Tag / Being There

With the summer now in full swing its the time of year when the ski industry drop snippets of the seasons hard work building up the excitement and anticipation for this Autumns ski movie releases.
 
For regular readers of this blog you’ll know that this past season I was lucky enough to work alongside two of the big players in the movie world with time spent shooting Level 1 Productions and Field Productions. Working with directors Josh Berman and Filip Christenson I was lucky enough to experience filming trips throughout Japan and America making great friends along the way.
 
With me just coming out of a fortnight in the sun its great to be transported back into winter with the following trailers now out for everyone to see. Let the trailers load, flick on the full screen and enjoy what’s about to come this autumn.

Level 1 After Dark

Level 1 After Dark Official Trailer from Level 1 on Vimeo.

Field Productions – Being There

BEING THERE – FIELD PRODUCTIONS from Field Productions on Vimeo.

A week has gone by since arriving back in the States after this years Japan trip and sorting through the images it’s funny how much a certain thing appears again and again and again; the little white van.

As you can see from the top image a lot of the Japanese backcountry around Niseko is often roadside – quite literally in this case. Because of the ease of getting to locations film crews tend to gravitate towards the little white vans as the transport choice to get around. During the first half of the month whilst filming with Level 1 Productions we travelled so far in the van that we were all glad to see the back of it. After a 2 day hiatus though, it was straight back into the van for me as i joined the Norwegian crew Field Productions for a further 2 weeks.

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Thursday was one of those never ending days. I spent the early hours of the morning attempting to beatbox in a karaoke booth in Sapporo after an evening of intense drinking. I woke up to the realisation that it was indeed 6.30am in the knowledge that my counterparts, who slept soundly in the beds next to me were probably going to miss their 8.10am flight. Bundling them into taxis i then had a few hours to sober up and get to the airport myself. The check in area was awash with people after snow had earlier cancelled a number of flights. Hidden amongst the throngs of Japanese business men were 50% of the Field Productions crew who i’d been filming with for the previous couple of weeks. It was inevitable really that at least 2 of them would miss their flights, actually i’m amazed the other 2 made it…

Fast forward a few hours and i’ve now flown from Sapporo to Tokyo followed by Tokyo to Los Angeles. Landing in a balmy LA with the time telling me it was 5 hours earlier than when i originally left Sapporo my mind was starting to wander. One more flight and i arrived in Denver and finally put Thursday the 10th March to bed after a chinese take out.

Bu none of this has any significance. As i slept on Thursday night word was coming in from various news sources that there had been a major earthquake in Japan. Having lived in Japan for close to two years i know that earthquakes are common place. The town where i used to live experienced small quakes every couple of months. But this one was different, this one was far from small. As the last few days have progressed we now know that at least 10,000 people have lost their lives, towns have been reduced to rubble and peoples livelihoods have been laid to waist.

With a head full of jetlag and a months worth of amazing memories i find it difficult to comprehend the hardship that the country as a whole must be feeling now. Japan often feels like a second home to me and its one country, even with all its idiosyncrasies, that i absolutely love.

So instead of talking about last months experiences in Hokkaido i’ll just share one point and shoot photo from sunset a few weeks ago. I hope that Japan can rebuild itself and find tranquility in places like this in future.