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Cameras capturing Made In America for docu film

Ron Howard will be working all weekend to capture the chaos on the Parkway. The Oscar-winning director has seven crews on-site shooting footage for a film of the festival to be released in 2013.

Ron Howard will be working all weekend to capture the chaos on the Parkway. The Oscar-winning director has seven crews on-site shooting footage for a film of the festival to be released in 2013.

Eight, if you count the back-up camera he's lugging around.

"I'm actually shooting. That's the potluck camera," he says, laughing heartily on the phone Friday night.

At the press conference this week announcing the venture, Howard declared, "This will not be a concert film."

But, as he explains, that statement was simply an alibi. The project came together so quickly at the last moment, that Howard won't know what kind of film he's making until he sees the footage.

"I've had several meetings with Jay-Z," he says, "but the first time we interviewed him on camera was yesterday."

The idea is to get as much in the can as possible and sort it out later.

"We're really here covering the experience from as many perspectives as we can gain," he says. "The fans, the vendors, the construction crews, the mayor's office and, of course, the artists."

Things have happened so quickly, that going in, Howard still wasn't sure what kind of access he would have to the performers.

"I'm really fascinated to talk to some of the artists who are not American," he says, referring to acts like the Hives (Swedish), Miike Snow (also Swedish) and Afrojack (Dutch). "I'm eager not only to hear their music but also to hear what Made in America means to them."

Howard, known for traditional Hollywood fare like Cocoon and The Da Vinci Code, seems an unusual choice to film an avant garde music festival. He's the first to admit, "I don't get to very many concerts."

That's why he's teamed with Radical Media, which have made films with everyone from Paul Simon to Metallica.

"As documentarians, we always try to capture the flavor of our location. Philly makes an ideal 'character,' " says Jon Kamen, Radical's CEO, via e-mail. "This city has it all here: a community with its own identity and residents who are passionate about their city and the arts."

Howard likes the setting as well. "It's not an accident that Philadelphia was chosen," he says. "Jay-Z had many, many options but he loves the audience here and he loves what Philadelphia stands for."

And as crazy as this Labor Day weekend may get, Howard thinks this is an ideal way to celebrate it.

"This is what we do in America," he says. "We create events. We mix creativity and commerce. It's very much an enterprise that is thematically centered in Jay-Z's mind."