A while back the electronics company Philips joined forces with filmmakers Sweetgrass Productions to document a journey with some of the world’s most daring skiers and explore light and colour in a unique action sports-art mashup. It took the online adventure media by storm and now the snow has settled, we take a look back at the project and how it was made.
The original purpose of the project, called AFTERGLOW, was to promote Philip’s Ambilight TV technology, but it evolved into a unique way of capturing and expressing the speed and flow of skiing on film. Philips describe it as “creating moments beyond the ordinary”.
Together with a team of intrepid skiers, the Sweetgrass film crew ventured deep into the outback mountains of British Columbia and Alaska tasked with filming backcountry skiing – at night and in Ultra HD – taking it to the next level using colour and light as their inspiration.
And the footage speaks for itself.
The effort involved in producing AFTERGLOW was as spectacular as the film. All the equipment, diesel power, cameras, food and tents, and of course the crew and athletes, were flown to some of the most remote areas of the world. The team stress that when filming was finished, each location was left as pristine as they found it – that’s great to hear – looking after our outdoor playground.
“We filmed during deepest night, and temperatures dropped to a biting -15°,” said Sweetgrass. ” We could continue filming thanks to custom light-rigs and cameras we had made for the frigid conditions. As for the crew and athletes, they needed serious inner strength to deal with sleep deprivation and the extreme cold.”
To create the dramatic night scenes that are drenched in vibrant colour and light, the team rigged the mountain with custom-made LED lights, and clad the skiers in specially designed LED suits. “Our objective was to show how amazing outback skiing could be using the power of colour and light.”
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