31 Mar Sledding and Shredding on the Pemberton Icecap

It’s that time again, a few days after a big shoot when things have started to calm down and the blog comes into mind again. “Oh yeah, maybe I should write something.” It’s good to catalogue thoughts after a mission and look back on what the shoot was like.

I spent the last couple of weeks in Pemberton, BC, shooting with Alexi Godbout for his new project, Beyond BLANK. We were joined by the ever-animated Stan Rey, and later by ski super-couple Cody Townsend and Elyse Saugstad. It’s good when you’re out in the mountains to bring a diverse crew of people who’ve all got a different set of skills and experience to bring to the table; in this case, having sledded once before, I was somewhat out of my depth, but the crew we had made it easy to feel comfortable and confident heading out every day.

 

This month we were hoping to have the new RED Scarlet-W, but after a couple of delivery delays we ended up purchasing a Panasonic GH4 and Metabones Speedbooster to use for the shoot. I’ve used the GH4 as a B-cam before, and had mixed feelings about it. It’s a little annoying to use, and definitely needs an accessory monitor in order to really see what you’re doing, but with the Speedbooster attached, the field of view is pretty much nicer, and the image looks decent for such a small rig. After dialling out a lot of the in-camera sharpness and saturation, it starts to come together. It’s no RED or Alexa, but the GH4 is a passable option when you’re in a pinch.

Shooting n Pemberton was similar to being in Alaska last April; lots of waiting on the weather. The rain came in heavy for half of the duration of the shoot, making it impossible to go skiing. On these days, I spent most of my time heading out around Pemberton looking for some rainy scenery or compiling the cutaway clips that will be used in the Beyond BLANK film. Now that my time up there is wrapped up,  I’m looking forward to seeing what else these guys get up to throughout the season. It’s one to watch for this fall, that’s for sure.

Cheers,

David