The programme for the work reads as follows:
1. Manuscript, general management and administration by Leni Riefenstahl.
2. Activity of the camera-men.
3. Use of the material and the technical devices.
4. Organization and administration.
For months, members of the management of the Olympic Film went to the various training fields and to all kinds of sport contests to become acquainted with everything which would prove an asset for the Olympic Film. They prepared themselves to be equal to any emergency so that they might be able to deal with all incidents or accidents. The way in which the camera was to be focused
was tried out more than once. One of the most important matters, the difficult wheeling round of the apparatus, in order to accompany the proceedings, was repeated over and over again, during every kind of weather, with all light conditions and under all thinkable circumstances. It was sometimes tried out under apparently impossible conditions. All experiences were written down immediately and later used for the Olympic Games. Naturally all the cameramen finally employed could not take part in this extensive study. A group including Hans Ertl, Walter Frentz and Guzzi Lantschner formed this preparative committee.
All available technical devices had to be used in preparing for this task. From the beginning it was obvious that cameramen should enter the inner field of the Stadium as little as possible in order not to disturb the contests. On the other hand, the most important pictures had to be taken here, where seconds decided dramatic contests. On this field more than in any other place, the fever, the excitement, the expectation and the interest of the public found expression. Each single phase had to be caught in the lens. Therefore, towers were constructed for the cameramen, and pits were dug for them at the 100 metre track and at the grounds for the high jump and the broad jump. Anything that technical imagination could possibly create was tried out with the aim of obtaining photographs of a variety never attained as yet. A catapult camera was utilized. It consisted of a camera that moves on rails, automatically following the runner. Hereby the attention of the public, as well as that of the runner, was no longer being diverted by other human beings in the field. There were cameramen placed in aeroplanes circling over the field. One worked from an observation balloon. At the regatta course at Grьnau, a special section was reserved for the boats of the camera people. The number of technical experiments undertaken by the preparative committee, the new attachments tried out on the cameras, surpassed anything ever attempted before. A camera was installed in an 8-oar boat for accompanying the rowing contestants. Another one was fixed on the back of a horse to discover how far the gallopping horse and the camera could be co-ordinated. The activity of the staff and the requirements placed upon the technical material required hard, untiring, continuous training on all the sites during the last weeks before the opening of the Games. The film group was soon in excellent form. All technical details had been prepared in the very best way; the focal distance and the slow motion camera had been carefully studied, so that photographs could be taken from the closest possible distance and the events could be seen in the greatest detail. The most suitable film material had been found, as well as the best filters.