I feel compelled to share with you my latest documentary short film in the series I’ve been commissioned to create for Russell Investments. This particular piece is about planning–a topic that bridges my client to the rest of the world’s day to day endeavors–but it might as well be about inspiration. That’s the primary reason I want to share it here… Not for the commercial message, but because Helen Thayer is one of the most inspiring people I’ve ever met.
She began climbing mountains in New Zealand with Sir Edmund Hillary (first man to summit Everest) at age 9. She solo walked to the north pole at age 50. She has walked thousands of miles across numerous deserts, most notably the Gobi Desert in China, when she was 60 . She has walked across Antarctica. She has lived with wolves in the Yukon for a year. She was a national champion in track & field and luge. She has represented 3 countries in international competition. It came up rather casually that she’s summitted Mt. Rainier more than 20 times. And she most recently celebrated her 70th birthday by kayaking the Amazon River. Oh, and she’s really coming into her own now as a National Geographic photographer. She’s 72 now and she’s showing no signs of any real slowing down.
You’ll see a few shots in the video of her snowshoeing along a snow-capped ridge. I’m buzzing over her shooting out of the helicopter. Immediately following the shots you see, a storm blew in and we had to land and pluck her from the ridge. I’ll never forget this brief moment… we set the chopper down atop the peak…”We gotta get out of here,” I belted under the roar of the rotors. I explained that we were in an emergency situation an that we needed to get out of there immediately. She gave me a wink, and asked if I could leave her up there and come pick her up in a few days time after she’d had some time to look around a bit more. She said to me, as serious as a heart attack, “I’ve got plenty of food and water and I quite like it up here…” I’ll never forget it.
[See the first two documentary shorts I created for the project here. And the ‘making of’ video which features the RED one camera and Nikon D3s camera here.]
I’m not sure about some of it to be honest. Perhaps I need to see it in context to the broader group of films to come (I assume its a series). I dont think its a hugely effective piece of communication (in terms of its commercial purpose).
The cinematography is perfect (with the exception of the shot where you ‘split lit’ her face -not something I would choose to do to a woman in her 70s). I guess my main beef is ultimately with the directing (possibly the piece is a bit too long and there is no ‘progression’ of pace in the underlying message.
I think the selection of the musical score is the weakest element here. Obviously this concept has been done many times before (concepts of financial wealth creation related to real life) therefor the bar is set quite high.
If it were me I’d cut it to 3 minutes tops and re work the music score (something with more direction (yet still maintaining that timeless/traditional/elegant feel you wish to convey).
You also need to convey more emotion. Its important for consumers to see laughter and enjoyment (even when you are communicating such dull concepts as theories of financial instruments).
Overall though its still high class work and impressive visually. You need to be brutal though in your analysis to ensure it is effective communication. The key points I would contest at this point in time would be the length of the piece and the music score. Good luck with the project.
I can see why Dan may have found it a bit long. It comes in in between that three and ten minute mark which is hard for the “average” viewer to hold onto. More a problem with the American attention span than anything else.
Personally, I found myself so captivated by how visually striking every shot was and how inspirational she is I was left wanting more. I loved it and wish you’d been financed to expand this into a full mini documentary.
Wow… amazing woman and an amazing video Chase!
Thanks for sharing!
Awesome! I love the shots with the animals- both feeding and walking.
Just realized you switched to wordpress and remembered Dartanyon’s “did you notice” tweet… Now I get it
wow. nicely done.
Thanks for sharing this – further inspiration to overcome the tyranny of “or”!!