Shoot Story
When we created the concept for the film, we knew this would be one of the coolest winter shoots we’ve ever pulled off. And frankly, that’s what gets us totally stoked.
From brutal blue-hour shoots in temps well below zero, a pretty crazy load in, and the typical winter insanity that Alaska throws at us, pulling this thing off was a real commitment. That said, the result is totally rad, and we are so glad we put in the early hours, frozen fingers, and extra miles (like the helicopter flight out to the ice cave) to push this thing over the top.
Here’s the nuts and bolts behind-the-scenes look into how we pulled off the Celsius Artic vibe film + photo set.
Creative Direction
Creative direction for this one flowed really easily. There are times when we have to spend hours digging into the product and the customer, really searching for the angle that pulls the story together. Those times are well worth the effort, but occasionally the ideas just roll, and this was one of those.
The setup: a lone Arctic adventurer comes across a rather unusual sight. A fridge full of Arctic Vibe illuminated in the distance, surrounded by nothing but pristine snow and stunning mountainscapes.
Our adventurer does what any brave traveler would do—chug a Celsius.
Here’s where things get crazy. We asked, “what happens when she drinks it?” Is she energized to go further? Does she find herself climbing ice? Enveloped in an arctic blast?
All great ideas, but Alaska knew best. The Matanuska Glacier formed a properly mind-blowing ice cave this winter that was the perfect setting for Arctic Vibe. When our helicopter pilot took us to the cave on a scouting mission, we were sold.
We decided to do a match cut of the adventurer drinking, with a dramatic camera motion that allowed us to nerd out on cinematic motion blur and match the shots together well. All made possible without an insane rig by filming in 8k Raw on the Ronin 4D at 27mm and f2.8.
Finally, we wanted there to be a fun element, so the shots of the adventurer leaving her gear behind and heading off on the rest of her trek with a sled full of Arctic Vibe leave you feeling like the whole thing truly was for fun, and inspired to stop at 7/11 for a little taste of the arctic next time you’re out.
Planning
Planning film shoots in Alaska is always a dance of weather, location, gear, access, and local knowledge. We pulled off the ski and glacier shoots within a few miles of each other in Glacier View, near the Matanuska Glacier. It’s truly one of our favorite places to work, and nearby access to Sheep Mountain Lodge means we have housing for extra crew or producers when necessary, and a reliable flight operator for hard-to-reach locations.
We’re good friends with the owner, Mark Fleenor, so he loaned us the glass-front fridge (seriously, we can hook you up in so many different ways to keep your shoot lean and aligned with budget), gave us the details on backcountry road conditions, and of course, got us on the schedule for the helicopter flight.
We had to pull together a stand for the fridge, skis and a sled to transport it, lighting for the fridge scene, and capture equipment for ski, product, and ice cave shots.
We’ve gotten really good at predicting weather in our frequent shoot locations like Glacier View, Talkeetna and Denali, Seward, Valdez, etc, but we always operate with 3-4 buffer days in the event that unforeseen circumstances bump production.
In this case, the ski scenes required a re-shoot to fill in the gaps on visuals, so the buffer came in super handy.
The day before the shoot, we spent the afternoon loading the fridge into place, setting up the stand and lighting, and testing some of the shots.
Production
With everything in place, production was fairly straightforward. Or at least, as straightforward as shooting sunrise in -12 degrees Fahrenheit and 40 inches of snow with a cinema camera can be.
We knew things were going well, because on the drive to the shoot, we saw the last flickers of the Northern Lights on the northeast horizon and overhead, and just as those faded, I caught a brief glimpse of a shooting star.
For the ski scenes, we captured the shotlist - wide shots, tight subject shots, detail shots, aerials of the mountains, then a round of additional captures with a focus on capturing a mix of complimentary wide and tight angles to ensure that we had coverage as the final efit came together in post.
We captured all of the subject shots with the Ronin 4D and for this shoot, flew a Mavic 3 Pro Cine for the drone shots.
We lit the fridge with battery-powered Quasar LED light tubes set to their warmest color temp to give the fridge a strong contrast to the early morning blue hour light. There were a couple of subject shots that required a fill light from one of the Quasars, but for the most part, the incredible dynamic range of the Zenmuse X9 sensor and shooting in Prores Raw allowed us to handle light in post.
The crazy fun part, as always, was flying out to the glacier for the ice cave shoot. We spend a lot of time working on and around glaciers, so we have to remind ourselves that a helicopter flight out to a 100-foot-tall ice cave isn’t just another Tuesday in the office sometimes. It doesn’t take too long to find yourself completely in awe, however.
Our biggest concern was that the floor of the cave, with all of its chunks of ice, would be an obstruction for the motion of the match cut, but it ended up working out really well. The 4 axis stabilization on the Ronin’s gimbal made a shot that would otherwise require an easyrig or even a larger jib incredibly easy to pull off handheld. It’s really important to us to find creative ways like that to keep production light with minimal impact.
All things considered, production was an absolute blast and this one went off as expected. Strong planning and clear creative direction are to thank for that!
Post Production
Post-production and color grading on any film shot in epic Alaskan landscapes is always a pretty big lift. It’s not uncommon for us to invest 4x the hours we invest into production to edit and grade a flim and photo set, and this was no exception.
We’re obsessed with how light works in our landscapes, and glaciers are some of the most challenging scenes to truly represent well.
We cut, edit, and grade all of our film projects in DaVinci Resolve studio. Years of practice and investing into education from leading film-makers who work in environments like ours gives us a leg up on our distinct style for how we capture glaciers and their immersive, radiant blue features.
The actual story part of the edit came together easily. The shot list was perfectly detailed, and we had created a pre-vis with detailed Midjourney images animated by RunwayML, so not much to report there. As always, we cull through our footage, find immersive angles with camera movements that complement each other, and craft the story based on the vision for the film.
Grading was a bit more tedious but very rewarding. We start by converting all footage to CinemaDNG (licensing thing between ProRes and Blackmagic Design), then apply a color space transform to convert the footage to Rec.709 Gamma 2.4 without losing the incredible fine-tuning abilities that RAW footage gives you. We prefer not to work with LUTs, as we adjust temp, tint, contrast, highlights, shadows, skin tones, and light contour to match the landscapes we work in along with the theme of the film.
The final result is a gorgeous, cinematic film that allows you to get lost in the moment and transported to an Arctic scene that you might never have imagined.
Wrapping Up
While we love the challenge of productions like this, we also have so much fun with creative concepts and preparation leading up to a shoot.
It’s common for us to hear from CMO’s & brand leaders that they want to find more ways to humanize their content and create campaigns that last longer than just a quarter, which is what we do.
Most brands blend in. You’ve seen the same ads. The same tired formulas. A product, a model, a forced adventure scene, an obligatory tagline.
The problem is that customers aren’t moved by check-the-box marketing. They crave brands that feel real.
Brands that stand for something bigger than what they sell.
That’s where we come in.
We take brands—some that people wouldn’t expect to belong in the wild at all, like tech, finance, even everyday lifestyle brands—and make them feel like they were always meant to be here.
Not by making them something they’re not, but by showing them in a way that feels inevitable.
We believe so strongly in this—when your brand is part of something bigger than itself, customers don’t just buy in.
They believe in it.
That’s what we’ll do for you.
Because great brands don’t just sell products.
They stand for something.
And the ones that stand for something?
They win.
Let’s make sure you’re one of them.
