented race regulations, our access was limited to just one mile in either direction from each crewed aid station. Roughly eighteen miles total across the entire 240-mile course. This constraint forced us to rethink our approach, focusing on capturing the essence of the race within those narrow windows while still telling a cohesive story.
This meant throwing any conventional shot-listing out the window. There was no way of knowing what state Max would be in at each of the aid station, and the last thing the team wanted to do was slow him down. No second takes, no missed moments, and no margin for error.
We approached this project with the understanding that moments would come and go without a second chance. “If we were awake, we were rolling” was our mantra. To guide us, we relied heavily on pre-race interviews, capturing sound bites that touched on critical moments, challenges and natural elements we hoped to come across. This helped us piece together the story in real-time, building a mental shot list as the race unfolded.
The biggest challenge on the shoot was the logistics of timing. In addition to filming Max, we needed to find small slots of time to capture landscapes, timelapses, other b-roll, charge batteries, dump media, the list went on.
As 90% of this race was very remote and off-grid, not having any service meant taking some risks and weighing our priorities if we wanted to take a random dirt road an extra hour for a great vista in the hopes we could drive back and make it to the next aid station before Max arrived.
All of that prep almost seemed to go to waste in the final day of the race. After an excruciating night of diversions and delays, and with his silver-medal position threatening to turn to bronze, Max and his team began to come to terms with the fact that their hopes of victory were going to be crushed.
At mile 200, the odds were stacked against him. Max left the Geyser Pass aid station trailing the lead runner by over fifteen miles as the late hours of the night approached. That was our last chance to film him until the final stretch, and as we crawled into our sleeping bags, it felt like his chance at first place was slipping away.
Shortly after, we woke to the sound of Max’s mom screaming.
We jumped out of our sleeping bags, still barefoot and half asleep, blindly found our cameras and hit record as the news came in that he pushed through the night and took first place. We knew Max was going to crush this race and had a great chance of winning but this was something else none of us could have predicted. It was one of those special moments I couldn’t believe was happening. Max had done the impossible.
Thanks to Becker and the team’s dedication, Max’s gruelling Moab 240 run was beautifully documented: from a disheartening defeat to a stunning victory. Becker was on hand to capture the moment of Max’s victory.
Being there for that moment, after documenting every high and low along the way, felt like a rare privilege. The shot I captured of Max crossing the finish line was the most rewarding. Being there to capture that final moment was so special since I had documented all the moments leading up to it. All his hopes and dreams of finishing the race had come true and witnessing it was truly moving.
King of Moab is streaming for free on YouTube.
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