As a climber and former guide, I know the thrill of being in extreme locations, as well as the potential risks involved. So when I was approached to DP 2nd unit on Everest, I was humbled—and excited—to be a part of it. Mountain climbing is a spectacular experience unlike any other, but it requires careful planning and experience. Then add filming into the mix.
My 2nd unit had planned to climb to the summit of Everest to film but we were only able to shoot just above basecamp following the avalanche that killed 16 Sherpas. We were working while taking in this stark reminder of nature’s power—both in the recounting of the tragic event of 1996, and terrible, present-day loss.
Because our filming was so remote, it was a big challenge to get dailies back to London. I had a fantastic DIT/data manager, Tom Grimshaw, with whom I previously reached the summit of Everest. This time, we were shooting with the Carbon Fiber Red Epic Dragon cameras as they are lightweight, and can shoot at 6K for the visual effects tile and plate work. A portion of the 2nd unit work was shooting elements for VFX supervisor Dadi Einarsson and his team, who did an incredible job to help bring Everest to life. These are massive files that needed to be transcoded and down-res’d for sending. We had our work cut out for us to figure out how to pipe dailies back to London using mediocre WiFi at basecamp, ultimately establishing an extensive solar array to provide adequate power for charging, transcoding and sending.
Before I was hired to DP Everest’s 2nd unit, a decision was made to shoot most of the on-mountain scenes high in the Dolomites of Italy. I’ve climbed Everest twice, but had no idea of how well the Italian terrain would match. The Dolomites were having a record winter for both cold weather and snowfall, which truly created an Everest-like environment.
Heading up 2nd unit on a big feature film and directing commercials are not as dissimilar as you’d think. As a 2nd unit DP I want to give the director and DP what they need, much in the way a commercial director is storytelling in service of the agency and a client. Following guiding, I translated my love of sport to director/DP for Warren Miller Films, traversing the world to film big mountain skiing. From there, it was a natural progression into directing commercials as a director/DP. How to get audiences to sit on the edge of their seat, to become immersed and invested in what they are watching—that goal is always present whether delivered in :30 or 2 hours. To me, that’s another adventure, another mountain to climb.
