Nathan DuMoulin, a New Wave in Pool Video

Nathan DuMoulin had a problem. He was in college and could not find a subject that grabbed his interest. "I was finishing my third diploma in college and all three were in completely different career paths. I couldn't decide what I wanted to do. So as a hobby I began learning video production and that was just reading books off of Amazon and reading websites." The very first time he ever ran video cameras and light rigs and jibs was when he began the production of his "Mastering Pool" series with Mika Immonen in 2008.

When this came out the quality of the video along with the creative graphics and sound made the pool world stand up and take notice. But we all made the wrong assumptions, something that seems common when it comes to DuMoulin. We assumed he would continue on for years and years just solidifying his position as the go-to guy for pool instruction video. Not so. After Mastering Pool he opened up his imagination to find what would interest him next and he found it on YouTube.

What he found there was another creative soul named Florian Kohler, better known as "Venom". "It was early on. He had about 40 videos out there. Personally, I am not a fan of traditional trick shots, but Florian was so innovative and outside the box and with such a natural talent at age 19 that I shot him an email and invited him to come over to Canada and make a real video that could showcase his skills." So Florian flew over from France to Canada and they headed out to where they would film the first video. "We actually did that in an industrial shed in the middle of a cornfield near some old wooden barns and a cheese factory. We just made a set inside of there and went to work. Ever since Florian has been the premier trick shot artist in the world. As soon as I released the trailer of that video to some industry folks they began calling to book Venom for events. One was against the great Semih Sayginer of Turkey. We went to Korea for that challenge and Florian absolutely destroyed him. Ever since then he has been kept busy with exhibitions and public appearances. He now has numerous sponsors in China and Japan so he does a lot of touring over there."

Then the thieves hit. The plan had been to recoup the production cost of the video and turn a profit off of the DVD sales. But it was only on the market a short while before it was pirated and put on YouTube where anyone could watch it for free. The DVD sales plummeted as no one needed to pay for a product that was available for free on the internet. But there was a silver lining to that cloud. "We were able to turn that to an advantage. That video now has over 200,000,000 views and as far as we know it is the most-watched pool video on the internet. So I changed the business model around to work on sponsorship for exposure. On our most recent World Tour (just completed) we found sponsorship from Kamui, Mezz Cues, Simonis Cloth, Delta 13 and Rasson Tables who were kind enough to fund our efforts. We went from the UK to China shooting on different sets everywhere we went. This time we filmed over 200 of his newest, most extreme shots and combined it with a bit of reality TV and it far surpasses anything from the first DVD."

The editing of this latest project is nearing completion and will be released for free for television and then the internet. "And it seems that we will cross paths yet again as new inquiries have arrived from Europe for another new Venom project. So we will just have to see what the future holds there."

Again DuMoulin refuses to find a comfort zone to crawl within. He now has solid video projects of his own creation to fortify his future but he is striking out in an entirely new direction with Bonus Ball. It seems he cannot resist the temptation of doing something new. "Larry Chiborak approached me at the 2009 U.S. Open where I was filming the "Break and Run" video series and explained to me what he had in mind." Since then the two have worked together to improve the original ideas and create an entirely new concept in pool. He moved to Las Vegas in November of 2012 and since then has been dealing with the setbacks of construction delays and a crooked contractor. "I was originally brought in to just do the video production but my role has increased here as time has gone along. Now my friend Dave McColl and I handle everything from player management to arena construction and sponsor contact. It keeps us pretty busy."

The Bonus Ball difficulties are nearing an end. "We still have to do stuff like hang our lighting rigs and run the wires and stuff, but the heavy lifting is over. Our set-up includes several tripod cameras on dollies, a jib camera, the overhead camera inside the light rig and the standard 45 degree snooker angle shot and a really wide-angle stadium shot camera plus ancillary cameras like one for the commentators. We will have an overlay system for the stats and the scoreboard. There are six people on the full-time video crew."

Since his career thus far has twisted in so many unexpected directions we had to ask Nathan what other projects were brewing in his imagination. "Well, I have a lot of ideas for stuff but they are all on hold now for Bonus Ball. At some point I plan on doing my own live events but that will have to wait for now."

DuMoulin is well aware of the controversy that some aspects of Bonus Ball have created. "No matter what is perceived, we are doing everything possible to do something that is good for the players and there are a lot of mixed feelings out there but there is also a lot of positive support. At the end of the day I feel the product will be innovative and will be a change for pool. I am personally confident that it will be successful because I am privy to a lot of details that are not available to others but I am really just looking forward to getting started on it."

For more information please consult www.runoutmedia.com and www.wpbltv.com.