Chasing Ice, a 2012 NatGeo documentary by Jeff Orlowski and James Balog, about the melting glacier and ice at Arctic due to climate change, in Arctic, where the filmmakers witnessed “the biggest story in human history” and were able to spend many years capturing the changing glaciers.
The way they shoot this documentary is half through the eyes of the filmmaker, and half of documenting James Balog’s own journey as he’s taking photos of the melting glacier.
There are a lot to learn from this film. First, before it brings us to the Arctic, the filmmakers show how, and what they had packed for the trip, the lenses and cameras they use, and a customized time lapse system that can provide battery life for 25 Nikon D200 to shoot every hour during the day time, for three years. So, always get your gears and ideas ready before you launch out. Second, (If you bought or watched the whole movie) you will see that they struggled a lot while designing the auto time lapse system, and when they finally get the system to work and was excited to see the results half year later, they realized that their first design was a total mistake, that those cameras were either broken or didn’t take any usable pictures. At this point, many people might just quit and go home, but the team stayed and started all over again — get cameras, design a new system and improves from the lesson they learned. It might be a good idea if they had tested the system on-field the first time, but things happen.
Besides all of the technical parts, the whole team actually waited so long before they caught anything on the camera, they’re so patient. It always happens when we’re out shooting videos, that nothing is going on when we’re there waiting, until the minute we turn the camera. So hold on a bit longer than you’re planning to, and keep trying until you get what you want.
Gosh, I can’t imagine how they get through all the challenges. I saw they set up their camera, but the extremely low temperature totally destroy their equipment. They are not the the first one who film in Arctic, but they impressed me a lot! They use their own real experience and give us a good lesson. We have better knowledge about how to shot in low temperature, how to capture your subject and so on. Great film!
“That office job wasn’t so bad!” So many great lines in this trailer and it gave me goosebumps! This is an amazing video, I can’t even imagine what they’ve been through – just like Phoenix mentioned. I haven’t watched this before, but now I have to. I need to see the end of this.
Also, I really appreciate your ending line “so hold on a bit longer than you’re planning to, and keep trying until you get what you want.” That’s very true. The fact that they show so much patience and tolerance is amazing, not only to capturing the moment but also towards their equipment and environment. They’re in a completely different circumstances, so it does give me the courage of going out there and putting as much power and tolerance in my story as possible.
No. No. No. You could not pay me enough money to be on this film crew or anything like it. I feel it was really important that the film expressed just how cold it was, and how uncomfortable they were. I must say it was very difficult to watch the camera men get so close to the edge of the mountain/glacier and or hang from a rope to get a shot. Talk about commitment. I am interested in how many of them were apart of the entire production, if some dropped out, and the discussion in regards to the equipment selection. Last but not least, the pacing of the promo was nice. It created a sense of urgency, and I did not realize I was holding my breath the entire time.
I love the idea of creating a dramatic narrative around a photographer’s technical difficulties. God knows we’ve all solved some crazy problems in the field and on the fly, but these dudes are obviously on a whole other level. I have had my camera overheat and be unusable in hot locations, and in cold places I’ve noticed that my batteries don’t last nearly as long.
Also, I totally agree with Noor that “hold on a bit longer than you’re planning to” is excellent advice. It happens every damn time.